A website for the Boycott De Beers campaign was launched today, urging the public not to buy De Beers’s diamonds.
The website features quotes from supermodels Lily Cole, Iman and Erin O’Connor, Oscar-winner Julie Christie, and an appeal to Leonardo DiCaprio.
Cole, Iman and O’Connor all stopped working for De Beers after the Botswana government’s evictions of Bushmen from the central Kalahari desert were linked to diamond finds on their land.
‘I was unaware of these matters (the Bushmen evictions) when I was booked for the shoot,’ said Cole.
‘It was clear the Bushmen were being destroyed. You take people from their element and you end up with AIDS, drugs and alcohol in the guise of development,’ said Iman.
‘I don’t think doing a job like (being the face of De Beers) would in any way add to my life or make me happy. I would take that stand and say ‘no’,’ said O’Connor.
In a full-page advert in Hollywood’s Variety magazine the Bushmen appealed for help from Leonardo DiCaprio, currently starring in a film, Blood Diamond, about how the diamond industry fuels war and misery in Africa.
‘Boycott de Beers or have the destruction of the Bushmen on your conscience,’ said Christie.
For more information see www.boycottdebeers.com or email: campaign@boycottdebeers.com.