NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Gof ya-hu i "The Day in 100 Seconds" ni' fina'tinas as Talking Points Memo. Taya' cable-hu, ya achokka' meggai tinaitai-hu gi i internet kada diha, ti hu gof tutungo' i hafa masusesedi gi i mundon i mainstream media. Guaha dos mas ya-hu na huego. I fine'nina huegon video siha, ko'lo'lo'na "Sahyan Estreyas 2" pat estaba hu fa'na'an "Kareran Estreyas 2" pat fino' Ingles "Starcraft 2." Gof ya-hu humugando ayu yan umegga' lokkue' gi i professionat yan gof kapas na ganadot na banda. I mina'dos "politics" ayu un gof "frustrating" yan "interesante" yan "bunito" na huego. Guaha nai i mampulitikat mambaibaila, guaha mamyaoyaoyao, ya sesso manmumumu. Guaha manmaolek na taotao siha yan guaha mambaba lokkue'. Ayek un banda ya pakpaki yan bibayi i ganadot-mu siha! Este i "Day in 100 Seconds" ginnen i kumeplanos-hu gi i ma'pos na simana.

My friend in South Korea Sung Hee Choice has been put in prison for the past two months for peacefully obstructing the construction of a Navy base in the tiny village of Gangjeong in Southen Jeju. She used to run the blog No Base Korea Stories , but after being arrested her friends have taken over the task of updating it on the fight against militarism in South Korea. David Vine, an anthropologist who is most famous for his excellent book on the secret history of Diego Garcia, had a chance to visit Sung Hee recently and wrote up his interview for the website Foreign Policy in Focus. ***************************** Jeju Island Activist Sung-Hee Choi Interviewed in Prison Foreign Policy in Focus By David Vine, July 26, 2011 Last week, I had the honor of going to prison. I was conducting research on South Korea’s beautiful Jeju Island, off the country’s southern coast, and was lucky enough to be one of the two people per day allowed to speak with the renowned imprisoned activist S...

I find the messages of Guam's business community to be really funny sometimes. Sure, there's the usual rhetoric about their particular interests being the interests for all, and that people who have millions of dollars and small to medium sized local empires are just regular people too who want what's best for the entire island. The military buildup was of course one object of discourse where this rhetoric would emerge most clearly, as the particular interests of the rich to get contracts, to engorge themselves in speculative capitalism, and basically swim in a pile of golden tickets, came to also somehow mean that the average Joe Cruz would also be getting a huge slice of economic prosperity. Nothing even remotely close is on the horizon even if the buildup as it was first proposed should go through, but somehow people accepted na chumilong the millions made by one to the new minimum wage jobs that the buildup will create for hundreds. What I find na'chalek today is ...

The recent attacks in Norway at first glance seemed like a dream come true for crazy conservatives who love to use Islam around the world as an example of why Americans must increase military budgets, stop the seeping spread of multiculturalism, counter the pansiness of liberalism and tolerance and take up the glorious counter-Jihad against the global Islamic Jihad. Norway, one of those crazy liberal, sort of socialist countries, which people always point to along with Sweden, as places which the United States should follow in terms of improving some basic social service or government program. The people at Fox News must have been very estatic at first after hearing about the attack, since it would no doubt give them great red meat for several news cycles, inviting on people who would argue against the building of mosques in American communities (one of whom is popular Republican Presidential possible candidate Herman Cain) and maybe even bring back that crazy Texas Congressman who say...

For Immediate Release from the Guåhan Coalition for Peace and Justice July 25, 2011 Local Author/Attorney Wins Prestigious Petra Award for Human Rights Work One of Guam’s finest writers and attorneys, Julian Aguon, was recently chosen as a 2011 Petra Fellow for his “distinctive contributions to the rights, autonomy and dignity” of the people of Guam and the Pacific region, and the work he has done “for the cause of justice, fairness, and human dignity,” according to the Petra Foundation. The Petra Fellowship comes with a $7,500 financial award, which will be presented to Mr. Aguon in Cambridge, Massachusetts the weekend of November 18 - 20, 2011. Mr. Aguon will also join an “inclusive, informal, hands-on national network of citizen activists who are working across the lines of age, ethnicity, class and issue to build a more just society,” according to the Petra Foundation. As described on the Foundation’s website, “The Petra Foundation was established in 1988 to sustain the ...

The Office of Senator Ben Pangelinan has for a few years now took on the task of trying to get people registered for the Chamorro registry. According to Guam Public Law a decolonization plebiscite cannot take place until 70% of those who are eligible to vote (those who are legally "Chamorro") have signed up for the registry. On Senator Pangelinan's website you can see what the count was as of last year April, less than 1,000, which is far short of the tens of thousands who need to be registered. In the rise since the start of the year of public discourse on self-determination, this issue of 70% has been regularly challenged as an insurmountable barrier to the process. The original intent of the law is clear. In times past referendum's on political status have low turnout and so the requirement is designed to ensure that if a plebiscite takes place, enough people vote so that the next step in Guam's political evolution is not decided by a tiny group.  Senator Ben...

Always nice when Guam gets a mention in The Nation. ************************ Around the Globe, US Military Bases Generate Resentment, Not Security Katrina vanden Heuvel June 13, 201 The Nation  As we debate an exit from Afghanistan , it’s critical that we focus not only on the costs of deploying the current force of more than 100,000 troops , but also on the costs of maintaining permanent bases long after those troops leave. This is an issue that demands a hard look not only in Afghanistan and Iraq, but around the globe—where the United States has a veritable empire of bases. According to the Pentagon , there are approximately 865 US military bases abroad—over 1,000 if new bases in Iraq and Afghanistan are included. The cost? $102 billion annually—and that doesn’t include the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan bases. In a must-read article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Sciences , anthropologist Hugh Gusterson points out that these bases “constitute 95 percent of all the mil...

Last week a small group of people started walking at 5:30 am in front of the Malesso Church. They headed north along Route 4 for hours, passing through Inarajan and Ipan and eventually ending in the middle of the day at the Manengon Memorial in Ylig, Yo’na. For those who finished the journey it was a difficult trek of 19 miles the last half of which was under the unforgiving Guam sun. The name of this walk was "Remember Our Strength" or "Hasso i Minetgot-ta." I started off with the group in Malesso, but by mile 13, for my own personal reasons felt like stopping and didn't continue. Although I was tired by that point it wasn't an issue of physical pain that made me stop. I made this decision because in my eyes the walk had become something I didn't want to participate in anymore, and with only 6 miles left I decided to catch a ride back to my car. My personal issues with the walk however shouldn't detract however from the event's potential impor...

The article below from Common Dreams gives you a hint of what the term "militarism" refers to. The rhetoric in Washington D.C. right now is that the American government and economy are potentially careening towards destruction, and so cuts and sacrifices have to be made. Armageddon in just in a few weeks and so there are both offers of compromises and rhetoric of righteous obstinacy from all sides. In a moment like this, where supposedly everything is being placed upon the table whereby the people aboard the plane which is surely going to crash unless the collective load can be lightened, make the decision as to what is chucked, you can see the ideological blindspots of people based on what they refuse to put out in the open, what they keep hidden behind their backs as they make angry suggestions about what is already on the table and should be thrown away for the good of the many. It is intriguing how the most massive, overbloated, corrupt and inefficient part of the Uni...

This is what I'll be doing tomorrow. Wish me luck. **************************** HASSO I METGOT-TA July 17, 2011 Southern Guam On December 8, 1941, the Japanese began their attack on Guam, marking the beginning of the war-time occupation of the island. The people of Guam were ruled by the Japanese military until the United States returned to Guam on July 21, 1944. For the over 950 days of Japanese occupation, the Chamorros who lived on Guam experienced great uncertainty, tragedy and suffering. But the Japanese occupation, and the years that followed, are also filled with remarkable stories of determination, love and strength. On July 17, members of the groups We Are Guahan and Halom Tano will walk 19 miles from the Tayuyute’ Ham Memorial in Malesso to the Manenggon Memorial Monument in Yona. The walk, entitled “Hasso i Metgot-ta” or Remember Our Strength, is to remember the Chamorros who died during the war and to celebrate the strength of those who survived the Japanese ...

Matto tatte Si Olbermann. Ya ha ususuni sumangan i minagahet, lao gaige gui' gi un nuebu na Channel. Current TV . Gof ya-hu Si Olbermann, ya gi este na segment ha na'hasso hit put i impottante-na na ta adahi mo'na i tiguang-ta. Gaige gi todus hit i minalago na ta fanadahi i manatungo'-ta i mangga'chong-ta, lao i mimun gi kada korason-ta lokkue', taimanu na para ta fantrata i bisinu-ta, ayu ni' ya-ta ya ayu ni' ti ya-ta? Ha mentona este na gof tahdong na sinangan ginnen Si Jackie Robinson, estaba bumebesbol ya i fine'nina na attelong Amerikanu ni' humagando gi i profesionat na level. Gi fino' Ingles, Guiya yumamak i rayan kulot. "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." Debi di ta fangatga mo'na este gi korason-ta kada diha.

I am in this picture, I am the white-t-shirted blur to the left in the background. For me this captures very much my feeling of walking in a sort of dream two weeks ago. After months of trying, myself and 20 others were given access to the Fena area of Naval Magazine on Guam. For those who don't know, Naval Magazine is a site for storing all sorts of weapons and bombs, and so access to the base is very restricted. We went as part of the Heritage Hikes that I help organize for We Are Guahan. While Heritage Hikes are always open to the public, because of base security issues, for those on base, we are always limited in the amount of people who can join and each person has to submit their SS# and sign a waiver ahead of time. I grew up on Guam with very few people in my family who had base access. We rarely ever entered the base and being able to shop at the commissary wasn't something that we seemed to care about, or at least not openly. As such the bases on Guam are ...

From the Save Darfur Coalition : “We are very thankful to America, those people who saw the suffering of their brothers and sisters. It is not our success alone. It is the success of everyone… from all over the world.” –Bishop Paride Taban Two days ago South Sudan became an independent nation and I was honored to witness this historic event in person. “It’s a miracle,” one Southerner exclaimed. “A dream has come true,” said another. So many people wanted me to know how important the support of the U.S. and the international community was in making that dream a reality. I’m hosting a live webcast this Thursday, July 14th, to talk about my experience and the challenges facing both North and South Sudan. Click here to RSVP . I also shot a quick video to give you a first look at what it was like to be in Juba as South Sudan declared its independence: Video Blog: Week 2 from South Sudan from sara fusco on Vimeo . Watch the video now and then join me on Thursday for the liv...

Published on Monday, July 4, 2011 by TruthDig.com Ralph Nader Is Tired of Running for President by Chris Hedges The most important moral and intellectual voices within a disintegrating society are slowly discredited when their nonviolent protests and calls for justice cannot alter intransigent and corrupt systems of power. The repeated acts of peaceful civil disobedience, efforts at electoral and political reform and the fight to protect the rule of law are dismissed as useless by an embittered, dispossessed and betrayed public. The demagogues and hatemongers, the purveyors of violence, easily seduce enraged and bewildered masses in the final stages of collapse with false promises of vengeance, new glory and moral renewal. And in the spiral downward the good among us are reviled as naive and ineffectual fools. There is no shortage of courageous dissidents in America. They seek to thwart the imperial disasters, looming financial insolvency and suicidal addiction to fossil fuel....