NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

I've been working for a few months on an article for a book on discourses on sustainability. I reached a number of deadends in my writing, but eventually, finally found a breakthrough last month in terms of how I wanted to craft my argument about how we an see discourses on sustainability in terms of discussions and critiques on the US military buildup plans for Guam. I'll be presenting some components of my draft at the upcoming Academic Research Conference sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) at UOG. I just submitted my abstract for it, which I've pasted below: "Situating Sustainability: Disrupting Military Buildup Fantasies" In 2009 the USDOD announced their intention to dramatically increase their military presence on the island of Guam. Although this “military buildup” was predicted to cause severe damage to the island in environmental, social and economic terms, discourse from island leaders and

-->  According to my tracking statistics for this blog, a large number of people visit one of these pages based on searches related to Guam and its military buildup. My assumption is that some of these people are journalists looking into the issue, a few more may be scholars, as my blog has been quoted in several dozen academic publications on the topic. The majority are students working on research papers, either in Guam or elsewhere about the major concerns for the military buildup and putting together pro or con arguments. In the spirit of this Christmas and future Christmases, I thought I'd post a couple more articles to help those with future research paper needs. These are a few articles that I've used in papers or presentations to make certain important points. ********************* DEIS rouses youth activism Monday, 11 Jan 2010 05:02am Marianas Variety By Zita Taitano DYNAMIC young community voices are starting to rise above the public compla

On Thursday night I was on a panel for a film screening at UOG. After the film we had a short discussion about the film and took some questions from the audience. The question I received from the audience was about how the people of Guam, Chamorros and non-Chamorros can speak out with one voice with regards to the buildup and thus take control of it. I thought about that questions for the moment, and couldn't really come up with a decent or hopeful answer. That surprised me, but I guess given how things have played out in terms of the US military buildup to Guam since 2005 I shouldn't be. I have been asked that same question in so many forms in these past five years, more frequently in the past year, but my answer has constantly changed, depending on how the island has changed or has not changed. Early on, I was fighting against the inevitability that people were infusing into the buildup despite not knowing anything about it. My answers were long and rambling, always hopeful

One of the better articles that has come out recently about the military buildup, and I'm not only saying this because of the fact that I was interviewed for it. In most national articles or press about the buildup, China haunts the edges of the discussion, but is rarely drawn out in any meaningful way, and as a result the danger to Guam is rarely mentioned ever. This is not to say that people like me on Guam when we talk to people from The Washington Post or The Chicago Tribune, we don't mention it, we always do since it's something we can't dismiss or edit out of the picture. But from the perspective of the US, the national discussion is heavily ambivalent on the China issue, and so that complexity and uncertainty around the issue makes it something that always has to be other assumed or marginalized. There can be no "peaceful" intention to the US militarizing Guam or militarizing other places around the Asia-Pacific region meant to box in China, but since A

My posting might become either very irregular or overly regular in the next few days, depending on how my access to internet and level of energy goes. I'm on a solidarity trip to South Korea right now. As the delegate from Guam I'm joining delegates from Okinawa, the United States and the Philippines in meeting with local peace, antiwar, demilitarization and reunification organizations. I have a crazy schedule of non-stop protests, workshops, tours and meetings for the next week, which includes a two-day visit to Jeju Island off the southern coast of South Korea. After spending one day here, para bai hu sangani hamyo, there is plenty to write and blog about. But the question remains, as to whether or not I'll have the time, energy or decent enough connection to keep posting. In the meantime I just wanted to share a short report that I just typed up, at the very last minute to be translated into Korean and be distributed at the different meetings I'm going to. Each o

From Sabina Perez on behalf of We Are Guahan , para maseha hayi ni' (kalang Guahu) gof ya-na mumalak Luta, gof taitai este gi sanpappa'. Gof malago na para bai hu ganna este! ***************************** Hafa adai, I am trying to raise money for the nonprofit organization, We Are Guahan, whose focus is educating the public about the impacts of the military buildup that will increase the population 47% in a period of 4 years, in addition, to causing the removal of 71 acres of coral reefs (some of the coral species are endemic to Guam), and jeopardize our water resource, which may result in irreversible damage. On February 17, 2010, the environmental damage was deemed by the US EPA to be "of sufficient magnitude that EPA believes that the action should not proceed as proposed and improved analyses are necessary to ensure the information in the EIS is adequate to fully inform decision-makers." Please read more at: http://www.epa.gov/region9/nepa/letters/Guam-CNM