NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

The clock is running out for the Government of Guam to decide if they plan to appeal the recent 9th Circuit Court's affirmation of the Dave Davis case. After the federal district judge in Guam, Francis Tydingco-Gatewood ruled in Davis' favor in 2017, the government of Guam appealed. They lost that appeal earlier this year. In a few weeks the Leon Guerrero administration will reveal their plans for the Davis case and hopefully the issue of a self-determination plebiscite in general.  For those unfamiliar, the Davis case deals with a non-binding political status plebiscite codified in Guam law, that would be limited to only those who were made US citizens by the 1950 Organic Act and their descendants. Although not strictly a racial definition, the US federal courts have ruled that this classification known in Guam as "native inhabitants" is unconstitutional.  The question that remains for Maga'håga Lou now is, what is Guam's next step? As she is the head o

I've been in Japan for two weeks now and things have been quite busy, I haven't had as much time as I would like for blogging or writing. I have been swimming in a sea of small and large differences from my life on Guam. The things each day which strike me slowly or suddenly and remind me that I am in a different part of the world, and that my level of knowledge about Japan, barely scratches the surface of the surface for existence here. Transitioning from Guam, which is very car-centered to life here in Kobe where my life, my cognitive and temporal geography is all dictated by public transportation is a massive shift. One thing caught my eye the other day while I was riding the train. Some trains would have cars with pink signs on them such as the one in the image above. These trains would only for female users of public transportation. When I asked my friend why they had these and were these common throughout Japan, she stated that they were created in response to the fre

I traveled to South Korea last year on a research and solidarity trip and I hope to travel back there in the next year or so. Here are four of the silly and serious reasons why I would like to visit there again: 1. When I was in South Korea, I saw many similarities in history and struggle with Guam. South Korea, like Guam is a flashpoint for US military aspirations in the Asia-Pacific region. It plays a key role in how the US is intending to contain Asia, most importantly China, and so as someone who is interested in peace and not war in this part of the world, I feel it is important to learn more about the other sites of US militarization. 2. I had known about South Korea being a central front in the war for spreading the glories of esports prior to traveling there, but while I was there I took on a new appreciation for it. While sitting in my hostel room in Seoul, and surfing through the few channels that I could watch and understand what was happening, one of them regularly featu

There has been much talk recently over the cultural and historic properties in the Pagat area of Northeastern Guam, and where exactly Pagat begins and ends. Last weekend and this past weekend I went with members of We Are Guahan into the northern section of Pagat to see what artifacts we could find. Although we weren't the first to find them, we found quite a bit of latte and lusong, which I'm sure I'll be writing about very soon on this blog. The issue of historic relics and cultural artifacts reminds me of the current situation in Gangjeong Village, on Jeju Island in South Korea. Although the villager of Gangjeong have been fiercely resisting the creation of a military dock there which will be used by both US and South Korean Navy forces, the construction and hence the destruction of parts of the coast and the land in Gangjeong have already begun. As usual, the blog where you can find the most update to date info on this (which is graciously translated into English by

Our delegation was given a tour this afternoon of Yongsan Base which is right in the heart of Seoul and the headquarters of the United States military forces in Korea. We climbed into a van provided by the Pan-Korean Alliance Reunification (PKAR) South Korea branch, and drove around the base, marveling at how intertwined the government of South Korea and the US military were. We spent the afternoon visiting the Pan-Korean Alliance Reunification (PKAR) South Korea branch. They took us to their office, gave us a tour of nearby Yongsan Base (which houses the headquarters of the US military in South Korea) and treated us to dinner afterwards. For those interested, we were given a small packet of information on their group and so here is some excerpts: Who are We? Pan Korean Alliance for Reunification (BomMinRyon) was established in 1990 as a non-governmental civil organization conducting the movement for great nation unity and reunification of Korea… BomMinRyon – the movement is based

Apparently in addition to being attacked on the forums and comments for Guampdn, I was also recently attacked by Fox News commentatory yan hakate na taotao, Glen Beck. I was forwarded this email earlier today, which led me to a link where I watched a video of Beck creating one of his famous Dadaist works of art on a chalkboard, which professed to explain some massive communist or socialist takeover of the United States government. And lo and behold amongst the names of Stalin, Che and Hillary Clinton, there was "Michael Lujan Bevacqua." If you believe in Democratic party values or various progressive causes, then I'm willing to bet that Beck has a space for your on his chalkboard. If you'd like the view the video that I watched and even type your own name in, just click here . The video was made possible by Moveon.org , Brave New Films and the SEIU . I'm pasting pictures of my version of the video below, but there's something so very funny about this. Even

This week in an AP interview, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, when asked about the postwar reconstruction efforts in Iraq, and the waste and corruption that had taken place, attempted to make a clear (yet untenable) distinction in what monies had been lost or wasted. Q: But the cost in terms of lives and in terms of the money and the abuse of money – (inaudible) was money wasted, there was money that was siphoned off, corruption and that kind of thing, you’re — RICE: Not of American money. Not American money. I don’t think that you will find that anybody is arguing that there was corruption in the American programs. Think Progress and reality beg to differ with this assessment, and listed on their website a half dozen ways in which American money and American programs and firms have been at the center of the transformationg of Iraq into one of the most corrupt nations in the world. If Secretary Rice and other Bush officials need more evidence of American corruption in Iraq,

I am writing right now two lectures on the Pacific and Pacific Islanders which I'll be giving this week in the Ethnic Studies 1A class at UCSD. I've got the basic idea of what I want to say and what I'll use to say and prove it, but still the actually writing and plotting of it is a bit difficult. I at first wanted to show what Pacific Islanders and their islands mean in relation to the United States, so for other Americans, what do they enable, perform or make possible culturally, politically and militarily. The different segments of a nation and an empire are bound together in various ways, but one important and obvious one being practical or utilitarian. From the vantage of being a "real" citizen, or a "real" American, what it is for example, that different racial or ethnic groups provide to the health and prosperity of the nation. What it is that they bring here that is important? The reason for this is of course to both explain why someone should b