Diamonds by Armin Greder
Allen & Unwin, 2020. ISBN: 9781760877040.
(Age: 10+) Highly recommended. Greder confronts his audience with
the truth behind the diamonds people wear, showing the levels of
cruelty and greed which umbrella the industry. From the slave
conditions in which men, women and children in Africa dig the gems
from the earth working in squalid mines unrestricted by any safety
concerns, to those above ground who deal with the diamonds, passing
them from hand to hand, trading guns and money, funding religious
discord, civil war and unrest, supporting wealthy men to amass more,
the diamonds eventually reach the manufacturing jewellers where they
are cut and polished, set and sold to equally wealthy men for their
wives and sweethearts.
Greder presents his powerful and questioning work through a young
girl, Carolina, who innocently asks her mother about the diamonds
she is wearing as she prepares to go out for the evening.
Greder wonderfully connects the girl's question about the people
working in the mines to her nanny, Amina, also from Africa, and the
girl has a nightmare, trailing Amina through the night to the mines
where she digs the gems from the earth. Greder distils the wider
story of diamond mining to a particular person, Amina, driving the
reading audience to feel compassion with this person, seeing her as
emblematic for a whole group of exploited people.
The link from Amina to the underground workers passes over several
pages as we see their endless toil, digging for the people who
control them. The faces above ground are more specific, detailed,
hard and cruel as they pass the gems from one person to another,
eventually ending up with suited businessmen, hungrily assessing
what they have in their hands.
This book is a powerful parable of the corruption that exists,
further dividing and undermining any push for equality and justice,
the pursuit of wealth by the few being the main driver behind the
search for diamonds.
Afterwords by journalist, Francesco Baille and Riccardo Noury from
Amnesty International in Italy, set the scene and add more factual
context to this already emotionally charged book.
Greder's illustrative technique is distinctive reflecting the chasm
that exists between miner and buyer, using his charcoal and pastels
to perfection, stressing the disparity between rich and poor, haves
and have nots. Teacher's
notes are available.
Themes: Inequality, Diamonds, Exploitation, Corruption, Civil war
Fran Knight