The problem is Hollywood. This winter sees the opening of “Blood Diamond,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a smuggler attempting to smuggle a rare pink stone out of war-torn Sierra Leone. And like other industry leaders, Oppenheimer fears the film will taint the industry’s reputation, renewing controversy over the use of so-called “conflict diamonds” to fund some of Africa’s bloodiest civil wars.
What the trade fears most is the impression that the film may leave: that consumers can no longer buy diamonds with an easy conscience. In fact, the industry confronted the conflict-diamond problem through a system of certification—the Kimberley Process—that tracks each stone from the mine to the polisher.
That’s one reason why the industry is now abandoning its traditional reticence to mount a public-relations offensive. A Web site launched last month explains not only how the industry has checked the flow of conflict diamonds but also how it has helped to enrich some of the world’s poorest countries. In London, De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer spoke to NEWSWEEK’s Stryker McGuire and William Underhill. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: De Beers isn’t known for its openness. Nicky Oppenheimer: The rough-diamond business is actually a long way from the [retail] store, all the excitement and pictures of beautiful women [in advertisements]. So I think the company has always been perceived as rather shadowy. But that has always been more a matter of perception that reality. It was never through any great wish of ours.
So why open up now? The world has changed. It is more transparent, and we have to realize that people like to know what’s going on. When they are buying diamonds they are investing not only money but a huge amount of emotion. The film has been a spur. We have really got to get our story out there, so that people know they are buying something they can be proud of, something that is contributing to development in Africa.
Obviously, your company has done well from diamonds. But how has Africa benefited? The industry has been unbelievably good for Africa. There is no doubt that South Africa’s development as the continent’s major economic powerhouse was sparked by the discovery of diamonds in Kimberley [South Africa]. And Botswana is an example of a country that has changed dramatically just on the back of diamonds. For Sierra Leone, which now has a proper democratic government that’s looking to rebuild the country, diamonds are of fundamental importance. Wherever there are diamonds they have a real potential to do the exciting things they have done for Southern Africa. I’m a great optimist.
We have a saying in De Beers that “You have to live up to diamonds.” The diamond itself insists that you behave in a certain way. As an industry, we have to behave in a way that makes a real and proper contribution to the countries and peoples we are involved with, and I believe that De Beers does things, such as our AIDS program, that virtually no other company does. That’s “living up to diamonds.” I just feel this is a great business to be in. I feel good about it.
