NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Independent Guåhan to discuss veteran’s issues and decolonization and honor the late Tony “Submariner” Artero  For Immediate Release, November 24, 2019-  Independent Guåhan (IG) invites the public to attend their upcoming General Assembly (GA) to take place on Thursday, December 5th from 6:00-7:30 pm at the Main Pavilion of the Chamorro Village in Hagåtña. For this GA, the group will honor as  Maga’taotao the late Tony “Submariner” Artero, who was a US Navy veteran and also a strong community activist in pushing for political status change in Guam. In honor of Veteran’s Day, this GA will also feature an educational discussion on the voices of Chamoru veterans and decolonization.  Tony Artero was a veteran, a war survivor and an entrepreneur, who was part of the Artero family that helped hide US Navyman George Tweed during the Japanese occupation of Guam. Although his father received the Congressional Medal of Freedom for the risks he took, soon after the US military condemned

2000 was the last time that Guam had a significant and focused conversation around political status. There had been campaigns, big and small, around commonwealth or constitutions. Each time there were discussions, community events and also sometime of plebiscite. 2000 was the last time that there was a big community push around the issue, as that was the year a plebiscite was scheduled and some funds made available for public education. This came after commonwealth had died or stalled in the US Congress, and it was decided to start the process over by having a new plebiscite to help determine the direction of future political status negotiations. This new start to the process never really came. The 2000 plebiscite was delayed several times and never took place. I recently went through more than a year of the Pacific Daily News to get a sense of that time, and came across dozens of letters to the editor and articles dealing with the plebiscite and the three sta

On April 7, 2017, more than 800 people gathered in the field in front of the Ricardo J. Bordallo Government Complex in Adelup, Guåhan for the “Respect the Chamoru People Rally.” The event, organized by a grassroots collective of volunteers, aimed at celebrating the culture of the island’s indigenous people, the Chamorros, and at helping remind the Guam community about the need to maintain a respectful relationship to them in their island homeland. The event was non-partisan, backing no political candidates or agendas. Over the course of the event’s 2 ½ hours, 15 speakers shared stories of the struggles of Chamorros in the past and the need to protect their island and heritage for future generations. Cultural groups offered blessings. Poets and musicians delivered inspiration through powerful words and melodies. Community organizations manned tables providing information on the military buildup, decolonization, and cultural preservation. The Håya Foundation, which seeks to preserve

Independent Guåhan to hold Teach-Ins in November, to provide updates on Catalonia and a panel on inter-generational activism Each month Independent Guåhan (IG) holds a Teach-In at the University of Guam aimed at informing the island community about pertinent issues related to Guåhan’s political status and decolonization. This month IG will be holding two Teach-Ins, the first on November 9 th focusing on recent updates on the movement for independence and Catalonia, and the second on November 16 th , which will focus on inter-generational Chamorro activism. Both Teach-Ins will take place from 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM at UOG Humanities and Social Sciences Building (HSS) Room 106. They are free and open to the public. The November 9 th Teach-In is titled “Som Una Nacio, Nosaltres Decidim: Updates on Catalan Independence.” Long-standing desires amongst the people of Catalonia, Spain for greater autonomy has taken concrete form in recent months. Following violent

Its that time of year on Guam, where perceived Chamorro debts to the United States balloon out of control and Chamorro attempts to prove their understanding and love for their debts and subordination appear to reach such maddeningly levels that what they owe to the United States seems to become infinite and eternal. Sina ta sangan na unu ha’ na dibin taotao diptosi taiguihi. Lao para i Chamorro siha, guaha dos. Unu para Si Yu’us, i otro para Si Uncle Sam. What else could I be referring to save for Liberation Day. A day that we could argue colonizes annually the month of July, but in truth, the notion that it was a liberation is something that has played a huge role in colonizing most every aspect of Chamorro time and space. I ma’pos, i pa’go yan i mamaila. Around the world, “liberation days” or commemorations of a liberation are very common, but Guam’s version of it can often seem like a strange bewildering experience. In most contexts elsewhere, a liberation day is a

Liberation Day is always proposed as being a day of remembering, but it is the ultimate day when Chamorros forget. When all the realities of militarism, imperialism, colonialism all around them become even more muted and dull and obscured than usual. When so many of the problems that exist around us, about our place or non-place in the world, are drowned out, engulfed within a cascade of red, white and bull. The critiques are choked out of our mouths, as the patriotism deluge fills us up, meant to shut up those who feel like asking questions. This article provides some good reminders. **************** Colonialism and America's Imperial Agenda in the Pacific: US to 'Rebalance" Military in Guam to Counter China and North Korea http://silentcrownews.com/wordpress/?p=3303 Silent Crow News by Timothy Alexander Guzman Guam, an Island nation of 160,000 people has been a victim of Imperialism dating back to the 16th century.  More than 65,000 of the population are

Lately I have been so busy that I don't have as much time as I would like to write up my thoughts on this blog. I spent an entire week in Taiwan and did not write a single post. I was too busy with meetings and traveling and found that by the time I would return to my room, I would immediately collapse onto my bed without typing a single word. The month of July is one of the strangest for Guam. It is the month where the most talking about remembering takes place, but the commemoration is naturally very selective and very uninformative about Guam's history or contemporary state. I was trying to write up my thoughts before Liberation Day, but life intervened and so I'm not finished yet. I was at least happy to see that the Liberation Day coverage was not uniformly taihinasso. The usual stories were trotted out and the usual narratives were stuck onto poles and waved about for everything to salute. But amidst it all an unexpected article from Japan emerged t

Tonight my grandfather (Tun Jack Lujan) and I will be on a panel at the T. Stell Newman Center near the entrance to Big Navy. We'll be talking about the film Families Under Siege, created by the Guam Humanities Council on the effect of World War II on Chamorro families. Panel is at 6 pm. It'll begin with a screening of most of the film, followed by reactions from the panelists, and then a question and answer period. See the flyer for more details.

It is always interesting how things can change in such a short period of time. Last week the Guam First Commission, something authored years ago in the hopes of creating a unified front for Guam on how it deals with the US Government and the military buildup, was allegedly on the verge of being empaneled by the Governor. All that remained was for one final member, a representative from the Chamorro Rights Groups to be selected and then the Commission could begin its work, whatever that may end up being (sa' achokka' un taitai i lai, ti klaru hafa ayu). The process by which this last member would be selected was a bit confusing. Close to two dozen groups were recognized as having the right to nominate someone for the position. I was nominated by 8 organizations and three other people, Trini Torres, Frank Schacher and Antonio Artero Sablan were each nominated by one group. Unfortunately, many groups thought each group gets to vote for someone and whoever has the most nominations

The Long and the Short of It: As the World Turns: Merry Christmas from Guam: Where America's Day Begins December 2007 By Tony Artero (realtor) Historically, men and women in our country’s military services sacrificed their life in defense of our freedoms. Yet many of our military veterans are overwhelmed by political and bureaucratic problems. There are numerous examples of such mistreatment. On Guam, a U.S. soil, it has always been, “never mind the law.” The indigenous people were and still are treated as criminals by edict of the government. It is a tragedy which has befallen a friendly, patriotic, and peace-loving people who are needed by no one. Foreign powers has always wanted only the island for its strategic location and, after World War II, its people were evicted from their fertile lands. The U.S. forcefully took two-thirds of the land on Guam under the guise of national defense. The taking was excessively more than needed, massively reducing the property tax roll, and