The film Blood Diamonds is the focus of a number of blog posts this week. 'Black Star Journal' - Black Star Journal () comments on an article in the Christian Science Monitor that a “self policing process appears to be cleaning up the industry” which he sees as a model for NGOs to effect positive change in international affairs.

“This is called enlightened self-interest. The diamond industry didn't adopt these regulations because it suddenly had a tinge of guilt. Selling diamonds is an amoral activity. But activists made it so doing the right thing morally was the best thing for the industry's bottom line. In the end, a diamond boycott would hurt those engaging in legitimate mining, such as Botswana, Africa's oldest democracy.”

In contrast, 'The Benin Epilogue Part 1' - Benin Epilogue Part 1 (http://africareadyforbusiness.blogspot.com/2006/12/different-perspective-on-africas.html) writes that many of the diamonds coming out of Africa may not be “blood diamonds”. He also uses Botswana as an example of ethically and morally produced diamonds:

“This article seemed interesting to me because Botswana enjoys one of Africa's highest per capita incomes and derives the bulk of it's income from diamonds. Additionally, Botswana recently experienced a slight reduction in foreign direct investment in it's diamond industry. However, this was not due to press associated with ‘blood diamonds’. In fact this contraction was due to a statement made by a diamond executive at a leading diamond cutting and polishing company about Botswana's diamond supply. It just illustrates the sensitivity of small developing economies to damaging public relations.”

What is missing from both these posts, is that Botswana-produced diamonds may themselves not be morally tainted. However because of Botswana’s legal production of diamonds, the country is used by illegal diamond traders to sell their blood diamonds from countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo.

'France Watch' - France Watch (http://www.francewatcher.org/2006/12/en_fin_fout_le_.html) reports on the end of the UN mandate in Ivory Coast and more specifically the French forces like ‘Force Licorne’ who he believes have contributed to the conflict through their involvement in the internal affairs of the country:

“These French troops have never ceased to meddle in the internal affairs of the Ivory Coast. They have supported the rebels of the North from the beginning; offered them weapons and supplies; marketed and transported their stolen goods; and plotted innumerable coups and outrages. They opened fire on unarmed, peaceful demonstrators in November 2004, killing many and wounding more. Just three days ago the French forces planned and supported an attempted coup in the Ivory Coast, bent on assassinating many of the key leadership figures of the country. When that failed they spirited the coup leader out to France on French military transport. It is clear that the root of any solution of the Ivory Coast dilemma must start with the rapid and complete removal of the Force Licorne from the Ivory Coast.”

'The Big Pharaoh' - The Big Pharaoh (http://www.bigpharaoh.com/2006/12/18/welcome-to-islams-1400-years-old-schism) looks back on the recent rise of the 1400 year old schism between Sunni and Shia Islam. He believes the two groups are on the verge of a war that will engulf the whole region:

“Two major events brought the Shia genie out of the bottle. The first was in 1979 when an old Iranian Shia cleric (who asked Oriana Fallaci who Mozart and Beethoven were) managed to overthrow one of the most powerful regimes in the Middle East. The entire Arab Sunni world, the West, and the Soviets worked on keeping this genie engulfed within Iran's borders by supporting Saddam Hussein during the Iraq-Iran war. The genie slipped through though, jumped over Iraq, and landed on the friendly land of Syria. It got leaked to Lebanon during the civil war and the genie mutilated into Hezbollah.”

'African Bullets and Honey' - African Bullets and Honey (http://bulletsandhoney.wordpress.com/2006/12/15/dr-de-cock-praises-the-cut) comments on the recent study on Kenya and Uganda by the National Institutes of Health that male circumcision might reduce the risk of contracting the HIV virus. However he quotes a report from a few years ago that states exactly the opposite – that not only does circumcision not lead to lower rates of infection, but there is actually a higher incidence in circumcised males:

“Anyway, hard on the heels of the pro-circumcision study, two of the larger HIV/AIDS funds are considering paying for The Cut in high-risk countries. Daniel Halperin, a Harvard HIV specialist extraordinaire, excitedly responded, ‘I have no doubt that as word of this gets around, millions of African men will want to get circumcised, and that will save many lives.’ That is the kind of enthusiasm displayed by a man who got The Cut as an infant in a bright shiny hospital. Not as a teenager by a circumciser who declared the use of aesthetic to be unmanly as yours truly lay trouser-less, sweating onto the cold plastic of the hospital cot and praying to the gods for a last minute reprieve and failing that at least an injection of painkiller.”

As he says, once word gets around, traditional and western medical doctors are going to be making a lot of money from men desperate to get circumcised in the belief that this will save them from contracting the virus. What are the implications here for safe sex? Will these men abandon all thoughts of using condoms? It seems to me that there are many implications attached to this report which have just not been thought through and might hinder, rather than help, the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Rethabile writing on 'Black Looks' - Black Looks
(http://www.blacklooks.org/2006/12/they_feared_you_steven.html)
remembers Steve Biko on the anniversary of his birthday by way of a letter:

“We do not want to be reminded that it is we, the indigenous people, who are poor and exploited in the land of our birth. These are concepts which the Black Consciousness approach wishes to eradicate from the black man’s mind before our society is driven to chaos by irresponsible people from Coca-cola and hamburger cultural backgrounds.”

“They feared you, hence they killed you. The new ideas you were working out jangled their nerves, and you became a problem without a solution, just like we all were. But they couldn’t get the whole black nation to slip on a bar of soap. No. That was reserved for top problems like you.”

• Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, http://www.blacklooks.org/

• Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/