People's Navy Mission Statement

The idea for our Chagos voyage came about because we want to do something practical to highlight the plight of the Chagossian people, to draw attention to it, and to try and break the stalemate of that situation and bring about change.

My reason for doing it is that I believe it is better to do something than nothing. My belief is that by bearing witness, by acting with honest motivations within the laws of natural justice (and the law as interpreted by all the Courts of England), and by denouncing violence in all its forms – individuals can bring about change for the better in society.

My inspiration is David McTaggart who sailed his ketch Vega into the French nuclear weapon testing zone at Mururoa and sat (literally) underneath a “live” nuclear bomb and prevented its detonation. His book “Voyage into the Bomb” is an incredible story. Even on the level of a small boat voyage in the Pacific it is incredible. I would hesitate to put myself anywhere near his achievements, but David was an inspiration to me . He exposed the collusion between the French and Canadian Governments (the Canadians supplied the uranium) and his actions helped to bring about the end of the atmospheric testing of nuclear bombs.

No one, in their right mind, wants the situation of the injustice to the Chagossians to continue. No one, that is, who is not blinded with greed and obsessed with power or caught up in the web of those forces beyond their control. Ask any normal person. Do you think it’s a way for your Government (your elected representatives) to behave? Is it a nice thing to do? Force its own citizens out of their homes? Exile them to a foreign land and force them into what amounts to slavery? Let them die of poverty and broken hearts?

History shows us that each freedom, each small advance in true democracy and human rights, is fought for and won by “ordinary” people. Elites,people in power, big business, will do anything to keep their crowns. They’d roll us back to the middle ages at the drop of a hat – we can see it hapenning in front of our eyes.

Everyone can see very clearly how despicably and disgracefully successive UK Governments have behaved and continue to behave.

We can’t duck this issue. Despite it all – I still believe we can make a change. We can help the process of justice and decency by our actions. I haven’t yet given up on the belief in the essential decency of normal people, and especially in this case the decency of normal English people, to shame the UK Government into lawful (never mind humane) behaviour.

See this articlefor a synopsis of David McTaggart's Journey Into The Bomb.