NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Ti å'amko' yu' trabiha hun, lao ti enao i sinientete-ku.  I am a little over a year from 40 years of age. The closer I get to 40, the closer I get reflective and ruminate on things. The closer I get to 40, the more I try to make sense of things I've been through and the more I try to figure out what impact, if any I've had on Guam or in general.  I sanhilo' i sabåna muna'lagefpågo i intan påpa'.  Whether my reflections yield things to make me cringe, smile, laugh, shake my head or want to hide away in Yokoi's Cave, changes daily. As someone who studies Guam history I can see places where I, working with other have definitely had an impact. I can see ways in which I haven't succeeded in certain goals, I have seen places where I have changed my goals as the island has changed.  I barångka muna'kåpas hao salamanka.  Robert Underwood once told me that while he was a young Chamoru faculty member at the University of Guam,

“Tinestigu put Resolusion 294-34” November 22, 2017 Michael Lujan Bevacqua Buenas yan Håfa Adai, mansenådot yan mansenådores guini gi este na gefpå’go na ha’åni, pi’ot hågu Senadot San Nicolas. I na’ån-hu si Michael Lujan Bevacqua. Profesot yu’ gi Programan Inestudion Chamorro gi Unibetsedat Guåhan yan gehilo’ yu’ para i inetnon kumunidåt “Independent Guåhan.” Lao guini på’go gi me’nan-miyu ti hu kuentusisiyi ayu siha. Tumestitigu yu’ guini på’go komo un Chamorro yan taotao Guåhan. Hu agrådesi i oppotunidåt para bai hu fata’chong guini på’go ya bai hu sangåni hamyo ni’ didide’ ginen i hinasso-ku put este na resolusion yan i meggai asunto ni’ pinapacha.   Put resolusion 294-34, ti hu sapopotte gui’. Ya para bai hu na’klåru i pusision-hu put este na asunto gi este kuatro na punto: Fine’nina: Gi tinituhon este na resolusion, guaha infotmasion put NEPA, i National Environmental Policy Act. Mafå’tinas este na lai para u na’siguro na i gubetnamento

Independent Guåhan’s June General Assembly focuses on issue of military dumping and vandalism in the village of Toto For Immediate Release, June 20, 2017 – Independent Guåhan (IG) has continued to bring decolonization outreach and education to Guam’s villages with two successful forums in Malesso’ and Chalan Pågo. This month’s General Assembly (GA) will be at the Toto Community Center on June 29, from 6:00 -7:30 p.m. The focus this month is on the troubling history of military dumping on Guam and also creative ways communities can deal with problems such as vandalism and crime. Each meeting, IG honors a Maga’taotao, or outstanding person. This month the group will honor the legacy of Tan Deda, or Magdalena S.N. Bayani, a war survivor, master techa and pillar of the M-T-M community who passed away recently. IG honors the strength and perseverance of Tan Deda and all other war survivors as June 28 is Guam War Survivors Memorial Day. In analyzing the impacts of Wo

There has been a small but determined movement to push Chamorros towards tribal/Native American status for a few years now. There are those who believe it to be the best or only path forward for the Chamorro people given the colonial frameworks they are ensnared by. The statement below is from The Chamorro Tribe itself, which has been advocating this in various forms for about a decade (as far as I can tell). This idea resurfaces every couple of years, usually when a politician decides to take up the cause as a way of providing a seemingly simple solution to a very complicated problem, namely decolonization. A few years ago Senator Judith Gutherz was advocating for it. This past year Felix Camacho in his race for non-voting delegate advocated the same thing. I am getting ready to catch a flight and so I can't talk much about this now. But in time I plan to write more. For now here is the statement of the Chairman of the Chamorro Tribe, Frank Schacher. It can be found on their web

Last year, Our Islands are Sacred and other local activist groups penned a joint letter to Governor of Guam Eddie Calvo, challenging his support for the US military buildup to Guam. In response to the letter, which made a significant splash on social media, the Governor met with some of the authors of the letter to discuss their concerns. Central to rhetoric invoked in the letter focused on how the Governor had made several statements to the media that he was excited about the military buildup and what it might mean to Guam economically. As the military buildup, even in its reduced form, will most likely negatively Guam's environment, economy, security and cultural properties, the writers of the letter were incredulous that Governor Calvo would speak of the buildup with such excitement when so many negative aspects were involved. One of the suggestions that they made to Governor Calvo was that he invite the Governor of Okinawa to visit Guam with his staff and have a conversatio

You'll find a number of different articles about Agent Orange on this blog, that I've posted over the years. This one was published in the Guam Daily Post recently and didn't get much attention. Thought I'd post it here as a reminder about the dangers and poisons of militarization. It is one of the many American legacies in Guam that most people refuse to admit to or do anything about. Check out this page Guam & Agent Orange for more information. ******************** Study finds link between Agent Orange and infant mortality on Guam by Mar-Vic Cagurangan Guam Daily Post January 19, 2016 Infants born to mothers who lived in Agent Orange-sprayed areas were at an increased risk of infant mortality due to congenital anomalies, according to scientists who recently released the first study that examined the link between herbicides and infant mortality on Guam. The study, published in the December 2015 issue of the Hawaii Journal of Medicine and Publi

This article represents an important reminder about the consequences of militarism and militarization. It is easy to become enamored by the spiffiness, the shininess of the US military. The advertisements are so sleek and so inspiring. They hit people from so many angles. They appeal to the patriotism, the training, the education, the travel, the need to protect the homeland and one's family. These ads are bolstered by the surface of the US military. The cleanliness, the immaculate surface. Nicely cute lawns. Sharply painted houses. Pressed uniforms, young people and not so young people standing at attention. There is so much clean order. It is no wonder than that in Guam, militarism is such a strong force. Militarism deals with the way that a society relates to military institutions and military force. Do societies see military force, military outposts, military service as being ideal, essential, a last resort? Do they see the military as the ultimate opportunity or an unfortuna

 I'm excited this summer because I'll be a visiting scholar in Japan at Kobe University. I'll be teaching a course on transnational relations that focuses on militarization and militarism in the Asia-Pacific region. I'll be using two books for the course Militarized Currents edited by Setsu Shigematsu and Keith Camacho and The Bases of Empire edited by Catherine Lutz. Catherine Lutz has been a friend of Micronesia for a very long time and last came through Guam a few years ago. Here work is very important in terms of giving a structure to militarization and militarism and not just letting them be things taken for granted as natural parts of life, but being able to drawn them out of the background here and force them to become objects of analysis and critique. Her work when she came through Guam and gave several presentations and even testified in front of the Guam Legislature was very eye-opening to people about the nature of military bases and how they affect the c