Call for Boycott of Diamond Giant Leviev

Lev Leviev, who has made billions in diamond trade through personal savvy, is one of the most central figures in the diamond sector. This segment of Democracy Now! features activists who call for a boycott at Leviev’s Manhattan store. The ethically concerned citizens point toward human rights abuses in Israel and deficiencies of the Kimberly Certification Process in Angola, where the diamond trade supports brutal dictatorship.

Quoting from the interview:

“Lev Leviev, through a very close relationship with the Dos Santos regime in Angola, has a monopoly on Angolan diamonds. And so, one of the things that’s so disingenuous about pointing to the Kimberley Process is that the Kimberley Process only refers to conflict diamonds defined as those diamonds that are involved in rebellions against recognized governments. It has nothing to say about recognized regimes, like repressive dictatorships like the Angolan regime. It has nothing to say about the conditions that diamonds are being mined under and processed under and delivered under, under any form of regime.

Leviev has profited immensely off of this relationship with the dictator and off of the oppression of the Angolan people. Human rights activists and journalists in Angola have pointed to the humiliation, whipping and other terrible conditions by the security companies that Lev Leviev’s interests in Angola are paying.”

Read the transcript here:

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/14/activists_call_for_boycott_of_diamond

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