Another Take: The Chagos Islands were paradise. Then came the UK and US.
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 26 October 2024
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Every Saturday, we revisit a story from the archives. This originally aired on February 27, 2023. None of the dates, titles, or other references from that time have been changed.
Why haven’t the people of the Chagos Islands been allowed to go home? The archipelago in the Indian Ocean was home to Chagossians until the 1960s. As decolonization swept the globe, the UK created one last African colony. Slowly and then all at once, it forced people to leave their homes, then leased the land to the US for a military base. Chagossians have been fighting – and sometimes winning – in court to return to their home islands, and now, Human Rights Watch says that what the UK and US did amounts to crimes against humanity.
In this episode:
- Clive Baldwin (@cliveabaldwin), Senior Legal Advisor, Human Rights Watch
Episode credits:
This episode was updated by Chloe K. Li and Sarí el-Khalili. The original production team was Negin Owliaei, Miranda Lin, and our host Malika Bilal.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Munera Al Dosari and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers.
Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
Connect with us:
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Hi, I'm Saril Khalili, Senior producer with a take, coming to you with another take, where we resurface stories from the archives. |
| 0:20.0 | On the Shagos Islands, indigenous residents have suffered years of force displacement by the United Kingdom. |
| 0:27.6 | Last year, an investigation by Human Rights Watch concluded that the displacement was a crime against humanity. |
| 0:36.6 | The United Kingdom announced at the start of October that it will give up the sovereignty of the Shagos Islands to Mauritius. |
| 0:45.3 | The decision will shape the fate of displaced Shagosians. |
| 0:50.3 | In an episode that originally aired on February 27, 2023, we spoke with a human rights watch lawyer. |
| 0:59.0 | All dates and references are from that time. |
| 1:18.6 | The This is Chegos, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean. People who grew up on the islands describe life there as idyllic. |
| 1:22.6 | Life in Chegos for people was like living like one family. |
| 1:30.0 | Everything we share, even the food we cook, we share. |
| 1:33.4 | If there's a problem, there's always someone to help. |
| 1:38.0 | Now it's home to a U.S. military base. |
| 1:41.2 | So how did this happen? |
| 1:49.0 | 50 years ago, the U.K Chagos' residence to create their last African colony. Then they leased that land to the U.S. for their military base. Now, |
| 1:56.0 | a new year-long investigation, says Chagosian's forced displacement amounts to crimes against humanity. |
| 2:02.6 | The United Kingdom is committing an ongoing colonial crime. |
| 2:07.6 | This crime could be ended today by the United Kingdom and the United States if they said |
| 2:15.6 | the Shogosians have the right to return home right now. |
| 2:21.2 | And Shagosians are still fighting to go back. |
| 2:26.7 | I'm Malika Bilal and this is the take. In this episode, you'll hear the voices of Chagosians who were forced to leave their home islands, |
| 2:44.0 | and from someone who's followed this case, from courtrooms in London to villages in Mauritius for the last 20 years. |
... |
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