NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

I first wrote an article "Happy US Imperialism Day Guam!" about 13 years ago. It was published in Minagahet Zine and later on this blog when I began it soon after. The writing of this article originally was a very formative experience. Part of it eventually became my Masters Thesis in Micronesian Studies. But I also wrote it at a time when I was first trying to find a way to become more public about my critiques and writing letters to the editor of the Pacific Daily News and creating websites/blogs were some of the obvious choices. 
This article was written when the second Iraq War was only eight months old and the War in Afghanistan was over two years old. It was written at a time when I was feeling frustrated over the deaths of the first few Chamorros in Iraq, Christopher Rivera Wesley being the first.  As I said, it was also written at a time when I was first working on developing a critical consciousness and a public voice in terms of writing and philosophy. I had been i…

Published on Wednesday, August 1, 2012 by The Nation From the Archive: We Are the Patriots by Gore Vidal CD editor's note: The following essay appeared in the June 2, 2003 edition of The Nation magazine, and we reprint it today following news that Gore Vidal died yesterday at the age of 86:

I belong to a minority that is now one of the smallest in the country and, with every day, grows smaller. I am a veteran of World War II. And I can recall thinking, when I got out of the Army in 1946, Well, that's that. We won. And those who come after us will never need do this again. Then came the two mad wars of imperial vanity--Korea and Vietnam. They were bitter for us, not to mention for the so-called enemy. Next we were enrolled in a perpetual war against what seemed to be the enemy-of-the-month club. This war kept major revenues going to military procurement and secret police, while withholding money from us, the taxpayers, with our petty concerns for life, liber…

Olaha mohon na sina mumagahet este.
Gi i fino' Pelosi yan Reid "ti gaigaige gi hilo' i lamasa "impeachment." Lao baba este. Kontat ki taigue este na "threat" kulang taichi i pusishon i Presidente. An taigue este ti sina macho'cho' maolek i sisteman "checks yan balances." Yanggen umisao i Presidente, i obligashon-na i Kongresu, para u na'luhan gui' yan na'tunas gui' ta'lo. Lao yanggen un laknos este na "threat" taimanu sina un atgoya i Presidente? ***************************

Published on Thursday, June 12, 2008 by TruthDig.com
Gore Vidal’s Article of Impeachment
by Gore Vidal

On June 9, 2008, a counterrevolution began on the floor of the House of Representatives against the gas and oil crooks who had seized control of the federal government. This counterrevolution began in the exact place which had slumbered during the all-out assault on our liberties and the Constitution itself.

I wish to draw the attention of…

I'm thinking about turning the posting of this article into a yearly thing for me. It was the first piece that I ever published in Minagahet Zinein 2003 and represented a huge shift in both my thinking and my ability to represent myself and my ideas publicly.

At the time I was in the states living with my then girlfriend Rita, writing my master's thesis in Micronesian Studies and also applying to graduate schools. I hadn't really been that active on Guam. I had done alot of research, alot of talking and listening, spent time with different activist groups and learning from them what was being done, what had been done and of course, what was still left to be done.

Coming to the states however, I found myself with so much information, stories and pain, most of which never seemed to find its way into public discussions in Guam. Disconnected, lonely, feeling malingu didide', I did what most people in this situation do, I started spending too much time on the internet, lookin…

RUSH TRANSCRIPT
This transcript is available free of charge, however donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution. Donate - $25, $50, $100, more...

AMY GOODMAN: As we continue our discussion of President Bush's inaugural address, let's hear a section of that speech.

PRESIDENT BUSH: America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal, instead, is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way. The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it. America's influence is not unlimited; but fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable, and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause.

AMY GOODMAN: President Bush, his second inaugural address. Today we're joined by Gore Vidal, one of America's most respe…

I wrote this last year in Minagahet to commemorate the 62nd year since the United States started a world war and ended up killing hundreds of Chamorros because of it. The issues haven't really changed, so I thought I'd reprint it here. You can find the original here, http://www.geocities.com/minagahet/hacha.htm.


Happy US Imperialism Day! Rethinking the Chamorro Place in the American Empire

by Michael Lujan Bevacqua

This December 8th will be the 62nd anniversary of the Japanese invasion of Guam, and coming next year in July, will be the 60th anniversary of the “liberation” of Guam. But before we unpack our American flags, or start practicing Uncle Sam won’t you please come back to Guam again, it is time for Chamorros to really rethink about what they are celebrating, which is far from a liberation, or reoccupation, or patriotism, but in actuality war, imperialism and militarism.

But how could this not be expected, really? Considering that our, and therefore Guam’s value to the U…

Gore Vidal, June 4, 2004

"I remember years ago, Time magazine, in one of its numerous attacks on me, on my first book of essays, which was heaven knows when, 30, 40 years ago, I refer to the American empire and things that we were doing that were not very good across the world, and I referred to the empire. And Time magazine dismissed me. It was an awful review. He's the sort of person that says that the United States has an empire. Well, we’ve got Guam, that's true. That's all we have got. I pointed out that we had troops and so on in over 1,000 other places around the world. That seems imperial to me, but there we are."

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/04/1353259

I plan on writing about this in an article I'm working on. Even amongst the "left" as its called, Guam isn't even a blip on the radar. Its still invisible in a sense, and not worth citing as an example of anything worth fighting for or needing to be fixed.