NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Guaha na biahi mangguife yu' put i Korean Peninsula. Ti siguru yu' sa' hafa taiguigui i guinife-hu siha. Hu bisita i tano' Korea un biahi ha', gi 2010. Gi ayu na tiempo mampasehu ham yan otro na activists kontra fina'militat gi diferentes na lugat giya South Korea, put hemplo i Islan Jeju. Gi unu na puenge manmata'chong ham yan "reunification activists" para un sena giya Seoul. Ante di ayu, taya' maolek hiningok-hu put iya North Korea. Sigun i media gi sanlagu yan guini giya Guahan, i ma'gas i tano' gof kaduku yan i taotao guihi manmahokse'. Ayu na activists, ti ma chanda todu i hiningok-hu, lao ma na'lakabales i tiningo'-hu put i tano' Korea. Ma sangani yu' put taimanu na umadespatta i dos na patte. Sigun unu na bihu, ilek-na na i media gi sanlagu yan gi sanhaya mamparehu todu. Ma aguiguiyi i gayun-niha pulitikat. Ma sapotte yan ma hatsa i gobetnamenton-niha, achokka' gi ayu ti ma attette

Published on Friday, July 26, 2013 by Common Dreams After 60 Years of Suffering, Time to Replace Korean Armistice with Peace Treaty by Christine Ahn Sixty years ago today, the United States, North Korea and China sat down to sign the Korean Armistice Agreement to “insure a complete cessation of hostilities.” Several provisions were to guarantee a peaceful settlement, including a permanent peace agreement, withdrawal of all foreign troops, and no new arms introduced into Korea. Six decades later, none of these have been honored. As such, war, not peace, defines the relationship between Washington and Pyongyang. Official commemorations are now taking place throughout Korea and United States, mostly honoring veterans who sacrificed their lives to fight the Forgotten War. Missing from this sanctioned remembering are the nearly four million Korean, mostly civilian, lives lost in just three years.

I have long advocated that we on Guam stopped looking at the world through the eyes of the United States. It is tragic and pointless sometimes for us to the nations and the islands that are right beside us through the gaze of the United States which literally sits on the other side of the Pacific and the world. We see other islands through our privileged relationship to the United States. We see countries around us through the enemies, allies and interests of the United States. It is hilarious to the point of tragedy that we talk endlessly about how we are "America in Asia" and so close to Asia, but actually know so little about "Asia." What we do know comes imported from the United States and we learn little for ourselves. In the recent controversy over North Korea and its potential threat to Guam we could perceive this in crystal clear fashion. For all the discussion and concern and worry over North Korea, what did we actually know about it? How much were we act

After writing so much about Okinawa over the years, as its fate has been tied to Guam's through the long proposed transfer of troops from there to here, I am finally going there. There will be a conference taking place there later this month where peace and a nuclear free future for the Asia-Pacific region will be discussed. I, along with other activists from Guam will be going there and speaking on what is happening locally, to inform people from South Korea, Japan, the Philippines and even the Marshall Islands and Palau as to our own struggles with the US military. I have lots of grading to do, but I'm not doing it right now because I have to prepare my speech for the conference. Here's a great article on Okinawa and its base issues that I came across on the site Close the Base . ************** Governor Nakaima: Washington & Tokyo “should stop doing deals and return the bases promptly” Yoshio Shimoji: “Futenma: Tip of the Iceberg in Okinawa’s Agony” October

I receive regular updates about news on the Korean peninsula from a group called the Korea Policy Institute. The description from their website is as follows: The Korea Policy Institute is an independent research and educational institute whose mission is to provide timely analysis of United States policies toward Korea and developments on the Korean peninsula. If you would like to receive their emails and updates you can easily sign up . You can also donate to support them by clicking here . After traveling to South Korea last year, I keep up with news there about places that I visited and people that I met. One reason I appreciated visiting there was the way it helped deepen my understanding not just about South Korea itself, but about the larger network of US bases in the Asia-Pacific region. From Guam you know the US has bases all over the place, but you think about that network and much of the world through those bases and not through the countries that "host" them.

On my last full day in South Korea, after traveling north to hear about the struggles against the expansion of the Mugeon-ri training areas, I had a few hours to myself, to do whatever I wanted with. After five days of tightly scheduled trips, visits, meals and transportation adventure, I really appreciated being able to explore on my own for a bit, the area I was staying in Seoul. I did not know my way around Seoul at the start of the trip and I still don’t know much about its geography, except for the little area near downtown that I was staying in. In my little area I could tell you where almost anything was (so long as its signage contained some English letters or images which indicated what was inside). I could tell you how many Dunkin Donuts were in the area and lead you to all of them, and could show you were the three music stores that I had found were, and even the chick place, which has a sign where a friendly looking chicken invites you to come in and partake of the flesh o

I have only been in South Korea for two days and I have already met dozens of political prisoners, some of whom were imprisoned for a matter of months, others for years. When I say political prisoner I don't mean someone arrested at a protest, but rather people who have been condemned and wrongfully incarcerated by the South Korean government. In fact, within the span of one day, I met three men who were political prisoners longer than Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in South Africa. I didn’t make this connection right away (this connection to Mandela), but it was something that was regularly reiterated throughout the day. I’ll return to this at the end of the post. Most people on Guam or in the United States don’t know anything about South Korea, and certainly not about its government. But that is why nationalism and the imaginary cognitive mapping that it provides is so important when dealing with “the rest of the world.” Most people might know about the Korean War or know that S

“The South is the true betrayer of the Korean nation. After the war, those who came to power and collaborated with the Americans, were the same people who had collaborated with the Japanese and helped oppress the Korean people. After the war they helped put down Korean nationalism. The spirit of our nation cannot be healed until the people reunite it.” Park Jnng-Ki Chairman of the Korean Council for Democratic Martyrs (via an interpreter), during dinner with myself, the other South Korea Solidarity delegates and PKAR The Korean Council for Democratic Martyrs is an organization dedicated to remembering those who have died or been disappeared (political prisoners) by the South Korean government, because of their fighting to build a more democratic Korea.