NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Hu sen na’puti i nobia-hu gi nigap-ña. Fihu mumumu ham gi i summer put i chinago’ sa’ sumasåga’ gui’ esta ki September giya London yan France, mientras gaigaige yu’ giya Guahan. Sen mangge’ i korason-ña Si Rashne, ya gos makkat este. Hu tungo’ na siempre ti in hasngon umana’lamen taiguini, lao todu i fino’ lalålu, mahålang pat layo’ manmalasgue pat mas kalaktos put i chinago’. Gi este na sakkan ha sungon todu i “complications” gi lina’la’-hu, pi’ot put i nuebu na patgon-hu, ya para este hu gof guaiya gui’, ya todu tiempo hu tatanga na siña hu toktok gui’ ya hulos i fasu-ña. Esta hu na’tungo’ yu’ na triste yu’ put taimanu hu na’layo’ gui’, lao malago bei na’li’e gui’ gi otro na manera na hu guaiguaiya ha’ gui’, ya magåhet na hu tutufong todu tiempo i ha’åni siha, esta ki umali’e ham ta’lo. Rashne, i baloo-hu, hu dedicåyi hao ni’ este na kachido. Hu guaiya hao yan sen mahålang yu’ sin Hågu.

Its that time of year on Guam, where perceived Chamorro debts to the United States balloon out of control and Chamorro attempts to prove their understanding and love for their debts and subordination appear to reach such maddeningly levels that what they owe to the United States seems to be both infinite and eternal. What else could I be talking about save for Liberation Day, an event which seems to not just colonize the month of July, but also has a huge role in colonizing all of Chamorro time and space, past, present and future. What is Liberation Day for those who don't know. On Guam, Liberation Day is by far the most obtrusive contemporary and historical presence on the island and for the island’s indigenous people the Chamorros. It is an annual public holiday celebrated each July 21st, and comprises a festivities packed day of parades, carnivals, beauty pageants, and political events all meant to memorialize the return of American troops to Guam that begins on July 21s...

Published on Thursday, July 26, 2007 by The Nation Clinton, Kissinger and the Corruptions of Empire by John Nichols Of all the corruptions of empire, few are darker than the claim that diplomacy must be kept secret from the citizenry.This hide-it-from-the people faith that only a cloistered group of unelected and often unaccountable elites - embodied by the nefarious and eminently indictable Henry Kissinger - is capable of steering the affairs of state pushes Americans out of the processes that determine whether their sons and daughters will die in distant wars, whether the factories where they worked will be shuttered, whether their country will respond to or neglect genocide, whether their tax dollars will go to pay for the unspeakable. It allows for the dirty game where foreign countries are included or excluded from contact with the U.S. based on unspoken whims and self-serving schemes, where trade deals are negotiated without congressional oversight and then presented in take-it-o...

The Voicing Indigeneity Podcast that me and my friends Madel and Angie do together will be on hiatus over the summer. Madel is in Palau doing research, spending time with family and recovering from her qualifying exams. Angie is writing her master's thesis in Ethnic Studies and audting some classes at UCSD. I'm in Guam for the next two months, doing some research, starting some trouble, and most importantly starting my life as a dad. I'm sure we'll be back though in the fall, and I'll still try to post stuff on the blog for those who pass by the blog while googling random things about indigenous peoples, sovereignty, decolonization and academics singing badly. As a public service, I'm pasting below the links to all the podcasts we've done over the past year, 17 in all. I did get very nostalgic while I was collecting all the links because I've enjoyed so much these conversations and they have really helped pushed me forward in my work. For instance, in J...

Miget: Hafa Adai Rashne! Rashne: Hafa adai Miget! Miget: Maila halom, maila. Rashne: Si Yu'us Ma'ase. Hafa na kachido para ta egga' pa'go? Miget: Hekkua', bei aligaoñaihon gi i fanrikohiyan. Rashne: Kao guaha giya Hågu Dhoom 2? Miget: Ahe’, ti hu fahån gui’, lao esta hu egga’. Rashne: Ya hafa hinasso-mu? Kao ya-mu? Miget: Hunggan, ya-hu sa’ bula stunts, action, ya chalek siha. Rashne: Kao kinahnåyi hao lokkue nu i mambunita na famalao’an? Kao masakke i rason-mu? Miget: Ahe’, ahe’. Actually, gi minagahet, ti parehu este na kachido yan i meggaiña na otro na kachidon Hindi. Rashne: Sa’ hafa? Miget: Well, mafa’na’an este na klasin kachido “transnational.” Rashne: Ma agang siha enao put i diferentes na lugat nai ma fifilm? Miget: Hunggan, giya Dhoom, yan otro na kachido pot hemplo Don (i mina’dos na chinagi) yan Krrsh, ti manmaloloffan i fina’pos giya India ha’. Manhahanao i actors siha gi todu i movie, ya mañasaga’ gi otro na nasion, pat mambisisita. Rashne: Fihu hu li’...

Manhanao ham yan Si Jessica yan Si Sumåhi gi i ma’pos na simåna para Sacramento para bei in silebra i nuebu na inakkamon i atungo’n-måmi Si Rhea Aguon yan Si O.J. Taitano. Eståba maneskuela ham yan Si Rhea yan O.J. giya i Unibetsedat Guahan, lao tåya’ nai hu hasso na para u asagua i dos gi un tiempo. Masångan na enkantao i maneran Yu’us, lao ta tungo’ todus lokkue, na siña achaenkantao i maneran guinaiya. Kasi un sakkan ha’ na sumiha este na dos gi guinaiya lao esta umasagua. Gi i sanhiyong siempre kulang chaddek dimasiao yan piligrosu este na inayek na para u asagua. Lao gi i sanhalom, para i dos ni’ kosaron siha dumådaña ti chaddek dimasiao, gi minagahet esta atrasao. Sigun i difunto na Poet Rumi, lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They are in each other all along. Este i magåhet na sinienten guinaiya. Ti kulang put fin or at last , umafakcha’i hamyo gi i kerraran i lina’lan-miyu, lao kulan desde na mafañågu na dos hamyo, esta umatungo’ gi i espiritun guinaiya! Este fina’niña na ka...

Once again, I have not been posting much. The reason being that I'm spending more time with my daughter Sumåhi while her and her mother are out here. We're in Sacramento right attending the wedding of a mutual friend, and so my internet here has been very unreliable. Since i nene-hu has been out here for the past two weeks I've taken literally hundreds of photos of her with Jessica's digital camera. She is so cute, and so precious she gives a whole new interpretation to the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You." I don't have much time since I'm running on battery at McDonalds and borrowed wi-fi, so I just wanted to post quickly and share with everyone the many beautiful faces and personas of i sen bunita na nene. Gi pappa' kada na litratu bai hu tuge' hafa hu fa'na'na'an gui' kada na hu li'e este na klasin mata'. ************************** Ninja Death Grip Baby - (Ninja Baby for Short) ...

Published on Friday, July 6, 2007 by CommonDreams.org Why Live Earth Will Fail by Mark LeVine Tomorrow the world will once again be blessed with a world wide concert featuring the leading concerned citizens of the rock ‘n roll world playing for free (although all the free publicity certainly makes it worth while) to help educate the rest of the world about the dangers of global warming. Live Earth certainly is long overdue. In fact, many of the same processes that are at the root of global warming — thoughtless consumption and the wars, exploitation, environmental degradation and the wholesale violations of the rights of entire peoples — were also at the root of the African famines that 1985’s Live Aid concert were organized to combat. In the intervening 22 years, however, the situation for the majority of the world’s poor has only gotten worse, not better. And we in the Global North are continuing to consume way beyond the means of the earth to sustain itself, all the while telling th...

Yanggen un ekungok nu i manapa'ka giya Guahan, siempre hinassosso-mu na giya Guahan ha' " corruption." Lao yanggen un taitai i gaseta siha put i chine'guen i Bush Administration, annok na manggof kapas siha manggcororrupt, sin Guahan yan sin i Chamorro siha. I otro na biahi na guahan un taotao sanlagu, ya ha tacha' hao put i sen tahdong na corruption i kuttura-mu yan isla-mu, na'li'e gui' este na klasin tinige'. Patmada gui' ni' este na klasin infotmasion. Put i "corruption" i mangga'chong Bush, meggai esta manmatai giya Iraq yan meggaigai mamadedesi. Ti sina ta tungo' pat komprende pa'go hafa todu i lina'la yan tano' siha para u madestrosa ya para u mafunas put i isao i manggubetno i United States. ***************** Editorials Hit Libby’s Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card by E&P staffwriters Published on Tuesday, July 3, 2007 by Editor & Publisher NEW YORK - The bloggers, politicians, and TV pundits weighe...

I received an email the other day from one of the world's finest historians. From the power of this email, I can only assume that this man is one of the greatest and most resepected and revered historians in the world. You might be surprised or shocked once you read his words, but let me give some background first, so you'll understand my point better. Power is often associated with simplicity, with idea that something arrives with the force of law, or the force of the natural. For Hegel the only ethical and fully developed political community, is not a democracy, but rather is a hereditary monarchy. In order for a political community to be fully formed, the rule of law, the status of the sovereign and the transmission of sovereign authority must place consistently above or apart from, the play of meaning, the game of hegemony, where identities and meanings are never secure but constantly being contested. In democracies, the figure of the sovereign is supposedly filled through ...

Another World Is Possible; Another U.S.A. is Necessary John Nichols The NATION 06/30/2007 ATLANTA -- The political discussion in the United States is, for the most part, disappointing -- not merely because it is too ideologically and intellectually narrow but also because it is too backward in focus. Instead of imagining what might be, contemporary politicians spend most of their time talking, at best, about treating existing wounds to the body politic and, at worst, about "threats" that no longer exist. In the former category, place all the Democratic and Republican politicians who promise a "new direction" with regard to the Iraq quagmire but never get around to rejecting the neo-conservative -- or more precisely, neo-colonial -- policies that got us into the mess in the first place. In the latter category, place all the partisans who suggest that the problem with our health-care system is too much government involvement -- which is a little like claiming that the...

Max Havoc is once again in the news, however this time in The Los Angeles Times. For those of you who need some background on the film and the damage its done to Guam, I'm pasting some links (including the trailer on Youtube) to check out before you read the article: ********* Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon's Wikipedia page . Article by a member of the Film's Crew published in Minagahet Zine . A previous post of mine from this blog titled " Hollywood Havoc Comes to Guam!" The trailer on Youtube. **************** Camera, legal action! The making of a kung fu flick on Guam turns into court battles on both sides of the sea. By Kim Christensen, Times Staff Writer June 13, 2007 The Los Angeles Times It was supposed to be a win-win, with Guam gaining a toehold in the film industry and two Hollywood moviemakers getting the island government's backing for their new kung fu franchise. "Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon" was the first of at least two action fli...