Introduction
The film, Blood Diamonds-The True Story, is an assertive and fascinating documentary which explores infamous historical events. The film is an eye opener to the global population on little-known truth regarding the diamond trade. The key issues regarding civil wars in western and central Africa are attributed to the hefty money from the diamond trade.
The film offers an appealing exploration of the evils involved in diamond trade which have resulted to civil wars. The director of the film equates diamond trade as a smuggler, fisherman, and syndicate of businessmen aiming at possessing priceless diamond.
Lack of leadership, regulations, transparency, and good will in the diamond trade is attributed to falling states in central and western Africa. Paul Collier’ ideas are replicated in this film, where he argued that poorest countries are falling due to corruption and bad leadership in dealing with natural resources.
The film has drawn national and global attention on the civil conflicts and economic backwardness of African states. The diamond trade is at the center of the debate, where it is associated with rising conflicts. The high returns gained from the sell of the valuable diamonds are used in funding rebel groups.
This is an issue of global concern since the lives of poor citizens are put at jeopardy. The case of Sierra Leone civil war has been shown as a good example of the evils of the diamond trade.
Despite the efforts of multilateral negotiations aimed at ending the war, nothing significant has been gained. This is attributed to the lucrative diamond trade, in which the syndicates use the hefty profits to fund rebel groups (Schmuddelginger, 2012).
The diamond trade is featured as a major setback in realization of peace and stability in poor nations. This is only an insight on the adverse effects of other natural resources on national peace and cohesion. In reference to Collier’s insights, poorest nations will continue to drag behind (Collier, 2008).
This scenario is demonstrated in the film through the chaos brought up by the diamond trade. The obstacles of development cannot be focused to the diamond trade alone, but rather on other issues like bad governance and corruption (Schmuddelginger, 2012).
This gives an insight on the value knowledge offered by Collier on the challenges of poor nations. Collier argued that bad governance, corruption, and trade policies play a key role in enhancing the challenges of the poor nations (Collier, 2008).
Diamond trade is viewed as a threat to national and global peace as well as an ecological disaster. This is because mining is done in a very careless and exhaustive manner. Diamond mining has resulted into deforestations and badlands.
Poor countries are expected to tackle natural resources as a whole so as to attain sustainable development (Schmuddelginger, 2012). Suggestions for proper military interventions, trade policies and good governance have been made to resolve the problems of poor nations and realize economic, ecological, and social development (Collier, 2008).
Conclusion
The film is commendable due to its distinctive focus on the diamond trade and other infamous events. The film offers an exploratory overview of the evils of diamond trade, which lead to civil wars, poverty, corruption, and ecological degradation. The insights offered in the film are in line with Collier’s ideas, that the natural resource trap is a major factor hindering development in poor nations.
References
Collier, P. (2008). The Bottom Billion: Why The Poorest Countries are Falling and What Can Be Done About It. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schmuddelginger. (2012). Blood Diamonds-The True Story. Web.