NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Decolonization gi Fino' CHamoru: Future Status Options for Guam Discussed in UOG CHamoru-Language Panel
Mangilao, GU - On Thursday, March 1, 2018, 6:00-7:30 p.m., the Dean of the School of Business and Public Administration at the University of Guam will host a CHamoru-language panel from the Commission on Decolonization to discuss the status options for Guam/Guåhan: Statehood, Free Association, and Independence.
The event is called "Decolonization gi Fino' CHamoru" (in the CHamoru language).It will be held in Room 131.It is free and all are welcome and encouraged to attend.
The panel, co-organized with Commission Director Amanda Blas from the Office of the Governor of Guam, will include special presentations gi Fino' CHamoru (in the indigenous CHamoru language) from representatives of the Taskforces on Statehood, Free Association, and Independence.Handouts and other educational materials in English will also be available.
The taskforces are direc…

Guam gets its 15 mins of national or international media fame refreshed every few years, sometimes because of a typhoon or earthquake. Sometimes because of snake epidemics. Over the past few years, North Korea has had alot to do with Guam getting a little extra attention. Usually these periods are frustrating to analyze in media terms because Guam, even if it is mentioned as the focus of a story, still remains at the periphery of it. But this most recent North Korea scare led to a series of well-written and insightful articles that didn't shy away from Guam's colonial status, but engaged with it. Here below is probably my favorite piece to come out from all the drama.

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"Guam: A colonized island nation where 160,000 American lives are not only at risk but often forgotten"
by Gene Park
Washington Post
August 11, 2017

“Total Americans affected: 3,831.”

Fox News ran a video explainer this week on the affect of North Korea’s missiles on Guam. The…

I spent some time recently with former Governor of Guam Joseph Ada. It was a very enlightening experience and one that I will most definitely be writing about or incorporating into my research and activism with regards to Guam's decolonization. There was one thing that stood out though, especially when comparing the time when Joseph Ada was Governor (1986-1994) to the current moment under the leadership of Governor Eddie Calvo. In both eras Guam's political status remains a fundamental unresolved issue that leaks out and affects so many other aspects of life, even if the general population doesn't understand it or accept the connections. During the term of Governor Ada, the Government of Guam was well organized and focused on negotiating with the US Congress and Feds over the proposed Commonwealth status. These negotiations eventually failed under the term of his successor Governor Carl Gutierrez, but the negotiation of a new, transitional political status for Guam that w…

Two letters to the editor on recent and not so recent activities related to Guam's decolonization.

For those who don't know, there are three political status options that are outlined per local and international law for Guam's future, integration (statehood), free association and independence. Each of these status has a task force that is mandated to educate the community about their status. These task forces are volunteer and have always been, although public law does indicate that the Commission on Decolonization is supposed to provide funding and support for their outreach.

But there is little written into the law about the structure of these task forces or details about their obligations. They are supposed to have a certain amount of members and they each have a chairperson who gets to serve and vote on the Commission itself, but other than that, they are amorphous and nebulous non-governmental organizations. The business of government usually moves slowly, unless the…

The United States has long ignored its obligation to Guam with regards to educating the people on their political status and enhancing their understanding of self-determination with the intent of pushing them towards a greater degree of self-government. For decades, activists and Government of Guam officials have called on the United States to fulfill this obligation, with little to no success. This past year however represented the first instance in recent memory of the United States accepting this obligation, as the Department of Interior has provided a grant of $300,000 to the Government of Guam to be used for political status education. Similar grants were also provided to other colonial possessions of the United States, with a similar educational purpose in mind.

This money is promising, however most likely unique. Previous attempts to get this type of funding were met with confused responses at multiple levels and didn't go anywhere. As of today it isn't clear what exac…

On August 28, 2015 the Department of Defense signed the Record of Decision (ROD) for their proposed military buildup to Guam. The military buildup and its impact on Guam has long been a topic of public debate. What has often been lost in the discussion of socioeconomic and environmental impacts is what effect a military increase of this magnitude may have on the Chamorro quest for self-determination and the decolonization of Guam.

Since 2011 I have been a member of the Commission on Decolonization, and although many people might think of issues of self-determination and military increases as being separate, we should think of them as being more closely connected. The overall mission of the Commission on Decolonization is to educate the island community on issues of political status, in particular related to the holding of a political status plebiscite in which those who are legally qualified will vote on one of three future political statuses for Guam (integration, free association or…

Guam's decolonization movement has been stalled at the governmental level for many years, and even decades depending on how you perceive things. During the Gutierrez administration the quest for decolonization was taken seriously in a variety of ways, money was provided for education, the Commonwealth movement was in full swing, although it did eventually end in 1997, and several plebiscites were scheduled. The problem was that the plebiscite was scheduled and postponed multiple times, and no real educational campaign ever took place, although at one point basic materials were distributed on a mass scale. During the next administration, that of Felix Camacho, the issue almost died completely at the government level. Community groups and civil society took up the cause, but during the entire administration of Camacho, not a single meeting of the Commission on Decolonization was held, and the office itself was given little to no support. Part of this was the hesitancy of the admini…

When talking about decolonization in Guam it is easy to assume that the lack of progress must be due to local problems. It is easy to look at the last three administrations and say in different ways that they weren't focused, or didn't understand the issue, or were afraid to upset the United States by taking it on more aggressively. We can also to certain Government of Guam agencies, such as the Commission on Decolonization, the Guam Election Commission or even the Department of Chamorro Affairs, for not taking the issue more seriously and incorporating it regularly into their outreach and community goals. It is easy to look at the Guam Legislature and see its members as not really understanding the gravity of the issue, or being afraid of taking it on because it may make them seem anti-American to local voters or US Federal officials. All of these things carry some truth to them. But to assume that this is the problem misses the larger structure, the larger limitations by bei…

"Independence: A Very American Idea" by Michael Lujan Bevacqua Co-Chair, Independence for Guam Task Force April 12, 2016 Recent weeks have been brimming with discussion of decolonization, self-determination and political status change for Guam. Governor Calvo spent a large part of his recent State of the Island Address talking about Guam’s political status and laid out a bold plan to hold a political status vote by the end of the year. Calvo’s proposal created a stir in the community, especially among those who have been fighting for self-determination for decades, as it seemed to open the right to vote in a self-determination plebiscite to all registered voters and not just those who are considered to be “native inhabitants.”
Last week Calvo presented his plans to the Commission on Decolonization, of which I am a member, representing the Independence for Guam Task Force. We had some very spirited discussion on the Governor’s plans, sharing our concerns, but also expressi…