NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

--> Another Liberation Day has come and gone, and with each passing year, more and more questions emerge about the meaning of this important event and our relationship to it. More people seem willing to question whether or not the US return to Guam in 1944 was a liberation, but for each person who earnestly asks that question, there is usually another who raises their voice in indignant defense of the liberation, demanding that it not be questioned. For them it is a sacred event for our elders and should require our patriotism and gratitude and nothing more. One of the misconceptions that people have in life, is the notion that something sacred should not be questioned or analyzed. I would propose instead that something sacred holds such depth and power, that its meaning can sustain questioning or scrutiny. If people shout down those who have earnest questions about Liberation Day in the name of it being sacred, more likely they are scared of how the concept will fal

It is so intriguing the way in which local media covers Liberation Day in Guam, the holiday meant to commemorate the American re-taking of the island from Japanese forces during World War II. Objectively, the American reoccupying of the island in 1944 was not a liberation, at least not in most senses of the word. It's level of "liberation" depends largely on whether or not you exclude the Chamorros, the indigenous people of Guam, who have called this island home for possible thousands of years. It is very bewildering how we predicate the idea of Liberation Day being a liberation on the experiences of the Chamorro people, because so many of them express it as being a liberation, but calling it a liberation requires suspending their human rights and reducing their to a mere colonial effect of the United States. You can refer to July 21st as a liberation from Japanese occupation, as a liberation of US territory from foreign clutches. Even if Chamorros themselves may call i

Its that time of year on Guam, where perceived Chamorro debts to the United States balloon out of control and Chamorro attempts to prove their understanding and love for their debts and subordination appear to reach such maddeningly levels that what they owe to the United States seems to become infinite and eternal. Sina ta sangan na unu ha’ na dibin taotao diptosi taiguihi. Lao para i Chamorro siha, guaha dos. Unu para Si Yu’us, i otro para Si Uncle Sam. What else could I be referring to save for Liberation Day. A day that we could argue colonizes annually the month of July, but in truth, the notion that it was a liberation is something that has played a huge role in colonizing most every aspect of Chamorro time and space. I ma’pos, i pa’go yan i mamaila. Around the world, “liberation days” or commemorations of a liberation are very common, but Guam’s version of it can often seem like a strange bewildering experience. In most contexts elsewhere, a liberation day is a

It is interesting to see the parallels between Chamorro discussions of self-determination and decolonization and the rhetoric of men such as Frederick Douglass and the liberation and equality of African Americans. There are parallels, but also key differences. It is important to talk about equality, rights and justice, but it is important that when speaking about this sort of political progress, we do not assume that inclusion or a greater extension of American rights is the only answer. Would Chamorros being formally incorporated into the United States be the only or best option for our people given our history? Given our geographic and political realities? ************************* Speech of Frederick Douglass at the Republican National Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1876. SPEECH OF MR. DOUGLASS. “Mr. President and Gentlemen of the National Republican Convention: Allow me to express my deep, my heartfelt gratitude to you for the warm, the cordial invitation you have exte

Liberation Day is always proposed as being a day of remembering, but it is the ultimate day when Chamorros forget. When all the realities of militarism, imperialism, colonialism all around them become even more muted and dull and obscured than usual. When so many of the problems that exist around us, about our place or non-place in the world, are drowned out, engulfed within a cascade of red, white and bull. The critiques are choked out of our mouths, as the patriotism deluge fills us up, meant to shut up those who feel like asking questions. This article provides some good reminders. **************** Colonialism and America's Imperial Agenda in the Pacific: US to 'Rebalance" Military in Guam to Counter China and North Korea http://silentcrownews.com/wordpress/?p=3303 Silent Crow News by Timothy Alexander Guzman Guam, an Island nation of 160,000 people has been a victim of Imperialism dating back to the 16th century.  More than 65,000 of the population are

Liberation Day is here again. I'm not on island for it and so in most ways I am insulated from it. Facebook is one of the main ways that I'm experiencing it this year. My dash is inundated with images from the parade, pictures of manamko', food, flags, uniformed troops and village floats. There are also quite a few posts weighing on the issue of Liberation Day itself, contending with the political meanings involved. Some people referred to it as reoccupation day or dependence day. They called into question, quite rightly, whether it is right to call this day a real liberation. Others pushed back against these critiques, some of them whining about the comfortable generations of today not appreciating the sacrifices of the past. They argued that if the generation of war survivors doesn't question the liberation aspects of the day, who gives us the right to? So much of this discourse relies on the idea that the older generation never complained and always endured, but it

I’ve been following closely since the start of the year Governor Calvo’s use of colonialism and self-determination when talking about different, sometimes seemingly unrelated issues. As someone who takes seriously the role of contemporary and historical colonialism in shaping Guam, I’ve been impressed with his rhetoric, but also wary as to how much of it is real and how much of it might be simple posturing. Every Governor of Guam has the same choices in terms of their approach to navigating the sometimes stormy, sometimes placid seas of Federal-Territorial relations. You can pretend you are just like a state and accept the Hansel and Gretel like breadcrumbs of tokenism that make you feel like you are moving forward when you are really not. Or you can play the colonial card and try to define yourself from your actual position, which is much more difficult in the short term, but does have the aura of possible helping to lead Guam in the next step of its political evolution. Although

The Long and the Short of It: As the World Turns: Merry Christmas from Guam: Where America's Day Begins December 2007 By Tony Artero (realtor) Historically, men and women in our country’s military services sacrificed their life in defense of our freedoms. Yet many of our military veterans are overwhelmed by political and bureaucratic problems. There are numerous examples of such mistreatment. On Guam, a U.S. soil, it has always been, “never mind the law.” The indigenous people were and still are treated as criminals by edict of the government. It is a tragedy which has befallen a friendly, patriotic, and peace-loving people who are needed by no one. Foreign powers has always wanted only the island for its strategic location and, after World War II, its people were evicted from their fertile lands. The U.S. forcefully took two-thirds of the land on Guam under the guise of national defense. The taking was excessively more than needed, massively reducing the property tax roll, and

In his book Bisita Guam: A Special Place in the Sun , former Guam Non-Voting Delegate Ben Garrido Blaz, recounts a very telling anecdote about Guam's relationship to the United States. And which goes right to the heart of whether or not Guam has been "liberated." It begins with Blaz as a young man on island after World War II, who is preparing to leave for his first assignment in the US Marine Corps. The Organic Act had been signed recently, basically giving all Chamorros on Guam US citizenship and setting the political precedent whereby the island would become Guam USA in the time since, no longer the USS Guam or the colony of Guam. The Organic Act took Guam from the dead-end path that it had been on prior to the war, a nascent, ignored colonial possession, where Chamorros were explicitly treated as sub-humans by the US Navy, to a territory which now always appears to be moving closer to the United States, always appears to be getting new rights, new freedoms, new ways