Time Machine: Blood Diamonds
Sunday, November 4th at 5PM/4c

Sierra Leone, once exporting a lucrative 2 million karats of diamonds
per year, disintegrated into tremendous poverty, chaos and political
turmoil in the 1990s. In 1991, a rebel army called the Revolutionary
United Front began a ten-year civil war, committing horrible human
rights atrocities against civilians. Control of the diamond fields was
one of their key objectives; for this reason, the stones have become
known as "blood diamonds," or "conflict diamonds." Blood Diamonds, a
powerful two hour documentary, traces explores the history behind the
illicit trade of diamonds. In May 2000, The Kimberley Process was
initiated - a joint government, international diamond industry and
civil society initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds. The
heart of this story is related through the harrowing personal accounts
of Sierra Leoneans, who vividly describe their individual tragedies
and struggles to recover after the war. This documentary offers a
compelling perspective on international politics and history and
introduces students to the international processes used to help stem
the effects of political tumult.

Buy Blood Diamonds on DVD: This moving documentary explores an
unimaginable world where a rock is valued above a human life - the
real story behind the Oscar(R) - nominated film Blood Diamond.
store.aetv.com/html/referer_entry.jhtml?vid=THC_Email_news&dest=/html/product/index.jhtml%3fid%3d77624

Curriculum Links:
Blood Diamonds would be useful for Current Events, Journalism, Global
Studies, and Political Sciences courses. This documentary is
appropriate only for senior high school students. Due to mature
content and violence, we recommend that educators view this program in
its entirety before screening it to students. It fulfills the
following standards as outlined by the National Council for History
Education: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction, Conflict and
Cooperation, and Human Interaction with the Environment.

Discussion Questions:
1. How and when did the diamond trade become significant globally? Why
do you think the diamond trade has been the source of so much violence
and conflict?
2. How has the diamond trade affected Sierra Leone and Angola? Who do
you think has suffered the most due to these conflicts? What solutions
do you think are most feasible for ending the violence?