Photograph by Sebastiao Salgado
If war is against humanity, why are wars still happening? If war brings sorrow, why does human fight each other? I ask myself these questions so many times; however, still leave them unanswered. Maybe it is because of the dark sides of human will and feeling. Maybe people have unlimited wants. Since our greed is boundless, we battle to satisfy our need for food, shelter, oil, etc.
In Angola , the war has been going on for more than three decades. The warring parties fund their armies by trading natural resources, in particular diamonds and oil, for weapons and ammunition. But recently, the world's biggest diamond cartel, De Beers, announced it had placed an embargo on the purchase of Angolan diamonds. As long as the diamond trade continues, so will the war. It is not African countries buying the diamonds and it is not African countries selling the arms. Nations far from the scene still play a role in many African conflicts, either by purchasing mineral resources or supplying weapons and ammunition to the warring parties. It leaves physical exhaustion of the people as the only brake on continued war.
The victims of Angola's war are its citizens -- more than 600,000 dead and 3 million refugees due to conflict between two primary Angolan factions, the communist MPLA and the anti-communist UNITA. The cities are crowed with displaced people. This photograph depicts the real situation that Angola’s citizens go through. The eyes of two children in the photo haunt my mind. The sorrow in their eyes, the bewildered look on their faces…. they are wondering what is happening. These children have no chance to choose their lives. They lose their families, have no clothes to wear and even have no adequate shelter. I wonder where their fresh and cheerful smiles are. How long have these children lost the happiness of life?
Works Cited
Salgado, Sebastiao. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. New York, Aperture. 2000. Print. 224
-Pamphlet. NP. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. New York, Aperture. 2000. 427. Print.
"Angolan Civil War." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2010. Web 08 Mar. 2010. Web. 04 Mar. 2010
Very powerful post! I am studying economics right now and we have learned a lot about the diamond cartel De Beers and it is really sad how the country uses the diamond trade to fund wars. It also is horrible that so much power falls into the hands of bad people who then use their market power to fund wars and destruction. Looking at the photo is just shocking. You never think of dead children when you hear about wars. However lately it seems that civilian warfare has become almost an accepted tactic of war.
ReplyDeleteIt really is sad how most wars are started by the few but effect the many. There is a quote...i forgot it verbatum, but its about how for the same reasons that we get in arguments with our neighbors countries go to war with each other. It's usually about stupid menial things, but millions die for it.
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