NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

As a contemporary colony, Guam doesn't get much attention anywhere. In a world where colonialism isn't supposed to exist anymore, being a colony isn't that great. When you try to articulate your colonial existence people tend to respond in a number of different ways. They may dismiss the colonial nature of your situation since it can't be as bad as colonialism was in the past. They may dismiss your complaints because you come from a small island that should be grateful to be colonized, especially by the most powerful country in the world. They may attempt to correct you and say that Guam is really a territory not a colony. Or a dependency and not a colony. Or a protectorate and not a colony. The United Nations is one of the few places where the idea of there being colonies left in the world isn't controversial, although this remains a salient topic in only certain parts of the bureaucracy. For example, a place like Guam doesn't have much represen

I wonder who writes the press releases or the formal statements at the United Nations. Some of them must be easy as you simply include basic pertinent information. You recognize a country, an anniversary, a resolution or something like that. It might also be easy because so many of the press releases and statements, year after year, can be very similar and so you can really just cut and paste something from last year, change the dates and maybe a word or two. Such is possible is any large bureaucracy and so we shouldn't assume the UN is immune from this. But in truth, if you are taking your job seriously you can't do this, you have to give the impression that something is different or that something has changed, even if nothing has. For the issue of decolonization, we are currently in the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism from the world. Over these past 26 years, very little has changed or shifted in terms of ridding the world of colonialis