Lalit - full name Lalit de Klas, French Creole for "class struggle" - is a socialist organisation based on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Broadly Trotskyist in its politics (though interestingly it does not use the word, or much other traditional revolutionary terminology, in its public documents), the group originated in various anti-privatisation and other social struggles in the late 1970s and 1980s. Their book, Diego Garcia in Times of Globalisation, produced by leading activists from Lalit, is an attempt to relate the geo-politics of American military activity in the Indian Ocean to the growth of US investment in Africa under conditions of capitalist globalisation.

Diego Garcia, a tiny strip of land about two thousand miles from the island cluster which forms the main part of the Republic of Mauritius, was detached by the British colonial authorities when Mauritius gained independence in 1968. Over the next few years, Britain would deport Diego Garcia's entire population in order to lease the island to the US as a military base - one which would eventually play a crucial role in the so-called war on terror, providing a launchpad for the recent attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq.

So far so bad - but Lalit's book also attempts to demonstrate how the issue of Diego Garcia relates to US capitalism's wider agenda in the region. The Mauritian government has consistently failed to oppose what amounts to the US occupation of part of its territory, and more recently has given support to Bush's military adventures, because it fears exclusion from US legislation concerning the promotion of investment in Africa - legislation which naturally encourages privatisation, attacks on working-class living standards and so on. By combining in-depth articles with factual summaries and documents from the British, US and Mauritian campaigns against the occupation of Diego Garcia, the book provides startling evidence of how market mechanisms intertwine with military force in the structure of today's "imperialism of free trade".

About half the contents are, unfortunately from our point of view, in French Creole, so I am not really qualified to pass judgement on the book as a whole - but its general approach seems to be that of the Third Camp, combining opposition to US foreign policy with the advocacy of militant struggle against local elites and ruling classes. This is despite occasional populist-style phrases about "imperialism".

Overall, the book is an excellent introduction to the interaction of the war on terror, popular protest movements and working-class politics in the Indian Ocean region.

Diego Garcia In Times of Globalisation is published by LPT, 153 Main Road, Grand River North West, Port Louis, Republic of Mauritius.
Link: Lalit Mauritius [1]
Score: 9/10
Reviewer: Sacha Ismail