![]() Since inception, KP has had notable success in stemming the flow of illicit gems, but problems persist.Ĭritics say the narrow definition of conflict diamonds-gemstones used by nonstate actors to finance battles- enables countries, such as the Central African Republic, where rebel gangs control large swathes of the country’s territory to trade in diamonds. Today, as a multilateral organization with more than 80 member states, dozens of industry stakeholders, and a broad-based civil society coalition, the Kimberley Process (KP) aims to ensure verified diamonds can be traced back to their point of origin. With the embers of civil war still smoldering in places, such as Angola, Libera, and Sierra Leone, the process was intended to reduce the trade of illegal diamonds on international markets. We don’t have a question for you to answer in this post, but we want you to think about these issues and we will explore them further in class.Crafted through three years of negotiations, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) was created in 2003 to curb the trade of diamonds by rebel and dissident government groups using gems to finance their insurrections. A current class action lawsuit against the mining companies seeks damages for the families of miners who have died from tuberculosis and silicosis that result from inhalation of gold and silica dust. Mining remains the major industry and miners strikes and mine collapses are still occurring. Today: Despite the end of apartheid, and the extension of voting rights and democratic representation across racial lines, much of South Africa’s industries and wealth are disproportionately owned by whites. Look closely at the legs of his statue in Cape Town - someone tried to cut it down! Check out the #Rhodesmustfall campaign on social media. In front of the Kimberley Club, where Rhodes and his buddies used to hang outĪs a leading figure of British imperialism, Cecil Rhodes leaves behind a controversial legacy. The “lift” or elevator used to go undeground Prospectors bought shares and hired diggers, hoping to find diamonds. This map shows how the mine was divided into inidividual claims. Prospectors bought shares and hired diggers, hoping to find diamonds.īetter technology enabled the move from “open pit” to underground mining in the 1880s This maps shows how the mine was divided into individual claims. Was operational until 1914 now filled with sparkly blue water. “The Big Hole” – the largest hand-dug diamond mine. During these past few days, we’ve been thinking about one of our favorite AP World themes: continuity and change.ġ600s: In Cape Town, we learned that the arrival of the Dutch forever changed South Africa by introducing transoceanic slavery.ġ800s: We spent one day in Kimberley, a small city in the Northern Cape province whose fame comes from it’s former glory as the world’s diamond mining center - the place where Cecil Rhodes founded DeBeers Diamonds, pursued his relentless quest to extend the British Empire from Cape to Cairo, where the British defeated the Boers in battle and asserted control over South Africa, and where African migrant laborers worked in dangerous conditions for low wages to produce the jewels of the elites. ![]() ![]() Our journey through Cape Town, Kimberley, and now Johannesburg has shown us that at the heart of South Africa’s history has been a struggle for control over resources, land, and labor. “Having read the histories of other countries, I saw that expansion was everything, and that the world’s surface being limited, the great object of present humanity should be to take as much of the world as it possibly could.” – Cecil Rhodes, Former British colonial governor of South Africa and founder of DeBeers Diamonds
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