The Illusions of Partnership and The Fear of Sovereignty
In this whole discussion of fantasies in the 1990's of the American military limping, its feelings so mortally wounded by the protests signs of Chamorros, as well as the general powerlessness of all people on Guam in the most recent slate of intended military increases to Guam, there are two difficult, but crucial lessons to be learned here.
The reality of the trauma of the 1990’s is not this at all however, and in fact if we acknowledge the true reason that the base closings and the outsourcing/privitazing of civil service jobs were felt so strongly and intensely on Guam, then we would be better positioned today. The trauma that still lingers today was not caused by the simple economic hurt of the island, but rather emerged because of the shattering of a very powerful but tragic illusion. The base closings, as a unilateral decision made in Washington D.C., which fundamentally had very little to do with anything on Guam, whether it be protests or offerings of free massages for servicemen, forced a very intense disintegration of the myth which the military is working to create once again. Namely that Guam and its people exist in partnership with the United States military, that they are equal and live in a mutual sort of co-existence with the military. The trauma of this period of time was precisely that the lies we constantly tell ourselves were simply flat out proven to be true, the activists, the maladjusted Chamorro Nation types were all right, we are not partners, we truly are powerless.
2. But this leads me to an almost contradictory point, namely that we are not at all powerless in our situation, we just don’t have the power that we think we have, or are colonized to dream and hope that we have.
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In this drama over military increases and lessons learned from protests in the past, we see interestingly enough, how Guam is being discussed as having some sort of power in this context. A power though which either doesn’t exist and must be created, or must be given up, in order for the island to prosper.
There are many lessons that we can learn from the way this military increase is being planned and handled, many of them terrible, but some of them inspiring. The military is planning for more than they are admitting, we have already seen evidence of this in the ways plans are “accidentally” released and then taken back and said that they are proposed only, one of many options. For instance, the “proposed” live fire training that the military would like to have in the Northern part of the island will most likely prevent fishing, swimming and hiking north of Tanguissan and Shark’s Pit. After it became obvious that this would be the case, the military took the plans off of its website and claimed that these were just preliminary ideas and that “nothing has been decided.”
One lesson which we should not assume we have learned is that the military’s openness or making binila’ na information available to the community, is because they love us and care for us, or because they care about our opinions and genuinely want to include the Government of Guam or the people of Guam in the planning process. The colorful fliers and handouts, and Chamorro interpreters, are not being disseminated or hired because our input really matters. These things are being made available and this whole spectacle of scoping meetings, hearings is being carried out precisely to prevent the power that we might have from growing or from emerging.
The intended effect of these meetings is to neutralize the public, to neutralize its voice, and the power we might have or demand in this process. It can do this by lulling us into false senses of confidence, complacency and trust. If we feel that our interests are being respected or being protected, or worse yet, if we assume and believe that our interests are the same as the military or that it is already taken care of them, then we will demand nothing, ask for nothing, and receive nothing except that which the military intends or is willing to give.
Its important to remember, and I constantly reiterate it on this blog, that part of our value to the United States military, is that we are the most valuable piece of real estate in their empire, which can be taken for granted.
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The spectacle of suggestion boxes, public meetings, and task forces is all about keep this “advantage” this “bonus” intact, about insuring that Guam does not become like places such as South Korea, the Philippines or Okinawa, where popular protest or national sovereignty makes the presence of the military there difficult or cumbersome.
During the first months after the transfer of the Marines was initially announced, I had a conversation with a former Maga’lÃ¥hin Nasion Chamoru. Naturally, the tone of the talk was grim, because the movement of this much military into the island would make so many bad situations worse, socially, politically, environmentally, etc. But at the same time, there was hope, from the moment the move appeared in print, official and unofficial envoys from the military were reaching out to Nasion Chamoru, asking for private meetings to hear their feedback and their concerns.
For this Maga’lÃ¥hi, the fact that the military was reaching out to them, meant that Nasion Chamoru, and by extension the general activist community had become a branch of the government. They had built up enough support, had enough victories, and made enough of an impact on the order of things in Guam, that even if they were divided, or heterogeneous, at the level of “how things were done on Guam,” they were a force that had to be reckoned with, and could not be ignored.
It is interesting here, to see the power and play of recognition as work. In one instance we see recognition as something which can take our power away, but, in another we see it as something which can give it to us, or more accurately, push us to create it.
Our power here is not the power of “suggestion,” or of “democratic American participation. Nor is it that power of a formal vote from a Senator of a Congresswoman. Our power in this powerless situation is not already there, it must be created, and anything, whether it be flyers or powerpoint presentations that tells us otherwise, is probably lying to us. We do not, because of our small size, our colonial status, and our willingness to be mistreated as long as we are mistreated as Americans and not anything else, does not give us any formal or actual voice in this process, this movement of incredible amounts of military to Guam. But rather, if we make demands, stand up and protest, we can create a voice which cannot be ignored, which cannot be dismissed or cast aside. That is the power that we have, and the one which people fear will ruin the military, and chase them away again.
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