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RSS FeedMandela to defend De Beers from bad "Blood"
The international diamond industry must be getting pretty nervous about “The Blood Diamond.”
Word is that Sitrick and Company, Tinseltown’s top spinmeisters, have been hired by De Beers, the world's largest supplier of rough diamonds, to deflect the negative image of their industry portrayed in the upcoming film which stars Oscar nominee Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Aviator”), Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly (“A Beautiful Mind”) and Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou (“In America”).
“Diamond,” produced by Ed Zwick, will not be released until Jan 12, 2007. It’s the wrenching story of two South Africans, a mercenary (DiCaprio) and a fisherman (Hounsou) during the savage ‘90s Sierra Leone civil wars when rebels seized mines to sell “conflict” or “blood diamonds” to buy arms, murdering and mutilating (hand/arm amputation was a popular rebel sport) thousands of innocent men, women and children.
So guess who Sitrick plans to trot out to help stop the bad bling publicity?
None other than South Africa’s activist and first post-apartheid president Nelson Mandela.
“Mandela is going to say that all that stuff seen in the film is in the past, that there are no more conflict diamonds in circulation and that the diamond industry is economically good for South Africa,” a smiling inside source revealed. “And who in their right mind is going to argue with Nelson Mandela?"
Who indeed.
But “Blood Diamond” will be one of those “important issue" awards season frontrunners. Diamonds used to fund wars and fuel massive slaughters is pretty nasty stuff. Imagine what this negative buzz could do to the bling quotient on the 2007 awards season red carpets.
The Academy/Globe consideration screenings in November may start the bad press that could hurt December diamond sales, not to mention Valentine's Day.
As far back as September 2005, De Beers’ honcho Jonathan Oppenheimer warned an industry convention that the movie was likely to attract a huge audience. "Can you imagine its impact on the Christmas-buying audience in America if the message is not carried through that this (conflict diamonds) is something of the past, that this is something that has been managed and taken care of?"
But it shouldn’t be a shock that Mandela would take the diamond dudes side. After De Beers chairman Harry Oppenheimer's death in 2000, Mandela recognized his support for democratic and philanthropic causes in a Time magazine obit, hailing him as "monumentally instrumental in helping our country become the economic leader it is today."
Gosh, who can argue with that?
Photo Credit: Nelson Mandela - seen at the 46664 HIV/AIDS Awareness Concert in 2005 - may show up in Hollywood to help De Beers fight any bad publicity due to "The Blood Diamond."
WireImage/Shayne Robinson
I mean mandela is kidding right?..Mugabe used his armed forces to specifically get those diamonds to help fund his mayhem in zimbabwe(and we all know how great THAT turned out)... mandela CANT have it both ways on this issue.Debeers was started by none other then cecil rhodes...so is mr mandela ready to say that cecil rhodes was a good guy and never stole a freight train?
Posted by: john papineau | June 21, 2006 at 03:38 PM
Ask the families of the people killed by Mr. Mandela's acts of terrorism.
Mandela was convicted of terrorism in 1963 and freely admitted at his trial, "I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation."
In those days, Mandela crafted all kinds of deals with Cuba, Libya, Iran, North Korea and the Palestinians. Now with armed struggle ended, he continues close friendships with Fidel Castro, Muammar Qaddafi, Yasser Arafat and the other little tyrants who helped the ANC to its victory. And he got the "Medal of Honor"!!!!!!!!
Who was the cretin who persuaded our president to give this unreformed and successful terrorist a medal?
He went to jail. So? What does that make him?
Posted by: Mary Bennett | June 21, 2006 at 03:33 PM
check out the history of engagement rings http://www.diamondwholesalecorporation.com/TheHistoryoftheEngagementRing.html
it makes me sad to think that what these rings really represent is just a clever advertising campaign.
Posted by: jbb | June 21, 2006 at 03:27 PM
"With our matchbooks and our necklaces we shall liberate this nation"
Winnie Mandela
Posted by: Michael M. Mayo | June 21, 2006 at 03:15 PM
"With our matchbooks and our necklaces, we shall liberate this nation!"
Winnie Mandela
Do you know what a neclace is? It's a tire filled with gasoline and slung around the neck of a rival tribesman or anyone you politically disagree with (the Mandelas are unrepentant communist). The victim's hands and arms are usually chopped off to prevent him from removing the tire and death results not from external burns but from cooking from the inside out. The victim inhales hot gases from the burning gasoline/rubber mixture and death is a long, cruel, painfull process. Heros working against aparthied? I think not. The Mandelas are simple murderers and terrorist.
Posted by: Michael Mayo | June 21, 2006 at 03:04 PM
LOL! The person who was quoted as saying: "Who in their right mind is going to argue with Nelson Mandela?" I will! Who the hell is Nelson Mandela???? What, is he the president of the USA? He isn't squat! The question rather becomes: Who in their right minds is going to give his little speech (in defense of the joke diamond industry) the time of day?
Posted by: aj | June 21, 2006 at 02:49 PM
mandala is a convicted terrorist. He plotted to spefically kill women and children. How any credibility can be given to him for anythimg good is impossible for me to imagine.South Africa is in terrible shape, and crime and corruption are worse that ever. That is what HAPPENS WHEN YOU LET CRIMINALS OUT OF JAIL and put them in office.... What a wonderfull example it shows Africans. Now its down the tube like the rest of the continenent.
Posted by: Jim Robb | June 21, 2006 at 02:27 PM
Ha, forget the past! Amazing! Blacks are always in the white man's face talking about the past., as if anyone alive today ever owed slaves!!!!
Posted by: Frank Check | June 21, 2006 at 01:47 PM
The next time all you mamby pambys fill up your gas tank with 'conflict gasoline', I hope you take a moment to realize how easily swayed we've all become by every cause celebre the media decides to trot out.
Posted by: Foster Granger | June 21, 2006 at 01:32 PM
i guess money talks and b.s. walks for ole nellie. looks like the old commie has really embraced capitolism, huh!
agm
Posted by: ANDY MONGO MANDJIKOV | June 21, 2006 at 01:28 PM
Buying blood diamonds is about as popular as wearing the fur of clubbed baby seals, arguing that tobacco doesn't cause cancer or pretending that Barry Bonds didn't take steroids.
Nicole Richie MIGHT be able to bring diamonds back into vogue IF it's proven that, as some claim, they caused her to lose all that weight.
But Nelson Mandela? No way.
Posted by: theRealIssue | June 21, 2006 at 01:27 PM
Did I miss something? Don't DeBeers executives still refuse to travel in the USA because they are subject to arrest on a host of criminal charges? And these crooks are afraid this film might hurt their image? Yeah, about the same way that a movie about 9-11 might tarnish Osama's image.
Posted by: Cameron Fairchild | June 21, 2006 at 01:24 PM
It's too bad that Mandela is lowering himself to smooth over what has happened. The atrocities were inexcusable and the diamond industry, specifically De Beers, was a huge part of it.
No spin can take away from the suffering that happened! It is the same as saying we should forget about the holocaust.
Jonathan Oppenheimer comment above that "this is something that has been managed and taken care of," is ridiculous in the light of the same example of the holocaust. Do we say that it has been managed and taken care of also? The past is the past?
Posted by: Gary Bourgeault (bizofshowbiz.com | June 21, 2006 at 01:23 PM
I love Ann Coulter, but she's prettier than me.
Posted by: Dawn Bridges | June 21, 2006 at 01:11 PM
Some people will say anything if you pay them enough.
Shame on Mandela.
South Africa is a bad as it ever was under the Afrikaners.
Just a group of thugs getting rich. Violent thugs.
It is Sub-Saharan Africa after all.
Posted by: Charlie | June 21, 2006 at 12:55 PM
wow. you think De Beers has changed it's ways? I guess you CAN fool a lot of the people a lot of the time. And looks like Mandela has signed up to sell the spin. Good job, little man.
Posted by: Matt Stacey | June 21, 2006 at 12:55 PM
I am saddened to read of Mandela's willingness to lend his moral authority to defend a diamond industry which continues to carry the blood of the continent on its products. One may only turn to conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia and the great war of the Congo for support of this claim. De Beers is rightly afraid that truth will prevail, Mandela's words must be chosen carefully, perhaps limiting them to the context of South Africa, lest he taint his credibility with regard to this issue of conflict diamonds.
Posted by: K. Anon | June 21, 2006 at 12:01 PM
Like people REALLY care about what nelson mandela would say!
As a former leader of the communist african national congress and a devout anti-israeli idealogue with large pro arab slant....who cares!
Posted by: dan o'ha | June 21, 2006 at 11:42 AM
Who indeed.!
I think the above commenter proves your point. He is what the hated one Ann Coulter would call one of the unassailable ones. De Beers has used Hollywood for years to hawk their wares. All of the red carpet dolls have bling dripping from their overly inflated cleavages every year on loan from De beers and now the industry is turning on them.
This has been going on since the 30ties when they were helping the nazi's . They have turned a simple rock in to a rich source of capital by controlling the market Cartel style with no interference from any government or claims of price fixing. They stickily control supply and have taught OPEC everything they know.
Forward thinking My A$$. Since he spent the time in jail he can't be questioned just like his wife could not even though she was involved in the murder of hundreds of people.
Nice picture . He looks harmless like you old Grand PAPA.
Posted by: Kevin Watkins | June 21, 2006 at 11:41 AM
Mandela has demonstrated a way for all of us. Yes, the diamond industry has a terrible history of abuse in South AFrica. They were a part of the system that kept Mandela in jail for 27 years. But Mandela has tried to show that if there is a peaceful prosperous future for his people, then they must step into the present, and work toward the future. You don't forget the past. Tell the truth about it, Oh yes. But act for the future. Only if Isreal and Palistine could do that. Only if the Sunnies and Shiites and Kurds would do the same, and so I could list many, many around the world. Conflicts that have horrible history. Mandela is trying to show another way. Gandi tried, as did Martin Luther King, Jr, as did Mother Teresa. Corporations around the world have abused their power so it is hard to take their side in this issue. But i do agree with Mandela. Work for the future, not dwell in the past. Maybe if DeBeers did some act of remorse, beyond just having Mandela speak for them, their message would have even more sway. Movies: we sure give them a lot of power these days!!!!
Posted by: Shirley Keller | June 21, 2006 at 11:26 AM
Mandela only believes in human rights when it serves his own interest. He gave Fidel Castro the highest award a foreigner can receive in South Africa and hailed him as a champion of human rights.
Castro is one of the bloodiest, most ruthless dictators in modern history. The popular press would have people believe he is some kind of workers' hero, but in reality he is a vicious fascist.
It does not surprise me at all that Nelson Mandela would stoop to supporting the cause of defending the violent diamond industry. To the person who said he doesn't dwell on the past - if we don't pay attention to what's happened in the past, how do we know what to avoid in the future? Quit making excuses for Mandela just because he's fashionably admirable.
Posted by: Cuba Libre | June 21, 2006 at 11:14 AM
De Beers is so so so good at marketing, its what they do best.
Its very clear why Mr. Mandella is supporting De Beers, the second and third oldest reason in the world, power and money. He has done noble things, he is braver they I am. But I would not place all his intentions upon such a high pedistal. Nor do I seek to label his intentions as purely bad. He wants money for his country, he wants economic success for South Africa. That economic success brings him even more notoriety, and therefore power. Those are not necessarily bad things, but what if there are more conflict diamonds because another diamond rich African country falls into war?
De Beers is so so so good at marketing, its what they do best.
History MUST be a current issue. History must be remembered, Aparteid, Armenian genocide, genocide againts the Jews, the conspicuously absent North American Native populations. I need only name the country of Rawanda. Never forget. SO the history of diamonds and the De Beers corporation, whether De Beers did wrong or not, should be remembered for what it was, because that is what it could be again. Am I wrong to say that De Beers was supporting the Aparteid government when they were in power, so as to fulfill the companies fundamental -- "get the diamonds and control them" ?? (this is not rhetorical, I really don't know if they did or not)
De Beers is so so so good at marketing, its what they do best.
Diamonds are forever! Unless you want to liquidate them, then you find out how much of your money you get back. Unless you kept them mint and never wore them. Diamond prices are inflated, the diamond market is controlled. Its a cartel with DeBeers as the long time ring leader, not a free market. Thats no conspiracy theory, its history. Its like alot of other business that I don't support if I don't have to. Oil used to be this way, but its more free now. But of course I require that to travel, or to have plastic products, etc. Diamonds are mostly unnecessary however, and people should be aware and ready to retract their support for this so so so despensible comodity if they disagree with the policies of those profiting from their sale/mining/distribution/marketing/polishing, etc.
De Beers is so so so good at marketing, its what they do best. The truth is forever!
Why are man made diamonds less valuable then nature made diamonds? If men could make gold would there be a difference between it and nature made gold? I think its marketing. Its an image thing, there is nothing substantive other then the industrial uses of diamonds. Well, they are shiny little rocks. Shine on you crazy diamond.
Posted by: Bukkiah Golden | June 21, 2006 at 11:03 AM
"But I doubt that he survived his 25+ yrs in prison with that sort of thinking."
Whut? What does 25 years in prison have to do with the price of tea in China - or the price of diamonds in SA? By that logic, Charles Manson is up for Mother Teresa!
Posted by: Derwin Stogner | June 21, 2006 at 10:59 AM
A forward thinking wise man & true leader.
He is more concerned for the future of his people & nation than with dwelling in the past -- a past that is more than full of enough sins to mine for years if he so wanted.
But I doubt that he survived his 25+ yrs in prison with that sort of thinking.
Instead he is helping to gain ground and a future for people in great need of progress.
I grew up being opposed to diamonds, primarily because of their mining history in Africa. I also thought they were gauche and boring. But maybe it's time to buy diamonds to help South Africa...well, surely there ARE other ways!
Posted by: Carolyn Metcalf | June 17, 2006 at 10:03 PM