Today in Labor History November 8, 1968: At the request of the U.S., the UK began their ethnic cleansing of the Chagos Islands, in the Indian Ocean. The forced removal of the Chagos Islanders concluded in 1973, paving the way for the U.S. to use the islands as a staging and refueling station for its wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan, primarily from its base on the Chagossian island of Diego Garcia. The U.S. desired a depopulated territory to avoid the UN’s decolonization requirements. Lord Greenhill wrote the following to the British Delegation at the UN: “The object of the exercise is to get some rocks which will remain ours; there will be no indigenous population except seagulls who have not yet got a committee. Unfortunately, along with the Birds go some few Tarzans or Men Fridays.” In the early- to mid-1800s, the Chagos Islands were used as staging post in the slave trade. In the 1970s, the governments of Mauritius and the Seychelles protested the forced removals. There were also protest actions taken by Chagos Islanders, including street demonstrations and a hunger strike by six Chagossian women. In 2000, the British High Court granted the deportees the right to return, but they were never allowed to actually return. In 2019, the International Court of Justice delivered the advisory opinion that the removal of the islanders had not been lawful.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #colonialism #chagos #diegogarcia #deportation #GulfWar #afghanistan #civildisobedience

It's confirmed, Chagos Islands will be handed back to Mauritius "by the end of the year".

Chagos islands are at about longitude 72°. The nearest UK overseas territory to the west is Akrotiri and Dhekelia at 33°, to the east Pitcairn Islands at -130°.

This being the southern summer, the sun is currently up over British Antarctic Territory, and will remain so until the equinox March 20. It's debatable how much sovereignty the UK really exercises over their slice of the south pole, but there's no doubt which side of that debate the British government takes.

Therefore, it will not be until the equinox, March 20 2026, at 18:53 local time, or March 21 02:53 UTC, on Oeno Island, that the sun will finally indisputably set on the British Empire, for the first time in centuries.

Now is the time to start planning your party.

#chagos #imperialism #geography

#Chagos

https://bsky.app/profile/rfi.fr/post/3lymfxyuqzz2s

Das Ende der letzten britischen Kolonie in Afrika und die Auswirkungen auf das Selbstbestimmungsrecht.

#Chagos #Selbstbestimmung

https://www.brennerbasisdemokratie.eu/?p=92436

#Badenoch rattles on about the #Chagos islands on #BBCLauraK and #TrevorPhillips

I am fairly sure there are very few people in the streets of the UK for whom this is of consequence xx

.io

"Laut den Richtlinien der IANA werden damit auch alle Domains innerhalb einer Karenzzeit von fünf Jahren aufgelöst."

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/.io

#chagos