The Free

Diego Garcia: stealing a nation..how law doesn’t apply if it’s the US or UK

Wednesday, 11 August 2022 — John Menadue By John Pilger via thefreeonline

One of John Pilger’s most remarkable documentaries, bringing a little-known story to a wide audience, is Stealing a Nation, about how British governments ruthlessly expelled the population of the Chagos Islands, a crown colony in the Indian Ocean, in the late 1960s and early 70s to make way for an American military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island.

The truth about the brutal removal of 1,500 islanders and the official conspiracy to deny the presence of an indigenous population did not emerge for another 20 years.

Secret official files were unearthed at the Public Record Office, in London, by lawyers acting for the former inhabitants of the coral archipelago, who wished to return to their homeland.

Historian Mark Curtis described the enforced depopulation in Web of Deceit, his 2003 book about Britain’s post-war foreign policy. The British media all but ignored it, while the Washington Post called it a ‘mass kidnapping’.

Pilger first heard of the plight of the Chagossians in 1982, during the Falklands War. ‘Britain sent a fleet to the aid of 2,000 Falkland Islanders at the other end of the world,’ he said, ‘while another 2,000 British citizens from islands in the Indian Ocean had been expelled by British governments and hardly anyone knew.

The difference was that one lot were white and the others were black, and the United States wanted the Chagos Islands – especially Diego Garcia – as a major military base.’

At the beginning of Stealing a Nation, Pilger says, ‘There are times when one tragedy, one crime, tells us how a whole system works behind its democratic façade and helps us understand how much of the world is run for the benefit of the powerful and how governments often justify their actions with lies.’

He recalls how the Chagos paradise – with an abundance of natural produce and no extreme weather – once had thriving villages, a school, a hospital, a church, a railway and an undisturbed way of life until a secret 1961 Anglo-American survey of Diego Garcia led both governments to plot to remove the inhabitants.

The expulsions began in 1965. People were herded into the hold of a rusting ship, endured rough seas and were dumped in the Seychelles, where they were held in prison cells. They were then shipped on to Mauritius, where they were taken to a derelict housing estate with no water or electricity. Twenty-six families died in brutal poverty, there were nine suicides and girls were forced into prostitution to survive.

Barcelona City Council warns: if you See this Turtle on the Beach, Call 112 – ENG/ESP

It is the nesting season for these animals, which have frequented the Catalan coast for years

A loggerhead sea turtle on a Catalan beach. /JORDI COTRINA (ZETA_INTRAMEDIA)

Una tortuga boba en una playa catalana. /JORDI COTRINA (ZETA_INTRAMEDIA)

Barcelona City Council has issued an alert to all people who go to the city’s beaches to alert them to the possible presence of sea turtles in that area, given that it is the nesting season, as well as to emphasize the need not to cause them no discomfort, or touch them, or harass them, or occupy their field of vision.

In case of locating a nest or a specimen, the consistory reminds you to call 112.

Las playas de Barceloneta y Sant Sebastià superaron el límite de gente.. The city beaches of Barceloneta and Sant Sebastià again exceeded the limit of people

The loggerhead or careta turtle (‘caretta caretta’) is a species that is threatened, which is why the authorities try to protect it. The presence of these animals has been detected in several enclaves on the Catalan coast in recent years.

Low survival rate

Thus, in recent months, the Generalitat has reported the release of several of these animals at points on the Catalan coast, such as El Prat, the Ebro delta and Barcelona within the framework of the ‘head starting’ program of the NGO Fundación para la Conservation and Recovery of Animals (CRAM).

Loggerhead Sea Turtle - Form and Function

This program aims to keep masked turtles in captivity for one or two years in order to improve their life expectancies, given that sea turtles have a survival rate of just 1% in their first months of life.

El Ayuntamiento de Barcelona avisa: si ves esta tortuga en la playa, llama al 112

Es época de nidificación de estos animales, que frecuentan la costa catalana desde hace años

El Ayuntamiento de Barcelona ha emitido una alerta a todas las personas que acudan a las playas de la ciudad para alertarles de la posible presencia detortugas marinas en esa zona, dado que es época de nidificación, así como para incidir en la necesidad de no causarles ninguna molestia, ni tocarlas, ni atosigarlas, ni ocupar su campo de visión. En caso de localizar un nido o un ejemplar, el consistorio recuerda que hay que llamar al 112.

La tortuga boba o careta (‘caretta caretta’) es una especie que se encuentra amenazada, de ahí que las autoridades traten de protegerla. Se ha detectado la presencia de estos animales en varios enclaves de la costa catalana en los últimos años.

Baja tasa de supervivencia

Así, en los últimos meses, la Generalitat ha informado de la liberación de varios de estos animales en puntos del litoral catalán, como El Prat, el delta de Ebro y Barcelona en el marco del programa ‘head starting’ de la oenegé Fundación para la Conservación y la Recuperación de los Animales (CRAM).

Este programa tiene la finalidad de mantener a tortugas careta en cautividad durante uno o dos años en aras de mejorar sus expectativas vitales, dado que las tortugas marinas tienen una tasa de supervivencia de apenas un 1% en sus primeros meses de vida.

Busy Power Freaks imposing Vaccine Passport Control scams worldwide

extract from WHO Renews Push for Global Pandemic Treaty, as World Bank Creates $1 Billion Fund for Vaccine Passports • via Children’s Health Defense by Michael Nevradakis via thefreeonline

….While the WHO and global governments weigh plans for an updated or new pandemic treaty, other organizations are moving forward on vaccine passport technologies and partnerships.

On July 8, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), composed of many of the world’s industrialized nations, announced it would promote the unification of the different vaccine passport systems currently in use around the world.

Thirty-six countries and international organizations participated in a July meeting with the goal of “creating a multilateral framework for establishing a global vaccine passport regime,” according to Nick Corbishley of Naked Capitalism.

The development is a continuation of efforts involving the WHO to harmonize global vaccine passport regimes.

Racist and paternalist white Reset -Stakeholders are focusing on Africa, which largely escaped the Covid Pandemic as well as Vaccine Deaths by refusing or not affording the ludicrous lockdowns, masks, ineffective poison vaccines, and prohibition of first aid and known remedies. No ‘expert’ can adequately explain Africa’s escape without committing the heresy of Covid denial.

In February, the WHO selected Germany’s T-Systems as an “industry partner to develop the vaccination validation service,” which would enable “vaccination certificates to be checked across national borders.”

T-Systems, an arm of Deutsche Telekom, was previously instrumental in developing the interoperability of vaccine passport systems in Europe.

Also in July, 21 African governments “quietly embraced” a vaccine passport system, which in turn would also be interlinked with other such systems globally.

On July 8, which is also Africa Integration Day, the African Union and the Africa Centers for Disease Control launched a digital vaccine passport valid throughout the African Union, describing it as “the e-health backbone” of Africa’s “new health order.”

This follows the development in 2021, of the Trusted Travel platform, now required by several African countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Togo and Zimbabwe, and air carriers such as EgyptAir, Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways, for both inbound and outbound travel.

Women of the Frontline: resistance and dignity – Raul Zibechi

by Raul Zibechi at Red Latina sin fronteras translation via thefreeonline

SITIADAS III Reflexiones sobre el estado punitivo y el sostenimiento de la vida sin estado

Introduction from 03/12/2021

One of the profound joys that the pandemic has brought me, despite all the pain, is having met new organizations, always below and to the left, in various countries of our America. Teia dos Povos (Network of Peoples) is one of them, which brings together indigenous, black and landless peasant communities. Organize the seventh day of agroecology in Bahia (Brazil) at the end of January .(https://teiadospovos.org/).

In the heat of the Colombian revolt, we “discovered” Canal 2 de Cali (canal2.co), a television station committed to the street, and Radio Contagio de Bogotá (contagioradio.com), with which we embarked on the path of coordinating independent media, an alliance that we hope expand to the entire continent.

Marcha XXII por la Diversidad Sexual y de Género en Cali – Canal 2 Cali

Another organization that I was unaware of is the Mujeres de Frente collective, which was born in the Quito prison in 2004, “made up of imprisoned and non-imprisoned women, embarked on a process of anti-penitentiary feminist research-action.”

On their page they define themselves as “a community of cooperation and care between autonomous street vendors, recyclers, domestic workers, university students, teachers, artists, released women, relatives of people in prison, children and adolescents” (https ://mujeresdefrente.org/).