NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Everytime Trump mentions Guam, it is like we get to walk on to some national reality TV show. It is always interesting, sometimes funny, sometimes scary, sometimes saddening. Here are some articles around our most recent mention, when Trump talked about statehood being off the table and not an option for Guam and other US territories.  *******************   Decolonization Commission: Trump comments superficial and selfish Steve Limtiaco Pacific Daily News USA TODAY NETWORK Oct 19, 2020  The government of Guam’s Commission on Decolonization on Monday responded to recent comments by President Donald Trump about the political status of Guam and other U.S. territories.   Trump, during an Oct. 1 phone interview with Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel, accused Democrats of trying to add three new states to the union, including Guam, in an effort to get more power in the House and Senate.   “That would give them six automatic Senate seats,” Trump said. “It would be very unfair, and 20-somet

The issue of wall funding in the United States for President Trump is another point at which we can see ideological lines become distorted and distinct when moving from the community of the colonizer to the community of the colonized. Left and right, liberal and conservative have particular meanings within a community and within groups within a community. Part of the colonizing process is not solely those things which the colonizer does to forcibly integrate the colonized peoples, but also the ways in which the colonized peoples may accept a particular framework for understanding themselves and their issues. This is a key point people often miss. Colonialism isn't inherently conservative and therefore decolonization is liberal. Colonialism can be both faces and many more. There can be liberal forms of colonization and conservative ones. Movements or conversations that are liberal or progressive in the US can still be colonial.  We are reminded about this every once in a whil

For those attached to the United States, whether as eager patriotic citizens or uncomfortable colonial subjects, the past week was filled with an unbelievable amount of revelations and insinuations about Donald Trump’s campaign, Donald Trump’s administration and Russia. The relationship between the US and Russia is at a point that would be almost unrecognizable to someone just a few years ago. There is a Republican president of the US, repeatedly praising the leader of Russia Vladimir Putin. And rather than align his statements with the underlying adversarial relationship between the two countries, he goes to any extent to not back down, even to the point of maligning the US rhetorically in order to maintain his praise for Russia and its leader. Early on, you could argue that this was due to Trump’s blind neophyte level of political acumen, but now it just looks suspicious.  This was even compounded to a degree that basically brutalized any possible commonsense under

Last year, Our Islands are Sacred and other local activist groups penned a joint letter to Governor of Guam Eddie Calvo, challenging his support for the US military buildup to Guam. In response to the letter, which made a significant splash on social media, the Governor met with some of the authors of the letter to discuss their concerns. Central to rhetoric invoked in the letter focused on how the Governor had made several statements to the media that he was excited about the military buildup and what it might mean to Guam economically. As the military buildup, even in its reduced form, will most likely negatively Guam's environment, economy, security and cultural properties, the writers of the letter were incredulous that Governor Calvo would speak of the buildup with such excitement when so many negative aspects were involved. One of the suggestions that they made to Governor Calvo was that he invite the Governor of Okinawa to visit Guam with his staff and have a conversatio

Watching Republicans move into their latest form of obstructionism, over the refusal to have hearings for any nominee Obama offers to the US Supreme Court, has been frustrating. Watching them try to justify not considering Obama's nominee, who Republicans in the past have praised as being highly qualified, has been frustrating in a very satisfying way. It is a very strange dance, with so many movements and partners, who court each other one moment and then pretend not to know each other the next. Senate Republicans who are facing re-election appear to be more willing to compromise, whereas those not maintain the judicial nomination blockade. Obama picked someone which forces the hand of the GOP, and also heightens their worries about who might win the election in November. Both Trump and Clinton mean that any nominees offered next year, might be either more liberal, or more unreasonably and irrationally conservative. It will be interesting to see how this develops and what Republ

Last week I visited the Yoko Gushiken museum in Ishigaki island. It was an interesting moment because of the way it connected to the many discussions of the week relating to decolonization, nationalism and activism. Gushiken is a celebrity in Japan and in the international world of boxing. He was the WBA Flyweight Champion for five years, with a record of 23-1, 15 wins by KO. Although he came from the small island of Ishigaki he fought in rings around the world. In a two-story house on the edge of the tourist area of Ishigaki City, you will find his museum. It has his trophies, images of him and a mock practice ring with highlights from his matches playing on a TV nearby. Throughout the museum was images of eagles, as the eagle is an important animal to Ishigaki Island and it was his symbol that he put on his uniform and on his promotional materials. You might wonder what a boxer like Gushiken might have to do with the conference I was attending, where Okinawan

I recently watched The Green Inferno from Eli Roth, which is a disturbing film to say the least. It follows in the vein of Cannibal Holocaust and other gore-filled flicks from the past. Many of these films have no real merit to them, as they are simply meant to shock or horrify. But in some rare cases there is the intent to have some real intellectual or political teeth behind them. In some cases films of this genre, which seem to only prey on the poorest instincts of people, end up making remarkably strong appeals to human ethics. They may do so in ways to appall us, but that on its own can be a good reminder about the flexibility of ideology. How one position, which may feel so secure and true in one moment can have the theoretical floor fall from beneath it the next. Eli Roth was heavily criticized for his portrayal of indigenous peoples as savages and evil, mindless cannibals. His response was to say that to worry about a movie and its portrayal of indigenous people while actual