Attachment

A woman in her 60s is looking at a brochure on face injections. Before and after photographs reveal wrinkles and less wrinkles around closed mouths. From her purse, she removes a tiny booklet with smiling sun on the cover and glances at the Bible verses inside.

In the 1930s the De Beers diamond cartel with the marketing brilliance of N.W. Ayer transformed an abundant colorless stone into a mandatory overpriced engagement ecstasy for young Americans. In the 1960s De Beers hired J. Walter Thompson to internationalize the delirium. Greatest success came in Japan where attaching diamonds to 'modern western values' meant every 'progressive' Japanese couple now dreamed of yen-laden sparkles.

Throughout most of the twentieth century few consumers knew the savage conditions under which mostly African diamond miners slaved. However, in the 1990s the role of diamonds in funding wars in Angola, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia led to campaigns demanding a stop to the cartel's complicity. Despite an agreement reached in 2003 to end bloodshed by the rock, human rights groups say promises have gone unfulfilled.

Regardless, as shown in a searing photo essay from Foreign Policy Magazine, miners continue to work in harsh environments and suffer destitution in fulfilling the romantic fantasy of a waitress at TGIF's in Simi Valley, whose boyfriend, a bartender there, just charged 3 and 1/2 grand on his Capital One MasterCard that he'll attempt to pay back at 13.9% over the next five years.

Diamonds are hardly the only attachment that funds violence and cruelty. The mining of coltan, which reached peak prices from 2000 to 2002, assisted the diamond in funding the Congo wars, where over 3 million died. More recently, despite the peace agreement of 2003, cassiterite has been extracted under threat of mutilation and torture by resource starved rebel armies in the northeast.

From coltan is processed tantalum, a powder essential to the manufacture of featherweight capacitors found in most cellphones. Likewise cassiterite, which is seen as an environmentally friendly alternative to lead, is used to solder the elaborate micro electronic components that bring wireless connectivity to life.

The woman looks over at me. "Cellphone?"
I look at her quizzically.
"Cellphone?" She asks again.
I shake my head.
My emptiness chills me. Then I think, "What if it rings?"

As we pass the Catholic Church at White Oak and Ventura the two young men on the back seat cross themselves. The woman sees them and smiles.