8,000

8,000 Marines and their 9,000 dependents will be transferred to Guam from Okinawa by 2014.

How will this affect our lives?
Ecologically?
Socially?
Economically?
Demographically?
Culturally?

Why are they coming here and why doesn't Okinawa want them?

Why don't we have a say in this move?

NOW'S THE TIME TO ASK QUESTIONS!
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For more information, visit the websites below:

http://www.chamorro.com
http://decolonizeguam.blogspot.com
http://minagahet.blogspot.com
http://www.geocities.com/minagahet

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Merry Christmas!!!!

Comments

brent schumacher said…
Ecologically: -

Nothing can be done to mitigate for this kind of population increase; 8,000 Marines, 9,000 dependents, plus say 5,000 H2 worker drones, maybe 2,500 or so foreign carpetbagger investors, and not to mention the rate at which people breed here;…Guam is going to get really crowded. The federal government will step in and try to make improvements to the infrastructure: Like a modern dump, little separate trashcans to put recyclables, a new road, updated water supply. Regulatory agencies will increase their presence and try to limit things like gill netting the entrance to the Agana Boat Basin, torching the grass savannas during deer season, things like that. Basically these improvements will have the same effect as putting lipstick on a pig.

Socially: (no change)

Depends who you are talking about. I don’t see military people hanging out with any one else other than military people. Occasionally I see a haolie guy with an island girlfriend; or a haolie girl with an island boyfriend;…which is okay, island girls are sweethearts, and I’m all for hybrid vigor.

Economicaly: -

Wage earners might like to buy a house at some point; I suspect this move will inflate housing prices. Locals will get their choice of shitty jobs if they are not lucky enough to get pari paried into a government of Guam job. The people who will make out like bandits: Corporate America, and foreign Asian investors.

Demographically: -

People will be categorized: Chamorros, Flips, Micronesians from who knows where, Haolies, and Asians (Koreans, Japanese, Chinese). Basically how things are now but more stereotypes and hatred.

Culturally: +

Diversity is good.

Why are they coming here and why doesn’t Okinawa want them?

The U.S. has to put weapons some where in the Western Pacific; …strategy I imagine. If not Guam, then where?, …any volunteers?,…no?, then Guam it is.

Okinawa doesn’t want them because 8,000 guys, many of them ages 18-25 can’t behave themselves. Boys will be boys doesn’t jive with the Okinawans sensibilities.

Why don’t we have a say in this move?

Guam is a protectorate of the U.S.; as long as the flag is flying and people’s passports are blue, the U.S. doesn’t really have to ask permission.
December 27, 2007 12:24 PM
CarbonDate said…
Ecologically: It will be bad for the island, but so has every other bit of "progress" which has visited her beaches the past decades. New buildings will have to come up, which means old forests will have to come down. The island will become hotter and less pleasant, and this will be year round.

Socially: The relationship between locals and military will get worse. Much worse. Marines aren't like sailors or airmen; they like to fight and tear shit up, and when you get large groups of them in one place, it's that much worse. They'll come in like they own the place and get into fights with locals when they aren't getting into fights with sailors or airmen.

Economically: I suppose a few investors will do very well for themselves, but as with all other new economic development, only a very little bit of that will trickle down to the rest of the people.

Demographically: More racial tension between islanders and "haole" GIs like me, which saddens me, since I generally like the people here.

Culturally: Not much impact. Military culture is to culture what military music is to music. You all know what I'm talking about.

Okinawa doesn't want them because they keep raping the locals. Marines are about as close to true barbarians as still exist in modern society. Guam doesn't get a say in this because it's a U.S. territory and Bush doesn't even ask permission when he *is* required to.

The influx of Marines is illustrative of why Guam needs to work either toward statehood or independence, IMHO. Its current status as a pseudo-colony is and should be unacceptable to anyone who actually believes in the "American ideals" they teach us in school.
December 30, 2007 3:59 PM
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