NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Guam will elect a new non-voting delegate this year and there will also be a change in Adelup, where a new Governor will take over. This means there could be a significant shift in terms of federal-territorial relations for Guam. I don't mean much will change from the federal side, but from Guam, this moment could mean the development of a new approach or utilizing new tools for engaging the federal government on Guam issues. Depending on how you look at the past decade or so there has been some accommodation and some antagonism. From Congresswoman Bordallo, there was quite a meeting of minds over military buildup issues and the US Department of Defense, but that came at the cost of her representing the interests of the people of Guam. Bordallo was well-liked by many of her colleagues and well liked by the US military, but in my opinion, had long become detached from changing attitudes on Guam. When the protests and organizing around Prutehi Litekyan emerged last year, Bordallo w

I have been wracking my brain for the past few hours and also "tearing apart" at least digitally my computer looking for the source for a quote that I had included in my notes and now need to use in an article I'm completing for The Journal of Okinawan Studies. As of now I have yet to find it unfortunately and I'm hoping that this quote didn't come from a news article that I had photocopied years ago but had yet to scan or transcribe. If that is the case, I may never find the citation for it. Part of the joy, but also the frustration of searches like this, is the random surprises and nostalgia bombs that end up crossing your path. While searching through more than a decade of research, I came across so many bits and pieces of things, some of which ended up being keystones in my academic cosmology, others I had completely forgotten. One thing I came across that I wanted to share was these three articles below. They all come from August 2007, at a time when th

There is a strangeness when you consider independence movements of the past with the formal process today as outlined by the United Nations and international conventions. Independence movements of long ago were, as you might imagine, violent. Colonizers didn't want to give up their conquests and fought wars to try to prevent those they had colonized or settler communities that had developed their own sense of local identity, from becoming self-determined. Untold numbers died and suffered needlessly for this selfishness and cruelty, eventually these colonies led to conflicts between colonizers. The international system was formed out of those violent, tragic and horrible battles to keep hold of territories and control the lives of entire peoples and their resources. It was developed over time, not necessarily to protect or help those who had been victimized, but rather help decrease the chances of any further conflict between colonial and imperial powers. The basic rules or c