NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Independent Guåhan October General Assembly will commemorate the history of Chamoru petitions for self-determination
For Immediate Release, October 21, 2019- Independent Guåhan (IG) invites the public to attend their upcoming General Assembly (GA) to take place on Thursday, October 24thfrom 6:00-7:30 pm at the Main Pavilion of the Chamorro Village in Hagåtña. This month’s GA will commemorate the more than a century of petitions by the Chamoru people for improvements in their political status. In this spirit, the group will honor as Maga’taotao the late Senator Francisco R. Santos, a long-serving local leader.
Within months of the US takeover of Guam in 1898, the Chamoru people were already politely requesting improvements in their political status. Dozens of petitions were sent to the US Congress and the US Navy prior to World War II, some bearing thousands of signatures asking that the US improve the political status of the Chamoru people, whether by granting US citizenship or providin…

My two PDN columns on the need to protect language learning at UOG. If you aren't familiar with the issue, please head to this website UOG Language Drive, to learn more and sign the petition. If we combine both online and paper signatures, we have collected over 1500 and are still working on getting more!

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Protect Language Learning at UOG
Michael Lujan Bevacqua
Pacific Daily News
December 30, 2016

At present at the University of Guam, each undergraduate student is required to take two language classes (eight credits total) as part of their General Education or GE requirements. UOG offers courses regularly for Chamorro, Japanese, Tagalong, Spanish, Mandarin, French and can also offer courses in Chuukese and other Micronesian languages upon request. UOG is also home to the Chamorro Studies Program, of which I am a faculty member and this program is unique in the world in terms of focusing its courses on the history, language and culture of the Chamorr…

The petition drive to protect language learning at UOG continues. 
If you haven't signed the petition yet, please do so at this link.
Here is the website for the UOG Language Drive, which is being spearheaded by myself and other UOG faculty to protect language learning at UOG in the face of GE requirement changes which could drastically affect language programs at UOG, in particular my program, Chamorro Studies. 
Below is the petition statement for the UOG Language Drive, in Chamorro, Japanese, Tagalog, French, Spanish, Mandarin and English.
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Kinalamten para Lenguahi Siha gi Unibetsedåt Guahan  I hinangai-ña este para u na’adilåntu yan u chonnek mo’na i fina’nå’guen lengguåhi siha gi Unibetsidåt Guåhan. Manmama’nånå’gue, manmane’eyak yan manmansesetbe i fafa’nå’gue siha yan i estudiånte siha gi UOG para u manteteini i takhilo’ na minetgot-ñiha i kottura-ña siha yan i guinaha-ña iya Micronesia. Ginen este, siña ta usa este na minetgot siha para ta fåna…

If you believe that the University of Guam should support bilingualism and encourage through its curriculum the learning of the many languages from this region and beyond, please read below the statement of our "UOG Language Drive." Faculty and administrators at UOG are planning on reducing the required language classes for undergraduates from 2 to just 1 next year. This would reduce the language learning for all students from a single year (8 credits) to just a single semester (4 credits). Students could still take more courses if they wanted to, or if their major required it, but in general this will lead to a severely negative impact on any programs, such as mine, Chamorro Studies that are language focused. Please read this statement, written by a group of faculty including myself, and consider signing our Protect Languages at UOG Petition.

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The purpose of this signature drive is to promote and to advance language learning at the University of Guam.

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When the US Department of Defense released their Draft Environmental Impact Statement for their proposed military buildup to Guam, you could see both the potential danger involved and the community's reaction in simple numbers. The size of the DEIS in terms of page numbers was close to unbelievable. At 11,000 or so pages, you could not help but wonder about the potential impacts the plans would represent to Guam. If it took 11,000 pages to describe it and discuss it, how could it be good? Shouldn't the massive volume of pages required to articulate it be a sign of danger?

The community responded with more than 10,000 comments, many of which were critical of the buildup. A significant response, close to one for each page of that infernal document. When I recall that a JGPO representative said to me that they were anticipating just "500 on the high side" I feel that through a variety of activists means, people began to question the buildup and how much it might benefi…

Hami, i Taotao Guahan by Michael Lujan Bevacqua The Marianas Variety July 29, 2015
On December 17th, 1901 a group of more than thirty men, primarily Chamorros gathered in Hagatna. Most prominent on their minds was the political status of their island Guam, which had been taken by the United States during the Spanish American War three years earlier. Since the transfer of power, confusion over Guam’s future hung like dark foreboding clouds. Although the American flag flew over Guam, the United States had not set up a government in which Chamorros would now enjoy the glories of American democracy. They had established a military regime which the US Navy total control over the lives and lands of Chamorros.
The group that gathered in Hagåtña represented some of the largest landholders, the wealthiest families and some of the most educated Chamorros of the day. They carried last names familiar to us today, such as Perez, Torres, Dungca, Quitugua, Martinez, Diaz, Calvo, Untalan and Sablan. The …

Next week public comment and informational meetings will be taking place in Tinian and Saipan with regards to recently proposed plans to militarize Tinian and Pagan. For people that are wanting to follow the discussion there between leaders and activists I've gathered together some recent news from The Saipan Tribune and The Marianas Variety. CNMI leaders are putting out a request for help in terms of analyzing and disseminating information about the DEIS or draft environmental impact statement for the build up proposals. They are also requesting an extension as the document is close to 2,000 pages long. It has also, as far as I know, not been translated into Chamorro or Carolinian.

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'CNMI will benefit from military trainings here'
by Jayson Camacho
Saipan Tribune
4/20/15

The U.S. Department of Defense’s planned military buildup in the region has put the CNMI community in a quandary, with some supporting military activities on Tinian and Pagan and some opp…

Building an indigenous coalition for radical resistance to colonialism
We talk with Kanaka Maoli David Maile about indigenous coalition The Red Nation's efforts to unite different native people in radical resistance to colonialism, and how Native Hawaiians can stand in solidarity with other native peoples. 
From Will Caron in Indigenous issues in Hawaiian Sovereignty April 07, 2015 03:24 P

The Hawaii Independent Yesterday, indigenous rights and decolonization coalition The Red Nation issued a statement of solidarity with the Native Hawaiians currently protesting the development of the massive Thirty-Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea. This statement of solidarity is in line with The Red Nation’s goal of building unity between indigenous peoples around the world and teaching these people effective methods of radical resistance to colonial-capitalist systems of oppression.

The Red Nation was envi…