NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Each March, UOG organizes an Annual Research Conference or ARC. This year is the 39th year there has been a conference such as this. I presented at this conference as an undergraduate student, a graduate student and now I present at it regularly as a professor. For this year's ARC, I am participating in a couple different panels and presentations, most of which are connected to Guam's decolonization or its current political status. Here are the abstracts for two of the sessions to which I am most looking forward: ************************** A Decolonial Analysis of Guam’s Media Landscape The role of media in a society is not simply to report stories and investigate events, but to promote values and norms, usually on behalf of dominant classes or institutions. In a colonial context, such as that of Guam, these roles gain a colonial dimension, as both institutions and individuals will often be compelled to defend and naturalize the colonial status

Given recent developments in North Korea, new missile systems out of China and the Trump administration trying to both disengage from the world militarily and bomb the hell out of it, I would love to see an update of this article, which is from 2015. The resistance continues, scattered across many islands. ******************* Islander Unite to Resist a New Pacific War by Koohan Paik Common Dreams November 4, 2015 Last September, I attended a remarkable gathering in Okinawa of impassioned young people from all over the Asia-Pacific. They convened at a critical moment to urgently discuss ramped-up militarism in their region. Thousands of hectares of exquisitely wild marine environments, peaceful communities and local democracy are now under extreme threat. Participants hailed from: Taiwan; Jeju (South Korea); the Japanese Ryukyu islands; Indonesia; New Zealand; and the Japanese Ogasawara islands. I was invited to represent Hawaii, where the headquarters for t

The letter to the editor below from Joaquin Perez is very instructive. He discusses possible theories regarding the military buildup as currently proposed, drawing attention to possible connections between elements which people may not be noticing. One suggestion he makes is that perhaps the identifying of Litekyan as the location for a new firing range safety danger zone, could possibly be a tricky ploy to get Pagat, a place once taken off the table, back on the table. Technically Pagat is still on the table and is still a site the DOD designates for their firing range, but the popular opinion feels that it is no longer an option, the movement to save it was successful. Perez's article begs several questions that are important and need to be considered. Key amongst them in terms of resisting or countering or challenging is how should we interpret the military as an institution, in what way, through what level of consistency, efficiency or power should we see it? With Perez'

Colonialism isn't supposed to exist anymore, which is why it is intriguing every time I hear someone use it and its imagery in order to make their point today. People who are trapped in relationships call them colonial. People who feel exploited name it colonial. People who feel oppressed refer to it as colonial. I have even heard it used in positive senses, as in moving into a place and changing the way it operates, for the better, as being colonial.  The colonial mention of the day comes from a group of Latin American leaders from countries who have long resisted United States hegemony in the region. The United States is trying to play is very su'anu with regards to the Edward Snowden scandal. They want to pretend like its nothing, like he's lint you just brush off your shoulder. It is no big deal. But at the same time they are applying very real pressure throughout the world in order to punish him and take away his options. The issue is not Snowden himself of cour

Published on Tuesday, April 2, 2013 by Foreign Policy In Focus America after Hegemony by Cole Harrison   With the Iraq war fading into memory even as the country still simmers, the U.S. peace movement faces the need to reframe its message. We have spent the last 10 years resisting the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – tragedies that have not only devastated those two countries and taken tens of thousands of lives, but have left thousands of returning veterans with lifelong disabilities and taken a huge toll on our national economy. We’ve exposed nuclear weapons’ threat to human survival, organized against sanctions and war on Iran and the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and built alliances with labor and community groups to cut the military budget. We’ve opposed lawless torture and drone killings, cyber-warfare attacks, and the U.S. “ pivot ,” which seeks to encircle China with military bases.

“…let Japan be the core of the pencil…” I heard this via an interpreter via my headset and immediately looked up from my notebook. The speaker was an elderly Japanese woman, who had been speaking already for several minutes and had touched upon a huge number of issues which drive the work of Japanese progressive; peace, Article 9, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hibakusha, nuclear war, economic. Her statement by that time had gone from being inspiring to overwhelming to too far-reaching, and so she made this statement in an attempt to sum up her message, by asking the Japanese people present on the first day of the 2010 World Conference Against A and H Bombs, that they work to make their country the “core of the pencil.” She did not take the metaphor any further than this, either because she dropped it or because the interpreter didn’t pick up on it. In my mind though, I kept rolling and kumilili mo’na ayu na idea esta ki mana’kabåles gui’ gi hinasso-ku. Two things came to mind after hearing

There were a number of things which overshadowed my trip to South Korea, and when I say overshadowed, I mean things which would constantly appear, be brought up or dictate the conversation regardless of where I went. For instance, the World Cup was huge while I was in South Korea and so everywhere I went, people were talking about it or sporting their pride in their national sport's team. Another issue was reunification and how recent elections this month have helped diminish so many hopes for progress on the re-uniting of the two Koreas. One issue however, especially in conversations with South Korea activists, whether in Seoul, Paju, Pyeongtaek or Jeju, which was always very prominent and had so many people angry, frustrated or on edge was the sinking of the South Korean military ship, the Cheonan in March. The ship was participating in joint training exercises with US military forces, when it ran aground and split in two 58 of those aboard survived while 46 died. The South Kor

Tomorrow my Guam History classes will be conducting their political status forums. For this exercise, which is their last big group project, I divide them into three groups, one for each of the potential future political statues of Guam, and they have to debate which is the best for Guam. I'll write more about this project later, but it is usually the most fun part of my entire semester, since its high energy, usually gof na'chalek, and I'm always happy when students find small and large ways to surprise me with their arguments. One of the highlights of tomorrow will be when some producers who work for the show Dan Rather Reports will be filming one of my classes when they are debating political status, and then interviewing me afterwards about Guam's history. They are on island doing a story about the infamous military buildup which is always looming in a menacing ambigous form on Guam's horizon. They spent a week last month following Congresswoman Bordallo around