NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

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

I ma'pos na biahi na hu bisita iya Okinawa, tinatiyi yu' ni' pakyo' dangkolu. Matto guihi para un konferensia, lao ma cancel i dinana' put i pakyo'. Gi ayu na hinanao sumaga' yu' gi un kuatton hotet para tres dihas, ya taya' bida-hu. Ti manali'e' ham yan i meggai na atungo'-hu siha guihi. Para kuatro na sakkan hu bisisita iya Okinawa. Kumuentos yu' meggai biahi gi diferentes na klasin dinana' academic pat activist. Hu bisita i diferentes na lugat, taiguihi Henoko pat Takae, nai guaha protest pa'go put taimanu trinatrata i tano' ni' militat Amerikanu.  Guaha otro konferensia guihi gi otro na mes. Malago' yu' na bei hanaogue, lao kalang mappot. Ayu Mes Chamoru, fihu i mas mitinane' na mes para Guahu.  I kinalamten para Independensia guini giya Guahan esta gof machalapon. Guaha na biahi gof annok i taotao ni' sumapopotte gui' gi media, sa' meggai gi gurupun-mami yan-niha manoghe gi kanton chala

Guam’s relationship to the United States begins in 1898 when the island is take as part of the Spanish American War. The Spanish had ruled for 230 years and during that time economic development had been nil. The Spanish governor of the island controlled the economy, severely restricting private enterprise, and many used their power to ensure what little money on the island ended up in their hands through their personal ventures. The arrival of the United States represented the chance for new economic openness and so many Chamorros applauded their new colonizers. Although the United States represented itself as a nation of liberty, freedom and democracy, none of these things were allowed to exist on Guam for the first 50 years of American rule. In 1899 a Naval government was established. A single Naval governor held control over both civilians and military on the island, and was tasked with benevolently civilizing the Chamorro population. Chamorros at th

Published on Tuesday, January 7, 2014 by The Nation Seattle Swears In a Socialist by John Nichols   Kshama Sawant was sworn in as a City Councilor of Seattle on News Years Day. (AP Photo/Ted Warren) Across the United States this week, new mayors and city council members are being sworn in as the leaders of the cities that elected them in November. The inaugurations of mayors draw local attention—and, in cases like that of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio , a good measure of national attention—but there is generally less focus on the city council members. Except in Seattle. Monday afternoon’s inauguration of City Council member Kshama Sawant , arguably the most prominent socialist elected to local office since Bernie Sanders became mayor of Burlington, Vermont, thirty-three years ago, has inspired a striking level of excitement. As officials moved the swearing in for Sawant and Mayor Ed Murray —Seat

This week I am in California meeting with Chamorro organizations in Long Beach and San Diego. When I was in graduate school in San Diego, I worked very closely with several of these organizations. It has been nostalgic coming back and catching up with people and learning about what new projects they are working on and what are new ways that diasporic Chamorros are creating community. All of this reminded me of a question that a friend of mine asked me several years ago about what community building is like from a Chamorro perspective. Below is part of my answer tomorrow. *********************** It is important to think of community development not from any neutral or abstract stance, but rather take seriously the context that one intends to develop within, and by context I a huge number of things that must be considered both in the past and present. In conceiving this context, and forming it in a productive way, one must be prepared to bring into the analy

I'm in Washington D.C. right now and so watching MSNBC and Fox News carries a very different significance when your hotel is within walking distance from the Capitol. The Presidential race is heating up now, but something that caught my eye earlier today really interested me. It was about a ongoing spat between tax avenger and government revenue denier Grover Norquist and Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, most famous for attacking environmental science and putting phantom holds on bills in the Senate in order to stall and drag down legislation. The issue itself doesn't really matter to me, although I will place the op-ed from the New York Times that was the immediate cause of the spat. What really interested me was the random, bizarre yan na'aburido response that Norquist gave when he was trying to illustrate the dimensions of the fight. In addition to the quote below he also suggested that the Oklahoma Senator had "gone native" or was suffering from Stockholm Syndro

Gaige yu' pa'go giya Saipan para i fine'nina na Konfrensian Estorian Marianas. I tema para este na gof gaibali na konfrensia, "Unu na kadena islas, meggai na estoria siha." Meggai na gof maolek na fina'nu'i gi este na konfrensai. Manmatto todu ginnen meggai na otro tano' yan nasion siha lokkue'. Guaha Chamoru Guahan yan CNMI guini, lao guaha taotao Alemania, Hapon, Australia, Espana yan i US. Meggai malago' yu' lumi'e' yan humungok gi este na konfrensia lao siempre ti nahong i tiempo. Manali'e' ham yan noskuantos na taotao ni' gof apmam desde i uttimo manali'e'. Magof yu' na sina mana'tungo' ta'lo hafa tatamanu gi i lina'la'-mami. Hu gof agradesi este na konfrensia, lao hassan na hu bisita iya Saipan. I ettimo na biahi gi 2008 para i Mina'tres na Konfrensian Chamoru. Gof impottante na dinana' ayu sa' ayu nai i fine'nina nai mama'nu'i yu' gi fino' Chamo

Ti meggai i ekspirensia-na siha Si Mitt Romney gi gubetnamento. Guaha na biahi na mas maolek este sa' i manenimigu-mu siha, ti sina ma hatme hao put i meggai na tinaya'-mu! Lao, ti ilek-hu na taya' ekspirensia-na, ilek-hu ti meggai. Desde 2002 asta 2006 Si Mitt Romney ha fa'cho'chu'i i taotao Massachusetts komo maga'lahin-niha (gubetno). I mas dangkolu-na Si Mitt Romney na este na bida-na, ti gof maolek. Ti atanon este, ti gof bunito. Meggai inefresi-na siha lao guahlo' gui'. Ilek-na na Guiya para u atbansa iya Massachussetts, lao gi durante i tiempo-na gumof tunok i tano'-na put cho'cho', ekonomiha, salape' yan kobransa. An malalagu hao para un takhilo' na ofisinan pulitikat taiguihi i Apa'ka na Guma' (lol), debi di fattayon i che'cho'-mu pulitikat. Lao para Si Romne ti meggai yan para i Republicans ti umaya yan i sisteman hinegge. Massachusetts un sen "asut" na tano' gi i US. I bida-na

In Guam we are already very accustomed to thinking about military bases as being essential, safe and secure engines for an economy. This is true to some extent. In Guam, the military presence and strategic importance opened many doors in terms of Federal funding that Guam would not have received otherwise. Furthermore, the local economy is supported by the income taxes payments for Federal employees on Guam, and that gives some stability to the coffers of GovGuam. The military is also a chance for economic improvement and was something that played a very significant role in creating a middle class on Guam. One mistake that people often make is believing that the military bases on Guam help tourism. The fact that the U S owns Guam does help support the tourism industry, as Guam is considered to be a part of America and therefore gains some of its credibility, sense of stability and so on, but the bases are not part of that. If Guam were a colony with no bases, it cou

I've seen Slavoj Zizek use the example of "the red ink" many times over the years in many books. Interesting to see him now use it to describe what the Occupy movement is attempting to describe.  ************************** Published on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 by The Guardian/UK Occupy Wall Street: What Is To Be Done... Next? How a protest movement without a program can confront a capitalist system that defies reform by Slavoj Žižek What to do in the aftermath of the Occupy Wall Street movement, when the protests that started far away – in the Middle East, Greece, Spain, UK – reached the center, and are now reinforced and rolling out all around the world? In a San Francisco echo of the OWS movement on 16 October 2011, a guy addressed the crowd with an invitation to participate in it as if it were a happening in the hippy style of the 1960s: "They are asking us what is our program

Published on Tuesday, January 10, 2012  by The Nation "Occupy Wall Street: Why Now? What's Next?" Naomi Klein and Yotam Marom in Conversation About Occupy Wall Street by Naomi Klein and Yotam Marom The following conversation was recorded recently in New York City: Naomi Klein: One of the things that’s most mysterious about this moment is “Why now?” People have been fighting austerity measures and calling out abuses by the banks for a couple of years, with basically the same analysis: “We won’t pay for your crisis.” But it just didn’t seem to take off, at least in the US. There were marches and there were political projects and there were protests like Bloombergville, but they were largely ignored. There really was not anything on a mass scale, nothing that really struck a nerve. And now suddenly, this group of people in a park set off something extraordinary. So how do you account for that, having been involved in Occupy Wall Street since the beginning, but also