NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Last month we organized a forum at the University of Guam on nuclear dangers to Guam, both from the nuclear weapons of others, but also accidents involving the nuclear weapons kept on Guam by the US military or the nuclear-powered vehicles that are docked here. It was somewhat disappointing when in a room meant for close to 200 people at the UOG CLASS Lecture Hall, we only had about 40 people in attendance. As one of the speakers on the panel remarked, this is a critical issue, which few people seem to care about. That is one reason why it is so critical. It looms around us, as threats from others or dangers from within, but we don't seem to take it very seriously at all. Robert Underwood once said that living in a colony and not taking decolonization or colonialism seriously is like running a hospital without taking seriously issues of illness and treatment. I would argue a similar thing on Guam in terms of the dangers our heavily militarized existence presents. In 2010 I trav

Two of Japan's pacifist voices go silent by Phillip Brasor Special To The Japan Times September 3, 2016 Rokusuke Ei — writer, broadcaster, raconteur — died on July 7 at the age of 83, roughly two decades after publishing a best-seller called “Daiojo,” which means “Dying Peacefully.” Several media outlets reported that Ei passed peacefully. He’d had Parkinson’s disease for a number of years before he died and yet continued to present his long-running show on TBS Radio until this spring — though he often did so over the phone. He also had to rely more on his female announcing partner, which in a way was the saddest aspect of his decline. Ei was, more than anything, a man of words, someone who understood the power of simple, clear language. His gift was instinctual — he didn’t need to choose his words carefully. In a series of memorial interviews in the Asahi Shimbun with some of Ei’s professional acquaintances, veteran comedian Kinichi Hagimoto said of his fri

2016 World Conference against A & H Bombs Declaration of the International Meeting Seventy one years ago, the USA used nuclear bombs for the first time against humanity by releasing atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. With tremendous destructive power and radiation, the two bombs burned out the cities and claimed the lives of about 210,000 people by the end of the year. It was a hell on earth. The Hibakusha who survived then had to suffer from latent effects and social discrimination for many subsequent years. Such inhumane weapons should not be used again in any circumstances whatsoever. The nuclear powers still maintain more than 15,000 nuclear warheads. Not a small number of them are on alert for launch. The concern for the outbreak of nuclear war due to deteriorating regional tensions is real. A recent study shows that even if only a small percentage of existing nuclear weapons are used, it would cause serious climate change and would bring the huma

When I talk about the United States, I often times end up having to qualify even the simple usage of the term because of Guam's political status. Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States. That means that it is both "a part of the United States" and also exists "apart from the United States." Its status, like those of other US colonies, has sometimes been referred to as "foreign in a domestic sense." Because of this status, when the United States as a nation, a country, a political entity is invoked in any forum, whether it be on the floors of Congress, the creation of a flag, the writing of a comedy bit or movie, Guam may or may not be included. Take for instance when the movie Pixels, directed by Chris Columbus and staring Adam Sandler was being created. The issue of Guam's inclusion and exclusion into the United States played a role in the fact that it was included as a location in the film. I wrote about th

I got a copy of the journal of Okinawan Studies a few years ago, and ever since I've had an article in my head. I've been working for years with a growing independence movement in the islands, and I've done countless interviews, attended several conferences and giving several dozen talks to groups both big and small on the topic of decolonization and independence. I've been thinking about what would be the best approach to writing an article on this shift. If we compare it to Hawai'i's sovereignty movement, we can see so many similarities, including the various ways in which independence is articulated, and how its genesis is discussed. For some it is rooted in a previous political epoch and the form of sovereignty at that time. Some in Hawai'i argue in terms of the "Kingdom" and a royal family and the Hawaiian nation-state that was overthrown. In Okinawan you have a similar discourse, where there are those with strong ties to that

A top Japanese government official visited Guam this past week in order to check on buildup projects. I'm waiting to hear if Governor Calvo will act on the request of Our Islands are Sacred, who encouraged him to reach out to the Governor of Okinawa and have a delegation visit them to discuss what problems they have with the US military presence there. Here are some articles about the recent visit. **************** Japanese chief cabinet secretary assess buildup-related construction by Nestor Licanto KUAM October 30, 2015 The top Japanese official charged with scaling back Marine presence in Okinawa is here for a tour of military facilities. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga got a firsthand look at buildup-related construction in Guam, which has a direct impact on marching orders. Secretary Suga was appointed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe specifically as minister for the mitigation of the impact of US forces in Okinawa. "And also the specific instructi

When I was in Fukushima I saw a map of the areas around the nuclear power plant which were affected by radiation. There were different colors bleeding out, being darkest and reddest close to the plant, but becoming lighter and orange and yellow as it moved further northwest, until it became just white like the rest of the prefectures in the Tohoku region of Japan. It was interesting seeing the discourse change as conversation with people moved from one area to the other around that map. In Fukushima, where the radiation levels were considered safe enough that no one was evacuated, but dangerous enough that all the dirt in the city is being dug up and stuffed into trash bags, no one was evacuated. I visited Iitate Village, featured in the New York Times article below, where people were warned and evacuated a month after the earthquake and meltdown, and may have been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation during that delay. In Iitate people are allowed to return, but cannot stay over