NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Z Magazine Online November 2006 Volume 19 Number 11 Thanksgiving: A National Day of Mourning for Indians By Moonanum James and Mahtowin Munro Every year since 1970, United American Indians of New England has organized the National Day of Mourning in Plymouth at noon on Thanksgiving Day. Hundreds of Native people and supporters from all four directions join in. Every year, Native people from throughout the Americas speak the truth about our history and the current issues and struggles we are involved in. Thanksgiving in this country— and in particular in Plymouth—is much more than a harvest home festival. It is a celebration of the pilgrim mythology. According to this mythology, the pilgrims arrived, the Native people fed them and welcomed them, the Indians promptly faded into the background, and everyone lived happily ever after. The pilgrims are glorified and mythologized because the circumstances of the first English-speaking colony in Jamestown were frankly too ugly (for example, th...

Public Colleges as "Engines of Inequality" Editorial The New York Times November 23, 2006 Democrats who ran for Congress this fall made the cost of college a big campaign issue. Now that they’ve won control of the House and Senate, they can prepare to act swiftly on at least some of the factors that have priced millions of poor and working-class Americans right out of higher education. The obvious first step would be to boost the value of the federal Pell Grant program — a critical tool in keeping college affordable that the federal government has shamefully ceased to fund at a level that meets the national need. But larger Pell Grants can’t solve this crisis alone. Policy changes will also be required in the states, where public universities have been choking off college access and upward mobility for the poor by shifting away from the traditional need-based aid formula to a so-called merit formula that heavily favors affluent students. The resulting drop in the fortunes of ...

Back by popular demand! Puzzling to many, useful to few! My Nihi Ta Fan Chat Gi Fino' Chamoru Put Hindi Movies section is an interesting mix of sheer addiction, silly love and simple decolonization. If you are a Chamorro speaker or someone interested in learning Chamorro, and also love Bollywood movies, let me know a particular movie you would like to have a dialogue about and if I've seen it, then I'll post it on my blog. Rashne: Hafa Adai Miget! Miget: Hafa Adai Rashne! Mamaolek ha'? Rashne: Maolek ha', I guess, lao sen tinane' yu' put eskuela. Miget: Ai hunggan hu gof komprende enao, lao sigi ha'. Singko pat sais na sakkan tetehnan! Rashne: Po’lo ha’ enao…Otro fino’-ta, hafa na kachidon Bollywood un e’egga' halacha? Guaha maolek? Miget: Ai adai, kao este ha' iyo-ta relationship? Umakuentusi put kachidon Bollywood? Rashne: Lakisao, mungga matutuhun enao na kuentos. Miget: Despensa yu’ lao kalang machaleleghua’ i siniente-ku pa’go, put i kachido...

After watching the video on Youtube of a UCLA student getting tased repeatedly at the UCLA library, that I had posted on my blog one of my friends commented that this made her think of an article I had written a while back titled Spear of the Nation . Before I go on though, to view the somewhat disturbing video, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3CdNgoC0cE&eurl = If you are currently a UC student or a former UC student and were disturbed, shocked or apalled by this excessive violence, please consider signing the petition I'm linking to below. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stoptasersUCPD/ Since I'm sort of on Indigenous Genocide Break this week I probably won't be posting much new stuff, but instead recycling stuff, and so this connection to an old article, written by a different version of me, this seemed like a perfect excuse. I should warn people though, that I wrote this article in 2003 after returning to live in the United States after spending the previ...

REMEMBERING OUR ROOTS: DECOLONIZATION IN GUAHAN (GUAM) A report-back/ cultural event about the military build up in the pacific @ La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley (2 Blocks from Ashby bart) Thursday, Nov. 30 7:30pm - 10pm (doors open at 7) $5 - 20 no one turned away with performances by: jacob perez, joevana santos, erica benton, and much more! come join us for discussion, music, poetry, culture, food, and good vibes from guahan! and check out this link if you can about a radio interview held recently at kpfa... http://kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=17065 - Interview with Victoria Leon-Guerrero, Miget Tuncap, Kerri Ann Borja, Erica Benton about how the US military base build-up on Guam will further erode their rights. Chanting by Guma Palu Li'e Music by Chris Barnett "War Song" , Erica Benton "Back to Guahan" biba nasion chamoru! support chamoru self-determination! stop da u.s. military build-up in the Pacifik!

There are stories that several hundred years ago in Guam, the names of individuals were very fluid. While you would be identified with a clan, your name could change, and also the reputation of your clan based on your individual exploits, along with other family members. So for example, if you exhibited bravery during battle, you might be called matatnga or taima’å’ñao, to carry these exploits with you, possibly generated social capital for your family as well. If, however you exhibited less socially generous or respectful behavior, such as not sharing your catch achokka' menha hao, people might refer to you as chattao or sarcastically as taiguihan. Or, if there was some part of your body which demanded attention then maybe your name would reflect that. My great-great grandfather from my grandmother's De Leon side was called bådu because of his crooked, hunched back. Sometimes however, the behaviors which inspire a particular name need not be bad social practices or heroic ges...

After you read and watch the video below, please sign this petition to ban the use of tasers on UC campuses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3CdNgoC0cE&eurl = *********** (video) UCPD Shoots at UCLA Student Inside the Powell Lib. By Nestor Section: Diaries Posted on Wed Nov 15, 2006 at 04:50:55 PM EST UPDATE: Here is the video via KNBC . Amazing and surreal. I could never imagine this happening in the library while I was a student.This is an amazing story. From the Daily Bruin (emphasis mine throughout): UCPD officers shot a student several times with a Taser inside the Powell Library CLICC computer lab late Tuesday night before taking him into custody. No university police officers were available to comment further about the incident as of 3 a.m. Wednesday, and no Community Service Officers who were on duty at the time could be reached. At around 11:30 p.m., CSOs asked a male student using a computer in the back of the room to leave when he was unable to produce a BruinCard dur...

Today's act of decolonization is simple and inspired by the recent election season, vote for a grassroots candidate. If you look at the breakdown of the most recent legislature in Guam, none of the candidates which could be considered "grassroots" were elected and there were several of them running. Although the term "grassroots" could have a number of meanings, when I am using it here, I am either referring to those with little to no money for a campaign, yet nonetheless run, those who are often too radical to be considered as viable candidates, and those who are considered to be outside of the political/governmental/economic networks on Guam. When I say "outside" I don't mean someone who has never worked for GovGuam, never owned a business and never spoken to another human being before in his or her life, but rather someone who is not under the wing of political leaders, or have either a commercial or political (governmental) network set in place...

On behalf of Guam, and all of us semi-, pseudo- or reluctant- Americans that call it home, I want to say too, Si Yu'us Ma'ase Amerika! Mungga mabomba pat mana'mabomba ham ta'lo put fabot! Published on Thursday, November 9, 2006 by the Guardian / UK Thank You, America For six years, latterly with the backing of both houses of a markedly conservative Republican Congress, George Bush has led an American administration that has played an unprecedentedly negative and polarising role in the world's affairs. On Tuesday, in the midterm US congressional elections, American voters rebuffed Mr Bush in spectacular style and with both instant and lasting political consequences. By large numbers and across almost every state of the union, the voters defeated Republican candidates and put the opposition Democrats back in charge of the House of Representatives for the first time in a dozen years. When the remaining recounts and legal challenges are over, the Democrats may even hav...

Life in the colonies, means living in a world full of gross contradictions and frightening choices. Ha na’triste yu’, na ti meggaiña i ma botåyi Si Underwood kinu i taotao Camacho. Lao nai hu hasso i lai, na debi di un risibi 50 + 1% gi todu i bota siha, para un fanggana’, hinasso-ku na buente guaguaha ha’ chånsa! But then I received the email below and the frightening choice emerges. The result of the election, whether Camacho wins now or whether there will be a run-off election depends upon which law is primary on Guam, local law or Federal US law. For Camacho, he is of the class where what makes Guam Guam is the United States. He does not simply accept the sovereignty of the United States, but celebrates this point. The consciousness of Camacho is a normal one on Guam, which I wrote of several weeks ago through the K.C. Leon Guerrero song Guam U.S.A. Felix Camacho basically does not negotiate with the United States, but makes a big show of doing whatever they want, and not even giv...

Estague i mas pa'go na infotmasion put i dinana Famoksaiyan gi i mamaila na simana. Yanggen malago hao sumaonao, na'tungo' yu' gi email. Tentative Schedule Diñanan Famoksaiyan VI Southern California Where: Guam Communications Network 4201 Long Beach Blvd. Suite 218 Long Beach, CA 90807 When: November 19, 2006 10 am – 5 pm 10:00 – 10:30: Tiempon Hafa Adai yan Mañanan Si Yu’us! 10:30 – 11:00: Famoksaiyan update How Famoksaiyan started, what has happened since April 2006 and the first conference. Where is it headed. 11:00 – 12:00: United Nations report back A report back on the recent trip Famoksaiyan members participated in to the United Nations in New York. It will cover where Guam is at as a colony, what role the United States and the United Nations have in keeping it as such, and what power they have in changing that. 12:00 – 1:00: Na’talo’ani Food provided by the family of Josette Lujan Quinata 1:00 – 2:00: Lepblon Famoksaiyan An update on the Famoksaiyan book, and wh...

Its election time in Guam. I originally intended to post either the list of my favorite candidates this year, or at least a discussion about all the stupid "Underwood is a racist" discussions that are circulating Guam. I recently stumbled across a website which is guaguahi i guafi, dedicated specifically to saying anything negative about Underwood. Lao gof matuhok yu', pues bai chagi agupa'. Lao para pa'go bei fa'nu'i hamyo este ne pinente-ku, na hu ayek put i espiritun este na ha'ani. The painting to the left was supposed to be part of a show I had several years ago at the Two Lover's Point/CAHA/KAHA Gallery in Tumon. For those who don't recognize the figure through the expressive lines and drips, its supposed to be Antonio Borja Won Pat, former Assemblyman, Senator, Speaker of the Guam Legislature, and Non-Voting Delegate to the United States Congress. His daughter Judi Won Pat is running this election. *********** I broke down and decided, e...

Ti bei fandagi hamyo, gi fine’nina nai hu hungok i sinangan as John Kerry put ineskuela (edukashon) yan i mañsindålu, hinasso-ku “whoa! Put fin måtto i minagahet!” “Siha ni’ taiineskuela siempre mañatsaga’ giya Iraq” Hu konfotme este, lao ti put i rason na todu i taotao gi i media ma ripipiti. Si Kerry ha sasångan båba put i manmumumu na sindålu giya Iraq. Ti kumekeilek-ña este na “Siha ni’ mambrodie mañatsaga’ giya Iraq” but instead, ha na’hahasso hit put un gof bihu na estoria, na siha ni’ manggefsaga’ taya nai mañenglong siha gi gera taiguihi i mamopble. Para i manriku ti mappot para u ma suhayi gumegera. Gi i Revolutionary War yan i Civil War gi i states, yanggen ti malago i riku na taotao sumaonao, siña ha apasi i gubetnamento para u suhayi. Gi i geran Vietnam an ti ya-mu humanao yan gumera, ya guaha pulitikat gi entre i atungo’ siha i familia-mu, siempre un pepble na taotao u tahgue hao, ya gumerayi hao. Atan put hemplo i suette-ña Si George W. Bush. Ti hu kekedifende Si Kerry, s...

Every year one of the three Ethnic Studies graduate programs in California (Berkeley, UCSD, USC) take turns hosting a conference called Crossing Borders. The reasoning behind the creation of this conference is that there isn't really a national Ethnic Studies conference for the type of comparative work that these three departments do. There is though the National Association of Ethnic Studies (NAES), but the work there tends to be Ethnic Studies work as it was first articulated in the 1960's, meaning about getting in touch with your roots, knowing your history and carving out a space for your people in the United States. I love doing this sort of Ethnic Studies (i freskon pao-na "strategic" pat "crass" na essentialism) , but unfortunately this isn't what my department at University of California, San Diego or the other two departments are supposed to do. So, if you are Chicano and are looking to learn Chicano history and become well versed in its nuanc...