NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Independent Guåhan's August Meeting will honor the late Ricky Bordallo and tackle the question “Does Size Matter?” in terms of island development
For Immediate Release, August 20, 2018  Independent Guåhan (IG) invites the public to attend our August General Assembly (GA) on Thursday, August 30th, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the Main Pavilion of the Chamorro Village in Hagåtña. The event will focus on how Guåhan can be successful and prosperous as an independent country, and that being a small island does not truly hold us back.

At eachGA, Independent Guåhan honors amaga’taotao: a notable figure that has helped guide the island and the Chamoru people on their quest for self-determination. This month, IG will be honoring the legacy of the late governor of Guåhan, Ricardo “Ricky” Bordallo. Bordallo served in ILiheslaturan Guåhan seven times and was elected twice as Guåhan’s governor. He was a strong believer in Guåhan, that its people were capable of great things, and that our status as a…

So far this year Independent Guåhan has organized two Hale'-ta Hikes; the first to Laso' Fouha or Fouha Rock, and the second to Hila'an. Our third hike is set for later this month to Pågat.

I have written in several articles recently about how important this type of outreach has been in terms of developing community resistance to US military plans in Guam. Taking people into the areas that may be affected, contaminated or closed off to the public, and allowing them to forge their own personal and eventually, hopefully, political connections was essential, especially in the case of Pågat.

This is one reason why things have been different recently with regards to Litekyan. The fact that when you take people on hikes there, you are walking not through "public" or "local" lands, but instead federal property makes it difficult for people to imagine a strong connection to the lands and their meaning. Instead it feels like more of the stolen lands, stolen spi…

Independent Guåhan organizes “Ayuda i Mañainå-ta,” an event to celebrate our elders and assist them in their war claims applications
For Immediate Release, November 30, 2017 – Each December 8th, Guam commemorates the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Guam that dragged the island into World War II. Earlier this year, after more than seven decades, the US Congress has passed a law providing reparations for Chamorro survivors of the Japanese occupation. While this law is problematic in many ways, it still represents a chance for our manåmko’ to receive some compensation for what they suffered and help give closure to this violent period of Guam’s history.
This December 8th, Independent Guåhan is organizing “Ayuda i Mañainå-ta” an event designed to assist our elders in the completion of their compensation application and a celebration of their lives and struggle. Trained volunteers will be onsite to help them properly document their story, complete their forms and notarize their appl…

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Another Liberation Day has come and gone, and with each passing year, more and more questions emerge about the meaning of this important event and our relationship to it. More people seem willing to question whether or not the US return to Guam in 1944 was a liberation, but for each person who earnestly asks that question, there is usually another who raises their voice in indignant defense of the liberation, demanding that it not be questioned. For them it is a sacred event for our elders and should require our patriotism and gratitude and nothing more.
One of the misconceptions that people have in life, is the notion that something sacred should not be questioned or analyzed. I would propose instead that something sacred holds such depth and power, that its meaning can sustain questioning or scrutiny. If people shout down those who have earnest questions about Liberation Day in the name of it being sacred, more likely they are scared of how the concept will fall apa…

LEARN MORE ABOUT RECENT THREATS TO CHAMORRO RIGHTS AT INDPENDENT GUÅHAN’S MARCH GENERAL ASSEMBLY THURSDAY
Educational Presentations will focus on the Davis vs. Guam case, the Chamorro Land Trust and moving forward towards self-determination
For Immediate Release, March 20, 2017 – Independent Guåhan invites the public to its monthly General Assembly (GA) on Thursday, March 23rd from 6 – 7:30 p.m. at the Main Pavilion of the Chamorro Village in Hagåtña.
This month’s educational presentations will focus on the need to respect the Chamorro people in their quest to self-determination in light of current actions on behalf of the US Federal Government deeming the decolonization plebiscite and Chamorro Land Trust, “race-based discrimination”. In honor of Mes Chamoru, the meeting will be bilingual in both English and Chamorro.
Eartlier this month, Federal Justice France Tydingco-Gatewood ruled that a non-binding decolonization vote for Guam’s native inhabitants is unconstitutional and c…

INDEPENDENT GUÅHAN HOLDS ITS FEBRUARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING
Will discuss the importance of environmental stewardship under the theme of “Hu Guaiya iya Guåhan.”
Independent Guåhan invites the public to its monthly General Assembly (GA) meeting on Thursday, February 23rd from 6 – 7:30 pm at the Main Pavilion of the Chamorro Village in Hagåtña. The theme for this GA is “Hu Guaiya Iya Guåhan” and will focus on efforts to encourage environmental stewardship through the revitalization of Chamorro values.
The Inifresi outlines the six core elements that we must protect and defend in order to sustain and prosper as a community. This month’s GA will focus on the importance of tåno’ (land) and how an independent Guåhan can help protect this essential element of life. Over the past century, the Chamorro relationship to land has changed dramatically, primarily because of postwar displacement and changes in Guam’s economy. Land has moved from being something to which Chamorros felt intimately co…

Independent Guåhan invites the public to attend its fifth General Assembly on Thursday, December 22 from 6 – 7:30 p.m. at the main pavilion of the Chamorro Village in Hagåtña. The meeting will focus on water and what Guåhan can do as an independent country to preserve this precious resource.

Water is an essential element for human life across the Pacific and around the world. Hånom is one of the six elements that are invoked each day by thousands across the island when reciting the Inifresi. At present, our access to clean and safe water sources is complicated by the U.S. Navy’s ownership of Fena Lake in the south and the potential damage to the northern aquifer outlined in the Record of Decision should the U.S. continue to increase its military presence on Guåhan.
As an independent country, we would be able to control access and use of these resources to ensure that future generations have clean and reliable water. Next week’s General Assembly will focus on policies an independent Guå…

One of the things that I take pride in, is that this blog has been around for a while and that I've been able to maintain it continuously for 12 years now. Most of the Chamorro related or Guam related websites that existed when I first started this blog are no longer around. They have been taken down, lost, morphed into something else. Many of the people are still around, but they have moved on to other social media platforms. At one point the Free Association for Guam Task Force had a website. Nasion Chamoru had a website on an AOL platform, although it is now on Blogger (like this blog). The Statehood for Guam Task Force still has a website. A number of social websites or personal blogs have disappeared, and every once in a while I wonder what has become of those people.

Below is a short article written by former Senator Mark Charfauros, who was an active member of Nasion Chamoru in the 1990s. This was published 16 years ago on the website "Dialogue Between Nations" i…

At the funeral for Maga'låhi Ed Benavente today, I got a chance to talk to former Governor of Guam Felix Camacho. When Felix Camacho was first elected the group Nasion Chamoru was in decline in terms of its political power. Angel Santos had been elected into the Guam Legislature years earlier and formally left the group. Nasion itself had continued to fight and gotten a number of reforms implemented around land for the landless and for families that had lost land after World War II to the US military. Felix Camacho, seeking to make a sort of peace with Nasion Chamoru, which had been a notorious thorn in the side of the previous administration, reached out to Ed Benavente and offered him a position in his cabinet. I remember that time well, as I had already started hanging out with members of the Colonized Chamoru Coalition and so I got to listen in while members of Nasion Chamoru discussed whether or not Ed should join with Camacho. I won't describe the deliberations in detai…

Everytime Dr. Carlyle Corbin from the US Virgin Islands visit Guam I love listening to his stories of the times when Guam's governors were passionate about political status and decolonization and, at least at the governmental level, there was alot more collaboration and communication. I say this now because Guam's current Governor Eddie Calvo speaks every once in a while on the issue of political status, but doesn't seem to have a real interest or passion for the issue the way some of his predecessors did. Previous Governors invested heavily in the idea of educating people on the issue and working towards making decolonization a reality. This Governor, even now in his second-term where he is no longer running for election or re-election, still doesn't seem to really care about the issue and isn't investing in the process. It is unfortunate, as the longer we wait, the more difficult it becomes. 

One reason I really enjoy seeing Carlyle is because he brings me up to d…

I interviewed so many cool people over the last week in Okinawa and Ishigaki Islands. I did so with the help of Okinawan activist Shinako Oyakawa who I first met in 2010 during a demilitarization study tour to South Korea. I was fortunate enough to join her, Bruce Gagnon and Corazon Fabros on on a trip to South Korea where we visited areas affected by US military facilities and training. Later I met Shinako in the context of solidarity activism in connection with Okinawa. She is a member of an academic association which is pushing for Okinawan, Ryukyu or LewChu independence from Japan. Her group has invited me to several conferences in Okinawa over the years and she is usually stuck translating the mindless things I say into Japanese.

Another connection I have to Shinako is that she is a language revitalization activist. She is from Okinawa, one of many islands in what most people consider to be "Okinawa" or the Ryukyu Islands. Most people in Okinawa speak Japanese, but the…