NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

This editorial is written from Maine, by longtime peace and demilitarization activist Bruce Gagnon. I first met Bruce in 2010 during a solidarity tour to South Korea. I learned so much from him, as he is so much more involved in international peace and demilitarization work than I am. The stories he shared of his struggles, his travels, the victories that movements he's participated in have garnered were both so educational and inspiring to me. In this editorial he poses something which Guam, as the Tip of America's Spear, as Fortress Guam, as a strategically important base to the US should consider, but rarely does. What if the massive amount of money that the US invests in bases and weapons, was used for something else? Something that didn't destroy, attack or defend, but provided stability in a more direct sense? In Guam we have become so accustomed to the variety of militarism that exists in the US, we constantly forget to ask questions about its nature, and whether t

I haven’t done this in a while, but I’m traveling this week and so it gives me quite a bit of down time on planes, with little to do other than get airsick. A few years ago I was watching quite a bit of anime and one thing I really enjoyed doing was taking anime theme songs, from shows like Gantz, Naruto and Cromartie High School and then translating them into Chamorro. Each translation was an interesting experiment, since although many of these shows are considered to be low-plebian culture, pop culture animated shadows on the cave wall for the masses, the lyrics to the theme songs tend to have a very epic and sophisticated feel to them.   These songs presented interesting challenges since translating them directly would be difficult and not necessarily match well with Chamorro. But finding ways of expressing similar epic thoughts in Chamorro, while trying to maintain a sense of the language would be fun and worthwhile. I still read manga regularly even if

In terms of situating Chamorro pasts and giving a founding meaning to their history and identity, Fu'una and Puntan, the two siblings who created Guam and Chamorros are generally given that great honor. They are thought of more and more as being the founding spirits, whether you see them as Gods, historical figures, metaphors or fantasies. They are taking a key place of meaning in terms of rooting Chamorro identity today, not as a spirit that was created in 1521 or 1668, but as something longer and having its own distinct origin. Even those who refuse to believe in Fu'una and Puntan as being spirits, but see them as possible historical figures, who may have been the ones to lead a voyage to Guam long ago, nonetheless reinforce their primacy. In one of the earliest references that we have to Fu'una and Puntan, Fu'una herself is not even mentioned. Puntan is mentioned and so is his "sister," but she is hardly given a role. In this passag

Published on Thursday, October 3, 2013 by TomDispatch.com The Italian Job: The Pentagon Goes on a Spending Spree How the Pentagon Is Using Your Tax Dollars to Turn Italy into a Launching Pad for the Wars of Today and Tomorrow by David Vine The Pentagon has spent the last two decades plowing hundreds of millions of tax dollars into military bases in Italy, turning the country into an increasingly important center for U.S. military power. Especially since the start of the Global War on Terror in 2001, the military has been shifting its European center of gravity south from Germany, where the overwhelming majority of U.S. forces in the region have been stationed since the end of World War II. In the process, the Pentagon has turned the Italian peninsula into a launching pad for future wars in Africa, the Middle East, and beyond. At bases in Naples, Aviano, Sicily, Pisa, and Vicenza, among others, the militar

The Grand March for the Peace of Gangjeong received 45 messages of solidarity from around the world (one of them from me). All of them were translated into Korean so that the marchers could see the support and encouragement they were receiving from far off places such as Germany, Palestine, Ireland, India and even East Timor. Some of the messages are pasted below: ********************************** Taro Abe , Nagoya, Japan 皆さんの活動に心から敬意を表します。 「済州島平和の巡礼：カンジョンの平和のための大行進」 の成功をお祈りしています。 阿部太郎（名古屋市・日å本） 여러분의 활동에 진심으로 경의를 나타냅니다. "제주도 평화 순례 : 강정의 평화를위한 대행진 '의 성공을 기원합니다. 아베 타로 (나고야 · 일본) I sincerely express my respect to your struggle. I pray for the success of the 'Jeju Island Peace Pilgrim: Grand March for the Peace of Gangjeong.' Abe  Taro  (Nagoya, Japan) ………………………………………………………………………….. Elliott Adams , Past President, Veterans For Peace, USA  I served in the Republic Of Korea as part of the US Army, I have been to Jeju. The destruction of Gangeong