After attending the Amnesty International annual conference this past weekend, I took a moment to reflect on what I had learned. While it did not endow me with any life-shattering information or a perfect plan for world peace, it did challenge me to think about the daily actions of consumers. How conscious are we about where our clothes or shoes come from?
Amnesty focuses on a variety of campaigns that include, but are not limited to, violence against women, child soldiers, prisoners of conscience and human trafficking.
To even ponder all these tasks seems daunting, but what the weekend highlighted for me was the fact that while we can't change the world in a day, we can make a difference on a daily basis and affect the lives of some people at risk for abuses of human rights. I think we can all agree that every human should have the right to food, shelter, water, personal freedom and a life without threat of violence.
In order to make a difference, all it takes is to be a little bit more educated about what you are purchasing. The choices we make as consumers also reflect our cognizance of global issues.
Notice that the Marquette Spirit Shop is now selling a line of sweatshop-free clothing, and the Brew Bayou has made efforts to serve fair trade coffee, a reflection of a commitment by Marquette toward more socially responsible consumption.
It is our right to know where our items are coming from. Maybe even worse than sweatshops are bloodshed, child soldiers and death, which are all a part of the battle for conflict diamonds.
In order to find out more about this, I would urge students to see the movie "Blood Diamond" and visit the Amnesty International Web site; it might make you think twice about that diamond engagement ring!
MU Amnesty International and Marqasa are screening "Blood Diamond" and hosting a speaker and Marquette alumnus who works to retrain child soldiers back into society in his native Sierra Leone. The event is today at 7 p.m. in Alumni Memorial Union Ballrooms A and B. The event will also be followed up action items, showing how you can make a difference.
If you aren't able to make the movie, always remember that you can check the Internet so before you make that next in-store or online purchase. If the Web site or store you are shopping at doesn't offer a guarantee that its employees are paid fair and living wages, or that it is protecting the environment, or that its diamonds are conflict-free, then chances are it isn't and it doesn't care.
Take a personal stand. Know the source of the goods you purchase. Amnesty International (amnestyusa.org) recently conducted a survey of jewelers nationwide which yielded some unsettling results about knowledge of the source of their diamonds. Even in the wake of the Kimberley Process, which certifies the source of diamonds, the presence of conflict diamonds persists on the world market.
Jackson is a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences.