28.02.2019
Monday this week, LALIT member Lindsey Collen was invited to an MBC TV debate on the Chagos victory. The MBC is the only Mauritian public TV channel here. The invitation was very appropriate: Lindsey is both nationally and internationally known for her LALIT work on Diego Chagos and against military bases spanning over 42 years.
The day after, on Tuesday, Lindsey gave a 5 minute radio interview on Mauritian radio station Radio Plus. (You can listen to this 5 minute interview in Kreol by clicking or copy/pasting this link: https://podcasts.defimedia.info/270219-linterview-de-la-matinale). The interview as well as commenting the political significance of the Chagos victory at the ICJ also criticised the Mauritian government and other “opinion makers” for their cowardly position to refuse to challenge the US military occupation of Diego Garcia, one of the Chagos islands just at the very time when there is such a strong ICJ advisory opinion on decolonisation. What they are saying boils down to this: UK colonisation must go, but US colonisation must remain.
Some time later on Tuesday, she was informed by the MBC that she was no longer being invited to the debate following her interview on Radio Plus. The MBC then sent a team to pre-record a video clip for the debate instead. She refused to do this as it was obvious that the MBC would then be in a position to delete any criticism of the Jugnauth government.
Mauritian newpaper Le Mauricien yesterday published an article on this MBC invitation and disinvitation. And yesterday when the MBC debate was being aired, Yvan Martial, ex-editor of L'Express Mauritian newspaper paid hommage to the special contribution of LALIT members Ram Seegobin and Lindsey Collen that has made the ICJ victory possible.