NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

"Kao pau hånao ha' si Uncle Sam, anggen manindipendente hit?" Fihu hiningok-hu este na chathinasso ginen i kumunidåt. Anggen mamindipendente hit, u fanmalingu siempre todu i kosas motdeno. U hånao ha’ si Uncle Sam, pau dingu hit ya pau laknos yan bo’ok todu i chinile’-ña mågi. Ti magåhet este. Fihu ti ya-ña i Estådos Unidos umatmitde este, lao guaha obligasion-ña nu hita. Put i ha fitma i charter para i Unidos Nasiones, ha aksepta i responsibilidåt, este mafa’na’an “inanggokko sagrådu” a sacred trust. Na para u ga’chungi hit gi este na chålan mo’na. Guaha meggai na klasen ayudu na ha oblibliga muna’guaha, lao para este na kuestion, uno mås propiu para ta diskuti, i tiempon “transition.” Este na klasen kontråtan, fihu masusedi gi taiguini na klasen tinilaikan pulitikåt gi otro na tåno’ lokkue’. Siña este na tiempon tinilaika tinaka’ uno año, tres años, dies años, pat bente pat trenta años. I inapmåm-ña ha dipepende gi håfa diniside ni’ dos na n

In December of last year, I met with a friend for breakfast at Shirley's in Hagåtña. The central topic of our meeting with current pushes for Guam's decolonization. This breakfast was happening at the start of a two-week period of activity around educating the island around the issue. The Commission on Decolonization and the Office of the Governor was about to start a series of three village meetings to help educate the island community about political status change. After not meeting since July, the Commission itself was set to meet earlier that week. Through my own political status task force, the Independence for Guåhan Task Force, we started a podcast series named Fanachu! and also held one of our monthly General Assembly meetings. Despite the flurry of recent activity around the issue, my friend wasn’t convinced that anything had really changed. That all of these activities whether they be teach-ins, coffee shop conversations, debates or for

Commonwealth is a word that continues to haunt discussions of decolonization in Guam. For most younger people, they have no idea what Commonwealth means in a Guam context, although they know of it in the context of the CNMI's political status. It is something that has some very profound meanings for people of a certain age, most older than I am, because of the way it represents nostalgia for a time when political status change on Guam seemed to have a more clearly defined direction. Commonwealth in terms of Guam, was a decades long movement to try to get the island to a new political status, something along the lines of "improved status quo." It involved long negotiations with different presidential administrations, different iterations of Congress, all in the hopes of moving Guam to a slightly better political position. In terms of political status options, Commonwealth would fall between integration and free association. It kept Guam and the US tightly conne

After World War II, Chamorros launched into a period of aggressive Americanization, which you could argue is still going on until today. This Americanization had many levels and dimensions to it. There were clear desires amongst most Chamorros take on the material and consumer comforts America seemed to offer. There were also clear moves by some to ensure that there children were properly or at least passably Americanized, most notably through the refusal to use the Chamorro language with them. There were frameworks of economic, social and political dependency that were created and eventually celebrated by Chamorros themselves. There were also dramatic shifts in lifestyle due to land loss and trauma from the war, which made things such as cultural maintenance difficult because occupations and life-ways were changing so quickly. Alot of these shifts could not be helped, but simply came about because the US is so much larger than Guam, and it produces ideological content and material

As a contemporary colony, Guam doesn't get much attention anywhere. In a world where colonialism isn't supposed to exist anymore, being a colony isn't that great. When you try to articulate your colonial existence people tend to respond in a number of different ways. They may dismiss the colonial nature of your situation since it can't be as bad as colonialism was in the past. They may dismiss your complaints because you come from a small island that should be grateful to be colonized, especially by the most powerful country in the world. They may attempt to correct you and say that Guam is really a territory not a colony. Or a dependency and not a colony. Or a protectorate and not a colony. The United Nations is one of the few places where the idea of there being colonies left in the world isn't controversial, although this remains a salient topic in only certain parts of the bureaucracy. For example, a place like Guam doesn't have much represen