THE CHAGOS ISLANDS SCANDAL (weekly poem)

THE CHAGOS ISLANDS SCANDAL

March 2015. A UN Tribunal has heavily criticised the

British Government for forcibly resettling the Chagos

Islanders in Mauritius to make way for a US Base

The Chagos Islanders would say,

A curse on some in the UK;

Namely our Government, who planned,

To drive them from their native land.

Westminster’s men, as is the rule,

Played their role as a U.S. tool;

As part of Washington’s arms race,

Because the Yanks required a base.

A base from which to bomb and strafe,

And keep Wall Street’s environs safe;

Presumably from ‘Commie’ shells,

Fired from the Maldives and Seychelles.

And the result of this disgrace,

Was the exile of a whole race;

Who were forced from their island home,

Just for a Yankee aerodrome.

Complicit in this banishment,

Was Britain’s Labour Government;

Whose Ministry for (their) Defence

Kept silent to hide the offence.

Some years ago, John Pilger tried,

To question Healey who denied (1)

Involvement, saying to save face

That he’d, “No memory” of the case.

Yes Folks! A Labour Party joke:-

“We’re for the poor and common folk,

For social justice and the like,

Just vote for us – then take a hike!”

The men and women of each land,

Should learn the truth and understand;

Now that the U.S. and U.K.,

Have been held to account today.

(1) Dennis Healey, former Labour Minister of Defence.

© Richard Layton