NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

As I and so many others have stated, social movements work in cycles. There are moments of ascendancy and then declines. Their are moments of incredible cohesion and then disruption and atomization. When I look back at my own life, I can see, in the movement for decolonization various ruptures in this sense. Some of which I have simply witnessed, others I was actively involved in. This letter to the editor of The Pacific Daily News by Kin Perez is an important reminder of the movements and moments that have come before, the ways in which we might build upon their actions, but the ways we might also be stuck with the same problems and similar dynamics. I would like to think that this year, we are seeing a type of resurgence and the foundation is being built for something larger. We shall see how long it lasts, but it is the first time in centuries that the momentum is towards autonomy and independence as opposed to further integration with the colonizer. ***************************

For those thinking about the future of Guam, especially in the context of decolonization, we should stop looking to the United States, but instead look to Palau/Belau. Many of our ideas about decolonization or independence and therefore political possibility are tied to the way we perceive the United States. We see it as being the model for the way a country should live and exist today. We are conditioned in an endless number of ways each day and over the course of our lives here to see the United States as the pinnacle of possibility. That if we are to live anyway, it should be the images we have of it. We look to other large and powerful countries as distant alternatives, but always we see America as being where its at. The way we see America however is far from objective. Our gaze drips with colonial nonsense. When the first discussions on political status change and decolonization started to emerge in Guam, one constant refrain of resistance was the notion that Guam could never b