the Disillusioned kid: Speak Truth to Power

Mauritian socialist group Lalit (the website is available here, but was down at the time of writing) have a new email petition about the Chagos Archipelago. They - and I - encourage people to sign it. Simply follow these simple instructions and Bob's you aunty:

Step 1: Read the petition [which I haven't reprinted in order to save space, but which should be available here - Dk]
Step 2: Select and copy all the text after the dotted line [OK, I haven't included the dotted line, but I trust you're all capable of working out what you need to do - Dk] below
Step 3: Create a new mail message on your Internet mail
Step 4: Paste the text you have just copied onto the new mail message
Step 5: Fill in your name and address at the end [you are strongly encouraged to do this in full in order that your message is taken seriously - Dk]
Step 6: Then you just have to cut & paste the email addresses into the "TO..." line in your mail message, and fill in the subject: "PETITION TO CLOSE MILITARY BASE ON DIEGO GARCIA"
Step 7: Press SEND

The message reads thus:

To: speaker@mail.house.gov; vice.president@whitehouse.gov; hofccommission@parliament.uk; ramnahp@intnet.mu; lalitmail@intnet.mu

SUBJECT : PETITION TO CLOSE MILITARY BASE ON DIEGO GARCIA

To: The Hon. J. Dennis Hastert: Speaker of the House of Representatives, US Congress
The Hon. Ted Stevens: Chair (President Pro Tempore) of the US Senate.
The Rt Hon Peter Hain MP: Office of the Leader of the House of Commons, UK
The Hon. Premnath Ramnah: Speaker of the National Assembly, Republic of Mauritius

We, the undersigned, call on the House of Representatives of the USA, the Senate of the USA, the Parliament of Great Britain and the National Assembly of Mauritius, to work to ensure:

1. The immediate decolonization of Diego Garcia and the Chagos Archipelago through the disbanding of the illegitimate "British Indian Ocean Territories"; the cancellation of the Orders in Council that prohibit the return of Chagossians to their native islands; the re-unification according to international law and the UN Charter, of the Republic of Mauritius that was dismembered as an illegal condition to Independence in 1968.

2. An immediate halt to ever using Diego Garcia for B-52's or other military apparatus to attack other countries (whether Afghanistan, Iraq or any other land) and the complete closing down of the United States military base on Diego Garcia; the organization of an ecological clean-up; a public undertaking that no other base be set up elsewhere to replace this one; the conversion of part of the base into a non-military Tsunami Warning Station for the Indian Ocean, and part into a UNESCO World Heritage Site around a vast ecological project to regenerate the coral and the lagoons.

3. That an immediate visit by the Red Cross and respected journalists be organized, so that independent investigations can be conducted into the persistent allegations that there have been and/or are Guantanamo-style prisoners being held or "rendered" on or near Diego Garcia.

4. The immediate right of return, as well as full reparations and compensation for damages, from the US and UK governments to all Chagossians forcibly removed between 1965 and 1973.

NAME: .......... .
ORGANISATION (if any): ..........
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CITY /TOWN: ......
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COUNTY/ STATE : ........
COUNTRY : .....