History repeats...

In Vietnam, Guam had one of the highest casualty rates in the United States and its colonies. Today we find Guam and Micronesia as having the highest rate, according to the PDN 1 death for every 74,000, which is nearly four times higher than the rest of the country.

The PDN story on this shocking, but expected fact. The article which could be useful and instructive is instead a whitewash of the basic issues involved, in that the people who are dying in Iraq from these areas share similar colonial and neo-colonial legacies, and the article doesn't even approach them. Chamorros still dying without equality, the Micronesian islands supposedly independent, but thousands of young people are pulled into the US military.

As usual, big picture questions aren't the PDN's specialty, its only when it comes to issues of military strategic needs and the philosophy of private power and privatization that suddenly the big picture of anything is worth discussing.

Check out the October 5th PDN for the article.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I can't seem to find that article on the Pacific Daily News website. Just wanted to let you know.
October 06, 2004 11:17 AM
Anonymous said…
I couldn't find the article either.
October 06, 2004 5:10 PM
Anonymous said…
See! This one is in English which means most Chamorros can look at it read it and discuss it. If you want more people to read your message and agree with you then you have to use English. Thank you!
October 07, 2004 2:20 PM
Anonymous said…
A good insight, sorry some dumb coconut is giving you a hard time. Sadly our people continue to be very colonized in their thinking.
October 08, 2004 8:39 AM
Anonymous said…
Don't think that I don't support what you are doing chelu, but I feel that the "coconut" has a point. If you want to reach the majority of Chamorus in the states and on Guam, then you have to write things in English. This shows the sad state of our culture, but it is the reality and we have to deal with it. I apprecaite what you are doing, keep up the good work. Vince.
October 12, 2004 12:58 PM
Anonymous said…
I AM TIRED OF LISTENING TO MY FELLOW CHAMORUS WHO JUST DON'T GET IT. The language is part of our souls, WE SHOULD ALL BE LEARNING IT, WE NEED TO PRESERVE IT, PROTECT IT, USE IT! I am learning Chamoru from my parents, it is hard, but WE HAVE TO DO IT!
October 13, 2004 11:11 AM
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