Stealing a Nation is a 2004 Granada Television documentary written and directed by John Pilger, produced and directed by Christopher Martin and with reconstruction footage directed by Sean Crotty. The documentary is about the expulsion of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago, chiefly from Diego Garcia Island, forcibly removed by the British government between 1967 and 1973 to Mauritius, 1,000 miles away, so that the island could be used as an American and British airbase.
Over 50 years since the United States forced them out in order to build a military base on the island of Diego Garcia, exiled residents of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean continue to pressure Britain and the U.S. to pay reparations and apologize for expelling residents.
We speak with prominent Chagossian activist Olivier Bancoult, who is visiting the United States to meet with lawmakers and State Department officials. The U.S. is “fully responsible for what happened to our people,” says Bacoult. “We want the Biden administration to apologize and to make reparation for what they did wrong to our people.”
Located halfway between Africa and Indonesia and about 1,000 miles south of India, the military base on Diego Garcia played a key role in the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. “This is a crime against humanity,” says author of Base Nation David Vine, who adds that there are more than 20 cases of the U.S. displacing local populations for military bases. “The Chagossians are not alone.”
Stealing a Nation is a 2004 Granada Television documentary written and directed by John Pilger, produced and directed by Christopher Martin and with reconstruction footage directed by Sean Crotty. The documentary is about the expulsion of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago, chiefly from Diego Garcia Island, forcibly removed by the British government between 1967 and 1973 to Mauritius, 1,000 miles away, so that the island could be used as an American and British airbase.
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John Pilger – Stealing A Nation – Diego Garcia (Chago´s Island) [HD]
Over 50 years since the United States forced them out in order to build a military base on the island of Diego Garcia, exiled residents of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean continue to pressure Britain and the U.S. to pay reparations and apologize for expelling residents.
We speak with prominent Chagossian activist Olivier Bancoult, who is visiting the United States to meet with lawmakers and State Department officials. The U.S. is “fully responsible for what happened to our people,” says Bacoult. “We want the Biden administration to apologize and to make reparation for what they did wrong to our people.”
Located halfway between Africa and Indonesia and about 1,000 miles south of India, the military base on Diego Garcia played a key role in the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. “This is a crime against humanity,” says author of Base Nation David Vine, who adds that there are more than 20 cases of the U.S. displacing local populations for military bases. “The Chagossians are not alone.”
Five people including a child died while attempting to cross the English Channel just hours after the Rwanda law aimed at deterring migrants cleared Parliament. Home Secretary James Cleverly said “these tragedies have to stop” and insisted the Government is doing “everything we can” to stop the boats. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the Rwanda scheme will “deter vulnerable migrants from making perilous crossings” and break the business model of the criminal gangs organising the boats. But in the early hours of Tuesday a small boat carrying more than 110 people set sail from Wimereux in northern France and got into difficulties.
Italy’s prime minister has warned that Europe will be overwhelmed by migration unless the EU finds solutions. Italy currently receives the largest number of people smugglers, boats carrying asylum seekers and other migrants in to Europe. Many people then try to travel on to countries across the continent.
A new law in Britain aims to send people arriving on small boats to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed. The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the plan made clear that people who arrived in Britain illegally would not be able to stay. The United Nations says the bill is the wrong solution and sets a dangerous precedent.
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