NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Since 2010 I have traveled to Okinawa just about every year. Usually I have gone with my friend Ed Alvarez. We first travelled to Okinawa together in 2012 to present at a number of conferences focusing on issues of demilitarization, indigenous rights and also decolonization. Ed was the Executive Director of the Guam Commission on Decolonization and had made some important connections to academics and protest groups. One of my goals at some point is to write an academic article about the ever-evolving conversation in Okinawa about decolonization and political status. It is fascinating and often goes far beneath the radar, as most focus on the demilitarization and anti US base protests. But since I have been traveling there, I have regularly heard the makings of a decolonization conversation. When I say this, I don't mean it looks the same or sounds the same, or takes the same shape as Guam's. I mean that for Okinawa, which faces a number of fundamental and structural issues ab

Gaige yu' giya Okinawa på'go na simana. Para bei fama'nu'i gi kolehio yan konfirensia guini. I fina'nu'i siha put decolonization yan nina'la'la' lengguåhen natihu siha. Para bei faninterview taotao Chamoru ni' manmastastation guini giya Okinawa put i sinienten-ñiha nu i taotao guini. Put hemplo, kao hinasson-ñiha na mamparehu i estao i taotao Okinawa yan i Chamoru? Guaha meggai parehu put i halacha na hestoria-ta siha, lao kao ma ripåpara este? Pat osino gi lini'e'-ñiha kao manentrangheru? Bai hu bisita lokkue' i kampon protest taiguihi gi este na litråtu. Este giya Henoko, nai i militåt Amerikånu ma keke ekstende i sagan-ñiha guihi, lao i taotao ti yan-ñiha este, ko'lo'lo'ña put taimanu na u ma destrosa i ginefpågon lugåt.

5,000 days of protest in northern Okinawa. In truth, the protests there go much further back, but 5,000 is a nice, big, profound number. It represents 5,000 days of continuous protest, of daily, symbolic and direct resistance to US militarism and militarization in the island. I have been fortunate enough to visit the protest camps in Okinawa on several occasions since 2011. I have spoken to scholars, to activists, to students, to elders, to farmers, to fishermen and even to paddlers and scuba divers. It does make me wonder, at one point the level of militarization or of consciousness about militarization in Guam will come to a similar point. There have been outbursts, periods of direct action, protest, there has been a great deal of counter-hegemonic activity, trying to make it more possible for the community to engage in critical discussions about Guam's military presence or purpose. But nothing similar to what we see in Okinawa. Will the plans for a firing range at Litekyan

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. ***************************

My column for the Guam Daily Post about my most recent visit to Okinawa. There were some serious questions about the nature of Okinawan struggle for decolonization and their place in the global order as a people that were being discussed. I got to participate as much as I could in these talks, all adding more content to my research on their independence movement. ****************** --> “The Indigenous Idea” by Michael Lujan Bevacqua The Guam Daily Post March 16, 2016 Over the weekend I attended a symposium at Okinawa International University on the topic of whether or not the Okinawan people are “indigenous.” For some, this may seem like a strange question, as on the surface Okinawans seem to simply be Japanese. They look like Japanese, sound like Japanese, how could they be indigenous? A few decades ago, the idea of even considering Okinawans to be indigenous would have ranged from being ludicrous to heretical. This was due to a long period of coercive ass

Click here to DONATE to support the website Common Dreams! Here is a sampling of the type of news you can find there. It has been a main source of information for me since ever since. Here is a sample of the news you can find there from just the past week.  ************* Published on Saturday, December 26, 2015 by Common Dreams 'Whatever It Takes': Okinawa Sues Tokyo in Effort to Block US Base Prefecture's governor vows to take anything necessary to block construction of American military camp by Nadia Prupis, staff writer   Okinawa officials on Friday filed a lawsuit against the central Japanese government in a new bid to block the slated construction of a U.S. military base in the prefecture's Henoko region. "We will do whatever it takes to stop the new Henoko base," Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga said during a press conference Friday. "Okinawa's argument is legitimate, and I believe that it will be cer

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

I interviewed so many cool people over the last week in Okinawa and Ishigaki Islands. I did so with the help of Okinawan activist Shinako Oyakawa who I first met in 2010 during a demilitarization study tour to South Korea. I was fortunate enough to join her, Bruce Gagnon and Corazon Fabros on on a trip to South Korea where we visited areas affected by US military facilities and training. Later I met Shinako in the context of solidarity activism in connection with Okinawa. She is a member of an academic association which is pushing for Okinawan, Ryukyu or LewChu independence from Japan. Her group has invited me to several conferences in Okinawa over the years and she is usually stuck translating the mindless things I say into Japanese. Another connection I have to Shinako is that she is a language revitalization activist. She is from Okinawa, one of many islands in what most people consider to be "Okinawa" or the Ryukyu Islands. Most people in Okinawa speak Japanese, but t

I am in Okinawa this week. I'll be speaking at a conference in Ishigaki Island this weekend, but I've spent the past week traveling around doing interviews with various activists involved in the struggle against US bases here. I haven't had much time to write up anything for this blog or elsewhere since I've gotten here as things have been so crazily busy. On Facebook one source of information about Okinawa that I've found very informative is the group Okinawan Independence and Free Ainu. It provides a very intriguing perspective on these two native groups within Japan which the Japanese government and people once sought to erase. These two groups are native to locations which lie at the opposite ends of Japan, but it is heartening to see a group that is seeking to connect their histories and futures. I've included some recent updates from the group below: *********** 181 environmental groups support LewChew (Okinawa) governor Onaga’s revocation of Henok

Since I can't speak Japanese, I have to rely on translators and interpreters to learn more about recent protests in the country. I'm grateful for a growing group of people who have been helping me understand more and more about continuing and recently developing protests. Videos on Youtube, some thankfully subtitled with English have also helped. I wanted to share some of them below, to help others understand more about life in Japan in terms of peace and protest.

The blog Overseas Territories Review is a great resource, this is something I've reiterated numerous times on this blog. One reason why there is little to no momentum globally with regards to decolonization is the fact that most of the remaining colonies in the world are far flung, midget land masses in the middle of vast oceans. They are small and far away and that combined with the overall apathy that the world feels with regards to continuing forms of really existing colonialism, creates an easy recipe for taya'ya'ya.  Knowledge and information can lead to networks of solidarity, ties of political and social imagination that can make the plight of the remaining colonies of the world feel more important, more relevant, more significant than the complaints of islanders who will never be self-sustainable. If you do not already follow this blog, please begin to do so. Here is a sampling of the recent articles you will find posted there: ************************ 1