NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Racism is such a difficult thing to discuss. Wait, nangga un ratu. It isn't a difficult thing to explain necessarily. Esta meggai matuge' put este. Guaha diferentes na theories put hafa este na fuetsa gi lina'la' taotao. We can clearly explain its role in creating structures of inequality and normalizing systems of violence. Lao hafa i minappot? I patten tinaotao. Racism is not difficult to explain. Ti mappot maeksplika. It is difficult to discuss, because discussion assumes a conversation and this is limited by what the person you are talking to is able to process or able to admit to. I mina'mappot i diniskuti i chi-na i hinasso i ume'ekungok yan i kumukuentos tatte. Discussing racism means engaging in a number of topics that people would rather not address. The idea of post-racism today is predicated on the belief, hope that if we just don't mention it, all is well. Ya humuyongna, ayu i manangan put rasa pat rinasa, guiya i "raci

Published on Wednesday, August 1, 2012 by The Nation From the Archive: We Are the Patriots by Gore Vidal CD editor's note: The following essay appeared in the June 2, 2003 edition of The Nation magazine, and we reprint it today following news that Gore Vidal died yesterday at the age of 86:   I belong to a minority that is now one of the smallest in the country and, with every day, grows smaller. I am a veteran of World War II. And I can recall thinking, when I got out of the Army in 1946, Well, that's that. We won. And those who come after us will never need do this again. Then came the two mad wars of imperial vanity--Korea and Vietnam. They were bitter for us, not to mention for the so-called enemy. Next we were enrolled in a perpetual war against what seemed to be the enemy-of-the-month club. This war kept major revenues going to military procurement and secret police, while withhol

One of the most curious creatures that I’ve met as I’ve traveled to Okinawa, Japan and South Korea is a particular form of Rightist conservative. The majority of people whom I’ve interacted with during my research and solidarity trips over the past three years have all been leftists, albeit a variety of leftists. I talk and work with liberals, progressives, peace activists, decolonization and demilitarization activists and so the conversation usually sticks to a pretty familiar side of the ideological spectrum. But as I’ve travelled the other side, with its own diversity of opinion has always been there. During my trip to Okinawa last month pro-military, rightist conservatives were always around the edges of my sphere of being, threatening to enter, but never really making a solid appearance. For example during a two day symposium at Okinawan International University on demilitarism and decolonization, a threat was called in to one of the organizers, stating that conservat

This past week I got some of the best news I've gotten in a long time. I defended my dissertation last June, but had some revisions to take care of before I could submit it to my graduate school. Last week after almost two months of waiting, I finally received word from my dissertation committee that the last draft I sent them was acceptable and that I can finally submit it and officially become a Ph.D. Right now I'm working on the finishing touches or small little "details" of the dissertation that need to be taken care of. I'm completing my works cited page, looking for any typos or grammatical mistakes, writing up my acknowledgements and preparing my table of contents. One of the most fun and interesting details that I have left to take care of is choosing my epitaphs for each chapter. These are quotes or passages which are meant to be "teasers" or "sneak peeks" of my chapters. One thing that I've learned is that these sorts of detail

If you asked me right now who my favorite fictional character is, I wouldn't say Kakashi from Naruto, Spock from Star Trek, or even Jacob Black from Twilight. If you asked me right now I would have to answer the antiwar Barack Obama. He is the coolest. He's interested in shrinking the military budget, he's for peace and not war, is not interested in establishing more permanent US bases around the world, and is willing to admit that America is sometimes wrong and is not perfect. He's like the president from a great movie or tv show, one who completely changes the country, who takes a massive risk and decides to turn the most powerful country in the world into a radical new direction. In my favorite episode of the Antiwar Obama show, he tracks Dick Cheney to his secret underground lair, where he hordes away all the billions of dollars lost by war profiteering in Iraq and Afghanistan. There, Antiwar Obama fights off hundreds of Halliburton and Blackwater employees who ar

Put este na klasi siha, na ti bai hu fa'yi'us Si Obama. I Manrepublicans, hinasson-niniha na gaige Si Obama gof chagogo' gi i banda Akague', lao ai adai, ti nahong iyo-na "inakague pulitikat" para Guahu. Esta noskuantos biaha desde mahula' gui', na nina'desganao yu' . Otro fino'-ta, achokka' sina hao i mas "liberal" na taotao annai malalagu hao para ofisinan pulitikat, gigon humalom hao mumas conservative. Ti sina masuhayi este. Ginnen i sistema. Gigon na manakikihon hao "power" lumaconservative. Despensa, sa' ti bei fangge post pa'go. Manegga' yu' Cricket gi i internet pa'go. Tres na matches manachagigigu. Sri Lanka vs. Pakistan, West Indies vs. England yan South Africa vs. Australia. Ai adai, esta kalang bulachu yu' nu este na binila'! *************************************** Published on Saturday, February 28, 2009 by Salon.com Obama's Efforts to Block a Judicial Ruling on

Two more soldiers from Guam killed this week , while fighting in Afghanistan. A Chamorro working as a private contractor was killed last month in Iraq. The total for the entire Micronesian region (Guam, CNMI, FSM, RMI and Palau) is now up to 28 killed in the total War on Terror. Scary statistics that should make even the most "patriotic" resident of the region think twice about out this war and our participation in it. Looking at this death toll, and all the media coverage about how young people in these islands are just dying and desperate to sign up and serve, I am reminded of one of the final lines from Michael Moores' film Fahrenheit 911: "I've always been amazed that the very people forced to live in the worst parts of town, go to the worst schools, and who have it the hardest are always the first to step up, to defend us. They serve so that we don't have to. They offer to give up their lives so that we can be free. It is remarkably their gift to us.