Hafa Na Liberasion #6: We Cannot be Partially Free
From the August, 14, 2007 Marianas Variety
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'US obligation unfulfilled'
HOW much more remarkable, and most honorable, if all the excitement, anticipation, planning and due diligence to seemingly busy work by all the leadership, both local and federal, if all this activity would be engaged in the decolonization of our homeland and our people, instead of warp speed toward complete destruction?
I almost cannot articulate the revulsion I feel as I see our leaders and business community nearly jumping for joy to cut the best deals in the further exploitation of our people, our lands, and our resources for their personal gain, with no thought to our noble quest for our fundamental, inalienable right to self-determination, so we may finally experience our full measure of freedom.
Increased militarization of Guam is surely an impediment to this quest, as is already so simply evident even in the planning of hearings and meetings, that we the people would have to make a ruckus for inclusion, for participation, however limited.
That for more thousands of military and their families and base support systems, there will be thousands upon thousands upon thousands of more people needed to meet reciprocal workforce requirements, including many more might slither up and down a metal pole. And that's just the human side.
What of weapons of mass destruction and contaminations that always accompany military conditions? How much more do we have to endure pollution and degradation of our environments and threat of nuclear annihilation?
We watch as leaders scurry about in frenzied reaction mode identifying needs: that we need better utilities infrastructure, we need better schools, we need better health systems, we need better roads, etc. We are dumbfounded by their energy to ineptness. Don't we deserve these improvements anyway? Don't we deserve an excellent quality of life anyway? Why can't we be frenzied and frazzled making these happen for ourselves, anyway?
If this massive military buildup suddenly cancels, what will we do? I submit that the United States is ALREADY OBLIGATED to support and promote the political, economic, social, and educational advancement of our people and must be compelled to meet this obligation — agreed to in the Treaty of Paris in 1898, proclaimed again in 1946, when Guam was inscribed as a Non-Self-Governing colony of the U.S. at the organizing of the United Nations – that the United States accepted as their sacred trust, that the interests of the inhabitants of Guam be paramount!
I submit further: America, if our homeland Guam is that strategically important to your defense and we are part of THE most important region in the world — if the Department of Defense will spend:
o $101.8 (up from $51.8) million to build Phase 1 of Kilo Wharf extension
o $59.4 million to improve security of electrical systems at Naval Base
o $57.2 million to replace Naval Family Housing at Naval Base
o $45.2 million for a fitness center at Naval Base
o $40.8 million to repair and upgrade the Naval Base wastewater treatment plant
o $31.4 million to build Phase I of a potable water distribution system at Naval Base
o $10 million to upgrade Northwest Field infrastructure
And these are just the amounts in DoD's fiscal year 2008 budget that we don't know are included in the $10 billion Japan will throw in for the Marines' relocation, or the $5 billion U.S. share. What also of the TRILLIONS, and counting, in Iraq and Afghanistan. So, America, again, if Guam is so important, then realize these:
o Fulfill your obligation to us that you can no longer ignore!
o Return our lands not now being used and just sitting idle, unconditionally!
o Pay war reparations with urgency!
o Include Guam in the RECA program, immediately, so our people can be helped with their suffering from nuclear radiation exposure!
o Guarantee your financial support and non-intrusion in the exercise of our political self-determination, with concurrence for the presence of United Nations experts to assist us, within the immediate future!
o Guarantee a safe and dignified evacuation of every single Chamorro from Guam and islas Marianas, as you would your families in the event of peril! Our people will not be sacrificed again in world battles for supremacy.
America, you may ask, who am I? Our own leaders would ask, who am I? Some of our own people prostituting themselves now for profit from war would ask, who am I? You already know! And The Ancient Ones will help us, their children, whose psyche is being battered, to RESIST this accelerated marginalization of our people, as we are led down the path of destruction!
Martin Luther King said: "All history teaches us that like a turbulent ocean beating great cliffs into fragments of rock, the determined movement of people incessantly demanding their rights always disintegrates the old order." We want a new order!
We cannot be partially free — we are either free, or we are not! America, put out or get out! And to those of you who would sell your very souls in selling us out, STAND DOWN! Our hands do not extend for a few pieces of silver, but rise in quest for freedom!
Guelo yan Guela, u sangan, Saina Ma'ase! Biba Chamorro! Biba Guam! Never let them rest!
PATTY GARRIDO
Ñaton, Guahan, Harmon
***********************
'US obligation unfulfilled'
HOW much more remarkable, and most honorable, if all the excitement, anticipation, planning and due diligence to seemingly busy work by all the leadership, both local and federal, if all this activity would be engaged in the decolonization of our homeland and our people, instead of warp speed toward complete destruction?
I almost cannot articulate the revulsion I feel as I see our leaders and business community nearly jumping for joy to cut the best deals in the further exploitation of our people, our lands, and our resources for their personal gain, with no thought to our noble quest for our fundamental, inalienable right to self-determination, so we may finally experience our full measure of freedom.
Increased militarization of Guam is surely an impediment to this quest, as is already so simply evident even in the planning of hearings and meetings, that we the people would have to make a ruckus for inclusion, for participation, however limited.
That for more thousands of military and their families and base support systems, there will be thousands upon thousands upon thousands of more people needed to meet reciprocal workforce requirements, including many more might slither up and down a metal pole. And that's just the human side.
What of weapons of mass destruction and contaminations that always accompany military conditions? How much more do we have to endure pollution and degradation of our environments and threat of nuclear annihilation?
We watch as leaders scurry about in frenzied reaction mode identifying needs: that we need better utilities infrastructure, we need better schools, we need better health systems, we need better roads, etc. We are dumbfounded by their energy to ineptness. Don't we deserve these improvements anyway? Don't we deserve an excellent quality of life anyway? Why can't we be frenzied and frazzled making these happen for ourselves, anyway?
If this massive military buildup suddenly cancels, what will we do? I submit that the United States is ALREADY OBLIGATED to support and promote the political, economic, social, and educational advancement of our people and must be compelled to meet this obligation — agreed to in the Treaty of Paris in 1898, proclaimed again in 1946, when Guam was inscribed as a Non-Self-Governing colony of the U.S. at the organizing of the United Nations – that the United States accepted as their sacred trust, that the interests of the inhabitants of Guam be paramount!
I submit further: America, if our homeland Guam is that strategically important to your defense and we are part of THE most important region in the world — if the Department of Defense will spend:
o $101.8 (up from $51.8) million to build Phase 1 of Kilo Wharf extension
o $59.4 million to improve security of electrical systems at Naval Base
o $57.2 million to replace Naval Family Housing at Naval Base
o $45.2 million for a fitness center at Naval Base
o $40.8 million to repair and upgrade the Naval Base wastewater treatment plant
o $31.4 million to build Phase I of a potable water distribution system at Naval Base
o $10 million to upgrade Northwest Field infrastructure
And these are just the amounts in DoD's fiscal year 2008 budget that we don't know are included in the $10 billion Japan will throw in for the Marines' relocation, or the $5 billion U.S. share. What also of the TRILLIONS, and counting, in Iraq and Afghanistan. So, America, again, if Guam is so important, then realize these:
o Fulfill your obligation to us that you can no longer ignore!
o Return our lands not now being used and just sitting idle, unconditionally!
o Pay war reparations with urgency!
o Include Guam in the RECA program, immediately, so our people can be helped with their suffering from nuclear radiation exposure!
o Guarantee your financial support and non-intrusion in the exercise of our political self-determination, with concurrence for the presence of United Nations experts to assist us, within the immediate future!
o Guarantee a safe and dignified evacuation of every single Chamorro from Guam and islas Marianas, as you would your families in the event of peril! Our people will not be sacrificed again in world battles for supremacy.
America, you may ask, who am I? Our own leaders would ask, who am I? Some of our own people prostituting themselves now for profit from war would ask, who am I? You already know! And The Ancient Ones will help us, their children, whose psyche is being battered, to RESIST this accelerated marginalization of our people, as we are led down the path of destruction!
Martin Luther King said: "All history teaches us that like a turbulent ocean beating great cliffs into fragments of rock, the determined movement of people incessantly demanding their rights always disintegrates the old order." We want a new order!
We cannot be partially free — we are either free, or we are not! America, put out or get out! And to those of you who would sell your very souls in selling us out, STAND DOWN! Our hands do not extend for a few pieces of silver, but rise in quest for freedom!
Guelo yan Guela, u sangan, Saina Ma'ase! Biba Chamorro! Biba Guam! Never let them rest!
PATTY GARRIDO
Ñaton, Guahan, Harmon
