Russell Simmons Talks Diamonds in South Africa

Da beers and botswana in a partnership.... You can rest assure the problem will "not" be fixed... It will simply be excepted now. Satan always figures a way to calm the massses down by putting a "figure head" in play like (russell) to give the illusion that things are going to be fine. It's way too much money to stop the unrighteousness going on in the diamond trade industry. Russell they're using your status in hip hop and urban culture to make us think... Little kids arent getting thier arms and hands cut off anymore. And billions in diamonds aren't being stolen from africa. And dabeers is a trillion dollar company that coould care less about who's dying in them jungles. Just cut the check. You wanna impress me russell.... Just stop your wife from wearing diamonds. Don't fall for this story yall... Its bullsh*t! it's whitey once again stealing from a land that is not thiers and then pacifying the people with watered down press conferences and publicity.... To make you think they're your friend or here to help. Every natural mineral resourse is being robbed by this man... And we love to jump in at the last hour and in advertingly help them pro long thier wrong doing.... Man__ i got so mucht o say about this topic i cant even fit it in this forum. Righteous stand the hell up!

Man tries to do good, & ya criticize his wife. Righteous my a$$. ... Russell cant save the world, but dont knock him for trying to do babysteps. ... For a real hero, read up on muhammad yunus (grameen bank)

Open a school in the hood... Run for a governmnetal spot... Lower phat farm prices... That is what you can do for me.. Put your hood first before you go somewhere else.... Also build affordable housing

Russell is very proactive and has been a huge stepping stone in getting urban youth into entertainment and has done great things with rock the vote. Sometimes we are so busy expecting our leaders to hold it down we get angry when they climb up. Yes he has profited but so has every businessman and after all he is a businessman. In the end would his voice be heard if he didn't have money? sair makes some very good points about the diamonds and the changes that need to be done but we have to start somewhere. As for barbaman214 i wonder when is the last time you voted for all of the things you’re asking for...affordable housing or schools in the hood? as for phat farm prices being lowered it's ridiculous to think if he lowered prices people would continue to buy the product. Look at shaq and mawberry they both made affordable tennis shoes sold at k-mart target & wal-mart and do you see anyone wearing those? no, people are too busy buying jordan’s, kobe’s and hardaway’s for more than three times the price. Broke people don't want what they can afford. I work in retail and my stores that are in lower working class and poorer neighborhoods make more than twice the money of those in upper class and wealthy neighborhoods. If you want to make a difference hit the pavement, contact your council people, start a petition. There are things we all can do to better our circumstances. Don’t wait for someone else to do something and then complain about how they are doing it.

Russlle may be you should run 4 president and take over south africa so that terrorists arent killing people over diamonds to fund there private wars. Yall burn in hell for your greed!

Bullsh*t,is it today that ppl came to the fact that folks in africa were killed bcos of diamonds? no is it new, and then russell takes a flight to south africa and bostwana to say sorry for that????? nelson mandela broked stones so that the brits could curry the diamonds and you call that the past,well it might be the past in south africa, why dont you try liberia,angola,sierra leone,the congo,all these places thousand are still being killed for diamonds and where that is still the course of the day,go there and tell those small kids that,that is the past.i am sorry to say that because to this i have lost alot of respect for russell.........next time try going to the right places,i am not a newcomer to this problem, i lived the life before leaving africa some year back to study in europe. So please give me a break

Russel simmons is the owner of simmons jewelry company and naturally has an interest in the new movie, "blood diamonds", and the movie not causing too much negative affect on the diamond industry. At the same time, he has to show himself to be carrying while thinking about his bottom line. Botswana certainly is not a reflection of most of the diamond industry in africa. The african is paid $200 for a particular quality and size of diamond and that same diamond earns israelis, belgians, and others of european ethnos $40,000. That is a 20,000% profit! simmons may be benefiting in the same way, we will only know if his company opens up with regards to his profit ratio vs what the africans are receiving for their diamonds. The "new debeers" mostly have more "black faces" but they too have and will harmfully exploit their own. Israel exported $8 billion in diamonds to america last year. World wide it averages $15 billion each year. Belgiam, its cousin, earns more than $16 billion each year. All of this is from african diamonds. Neither of these countries have diamond minds. Diamonds is only the beginning. This happens with all sorts of raw resources in africa such as chromium, cobalt, manganese, platinum and all sorts of medicinal resources. I propose a collective cartel through the african union. The products to be in this cartel would be 1) oil & gas; 2) strategic metals; 3) gems & diamonds; 4) cocoa beans and coffee beans. America gets 47% of its liquid petroleum gas from africa. Africa has more o

It is sad that russell simmons, a black man, can publicly protect the diamond industry in africa that has done nothing to benifit the development of the people. How can he say such that african nations with diamons depend on diamonds to for their livelihood? de beers works hand-in-hand with the mafia and guerrillas to reap the profits and control of over 90% of africa's diamonds and 60% of the worlds diamonds. If mr. Russell simmons knew his history he would have known that the same boers that gained control over orange free state during the two boer wars is the same boers that work side-by-side with europe to exploit africa's minerals. Russell simmons needs to be assamed of himself and taken out to be hung. If you guys were smart you would discontinue the purchase and support of all phat produces: baby phat, phat farm, etc. Apartheid in south africa was more than just discrimination and segragation. It was about control over the resources and intergration of blacks into wealth and power. Out of all the wealth that de beers has accumilated black south africa still suffers. Russell simmons speaks against all the efforts pushed forth by all of south africa's great heros: steve biko, nelson mandela, students of the soweto riots, and many more. We need to stop supporting people based on their skin colour because whether white or black some of us are just all about the green. Black-americans, as they ascend, forget their struggle and mingle with the same evils that has oppressed in greed for their ow

Produces = products

(continued) ... Greed for their own well being. Do not listen to russell simmons. He is just another stupid nouveau riche sponsored by the same axis of evils that has lead the destruction of south africa, sierra leone, botswana, zimbabwe, mozambique, and all of africa. F*ck him and all that he stands for and go watch the movie blood diamonds.

There is nothing ethical about russell simmons or anyone raping africans of blood diamonds. Further reading: .webspawner/users/pbranson jesusanswer/russellsimmonsa

Russell simmons. Don't look at his skin color. He's all about the green. $$$. Money. Making money. All the money he rakes in he could single-handedly feed a lot of those poor starving overworked kids in africa. Do you really think he'd give up his millions to do that? no way. It's not about black and white anymore. It's about rich and poor...upper class and lower class...

He's a whore for money!!! enough said. Making a business deal with debeers is a binding covenant with the devil. Mr. Simmons, you make me sick!! you should be ashamed of yourself and your over extravagant lifestyle.

Why not buy the diamonds from the people who mine them? why go through the network who add-on to the prices, and buy from the government? debeers et al are the only beneficiaries, not the africans who do the dangerous, laborious, work.

There are a lot of good points on here. I wish this could be stoped maybe it never will. I do feel that debeers does have to much money and they should pay people more money so thaey can feed their famlies. Insteed of paying russell to do a aid campain. How much did he git for that? you know they have so many diamonds that if they flooded the market that that prices would drop. It's just my point that the diamond indistry is just a bunch of grimey people. I sawl this show on the history channel about blood dimands and how debeers got started, and it made me sick. I never want to buy another pair of diamond earrings again. And almost wanted to through the ones i did have out. Ill just stick with savorski crystal. When will this insanity end.

I get so sick of people that don't know how the system in africa work. How many of you people sending in this comments were in africa? in botswana, south africa, lesotho and other countries the diamond trade are well regulated!! do your homework and go to .pandamarine.co.za

People don't know how the system in africa work. 90% of the africa continent are very poor and most of them very hungry. The countries are also ruled under a dictators system. I would do the same if i’m going to die of hunger. Lots of diamonds are mined by children but that is not in mines. They mine it illegal on private or state property and then they sell to private buyers. South africa is a country on it's own and the diamond mines are very good regulated under law. You get land mining and marine mining. For marine mining it is impossible for children to work on or to dive for diamonds. So if you want to buy a diamond that is not associated with blood diamond, then buy a south african west coast diamond. With every diamond you buy you will get a certificate to show that it is a real south african westcoast diamond. Visit .pandamarine.co.za i recently bought shares in this company and the first 50 to invest are part of a vip club (bedrock club) and can buy diamond direct from the company at a price below market value. Chek it out!

Jake, im so glad that you took the time to let us all know where to buy diamonds which are not assiciated with blood diamonds. Do you not realise that you can not determine where diamonds originate from? certificates mean nothing....people in africa die for these sparkly things we all insist on shelling out loads of cash for. People are tortured!! they loose their hands, arms, legs, families and lives. Do you seriously think people should be looking into where they can get genuine ''none blood'' diamonds from? this needs to be stopped!!! have you checked out all the websites with the facts? have you seen the film blood diamond? why dont you ''chek that out'' you f*cking idiotttt!

Do you think they tell the truth in a film?????? have you travelled in africa or born in africa like me????? do you think all the websites tell the truth???? panda marine mining got the mining rights from the south african government and is govern under very strict regulations!!!! go and do research yourself and don't tell me how it is in africa, i live in africa, amie your the ""f#cking dum idiott!!!!!!!!!!!"

.diamondfacts/ i think amie must read this!! i’m also from south africa and people don't know the black culture in africa. Blood diamonds represent only 5% of the trade. People don't know how many people die in the oil industry. 1500 people were murdered on farms only in south africa and one couple only for r10 (1.7$ usd) drug dealers kill thousands of people. Why don't caprio make a film about south africa and people murdered, rape, cars hijacked and and and............. That is why most of the white people are in other countries. Where is america now?????? they were the biggest to shout about apartheid and look what is happening in south africa now!!! amie and you Bia'ch about diamonds, get real!!! ask oprah what happened with her school in south africa. If you don't know, go and read!! jake is correct!! people don't know what is happening here in africa africa is a tough country!!!!!

.diamondfacts/conflict/ind ex