You do have to feel for the Chagos Islanders. They've been dumped on when Britain evicted them, they've been dumped on as we've negotiated to give their country to Mauritius over their heads, and no doubt Mauritius will continue to dump on them ad infinitum go forwards
Why can’t the Chagos Islanders make the claim that this deal is colonialism, empire building and waging a war of aggression against them by Mauritius?
We have one people whose islands are being given away because the ICJ has an advisory opinion that Chagos is a colony, so the British government’s solution to that is to give that colony to Mauritius so that Mauritius can have an empire and continue to colonise them.
The UN Charter Article 1 affirms the right of a people to self-determination, we all agree that Chagos islanders are human, therefore they have the right to self-determination and from what we can tell they don’t want to become part of the new Empire of Mauritius, they want to be their own independent state, so why does everyone else on the planet have the right to self-determination but Chagos islanders don’t?
The serious and unfortunate answer is that by precedent a state's right to national territory outranks the right to self determination, except in exceptional circumstances like crimes against humanity.
That's why places like Catalonia, or the Kurdistans, or Scotland can't just leave a state without some sort of agreement - whether a democratic majority exists for it or not. Same reason places like Somaliland go generally unrecognised.
Chagos gets annexed into a state where the chagossians' right to self-determination is criminalised, but it's all technically fine because the state parties agree.
If that’s the case why was decolonisation ever able to happen, why can’t France legally invade and annex Algeria and claim the current government are a crime gang occupying French sovereign territory? (Algeria used to be an integrated part of France, not a colony, literally France)
Decolonisation happened because the colonial empires could no longer afford to maintain them, in both money and manpower. That's why for some it was a multi decade process and for others an immediate collapse.
France can't legally invade and re-annex Algeria because France and the rest of the world recognise Algeria as a seperate sovereign state and full UN member.
France tried to keep Algeria as long as they could, the only reason it stopped being part of France is because they lost it and they accepted that by agreement.
The First Minister isn’t a Chagos Islander. He was born in Mauritius after all the people were removed. He wasn’t appointed first minister by most of the people from the Chagos Island because they mostly live in Mauritius and didn’t get a vote.
These people are just chancers after more money from our government.
If he wants to be called that who am I to stop him. My point was more that he’s been nominated by a small proportion of the people who come from there (and their bloodlines), ignoring all the ones who live in Mauritius. We’re declaring them as the Chagossians when in actual fact they’re some Chagossians and their children.
But think of all the soft power that would be squandered and *checks notes* travel package deals that would be put at risk by telling Mauritius to do one.
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The lords have pushed back on the Bill's third reading and have sent it back to the Commons, As of about 6 PM today.
Was like 30 majority against. Labour will ignore it but that’s a big majority to ignore in my opinion
Good news.
You do have to feel for the Chagos Islanders. They've been dumped on when Britain evicted them, they've been dumped on as we've negotiated to give their country to Mauritius over their heads, and no doubt Mauritius will continue to dump on them ad infinitum go forwards
Why can’t the Chagos Islanders make the claim that this deal is colonialism, empire building and waging a war of aggression against them by Mauritius?
We have one people whose islands are being given away because the ICJ has an advisory opinion that Chagos is a colony, so the British government’s solution to that is to give that colony to Mauritius so that Mauritius can have an empire and continue to colonise them.
The UN Charter Article 1 affirms the right of a people to self-determination, we all agree that Chagos islanders are human, therefore they have the right to self-determination and from what we can tell they don’t want to become part of the new Empire of Mauritius, they want to be their own independent state, so why does everyone else on the planet have the right to self-determination but Chagos islanders don’t?
Because no one actually cares about "colonialism, empire building and waging a war of aggression" unless they can use it to attack the West.
That’s a bingo!
The serious and unfortunate answer is that by precedent a state's right to national territory outranks the right to self determination, except in exceptional circumstances like crimes against humanity.
That's why places like Catalonia, or the Kurdistans, or Scotland can't just leave a state without some sort of agreement - whether a democratic majority exists for it or not. Same reason places like Somaliland go generally unrecognised.
Chagos gets annexed into a state where the chagossians' right to self-determination is criminalised, but it's all technically fine because the state parties agree.
If that’s the case why was decolonisation ever able to happen, why can’t France legally invade and annex Algeria and claim the current government are a crime gang occupying French sovereign territory? (Algeria used to be an integrated part of France, not a colony, literally France)
Decolonisation happened because the colonial empires could no longer afford to maintain them, in both money and manpower. That's why for some it was a multi decade process and for others an immediate collapse.
France can't legally invade and re-annex Algeria because France and the rest of the world recognise Algeria as a seperate sovereign state and full UN member.
France tried to keep Algeria as long as they could, the only reason it stopped being part of France is because they lost it and they accepted that by agreement.
The First Minister isn’t a Chagos Islander. He was born in Mauritius after all the people were removed. He wasn’t appointed first minister by most of the people from the Chagos Island because they mostly live in Mauritius and didn’t get a vote.
These people are just chancers after more money from our government.
He doesn’t want the deal to go through and stay British.
He isn’t asking for money but the right to be heard like everyone else
Do Chagossian's define themselves by birthplace or by bloodline? If the latter, very much a Chagossian.
If he wants to be called that who am I to stop him. My point was more that he’s been nominated by a small proportion of the people who come from there (and their bloodlines), ignoring all the ones who live in Mauritius. We’re declaring them as the Chagossians when in actual fact they’re some Chagossians and their children.
Wtf is he chancing he activley attacking the deal it would save the UK money lol.
Pray tell, how did they end up in Mauritius?
We forcibly removed everyone who lived there in the 60s and 70s and moved most to Mauritius.
So unlike Greenland this is a time Starmer doesn’t think a people should decide their own destiny?
Yes but he wants his mates to be happy
There is no such thing as International Law, bin the deal
But think of all the soft power that would be squandered and *checks notes* travel package deals that would be put at risk by telling Mauritius to do one.