NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

The issue of Governor Calvo "deporting" people (primarily) from the FSM has been one of those issues that I wish I was following more closely, but haven't been able to. I've collected some articles here offering basic timelines and info over the past few months. I look forward at some point in the future writing more about this, as it goes right to the heart of Guam's status as a continuing colony, whereas the other islands in Micronesia have been able to move towards a greater sense of self-government. This exasperates and complexifies the long-standing problem of whether or not Chamorros and others on Guam identify as being Micronesian, being part of Micronesia or being anything other than Pacific Islander Americans. Gaige iya Guahan giya Micronesia. Lao atan i sinangån-ta yan i kustumbre-ta? Kao ta na'magågahet este na ideha? Lao achokka' siña ta sångan na gaige hit gi halom este na hinekkan isla, ti mamparehu hit gi pulitikat na bånda. Manggaipodet s

The issue of FAS citizens, people from the FSM primarily, is something that brings together so many divergent and divisive discourses in Guam. It is something that is not easily unpacked and not easily resolved because of the many ideological contact points, overlaps and contradictions. It is easy for some to make a blanket statement one way or another, but those voices tend to consider very little. They don't account for much of the overall nebulous ideological structure that gives meaning to this issue.  When talking about the issue of FAS citizens and their impact on Guam, so many things end up being touched upon and most people only want to admit to the relevance of one or two of those many possible discourses. We see multiculturalism giving the impression that all people are just people. We see immigrant stories, the way they play essential and often undervalued roles in sustaining economies. We see expressions of racism and expressions of anti-racism. People who shriek if

Kathy Jetnil-Kijner made international headlines for her poems "Tell Them" and "A Poem to My Daughter" giving people around the world an insight into Marshallese culture and also the dangers that global warming represents to people across the Pacific. She has a blog titled Iep Jeltok, where she discusses a wide range of interesting topics, such as Pacific Literature, the lives of Micronesians in Hawai'i and a post that I really enjoyed (and have posted below) on the importance of colleges divesting from fossil fuels. *********************** Why College of the Marshall Islands is divesting from fossil fuels - and why your institution should too November 19, 2015 by Kathy Jetnil-Kijner Iep Jeltok A few weeks ago I was called into the office of the President of the College of the Marshall Islands (CMI) Carl Hacker, to discuss his big announcement: that he would be pushing for CMI to divest from fossil fuels. All we need next is approval from the Board

The Militarized Pacific: An Anniversary Without End Wednesday, 14 May 2014 10:13 By Jon Letman , Truthout | Op-Ed Marshallese children swim and play amongst a junk heap on the shore of tiny Ebeye island, one of the most densely populated places on earth. Some 11-12,000 people are packed onto the 80 acre island. (Photo by Richard Ross)   March 1, the 60th anniversary of the Castle Bravo test - a nuclear detonation over a thousand times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima - has come and gone. Predictably, major decadal events, like a 15-megaton explosion over a Micronesian atoll, garner fleeting attention, but it's all the days between the anniversaries that tell the real story of those who live with the impacts. For the people of the Marshall Islands, where Enewetak, Bikini and neighboring atolls were irradiated and rendered uninhabitable by 67 nuclear tests between 1946 and 1958, the brief anniv

This Thursday at 6 pm at the Dededo Senior Center I'll be on a panel to discuss a rough cut of the documentary "Island Soldier." The film by Nathan Fitch is about the experiences of FSM Citizens who serve in the US military. I have been hearing about this film for quite a while from its director and I'm very excited to see what he has created. Micronesia is often dismissed by the world due to its smallness and its distance from places that are considered to be naturally important. What can there be of value here expect for those things which people associate with smallness, isolation and getting away from the "real" world. But one thing that this part of the world and the American Empire can claim is to have overwhelming per capita enlistment statistics in the US military. It is something that anyone who knows the United States in terms of its statistics or numerical reality is aware of, but is unsure how to process. The collection of islands that the US