|
I am imperfect,
impatience and wanting; also rich with behaviors that would support my
humanness; making my tasking the understanding of generally what else had
happened along with my experiences, as a unique process, a completely
unavoidable presence, yet manageable; and yes all, in all pleasingly
imperative to follow.
A start
therefore, is of this a personal initiative, to culture a would-be attempt
in tapping curative performances by others, using collective values
written, researched, redeveloped or resourced in common indigenous love-pausing
native narratives.
PREVAILING CURRENT DATA �
PROFILE
TEXT AND
JOURNAL CONTRIBUTIONS
From The Huge Conflicts:
Various
angles in the viewing
As Recommended Regional Cuts Reading
MTX-MTX-MTX
PREVAILING CURRENT DATA � PROFILE
TEXT AND
JOURNAL CONTRIBUTIONS
As
Recommended Regional Cuts Reading
From The
Huge Conflicts:
Various angles in the viewing
MTX-MTX-MTX
|
"The colonization
of Guam has had an impact
on the psychological disposition of ... the expediting of the current US militarization, the huge conflicts of ...
blindelephant.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html
|
Sample
of definitive relationship common concerns with common adversarial party as
parallels and as chronic conflicts:
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Mayor James Matayoshi
Mayor, Rongelap Atoll Local Government
52nd Bravo Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day Speech
RONGELAP'S QUEST FOR A BETTER FUTURE
�This is a day of protest, a day of proclamation that the U.S. has not yet
fulfilled its own standards of justice and responsibility for our people.�
�But our quest must begin locally, by finding the
right balance in our pursuit of our political and legal remedies. We do not
shrink from that challenge just because it gets difficult. We welcome the
change and the opportunity that comes with it.
There is no retreat, no surrender, if we are to do our duty to our children
and our nation.�
Cuts from:
|
�In this time of great need for Chamorros and Guam, with the overwhelming
burden of inequality accumulating, the expediting of the current US
militarization ...
www.mvariety.com/calendar/june/22/localpage/lnews53.htm
|
Chamorro nationalists seek UN
intervention
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff
�A CHAMORRO delegation to the United Nations on
Wednesday asked the world governing body to assist Guam in achieving
self-determination, an advocacy that doesn�t have full support from elected
local leaders.
�To date, neither the United States nor the United Nations has made any
sustained attempt to prepare the Chamorro people of Guam toward
�self-determination� as defined by U.N. Resolution 1541,� said Dr. Keith L.
Camacho, assistant professor in the Department of Asian American Studies at
the University of California, Los Angeles.
Camacho, along with former senator Dr. Hope Cristobal, testified Wednesday
before the UN Special Committee of 24 on Decolonization at the UN
headquarters in New York, where they appealed for the international
community�s attention and intervention toward Guam�s
self-rule.
Both Camacho and Cristobal are engaged in studies on colonization and
indigenous communities.
�The UN is obligated to do more to address the continued colonial status of
Guam, which remains on the UN list of Non-Self Governing Territories,�
Camacho said, describing the political relations between the U.S. and Guam
�as one of apathy, ignorance, racism and unilateralism.�
�The colonization of Guam has had an impact on the psychological
disposition of my people,� said Cristobal, a doctor of psychology. �The
Chamorro population in Guam experiences a
wide array of health, mental health, and legal problems.�
Self-determination for Guam is being
espoused by Chamorro community activists, and a few nationalists in the
Legislature and the academe sector, but most elected officials shun the
issue.
In 1974, President Ford endorsed a commonwealth status for Guam, but his directive was never implemented. Along
with hundreds of documents pertaining to a secret study on the political
status of Guam, Ford�s directive was locked up in a safe for over 30 years,
until historians Dr. Kirk Ballendorf and Howard Willens sued the federal
government into declassifying the confidential documents three years ago.
Willens and Ballendorf published a book on the secret study, but no elected
leader pursued the issue.
Guam voters were supposed to hold a plebiscite to vote
on Guam�s political status, with three options to choose from: free
association, independence and statehood. The plebiscite, however, has been
postponed indefinitely.
Guam is one of the 16 remaining colonized
territories in the world.
Sabina Flores Perez, who testified before the committee during a conference
in October 2006, said �after 20 years of appeals, it is time for the United
Nations and the international community to respond to Guam.�
�In this time of great need for Chamorros and Guam, with the overwhelming
burden of inequality accumulating, the expediting of the current US
militarization, the huge conflicts of interest of those entrusted with
preserving our human rights and their subsequent disregard for it, it is
essential to ensure that all the accomplishments of our forebears on behalf
of decolonization and self-determination be maintained,� said Perez, who
has organized educational campaigns against privatization of natural
resources, environmental contamination and militarization on Guam�..
Moreover, it is essential that greater attention is
paid to the situation of Guam and that the
island receives an appropriate response from the international community.�
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[12]
DPI/2237, �United Nations and Decolonization�,
2001. [13] Marianas
Variety, �Chamorro Groups ask UN to stop �militarization��, June 22, 2006 ...
www.geocities.com/minagahet/factsheet - 57k - Cached - Similar pages
|
FACTSHEET
PLANNED U.S.
MILITARY EXPANSION ON GUAM
Two military bases on Guam,
Andersen Air Force Base (AAFB) and Big Navy, occupies one-third of the land
mass on the island of Guam and the potential exists for the U.S. Department
of Defense of taking back land that was decommissioned by the military in
the 1990s[1][1][1][1][1][1]
Plans to increase offensive
capability:
o Intelligence,
Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Strike Capability� at AAFB involve stationing
12 KC-135 tankers, 4 unmanned Global Hawk surveillance aircraft, and
rotating 48 F-22 and F-15E fighters, and six B-1, B-2, and B-52 bombers
o Greater naval
presence, expansion of wharf storage facilities
Increased military exercises in
the Pacific[2][2][2][2][2][2],[3][3][3][3][3][3]
o Operation
Valiant Shield took place over several days in the Pacific. Called a
�massive armada� by the Navy, the war games, which will now become a
biannual event comprised 20,000 personnel, 28 ships and 290 aircraft.
Influx of military personnel.
o 2008 to 2012-
scheduled transfer of 8,000 U.S.
Marines from Okinawa that will significantly add to the current Guam population of approximately 160,000 people
o 2014�35,000 estimated
population including servicemen, their dependents, and US Department of
Defense workers and other staff[4][4][4][4][4][4]
It was recently reported that, as part of the downsizing of
American forces in South
Korea (12,500 to be withdrawn by 2008),
at least one Army battalion may join these 8,000 Marines.[5][5][5][5][5][5]
The influxes in Guam may also bring with them an increase in the
military presence and use of the Northern Marianas islands, most notably Tinian.[6][6][6][6][6][6]
The United States
military already controls nearly 18,000 square meters of the island (nearly
2/3) through leases with the government of the CNMI, and has used it
regularly for small training exercises. According to Governor Fitial, the
Department of Defense has already informed him that the 8,000 Marines
coming from Okinawa (due to space shortage on Guam) will be doing their
live-fire and jungle warfare training on Tinian.[7][7][7][7][7][7]
These troop movements out of �contested� bases in South Korea and Okinawa into politically
�uncontested� ones, in the American colonies/territories in the Pacific
(Guam, CNMI, Hawai�i ) is being
accompanied by a slow but certain re-introduction of American troops into
The Philippines.
In October of this year, 1,000 Filipino soldiers from the Marines, Navy and
Air Force and 2,000 of their American counterparts will hold
bilateral/cooperative amphibious exercise in the northern Philippines.[8][8][8][8][8][8]
Despite guarantees that the United
States Military in Guam
will not seek to expand or extend beyond its existing footprint, the
military is already making plans for the taking of civilian lands. The
lands most in danger of being seized are ironically enough lands around the
Finegayan area which first were taken from Chamorros following World War
II, and then returned several years ago.[9][9][9][9][9][9]
IMPACTS OF INCREASED MILITARIZATION OF GUAM
Health/Environmental Impacts
o Contamination
of drinking water: Andersen Air Force Base sits atop the sole source
aquifer that provides drinking water to � of the population
o The new
landfill in Dandan, that is scheduled to open in time when the AAFB
landfill closes, will most likely contaminate the cleanest water source on
the island[10][10][10][10][10][10]
o Tons of
hazardous materials (eg. TCE, PCBs) pose a risk to human and environmental
health; high rates of cancer, diabetes, and renal disease in the population[11][11][11][11][11][11]
o Loss of
biodiversity due to introduction of foreign species into the fragile island
ecosystem from incoming personnel, planes, and ships
Cultural/Social/Political
Impacts
o Militarization
infringes on the human rights to self-determination of the indigenous
people, the Chamorros. The U.S.A, as the administering power and the major
creator of the United Nations in 1946, is legally and morally responsible
under international law to respect and comply with the United Nations
Charter General Assembly resolutions to decolonize Guam by the year 2010[12][12][12][12][12][12]
o There is little
to no discussion of how these military buildups, and the substantial
population increases they bring with them, will affect the political
landscape of all of the Marianas
Islands? For example,
in Tinian there are less than a thousand
eligible voters at present, what will the political impact be if hundreds
of perhaps thousands of military personnel are stationed there?
o Increased
militarization increases the targeting of our island home by potential
adversaries of the U.S.A and places our people in danger of annihilation
and genocide[13][13][13][13][13][13]
o Loss of
language due to banning of the Chamorro language before World War II has
greatly influenced rapid loss of culture
o Proposed
educational curriculum to teach military history to lessen the resistance
to increased militarization, when no strong curriculum exists to teach
Chamorro language and culture[14][14][14][14][14][14]
o Rapid
displacement and development of the indigenous peoples as second-class
citizens in their homeland�increase incidence of families selling lands in
order to pay for property taxes and living expenses
Economic Impacts
o Increased cost
of living due to significant increase in population.
o Military
personnel stationed on Guam receive Overseas Housing Allowances (OHA) for
living off-base, which range from $1700 - $5,000 depending on their rank
and marital status, far higher than the monthly housing budget of the
majority of Guam residents. This purchasing power combined with the
increased terms of rotation (3 years) is already leading to a flurry of
military purchasing of properties, which has been steadily driving real
estate prices up since 20003.[15][15][15][15][15][15]
o Corporate
carpetbaggers such as Home Depot are already setting up shop on Guam in order to take advantage of the anticipated
military construction boom. The lack of a managed economy on Guam in instances such as this ensures that the majority
of the economic benefits from this military increase will be horded by
off-island businesses and corporations, at the expense of local businesses
which don�t have the benefit of multi-national capital.
o Burden of
improving and expanding infrastructure that will benefit all, civilians and
military, is borne by local residents; water rates are expected to increase
40% to pay for a recent $103 million revenue bond to improve the water
system[16][16][16][16][16][16] Recent statements from the Department
of Defense indicate that decreases in the quality of life (in particular in
terms of infrastructure) outside of military fences as a result of
increased military presence in Guam will not be the financial concern or
responsibility of the Department of Defense or the Federal Government.[17][17][17][17][17][17]
o Privatization/militarization
agenda of politically well-connected leaders of the Guam
Chamber of Commerce[18][18][18][18][18][18]
will create greater hardships on a population in which 23% are below the
federally-defined poverty level[19][19][19][19][19][19]
How can I help?
o Find out more
information about how increased militarization in the Pacific region is
connected US economic
policy towards China[20][20][20][20][20][20],[21][21][21][21][21][21]
o Keep up to date
with increased militarization in the Asia/Pacific region using regional
news sources and internet sites such as:
http//decolonizeguam.blogspot.com
o Show
international solidarity by signing the Peace and Justice Petition for Guam and the Asia/Pacific region at:
www.PetitionOnline.com/haleta/petition.html
o Support local
production of goods in order to increase US
economic self-sufficiency and decrease trade imbalance with China
o Spread the
concern. Find a place for these issues in your daily conversations with
family, friends, mayors, political leaders on-island as well as off-island.
Estague
pau nina'hanao hao tatte para i main page
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Apr
22, 2008 ... And no
midterm review by the Special Committee on Decolonization. ...
Obama Office Opens up in Guam
� Marianas:
I'm Loving It! ...
decolonizeguam.blogspot.com/2008/04/guams-intervention.html - 35k - Cached - Similar pages
|
Excuse me!...
Ingest these cuts�..
�Beyond the B-2 bombers in our skies, the ships
playing war games in our waters, the added weapons of mass destruction, and
the contamination that has robbed us of so many loved ones by way of our
extraordinarily high rates of cancers and dementia-related illnesses, there
is a growing desperation back home. A desperate lethargy in the wind. A
realization that if the UN remains unable to slow the manic speed of US
militarization, Chamorus as a people will pass.�
MTX-MTX-MTX-MTX
�It is a
sad commentary that the Administering Power year after year abstains or
votes against UN resolutions addressing the �Question of Guam� and
resolutions reflecting the work of the UN on decolonization including the
resolution on the Second International Decade for the Eradication of
Colonialism and the very recent Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples. With this non-support by Guam�s Administering Power, it is no
wonder that the list of the Non-Self-Governing Territories under the
administration of the United
States has turned half a century old
with little progress.
We Chamorus come to New York
year after year, appealing to the UN decolonization committee to follow
through with its mandate. Indeed, the UN has collected almost thirty years
of our testimony, with nothing to show for it��
The
failure of the U.S. to honor its international obligations to Guam and her
native people, the non-responsiveness of the UN Special Committee on Decolonization
to our rapid deterioration, and the overall non-performance of relevant
U.S. and UN Decolonization organs and officials combine to carry our small
chance of survival to its final coffin.
All this combines to elevate the human rights situation in Guam as a matter not only of decolonization, but
ethnic cleansing.
Indeed, when future generations look upon these days, they might label Guam
not merely a U.S.
colony, but rather, a UN colony.�
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Guam's Intervention
I Nasion
Chamoru (The Chamoru Nation)
Julian Aguon, Chamoru Rights Advocate
PO Box 8725
Tamuning, Guam 96931
Seventh Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues � April 2008 � New York, NY
Item # 6
Topic: Pacific
Presenter: Julian Aguon
Collective Intervention of the Chamoru Nation and Affiliated Indigenous
Chamoru Organizations; Society for Threatened Peoples International
(ECOSOC); CORE (ECOSOC); Western Shoshone Defense Project; Flying Eagle
Woman Fund (ECOSOC); Mohawk Nation at Kahmawake; Cultural Development and
Research Institute; Famoksaiyan; Organization of People for Indigenous
Rights; Colonized Chamoru Coalition; Chamoru Landowners Association;
Chamoru Language Teachers Association; Guahan Indigenous Collective; Hurao,
Inc.; Landowners United; Chamoru Veterans Association; Fuetsan Famaloan
Ati addeng-miyo your Excellencies. My name is Julian Aguon and I appear
before you with the full support and blessings of my elders. I address you
on behalf of the indigenous Chamoru people of Guam,
an endangered people now being rushed toward full-blown extinction.
In 2008, the indigenous Chamoru people of Guam brace ourselves for a storm
of U.S.
militarization so enormous in scope, so volatile in nature, so irreversible
in consequence. U.S.
military realignment in the Asia-Pacific region seeks to homeport sixty
percent of its Pacific Fleet in and around our ancient archipelago. With no
input from the indigenous Chamoru people and over our deepening dissent,
the US plans to flood Guam, its Colony in Perpetuity, with upwards of
50,000 people, which includes the 8,000 U.S. Marines and their 9,000
dependents being ousted by Okinawa and an outside labor force estimated
upwards of 20,000 workers on construction contracts. In addition, six
nuclear submarines will be added to the three already stationed in Guam as well as a monstrous Global Strike Force, a
strike and intelligence surveillance reconnaissance hub at Andersen Air
Force Base.
This buildup only complements the impressive Air Force and Navy show of
force occupying 1/3 of our 212 square mile island already. This massive
military expansionism exacts devastating consequences on my people, who
make up only 37% of the 170,000 people living in Guam
and who already suffer the signature maladies of a colonial condition.
The military buildup of Guam endangers our fundamental and inalienable
human right to self-determination, the exercise of which our Administering
Power, the United States, has strategically denied us�in glaring betrayal
of its international obligations under the United Nations Charter, the
Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, UN General Assembly Resolution 1514, to name but
some.
The unilateral decision to hyper-militarize our homeland is the latest in a
long line of covenant breaches on the part of our Administering Power to
guide Guam toward self-governance. It was
made totally without consulting the indigenous Chamoru people. No public
education campaign regarding the social, cultural, and political
consequences of this hyper-militarization has been seriously undertaken or
even contemplated.
Of the 10.3 billion dollars settled upon by the U.S.
and Japan for the
transfer of U.S. Marines
from Okinawa to Guam, nothing has been
said as to whether or not this money will be used to improve our flailing
infrastructure. Recently, the largest joint military exercise in recent
history conducted what were casually called war games off Guam
waters. 22,000 US
military personnel, 30 ships, and 280 aircraft partook in "Valiant
Shield." That weekend, water was cut off to a number of local villages
on the Navy water line. The local people of those villages went some thirty
days without running water. Across the military-constructed fence, the tap
flowed freely for the U.S.
military population. The suggestion of late is that Guam
is expected to foot the bill of this re-occupation. Meetings with defense
officials have proved empty. Military officers we have met with inform us
only of their inability to commit to anything. In effect, they repeat that
they have no working plans to spend money on civilian projects. Dollars
tied to this transfer have been allocated to development only within the
bases. Money for education in the territory will again be allocated to
schools for children of U.S.
military personnel and not ours. Meanwhile, virtually every public sector
in Guam is being threatened with
privatization.
There is talk of plans to condemn more of our land to accommodate its
accelerated military needs. In contrast, there is no talk of plans to clean
up radioactive contaminations (strontium, in particular) of Guam from
toxins leftover from the U.S.� World War II activities and its intense
nuclear bombing campaign of the Marshall Islands only 1200 miles from Guam.
Indeed, the indigenous Chamoru people of Guam suffer extraordinarily high
rates of cancer and dementia-related illness due to the U.S.� widespread toxic contamination of Guam. For example, Chamorus suffer from nasopharynx
cancer at a rate 1,999% higher than the U.S. average (per 100,000). To
boot, Guam has 19 Superfund sites, most of which are associated with U.S.
military base activities as in the case of Andersen Air Force Base and the
former Naval Air Station. Nineteen sites is a significant number in
consideration of the island�s small size of 212 square meters.
There is also no word on whether or not the U.S.
plans to pay war reparations due to us since it forgave Japan its World War II war
crimes committed against the Chamorus.
Like an awful re-run of World War II, when the U.S.
unilaterally forgave Japan
its horrific war crimes on our people, the US is back at the table
negotiating away our human rights including our right to
self-determination. Beyond the B-2 bombers in our skies, the ships playing
war games in our waters, the added weapons of mass destruction, and the
contamination that has robbed us of so many loved ones by way of our
extraordinarily high rates of cancers and dementia-related illnesses, there
is a growing desperation back home. A desperate lethargy in the wind. A
realization that if the UN remains unable to slow the manic speed of US
militarization, Chamorus as a people will pass.
In 2005 and 2006, we appeared before the UN Special Political and
Decolonization Committee, alerting the UN organ of these two frightening
facts: 1) it was recently discovered that the U.S. Department of Interior
purposefully killed a presidential directive handed down in 1975, which
ordered that Guam be given a commonwealth status no less favorable than the
one the U.S. was negotiating with the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands at that time; and 2) a campaign of the Guam Chamber of Commerce
(primarily consisting of U.S. Statesiders) to privatize every one of Guam's
public resources (the island's only water provider, only power provider,
only local telephone provider, public schools, and its only port, on an
island that imports 85-90% of its food and where private monopolies of
public goods would truly make us captive to the forces of the market) is
undermining our ancient indigenous civilization with violent speed. Eating
us whole.
Not much has changed since we last were here in New York. Our power provider has been
privatized, our telecommunications sold. Our only water provider and one port
are under relentless attack. The meager, questionable victories we have had
to stay this mass privatization are only the result of indigenous Chamoru
grassroots activists who, on their own�with no financial, institutional, or
strategic support�holding both their hands up, holding the line as best
they can. At great personal cost.
Your Excellencies: Know this�the indigenous Chamoru people of Guam are neither informed nor unified around this
military buildup despite dominant media representations. For all intents
and purposes, there is no free press in Guam.
Local media only makes noise of the re-occupation, not sense of it. The
Pacific Daily News�the American subsidiary newspaper that dominates the
discourse�has cut off the oxygen supply to indigenous resistance movement.
Rather than debating this buildup's enormous sociopolitical, environmental
and cultural consequences, it has framed the conversation around how best
to ask the U.S.
(politely) for de facto consideration of our concerns. Without appearing un-American.
We are not Americans. We are Chamorus. We are heirs to a matrilineal,
indigenous civilization born two thousand years before Jesus. And we are
being disappeared. Off your radar.
All this, and only two years until the end of the Second International
Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism. And no midterm review by the
Special Committee on Decolonization. No designation of any expert to track Guam�s progress, or lack thereof, toward progressing
off the UN list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. Not one UN visiting
mission to Guam.
It is a sad commentary that the Administering Power year after year
abstains or votes against UN resolutions addressing the �Question of Guam�
and resolutions reflecting the work of the UN on decolonization including the
resolution on the Second International Decade for the Eradication of
Colonialism and the very recent Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples. With this non-support by Guam�s Administering Power, it is no
wonder that the list of the Non-Self-Governing Territories under the
administration of the United
States has turned half a century old
with little progress.
We Chamorus come to New York
year after year, appealing to the UN decolonization committee to follow
through with its mandate. Indeed, the UN has collected almost thirty years
of our testimony, with nothing to show for it. I represent today the third
generation of Chamoru activists to appear before the UN, desperately trying
to safeguard our inalienable, still unrealized, human right to self-determination.
The failure of the U.S. to honor its international obligations to Guam and
her native people, the non-responsiveness of the UN Special Committee on
Decolonization to our rapid deterioration, and the overall non-performance
of relevant U.S. and UN Decolonization organs and officials combine to
carry our small chance of survival to its final coffin.
All this combines to elevate the human rights situation in Guam as a matter not only of decolonization, but
ethnic cleansing.
Indeed, when future generations look upon these days, they might label Guam
not merely a U.S.
colony, but rather, a UN colony.
To date the Forum has deferred to the Special Committee. The time has come
for the Forum to take the lead. To this end we request the Forum take the
following action:
Sponsor an expert seminar in conjunction with the UN Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Special Committee on
Decolonization to examine the impact of the UN decolonization process
regarding the indigenous peoples of the NSGTs�now and previously listed on
the UN list of NSGTs. This seminar must be under the auspices of the Forum
due to existing problems with the Secretariat of the Special Committee. We
request that Independent Expert Carlyle G. Corbin be included in the
seminar as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples.
Utilize the Inter-Agency Support Group to begin to implement the Program of
Implementation (POI) with UN Agencies, UNDP, UNEP and other agencies and
specialized bodies as directed by the General Assembly; and
Communicate its concern for the human rights of indigenous peoples and all
peoples in the NSGTs to the UN Human Rights Council and request that the
Council designate a Special Rapporteur on the Situation of the Peoples of
the Non-Self-Governing Territories.
In Solidarity and Urgency,
The Chamoru Nation and Indigenous Chamoru Organizations of Guam, with support of the above-listed organizations.
Fore more information, feel free to contact the following:
Debbie Quinata, 671-828-2957, dquinata@gmail.com
Hope Cristobal, 671-649-0097, ecris@teleguam.net
Julian Aguon, 808-375-3646, julianaguon@gmail.com
Lisalinda Natividad, 671-777-7285, lisanati@yahoo.com
See also http://decolonizeguam.blogspot.com
Labels: Forums, Indigenous
Resistance, UN
posted by Michael Lujan
Bevacqua at 1:45 PM
RECOMMENDED AS OTHER READING TO
INGEST:
The following are cuts from
Ref: ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS
Everything You Wanted to Know About Guam,
But Were Afraid to Ask Zizek
by Michael Lujan Bevacqua:
Despite Guam�s status as
one of the last �official� colonies in the world, and one of the United
States� most strategically vital military assets in the Pacific, local
cries to decolonize the island, especially amongst its indigenous people,
the Chamorros, are far overshadowed by discourses on Guam/Chamorro
dependency upon the US. I refer to this local resistance to decolonization
as the decolonial deadlock.
The indigenous people of Guam are the Chamorros. The island was first colonized
by Spain in the 17th
century, with the establishment of a Catholic Mission. As a result of warfare and
disease, more than 90% of Chamorros died within the next four decades. In
1898, Guam was taken by the United
States as a spoil of the Spanish American
War. The island would be run for the next forty years by an autocratic US
Navy government. In 1941, the United States
abandoned Guam to the Japanese Imperial
Army, which held the island for more than two years, resulting in the death
of more than six hundred Chamorros. Guam was retaken in 1944 after a
massive bombing campaign by the US military destroying the
island�s main villages. After six years of continued military rule, in
response to protests both in Washington D.C. and in Guam about the island�s
political status, an Organic Act was created for Guam in 1950, which gave
Chamorros American citizenship and some protections under the US
Constitution. To this day Guam continues to be an unincorporated territory,
a colony of the United
States.
10. One aspect of this existence that is continually mentioned as if to
reframe this ambiguous colonial status as a �bonus!� is the fact that
Chamorros and others on Guam do not pay Federal Income taxes but are still
eligible for Federal monies. There are at least two responses which counter
this point. First as a US territory, the military�s use of more than 30% of
Guam�s land mass is rent free (although taxes from soldiers stationed on
Guam are given to the Government of Guam), and there is no framework for re-negotiating
this fact except by begging the United States Congress which has plenary
power over Guam. Second, while Congressman and Senators may remark how
lucky Guam is to not have to pay Federal
Income taxes and how they wish they had that deal, there are no movements
at present to change the status of any states to that of territories.
The media is surprisingly upfront
about this on, both, the national and local level. Nationally, Guam is
�lucky� and �fortunate� to receive so much military attention since it is,
as one Los Angeles
Times article made clear, just a �dot on the map.� In Guam, the same
importance of this value is reiterated daily, through editorials which make
it clear, that the best way to prove one�s Americanness, and to improve
Guam�s economy, is to support the United States military anyway one can.
The fundamental point thus being that Guam�s
value and its visibility all depend upon circling, tracing and returning to
this link. Tom Perry, �Dot on the Map Retains Large Strategic Stature,� Los Angeles
Times, 28 January 2002. Scott Radway, �Guam�s
Military Role Endures,� Pacific Daily News, 20 September 2001, 5.
Rufo Lujan, interview with author, Decolonization Commission
Office, Aniguak, Guam, 27 June 2004. Julian Aguon, The Fire This Time,
(blue ocean press, Tokyo,
2006).
Again, from more cuts;
Friday, August 24, 2007
Hafa Na Liberasion? #11: The Invasion of Guam
(As cut and modified from this
posting for application by Mannybong)
The rhetoric of American
civilizing did not sway this particular bihu, as he very clearly points out
the flaws in American rule on Guam and
their colonial character. As he states in his article under a section
titled "Invasion,"
Guam was invaded on 10 December
1941 by the Japanese, the third nation to violate the sovereign rights of
the Guamanian people. The Spaniards were the first and the Americans the
second.
Similarly, the war is not whitewashed and American not cleansed of all its
sins, as it is for most Chamorros. Instead Farfan recounts the sins of the
Americans just as clearly as he accounts the sins of the Japanese. He
provides in a section titled "Manifestation of Loyalty" one of
the many moments which have almost been expelled from Guam/Chamorro
history, this particular instance being the retaliation against Chamorro
sailors on Guam who in 1941 had petitioned the Naval Governor of Guam for
the opportunity to support the United States in other locales and in other
forms then merely serving on Guam. For this expression of loyalty from more
than a hundred sailors who were paid less than their white counterparts and
considered an inferior form of human life by US law, the Chamorros were
actually punished for submitted this petition of overzealous loyalty. Here
is an excerpt from Farfan's cuts:
When a number of Chamorros and non-Chamorros of the patriotic persuasion
read an article such as Farfan's or even some of mine, their most common
response to this sort of gentle critique of the United States is as
follows, "Would you rather be under the Japanese?"
In the whole of Guam history over the past 100 plus years, we find enough
historical material for your average Chamorro to either love or loathe the United States.
The coconut Chamorro whom I mentioned, weakly attempts to show that I have
gotten reality wrong, that because his elders have never spoken a word of
hatred for the United States, my history is inaccurate. He is incorrect
however, because he cannot actually question my sources, he can only call
me wrong, because my points don't reflect the levithan which has become
reality, the common sense frameworks of meaning/history/identity which make
the Chamorro a constantly pathetic depedent American in waiting.
For example, if the grandchild of a Chamorro who participated in the Guam
Congress Walk-Out in 1949 does not know that his ancestor spoke out and
acted out against the United
States, does that mean that it never
happened? I have encountered so many grandchildren of these brave solons,
and few of them had an inkling of this act by their ancestors. The same
goes for Chamorros who protested or went on strike after World War II,
demanding better wages and an end to the Navy's policies of discrimination.
Do the children of these men have any idea about these actions?
The injustice happens, it is felt, it creates a wound, it is remembered by
those who cannot deny it and cannot forget it, but what is to be done with
it beyond these few? What can be done with it, when the world around you
seems to be built upon it remaining unspoken? These acts helped shaped the
world that Guam is now, yet why is it that
they are passed down in timid and often whispered ways?
History is a process which we take part in making at every single moment,
most especially in our inaction, in our self-censorship, in our
anticipation of our statements and ideas being rejected and the pragmatic
silence that follows. Following the war, as the voices of those closest to
the United States rose
to deafening levels, the voices of those who didn't care about the United States or did not trust or like the United States
were forced into silence.
Sometimes, such as in the case of Jose Camacho Farfan they were threatened
into silence, but most of the time, Chamorros chose to silence themselves,
to sungon ha', sa' i mesngon u manggana'.
The case of Jose Camacho Farfan is an interesting one, because he is one
such voice which has almost completely been forgotten. In 1949 Farfan
questioned a group of US dignitaries visiting Guam, about the political
mis-treatment of Chamorros by the United States. For this
question he was labelled by the delegation as a "communist."
He was truly an interesting person in Guam's history, but sadly one which
has been largely forgotten as a larger than life figure in Guam's history. I was first introduced to him in an
article from the Guam Daily News in the 1970's, which discussed
his meticulous note-taking about historical events and village happenings.
Later I found an article, pieces of which I will share today, that he wrote
for the Guam Tribune insert Panorama, published in the
1980's under the editorship of Chriz Perez Howard.
In his article titled "Guam Notes and Remembrances of Wartime"
Farfan provides one of the most clearest and well balanced accounts of the
pre-war and war periods on Guam. When I
say clear and well-balanced, I mean that the ridiculous patriotism that
often fogs the lens of everyday history in Guam
is largely absent. This does not mean that Farfan is a raging anti-American
communist, although this is precisely what he was labelled in postwar Guam.
After arriving at this theoretical point, we encounter an interesting
paradox. Any clear and balanced re-telling or interpretation of the history
of Guam over the past century, will most likely be labelled as
"anti-American" or "troublemaking" by the majority of
the people on Guam. Why? Because any balanced
account of the last century will put the conduct of the United States into
a very poor light, making its status as a colonizer undeniable and unable
to be covered up by any number of welfare checks or the addition of Guam to
the North American Numbering System.
As he states in his article under a section titled "Invasion,"
Guam was invaded on 10 December
1941 by the Japanese, the third nation to violate the sovereign rights of
the Guamanian people. The Spaniards were the first and the Americans the
second.
�On 3 March 1941 most Guamanians were prompted with a desire to serve
beyond Guam in the war efforts, 128 members of the �Irregular� Navy
petitioned the Governor-Commandant, volunteering to be transferred anywhere
in the event of war. Instead of praise of their action, they were
black-listed for violating Section 65 of the Naval Courts and Boards�Some
of the leaders and instigators were punished by reducing their proficiency
rating in seamanship, mechanical ability, ability as leader of men and conduct.
In retaliation, since Navy Yard Piti had the maximum members of Insulars
signing the petition, their work routine was drastically changed�When the
Japanese invaded Guam the work routine was
intolerable, much worst. This generation of men were not old enough to
taste the Spanish lashes so evaluation analysis could not determine which
was more severe. The right to petition was 768 years old, as old as the
Great Charter of Liberties, the Magna Carta. The U.S. Congress had no power to
curtail people from petitioning the government for a redress of
grievance�"
What Farfan creates through his
text is that position which is constantly lost on Guam,
but always sought to be remade and maintained by those such as myself, the
position of the Chamorro, politically independent.
When a number of Chamorros and
non-Chamorros of the patriotic persuasion read an article such as Farfan's
or even some of mine (Article writer�s), their most common response to this
sort of gentle critique of the United States is as follows,
"Would you rather be under the Japanese?"
(One of my most common responses to this vapid and pointless point is,
"Sure, they were much much better at economic development in Micronesia than the US was.")
What should be obvious to anyone who takes this ultimatum seriously is that
it assumes that regardless of the time, history or circumstances, the
Chamorro must be ruled by someone! That the Chamorro must be under the
authority of someone, never standing on its own!
That is the simple beauty of Farfan's position, is that the Chamorro he
represents and the Chamorro he writes from, the history he creates through
his writing, is a Chamorro who stands between empires, and who sees them
not as liberators but as they are, as they have treated us for so long, whether
it be Spain, Japan or the United States, as empires, as colonizers.
From the history that Farfan
proposes, the truth "Invasion of Guam" remains, and is not
reformulated and reworked to become "Liberation of Guam."
The crass strategic intentions of the United States military remain in the
history of Guam and are not replaced patriotically with rhetoric of care
and concern and desire for liberating loyal Chamorros which cannot be found
anywhere in any military planning documents from the day.
All that seemed to be left were
the pieces that the patriotic myth couldn�t cut off completely, but could
find ways of hijacking, namely the Chamorro pieces. Watching these Chamorro
families, I realized that they were celebrating themselves, their being
alive, their survival, much as Liberation Days in 1944 would have also
been.
Sadly, traditional tellings of Liberation Day tend to forget this Chamorro
component of liberation. Despite the dues ex machina arrival of
the Americans that we learn about each July 21st, it wasn�t the American
troops who endured the occupation. It wasn�t the Marines who were whipped,
beaten, beheaded or humiliated. And it wasn�t the military who worked all
day to feed the Japanese, and who were then forced to forage for food in
the jungles to feed their families and friends.[9]
A series of simple questions dawned on me as I watched the Chamorros
celebrate on that rainy Liberation Day. Why is it that the American aspect
of the war, their return on July 21, is given such a holy status? Why is it
that the public discourse about this day and about the war is so drenched
in American patriotic rhetoric? More questions arose. Did Chamorros just
forget the racism from the pre-war years? Did they forget about the
oppressive fines for infinitesimal infractions or the crackdowns on culture
and language? Did they forget about the Navy�s abandonment of Guam in 1941?
Yet directly following the war, even in the midst of the actual
�liberation,� some forms of discontent were recorded. In her publication entitled
America to the Rescue, Crecencis Cespedes reprinted dozens of
newspaper articles celebrating the American return and their benevolence
towards Guam and the Chamorros, all of which she collected while attending
school in North Carolina during the war. One article, however, slips
through the otherwise rosy, American-loving rhetoric. In it, an unnamed
Chamorro bihu dares to remind his readers that life may not have
been that wonderful before the war or under America. In an article entitled
�Liberation,� one Chamorro said, �High Jap officers would come in and eat
with us. I liked Jap equality better. The Americans made us feel as if we
were inferior.�[10]
Did the war erase these things from Chamorro memories? Is that what it
would take to turn an island of reluctant American nationals into the
sometimes rabid jingoists and super-patriots of today?[11] According to the late
Guam Senator, Maga�lahi I Nasion Chamoru and Chamoru rights
activist, Angel Santos,
Our history has been rewritten. We were brainwashed into thinking we
were liberated but when you look back at the facts after the war, and at
what happened before the war, then you realize the lies.[12]
I saina-hu Si Anghet magahet gui�[13]. The questions racing through
my mind were ultimately questions about the canons of history,
historical memory, and power. And although I was painfully aware of the
�lies� and �brainwashing� that accompany our history, I also realize that
the presence of advanced discursive weaponry like the myth of patriotism
makes any attempt to re-take or liberate this part of Chamorro history
mampos mappot.[14]
This chapter will show the shifts that took place in Chamorro
consciousness, shifts that enabled them to overcome the ideological
distance they had kept between themselves and the American regime in
pre-war Guam and later become susceptible to the control of the patriotic
myth. In terms of culture and identity, the distance that Chamorros had
commonly felt and experienced in the pre-war period gave way to the trauma
of the war. Gone for the most part was their suspicion and their minassa�[15]
towards America
and its offerings that had characterized the pre-war period. During the war
and escalating after Liberation, Chamorros began to look to America
for salvation, both physical and mental. The deeper that Japan invaded
their culture and their lives, the more they longed for American belonging
and the �freedom� it implied. It is in this shift closer towards America
that the patriotic myth begins to take shape around Chamorro minds and
discourse.
It was this belief of belonging, facilitated by the patriotic myth, which
allowed Chamorros to feel, think and act patriotically. The myth pushed
Chamorros in a sense to forget the past or forget pieces of the past,
thereby ignoring the misdeeds of the Navy and allowing them to accept the
inferior and subordinate position that America had created for them through
its pre-war discourse on things such as education or politics. With this
belief and the acceptance of American hegemony, America
is absolved of its sins on Guam, giving
the historical past and present that the myth proposes a feeling of naturalness.�
OTHER RECOMMENDED READING
FROM CUTS AS CONTRIBUTIONS FROM GUAM
ACTIVISTS AND ALLIES:
|
Jun
20, 2007 ... The United
Nations must inspect Guam�s
progress towards decolonization,
and scrutinize the environmental, social and psychological impacts ...
www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2007/gacol3161.doc.htm -
36k - Cached - Similar pages
|
20 June 2007
|
|
General Assembly
GA/COL/3161
|
|
|
|
|
Department of Public Information � News and
Media Division � New York
|
Special Committee on
Decolonization
7th Meeting (AM)
SPECIAL DECOLONIZATION COMMITTEE
APPROVES FIVE DRAFT RESOLUTIONS
FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY ACTION, AS SESSION
CONTINUES
Consensus Actions Include Text Reaffirming
Right to Self Determination of 11
Non-Self-Governing Territories
The Special
Committee on decolonization approved five draft resolutions this morning,
including a text by which the General Assembly would reaffirm the
inalienable right to self-determination of the peoples of
Non-Self-Governing Territories.
By that text,
the Assembly would call upon the administering Powers of those Territories
-- American Samoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman
Islands, Guam, Montserrat, Pitcairn, Saint Helena, Turks and Caicos Islands
and the United States Virgin Islands -- to cooperate fully with the
Committee�s work in implementing the declaration regarding
Non-Self-Governing Territories as contained in the United Nations
Charter. The draft would also have the Assembly stress the importance
of constitutional reviews being undertaken in those Territories to address
internal constitutional structures within present territorial arrangements.
Further by
the text, the Assembly would request that all necessary measures be taken
to protect the environment of the Territories against any degradation -- an
issue brought up by a petitioner from Guam, who, in her statement before
the Committee today, talked of nuclear contamination by the United States
military on the island of Guam.
In addition
to that text, the Committee approved a draft on the question of New Caledonia, in which the Assembly would welcome
the developments that had taken place in the Territory since the signing of
the 1998 Noumea Accord by the
representatives of New Caledonia and France.
By that draft, the Assembly would note provisions in the Noumea
Accord that would take the Kanak -- the indigenous peoples of New Caledonia -�
into account in the Territory�s political and social organization.
The text would also have the Assembly note an increase in financial
assistance by the Government of France for health, education,
payment of public-service salaries and funding development schemes, amounting
to �910 million.
A third
draft, on the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of
Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by United Nations
specialized agencies and international institutions, would have the
Assembly request that those agencies and organizations provide information
on environmental problems facing Non-Self-Governing Territories, while
bearing in mind the fragile economies of Small Island Non-Self-Govening
Territories and their vulnerability to natural disasters. They would
also be requested to report on the impacts of environmental problems, such
as beach and coastal erosion and droughts.
By the same
draft, specialized agencies would be requested to inform the Assembly on
ways to assist the Territories in fighting drug trafficking,
money-laundering and other illegal activities, as well as to inform it of
any illegal exploitation of marine and other natural resources.
Another draft
approved by the Committee, on economic and other activities which affect
the interests of the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories, would
have the Assembly reaffirm the right of peoples of Non-Self-Governing
Territories to dispose of their natural resources in their best
interest. The text would have the Assembly call upon Governments to
take legislative and administrative measures to put an end to any
enterprises operated by their nationals and corporate bodies under their
jurisdiction that were detrimental to those interests.
The Special
Committee also approved a draft that would have the Assembly extend its
mandate, including to continue dispatching visits and special missions to
the Non-Self-Governing Territories and to recommend to the Assembly the
most suitable steps to be taken to enable the populations of those
Territories to exercise their right to self-determination, including
independence.
The draft resolution on the question of New
Caledonia was introduced by the representative of Papua New Guinea.
The meeting was chaired by Margaret Hughes Ferrari ( Saint Vincent and the Grenadines),
who introduced the remaining draft texts.
The
representatives of Iran
and the Russian
Federation also spoke.
Also
appearing before the Committee today were three petitioners from Guam.
The Committee
will meet again at 10:00 a.m., Thursday, 21 June to take up the question of
the Falkland Islands (Malvinas).
Background
When the
Special Committee on decolonization met this morning, it had before it a
working paper prepared by the Secretariat on New Caledonia (document
A/AC.109/2007/9), providing background information on the Territory�s
constitutional, political and legal issues, as well as on socio-economic
conditions. The paper notes that the political and administrative
structures of New Caledonia were
fundamentally altered by the Noum�a Accord, signed in May 1998 between the
Government of France,
the pro-independence Front de lib�ration nationale Kanak socialiste (FLNKS)
and the integrationist Rassemblement pour la Caledonie dans la Republique
(RPCR). Under the terms of the accord, the parties opted for a
negotiated solution and progressive autonomy from France, rather than an
immediate referendum on political status. The process is to end with
a referendum between 2013 and 2018, when the Territory will opt for either
full independence or a form of associated statehood.
Following ratification of the Accord, New
Caledonia is no longer considered an Overseas Territory,
according to the working paper. Instead, France describes it as a
community sui generis, which has institutions designed for it alone, to
which certain non-revocable powers of State will gradually be
transmitted. Political stability in New Caledonia can be undermined by the
existence of the �collegiality clause� of the Accord, which states that if
a member of the 11-member Government Cabinet resigns and there is no
replacement from his or her party, the whole Government will have to be
re-elected by a vote in Congress. Disgruntled parties might resort to
the clause in order to force a new election, as has happened previously.
The paper
notes that, in the past, progress was often hindered by friction between
RPCR and FLNKS, owing to their differing interpretations of collegiality in
Government matters. The Government remains opposed to full
independence for the Territory from France, while Kanak leaders
mostly favour full independence and are becoming increasingly impatient
with the slow implementation of the Noum�a Accord. Another issue of
tension is the inter-ethnic strain between the Kanaks and the settlers from
the French territory
of Wallis and
Futuna. Those tensions resurged in August 2006, with a number of
violent confrontations and acts of arson in the suburbs of Noum�a.
Also before the Special Committee were working papers on the
questions of 11 other Non-Self-Governing Territories. The
working paper on the Cayman Islands (document A/AC.109/2007/2)
addresses constitutional, legal and political issues, among other topics,
and notes that formal talks between the Government and the United Kingdom
to modernize the Constitution had recommenced in March 2006. A
Constitutional Review Secretariat was expected to begin work in March 2007.
The paper further notes that the United Kingdom representative
had stated during the General Assembly�s sixty-first session that
de-listing criteria used by the Special Committee were outdated.
The working
paper on the British Virgin Islands
(document A/AC.109/2007/3) notes that the Territory�s next general election
is to be held in September. Constitutional negotiations between the
Territory and the United Kingdom,
which began in March 2006, dealt with amending the Constitution to include
a human rights charter and establish �a more appropriate balance of
authority� between the United
Kingdom and the local government.
After concluding the fourth round of talks on 1 March 2007, the Territory�s
negotiating team said it had achieved 95 per cent of the proposals for
a modern Constitution.
The working
paper on Montserrat (document A/AC.109/2007/4) states that talks
between the Government and the United Kingdom
to generally modernize the Constitution, and specifically to preserve the
Territory�s ability to move towards greater self-determination, continued
in 2006 amid media reports that the revision process did not completely
reflect the aspirations of the Montserrat
public. A further round of talks was expected in the first quarter of
2007.
According to the working paper on Turks and Caicos
Islands (document A/AC.109/2007/5), the new Constitution
that came into force on 9 August 2006 provides that a Governor continue to
be appointed by the administering Power. A Special Committee mission
sent to the Islands in April 2006 noted
that many people appeared to have dismissed integration or free association
as political options for the Territory�s future status. However,
during that same month, the Premier also emphasized in talks with the United Kingdom that the goal of the Islands was for eventual independence. The most
recent general election was held on 9 February 2007.
The working
paper on Pitcairn (document A/AC.109/2007/6) focuses in part on the
future status of the Territory, and notes that according to a 2004
statement by a representative of the island Mayor, the people of Pitcairn
did not fully understand all the possibilities or the significance of the
various self-determination options available to them. The
administering Power, the United Kingdom,
has noted that laws, including those relating to human rights, are
published by the United
Kingdom Government and the Pitcairn
Administration.
The working
paper on the United States Virgin Islands (document A/AC.109/2007/7)
states that since the Territory�s Organic Act of the Virgin Islands was
revised in 1954 by the administering Power, the United States, none of the
four attempts to replace it with a locally written Constitution has been
successful. The Territory�s only referendum on a range of political
options was conducted in 1993. According to a Territory
representative attending the November 2006 Pacific regional seminar on decolonization,
the drafting of a local Constitution, written within the framework of the
laws of the administering Power, should precede any determination of
permanent political status.
According to
the working paper on Anguilla (document A/AC.109/2007/8), the 2006
Constitutional and Electoral Reform Commission established by the then
Governor, a United Kingdom appointee, found that Anguillians were satisfied
with their 1982 Constitution, which provides them with a large degree of
autonomy and United Kingdom forces for defence. However, in
resolutions 61/128 A and B, the General Assembly noted that changes in the
visa requirements for Anguillan passport holders could make it difficult to
enter the Territory�s closest neighbour, French Saint Martin. In that
same resolution, the Assembly welcomed the participation of the Territory
as an associate member in the Caribbean Community, the Organization of
Eastern Caribbean States and the Economic Commission for Latin America and
the Caribbean.
According to the working paper on Bermuda
(document A/AC.109/2007/10), the last amendment to the Constitution was in
2003 and racial divisions continue to be played out in support for, or
opposition to, independence. The paper cited the Premier as saying in
November 2006 that �independence is not on the front burner, but is still
on the stove,� and noted that the campaign to gain independence is expected
to receive less fervent attention from the current Territorial Government.
The working paper on Saint Helena
(document A/AC.109/2007/14) highlighted that extensive public consultations
on constitutional reform have been carried out since 2001. A final
draft Constitution, completed following 2004 negotiations, proposed
Government by reference to the partnership values; new guarantees of fundamental
human rights; and a two-tier ministerial form of Government. However,
Saint Helenians rejected the proposal. Given that, the Legislative
Council continued constitutional reform by incorporating popular changes
into the existing constitution.
The working
paper on American Samoa (document A/AC.109/2007/15) states that the
Territory�s current relationship with the United States is viewed as
�desirable� by American Samoans and their legislative representatives, who
also asked that they be de-listed as a colony of the United States, since
it was �independent within a federalized system of Self-Governing States
and Territories�. The 2006 Future Political Status Study Commission,
whose members were appointed by the popularly-elected Governor to study alternative
forms of political status practices vis-�-vis the United States, had
released its report in January. [The Commission reached the
conclusion that the present political status of American Samoa is not adversely
impacting the normal functions of Government, nor impeding the delivery of
public services.]
The working paper on Guam (document A/AC.109/2007/16)
describes various moves to change the island�s political status, including
a planned decolonization plebiscite for November 2004, which was to ask the
Territory�s indigenous people to choose between statehood, independence or
free association with the United
States, the administering Power.
However, the vote was postponed because eligible voters had not been
identified, and the issue of political status has not been taken up
since.
On military
matters, Guam remains the site of extensive United States naval and air
force installations. The report notes that some 20,000 United States military personnel and their
families will be transferred to Guam from Okinawa
for at least six years, and the island is expected to host the largest
anti-terrorism exercise in the world in 2007. Many Guamanians still
seek answers from past military activities and, in 2006, set up a �Right to
Know� Commission.
The Committee also had before it five draft resolutions, on: the question
of New Caledonia (document A/AC.109/2007/L.13); the implementation
of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries
and Peoples(document A/AC.109/2007/L.10); theimplementation of the
Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and
Peoples by the specialized agencies and the international institutions
associated with the United Nations (document A/AC.109/2007/L.11); economic
and other activities, which affect the interests of the peoples of the
Non-Self-Governing Territories (document A/AC.109/2007/L.12); and questions
of American Samoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the
Cayman Islands, Guam, Montserrat, Pitcairn, Saint Helena, Tokelau, the
Turks and Caicos Islands and the United States Virgin Islands (document
A/AC.109/2007/L.9).
Action on
Draft Texts
The first
draft before the Committee on the question of New
Caledonia (document a/AC.109/2007/L.13) was introduced by
the representative of Papua New Guinea,
on behalf of her territory and the island of Fiji.
She said that since the adoption of the draft resolution by the General
Assembly in 2006, new developments had taken place in the territory, and,
therefore, amendments to the draft were needed. She then drew the
Committee�s attention to those amendments, urging support for them and
expressing hope that the draft resolution on the question of New Caledonia would
be approved by consensus.
The Committee
then approved without a vote the draft resolution as orally revised.
Next,
Chairperson MARGARET HUGHES FERRARI ( Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)
introduced the proposed text on the implementation of the Declaration on
the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (document
A/AC.109/2007/L.10), saying that the draft would extend the mandate of
Special Committee, if adopted. The resolution had been subject to
discussion during informal consultation on 7 and 8 June.
The text was
approved without a vote.
Introducing the
draft text on the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of
Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by the Specialized Agencies
and International Institutions Associated with the United Nations(document
A/AC.109/2007/L.11), Chairperson FERRARI drew the Committee�s attention to
the Secretary-General�s report on the issue (document A/62/65) and
information submitted by the specialized agencies and other organizations
of the United Nations on their activities with regard to the Declaration�s
implementation (document E/2007/47).
The Committee
then approved the text without a vote.
General
Statement after Action
Regarding the
resolution just approved, the representative of the Russian Federation noted
that his country stood by its traditional position on the issue, but had
not objected to the consensus adoption of the text given the work that had
gone into improving the draft during the session. The Russian
Federation would continue to be guided by its traditional position in
reviewing those questions, whether before the General Assembly or the
Economic and Social Council.
The Committee
then took up the draft resolution entitled Economic and other activities,
which affect the interests of peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories
(document A/AC.109/2007/L.12) and adopted it without a vote.
The Committee
then began its consideration of the Questions of American Samoa, Anguilla,
the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Guam, Montserrat, Pitcairn,
St. Helena, Tokelau, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the United States
Virgin Islands.
Petitioners
Turning to
the working paper on the Question of Guam, SABINA FLORES P�REZ, supporting
the work of past delegations of Chamorros who had appealed to the United
Nations on behalf of Guam, called the working paper incomplete in that it
did not include an independent analysis of the impacts of intensified
United States militarization on the island; did not provide a complete
picture of that militarization; and included citations that were not based
on primary sources. The strained political and economic climate on
Guam was a direct result of the cumulative impact from Guam�s inequitable
relationship with its administering Power, the United States. The plan
for military build-up unveiled by the United States Department of Defence
in 2005 was made without the informed consent of the Chamorro people.
Moreover, the transfer of 8,000 Marines from Okinawa
and elsewhere would radically alter the demography of the island and
further marginalize Chamorros.
The military�s impact on Guam�s political process also was
significant, she said, recalling comments made by United States Air Force
Lieutenant General Daniel P. Leaf that United
States troops had a constitutional right to
participate in Guam�s local elections.
If that was an example of United
States policy on local governance, then
Chamorro self-determination was endangered. For the people of Guam to attain self-determination, it was essential
to reaffirm the principles of the United Nations Charter of promoting equal
rights; the paramount interests of inhabitants who had not attained a full
measure of self-government; and resolution 1541.
She urged
that adequate resources be made available to implement the mandate for
eradicating colonialism, including: an education campaign about their
political status for the people of Guam; a fact-finding mission to Guam to
document the impacts of colonization and militarization; measures to
increase coordination of United Nations agencies toward decolonisation; and
that Member States refrain from using the remaining Non-Self-Governing
Territories for military bases and pass a resolution condemning the current
United States build-up on Guam as a violation.
Questions
and Comments
The
representative from the Iran
thanked the petitioner for her comments and asked for a copy of her
statement.
The
Chairperson responded that the statement would be made available.
HOPE
ANTOINETTE CRISTOBAL, of Chamorro ethnicity and Doctor of Psychology from
Guam, trained in the study of colonized and marginalized indigenous
communities, said the Chamorro people suffered social, economic, political,
ecological and health consequences that the administering Power continued
to ignore. They were overrepresented in correctional facilities, probation
rolls and within the mental health system, and suffered high rates of
family violence, substance abuse, teenage suicides, school dropouts and
other social problems. Studies had found that young Chamorro males
and females experienced the highest rates of alcohol and drug abuse,
reported more gang and crime involvement, and were frequently diagnosed
with oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder and substance abuse
disorders. Chamorros also constituted most of the 185 cases of AIDS
to date.
She said
there was a high concentration of amyothrophic lateral sclerosis and
Parkinsonism-dementia, which recent research had attributed to the nuclear
contamination of the island�s resources by the United States military.
Public Health statistics had also indicated a high incidence of death from
cancer in two villages -- Santa Rita and Yigo -- adjacent to the two United States
military bases. Guam had 1,995 times more incidences of
nasopharyngeal cancers as compared to the standard United States population.
Apra Harbour, the only deep harbour in Micronesia and currently controlled
by the United States Naval Station, and Ordot Landfill, formerly used by
the military as a post-World War II dumpsite, were found to have high
traces of arsenic, lead, copper, mercury, tin and polychlorinated
biphenyls.
She said United States Congressional testimony from
2001 revealed a cover-up had taken place regarding the storage of, and
contamination by, nuclear chemicals in Guam.
When Guam experienced a radioactive �attack� after the detonation of a
hydrogen bomb on Enewetak Island in the Marshalls,
as described by retired Lieutenant Charles Bert Schreiber of the United States
Navy in that testimony, the Chamorros were not informed that they had been
consuming radioactive rainwater. Moreover, the administering Power�s
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act did not include the local civilian
community. Furthermore, the planned influx of military personnel and
their families to Guam would increase the
population by 23 per cent over the next six and a half years. That
rapid, unnatural population growth was of gave concern, since it would
increase the demand for resources. Pressure was mounting to privatize
the island�s sole power source and sole water system to outside business interests.
The community�s capacity to sustain the quality of its environment and
resources -- such as the northern water lens system and surface waters in
the southern part of the island, lands, air, tropical limestone and
savannah forests, soil reef systems, flora and fauna, climate and coastal
resources -- would be adversely impacted.
She said the United States
had a plan to highly militarize a Non-Self-Governing Territory, in
contravention to the administrating Power�s obligation to promote the
well-being of the people of such territories. In a secret memo issued
on 21 November 1945, Vice Admiral G.D. Murray, then commander of the Marianas Navy Force, stated that �the economic
development and administration of relatively few native inhabitants should
be subordinate to the real purpose for which those islands are held�.
Vice Admiral Murray had stated that the island�s commercial or industrial
value were �of little or no relative importance to the welfare of the United States�.
The dependent people of the Non-Self-Governing Territory
of Guam were being exploited under
the United States
Administration. The United Nations must inspect Guam�s progress
towards decolonization, and scrutinize the environmental, social and
psychological impacts of United States
military development on Guam. The
Special Committee should continue to maintain its purview of the question
of Guam under the list of
Non-Self-Governing Territories.
KEITH L. CAMACHO, an assistant professor at the University of
California, Los Angeles, and speaking before the Committee both as a
witness to an increasingly global environment of conflict and as an
indigenous Chamorro inhabitant of Guam, said that, to date, neither the
United States nor the United Nations had made any sustained attempt to prepare
the Chamorro people for self-determination, as defined in resolution
1541. Chamorro activists, attorneys, community organizers and
policymakers boasted a history of critical anti-colonialism that had not
been heeded by either the United
States or the Organization.
What could be
done? he asked. He called on the Committee to solicit funding for an
independent fact-finding mission to research scholarly literature on United
States colonization; examine the political impact of United States
militarization efforts in Okinawa, including plans to relocate military
personnel to Guam without the consent of the Chamorro people; and refute
United States efforts to de-list Guam from the list of Non-Self-Governing
Territories.
The Committee
then took up the draft resolution on the questions of American Samoa,
Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Guam,
Montserrat, Pitcairn, Saint Helena, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the
United States Virgin Islands (document A/AC.109/2007/L.9).
Calling the
draft resolution a product of the Special Committee�s long and diligent
consultations, the Chairperson thanked the delegations for their useful
amendments and efforts to streamline language. She believed that the
draft reflected the Committee�s thinking on the issues at hand and she
intended to take action on the draft, notwithstanding the fact that it had
been issued this morning. The goal, she explained, was to save
resources. She then quoted from the rules of the General Assembly and
asked the Committee to waive rule 120.
The Committee
then approved the draft resolution without a vote.
Organization of Work
Chairperson
FERRARI drew the Committee�s attention to the three remaining items on its
agenda: the report of the regional seminar; the report of the Committee
covering various housekeeping issues; and the question of Tokelau.
She suggested that those items be dealt with at the Committee�s last
meeting, scheduled for 27 June.
MTX-MTX-MTX-MTX
|
Guam is the southernmost island of the Marianas Island Chain, in Micronesia. The native
people of Guam
call themselves and their language Chamoru. ...
members.aol.com/magastodu/c_issues/un/09292006.htm
- 21k - Cached - Similar pages
|
Activist
and Author Speaks Out Against US Troop Deployment to Guam
at UN
Guam political and human rights
activist Julian Aguon will speak to the UN General Assembly in opposition
to the Bush Administrations latest move to deploy tens of thousands of US
military personnel to Guam as part of Pentagon's new hedge strategy aimed
at containing China.
Earlier this year, the Department of Defense announced its agreement with
Koizumi's Japan to
transfer to its tiny territory of Guam the 8,000 US Marines being ousted by Okinawa. Since the announcement, the estimated number
of US troops and their dependents set to flood the 212 square mile island,
which has endured 500 years of colonization, is 35,000.
Julian Aguon, author of the new book The Fire This Time: Essays on Life
Under US Occupation says that while the world watches, South
Koreans are defending their homes from bulldozers and Okinawans fighting on
land and sea to stop the development of yet another base. But on Guam the Chamoru people remain the ghosts of this
Pacific Theatre tragedy.
His book details how current US military realignment schemes
threaten to destroy any hope for decolonization of the non-self-governing
territory.
He will appeal to the UN body to pass a resolution condemning the transfer
as the most vulgar breach of contract on the part of the US as the
Administering Power charged with the responsibility to ensure the native
Chamoru population of Guam exercise self-determination. Though since 1946
the US
has been charged to aid the native population exercise self-determination,
it has strategically denied every attempt at Chamoru sovereignty in the
last half century.
Aguon plans to direct diplomatic attention also to a mass privatization
campaign of the Guam Chamber of Commerce (consisting primarily of US
mainlanders) to privatize every one of Guam's public resources, i.e. the
island's only water provider, only power provider, only local telephone
provider, public schools, and its only port, on an island that imports
85-90% of its food and where private monopolies of public goods would truly
make the island captive to the "forces of the market."
At 24, Aguon is fast-becoming a respected speaker throughout the
Asia-Pacific region on issues of indigenous rights, self-determination, and
cultural preservation in an era of corporate globalization. He has recently
returned from Okinawa where he spoke
before an international audience of human rights workers in the region on
solidarity politics. After New York, he
will leave for Korea
at the invitation of the Hankyoreh Media Corporation to speak at its
international symposium on "Peace, Development, and Solidarity among
East Asian Cities."
The Fire This Time: Essays on Life Under US Occupation
By Julian Aguon
Edition: First; Specifications: Softcover, 6 x 9, 124 pages;
November 2006, Price: $13.95;
ISBN: 9784902837110
The Fire This Time is one of the books in the blue ocean press 'The Club of
1898' Consciousness Studies - The Club of 1898 are areas affected by the
1898 Treaty of Paris that granted possession of Spanish colonies to the
United States: The Philippine Islands, Guahan (Guam), Puerto Rico, and
Cuba. These studies reveal similarities and differences in political and
cultural consciousness between these countries and territories. At this
time, blue ocean press has published four books that belong to this series:
Guahan (Guam): Just Left of the Setting Sun, and The Fire This Time: Essays
on Life Under US Occupation
Cuba: Cuba is a State of Mind (The Spiritual Traveler Vol. I),
Post-Revolutionary Cuban Spanish: A Glossary of Social, Political, and
Common Terms (Glosario de t?rminos socio-pol?ticos y aut?ctonos de
actualidad (espa?ol-ingl?s))
Background on Guam
Guam is the southernmost island of the Marianas
Island Chain, in Micronesia. The native people
of Guam call themselves and their language
Chamoru. Colonized by Spain for more than three hundred years, awarded to
the U.S. after Spain's defeat in 1898 as part of the Treaty of Paris (along
with Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippine Islands), taken by Japan in the
second world war only to be re-taken by the US at its close, Guam is one of
the few remaining non-self-governing territories (colonies) of the world,
and is subject to administration by the Office of Insular Affairs in the US
Department of Interior.
Since World War II, this 212 square
mile island, often referred to as "the tip of America's military spear" has been
vital in securing American military and economic interests throughout the
Pacific and Asia. Recent downsizing and
renegotiation of United States
defense agreements in Asia will send more than 8,000 military personnel and
10,000 dependents from Okinawa and South
Korea to Guam,
significantly impacting the island whose current population is 160,000.
The Department of Defense, which occupies 30% of the island with the
potential to expand, is rapidly increasing the offensive capability of both
the Air Force and Navy, with plans to establish a Global Strike Force on
Guam, involving rotating 48 F-22 and F-15E fighter jets, six B-1, B-2, and
B-52 bombers, adding as many as 6 nuclear submarines to the 3 Guam already
houses and plans to home port 60% of the Navy's Pacific Fleet in the
region.
The small island will become the "largest, most forward US military installation in the Pacific
theatre," which will make Guam a first-strike target in any
altercation with China
and/or North Korea.
The Chamoru people of Guam stand at the crosshairs of the U.S. military stage in the
Pacific. They are confronted with nationally with a governing
administration that purports to spread democracy while denying it for its
territories, and locally by the Guam elite and Chamber of Commerce who, in
hopes of lining their already over-stuffed pockets, use the media and
resources at their disposal to push relentlessly for the privatization of
all public assets and the increased militarization of Guam.
The Chamoru people continue to be subjected to the existence of toxic
elements left by the U.S. military as a result of the storage of chemical
agents, PCB-contamination in the waters, and down-winder's radiation, as
well as, radiation from the washing-down of airplanes and ships used in
monitoring nuclear testing in the Pacific. Their telecommunications network
is fully privatized, their power distributor partly privatized, and their
water agency is under attack. The Port Authority of Guam,
on an island that imports 85-90% of its food, is also being threatened by
privatization.
Julian Aguon Speech to the Honorable
Members of the Fourth Committee:
Honorable Members:
Guahu si Julian Aguon. Ati adeng-miyo and greetings from Guam.
I address you this afternoon on behalf of I Nasion Chamoru, which has
commissioned me to convey to you the gravity of our current situation in
light of the militarization convulsing the Asia-Pacific region.
As I speak, the indigenous people of the longest colonized island in the
Pacific Ocean, the Chamorus of Guam, brace our selves against a storm of
military buildup so volatile in nature, so irreversible in consequence, and
set to begin next year. US
military realignment in the region seeks to homeport sixty percent of its
Pacific Fleet in and around our four-thousand-year-old island archipelago.
With no input from the Chamoru people and over our deepening dissent, the US
will flood its modern colony with 55,000 people as part of its realignment
plans. This number includes the 8,000 US
Marines and their 9,000 dependents being ousted by outraged folks in Okinawa. Joining the 35,000 US military personnel and their
dependents is an outside labor force estimated upwards of 20,000 workers on
construction contracts. The Navy recently suggested that six more nuclear
submarines will be added to the three already stationed in Guam. There is talk of a sixth aircraft carrier and a
monstrous Global Strike Force soon to be developed. Deputy Commander of the
US
Pacific Command Daniel Leaf informed us of other programs in the works to
establish a strike and intelligence surveillance reconnaissance hub at
Andersen Air Force Base. Though this expansionism is exaggerated, it only
complements the impressive Air Force and Navy show of force on 1/3 of our island
already. This influx will have devastating consequences on the Chamorus of
Guam, who make up only 37% of the 171,000 people living in Guam and who already suffer the signature maladies of
a colonial condition. It threatens to put out the fire of our half century
struggle to attain some true measure of self-government, the fire of which
you are the trusted guardians.
To date, no social or environmental impact study has been done to assess
the burdens this buildup will place on the island. Recent fact-finding
missions in Okinawa reveal alarmingly high rates of societal violence,
including hundreds of rapes and acts of violence against the women of Okinawa. It is reasonable to think our women will
face a similar fate. Meanwhile, US Department of Defense officials state
nothing definite except that Guam is to be a faster response hub to the
loose and alleged threats that are China
and North Korea.
A mysterious master plan said to detail the transfer has yet to be
presented to Guam leaders though it has
been promised three times. Our officials wait with bated breath. Of the
10.3 billion dollars settled upon by the US
and Japan,
nothing definite has been stated as to how this money will be used to
improve our flailing infrastructure. The suggestion of late is that Guam is expected to foot the bill of this
re-occupation. Meanwhile, virtually every public sector is being threatened
with privatization. Meetings with defense officials have proved empty, as
every military officer we have met with informs us of their inability to
commit to anything. In effect, they repeat that they have no working plans
to spend money on civilian projects, as dollars tied to this transfer have
been allocated to development only within the bases. Two multimillion
dollar contracts have been pre-awarded to two American-based companies; one
from California, one Virginia. Money for education in the
territory will again be allocated to schools for children of US military
personnel and not ours. Meanwhile, public education in Guam
is under biweekly duress; local teachers have been threatened with payless
paydays for the last three months and counting. The burden on the Guam Public School
System has been worsened by the US'
failure to justly compensate Guam for
shouldering the costs of its compacts of free association with Micronesian
states, which strain our limited resources. There is talk of US plans to
condemn more of our land to accommodate its accelerated military needs,
which would add to its occupation of 1/3 of our island already. In contrast,
there is no talk of plans to clean up radioactive contaminations of Guam
from toxins leftover from its World War II activities and its intense
nuclear bombing campaign of the Marshall
Islands only 1200 miles from Guam.
No word either on whether or not it plans to pay war reparations due to us
since it forgave Japan
of its crimes of World War II. Bills seeking compensation for both our
exposure to radioactive material and our endurance of Japanese
concentration camps from World War II await congressional action. Our
elders continue dying while they wait. It's not terribly surprising. What
is happening now - this vulgar re-occupation - is happening without our
consent. Like an awful re-run of WWII, when the US
unilaterally forgave Japan
its horrific war crimes on our people, the US
is at the table again with Japan,
negotiating away our right to self-determination.
But beyond the B-2s in our skies, the ships playing war games in our
waters, the increased amount of weapons of mass destruction stored in Guam,
and contaminations that continue causing our people to suffer
extraordinarily high rates of every kind of radioactivity related cancer,
there is a growing desperation back home. A desperate lethargy in the wind.
A realization that if the UN remains unable to slow the manic speed of US
militarization, Chamorus as a people will pass.
Only last year we were here, informing you of two very frightening
facts: 1) it was recently discovered that the US Department of Interior
purposefully killed a presidential directive handed down in 1975, ordering
that Guam be given a commonwealth status no less favorable than the one the
US was negotiating with the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands at
that time; and 2) a campaign of the Guam Chamber of Commerce (primarily
consisting of US Statesiders) to privatize every one of Guam's public
resources ( i.e. the island's only water provider, only power provider,
only local telephone provider, public schools, and its only port, on an
island that imports 85-90% of its food and where private monopolies of
public goods would truly make the island captive to the forces of the
market) is undermining our indigenous civilization with violent speed.
Not much has changed since we last were here. Our power provider has been
privatized, our telecommunications sold. Our only water provider and one
port are under attack.
Honorable members: know this. The people of Guam
are not unified around this military buildup despite dominant media
representations. For all intents and purposes, there is no free press in Guam. Local media only makes noise of the
re-occupation, not sense of it. The Pacific Daily News - the American
subsidiary newspaper that dominates the discourse ?has been particularly
effective at cutting off oxygen to civil society. Rather than debating this
military buildup's enormous sociopolitical, environmental and cultural
consequences, it has framed the conversation around how best to ask the US
(politely) for de facto consideration of our concerns, without appearing
un-American. In its endless genuflection toward corporate America it has privileged
potential short-term economic stimulus and forsaken every other
sociological concern. Dismissed the dream of a decolonized Guam and the people courageous and loving enough to
build it. In light of the purpose of the Fourth Committee, heed this
deepening of opposition, uncertainty, and insecurity around this buildup.
The US
has provided no answers. We need your help to turn the world's eye to Guam, so that, at the very least, our sisters and
brothers can see us before we are ghosts.
The last few weeks on the
General Assembly floor have tested our insides. Diplomats from all over
have come addressing your body, many rightfully outraged at the imperial
appetite of the US and how badly it starves human hearts of hope. We are
here to echo this simple truth: the aggressive militarization of our world
is laying humanity a premature grave. And we find that unacceptable.
We urge you to pass a resolution condemning this massive military
transfer and buildup of Guam as a grave
breach of duty on the part of the Administering Power, in no less explicit
terms. But we come for another reason apart from our rage. As an indigenous
people, we offer prayer. That you keep your moral courage close. That you
continue to believe that what we are doing here, these words, are the
better way . Even when cynicism is winning the day. Even, and especially,
when words have lost so devastatingly much of their meaning.
In Solidarity,
Julian Aguon
I Nasion Chamoru
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More Additional Recommended Regional Reading
Stock
Data / People�s Commonwealth Concern
Allow ALL Chamorros to Own
Land In the Marianas
Chamorros from Guam should not be excluded from owning land in the Northern Marianas. It is only fair since Chamorros
from the Northern Marianas can own land in Guam.
Chamorros from Guam are the same as Chamorros from the Northern
Marianas. We speak the same language, we have the same
culture, we share the same history, and we share the same blood. It is
ridiculous to discriminate against Chamorros from Guam from owning land in
the Northern Marianas. Guam does not
discriminate against Northern Marianas
Chamorros from owning property.
The value of property would go up in the Northern Marianas if Chamorros
from Guam could purchase land here. It
will open up the market to more than 100,000 people. Currently, the market
contains around only 40,000 people. The land would remain in Chamorro
hands. It should be their right as Chamorros, descendants of Taotaomonas,
first people of the Marianas.
Many of them want to own land in the Northern Marianas
but are denied this right because they voted against re-unification in the
'70s. They voted against it because they were BETRAYED by Chamorros who
were FORCED to become translators in Guam
for the Japanese outsiders.
If they did not obey the Japanese outsiders, they would have been killed.
Outsiders such as Spain
and Japan were the true
reasons that separated the Marianas, not
the Taotao Tano. To all Chamorros: know your history well. Allow ALL
Chamorros to own land in the Marianas.
Biba Marianas! Na da, na talo y Marianas! Fanoge Chamorro!
Jesse Torres
Kagman, Saipan
Wednesday July 18, 2007
Letters to the Editor
Monday, July 16, 2007
MTX-MTX-MTX
The United Nations later this
year will consider providing technical and financial aid to
non-self-governing territories such as Guam for a number of purposes,
including educational programs leading up to political status plebiscites,
according to recent reports from the UN Committee on Decolonization and the
Guam Commission on Decolonization.
The UN committee, also called the Committee of 24, drafted its annual
resolution in New York
last month for consideration by the General Assembly later this year. Guam
Commission on Decolonization education officer Debra Lynne Quinata attended
the committee meetings, telling members and others in attendance that
"nothing has changed in 20 years regarding our colonial status, while
much has changed to destroy our sense as a people."
Quinata reminded Committee members that Guam's Commonwealth Act languished
in the U.S. Congress for nearly 10 years, saying the result is a
"confirmation of our colonial status and an affirmation that our
Administering Power can do whatever it wants to do regarding Guam, including doing nothing."
She pointed to economic difficulties Guam is facing, noting that the U.S.
Congress recently voted for continued financial and medical assistance for
the poor in all 50 states, but refused to reauthorize these crucial
programs, which affect mostly women and children, for the territories.
Government officials has endorsed the Guam Chamber of Commerce's
"#000000 Paper," which calls for a larger military presence on
the island, which Quinata said demonstrates the extent of the U.S.
military's occupation of Guam and its influence in local affairs.
The Committee included language in their resolution that notes Guam's
poverty level has risen from 12% a decade ago, according to U.S.
Census figures, to 20% today.
Discussion on the "major issue" of funding for Guam's political
status education program included the representative from Cote d'Ivoire wondering what
the Committee could do to provide financing for that purpose.
"Let us not kid ourselves," Quinata said, "our Administering
Power is trying to lure you into believing that Guam
is so important to world peace that we should be left as a colonial
territory. Our greatest fear now is not that we will be the last
non-self-governing territory, but that we will be the first global colony.
If we are, indeed, to be a United Nations colony, then let the United
Nations be our Administering Power!"
Representatives of the U.S.
Interior and State departments also attended the meetings, but did not
present any testimony.
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10 October 1997
PETITIONERS FROM GUAM OBJECT TO
CHANGES IN DECOLONIZATION DRAFT, URGE FOURTH COMMITTEE TO RESTORE ORIGINAL
LANGUAGE
19971010Petitioners from Guam
this morning objected to the current form of the omnibus draft resolution
approved by the Special Committee on decolonization, stating that its
language with respect to Guam had been weakened at the request of the
United States, the administering Power.
Addressing the Fourth Committee
(Special Political and Decolonization), they urged the Main Committee of
the General Assembly to reinstate the language used in prior years in the
text it submitted to the Assembly for adoption, as the current version
undermined the process of Guam's decolonization.
A representative of the
Organization of People for Indigenous Rights said the "shameless
changes" to the Guam portion of the
text violated the purpose and mandate of the Fourth Committee. A senator
from the Guam Legislature urged the United
Nations to send a visiting mission to the Territory to personally hear the
voices of the colonized Chamorro people, in order to better ascertain their
situation.
Those two speakers were among
eight petitioners who addressed the Committee this morning on the situation
in Guam. The representative of the United States, in response, said that both
his Government and that of Guam supported self-determination for the people
of Guam, but differed on who would
exercise that right. It should be exercised by all the people of Guam, he said. The United States could not support
a self-determination process which excluded Guamanians who were not
Chamorros. The representatives of Cuba,
Papua New Guinea and Syria
also spoke on the matter.
Also this morning, statements in
the general debate on decolonization issues were made by the
representatives of Brazil,
Tunisia, Pakistan, Spain
and the United Kingdom.
The representative of the United
Kingdom also spoke in exercise of the
right of reply.
The Committee will meet again at
3 p.m. on Monday, 13 October, to conclude its general debate on
decolonization matters and begin its consideration of the effects of atomic
radiation.
Committee Work Programme
The Fourth Committee (Special
Political and Decolonization) met this morning to continue its general
debate on decolonization issues and hear petitioners on the question of Guam.
Statement of Committee Chairman
MACHIVENYIKA TOBIAS MAPURANGA
(Zimbabwe), Committee Chairman, said that Under-Secretary-General for
Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast told him this morning that the Secretary-General
had said it would be helpful for the sponsors of the draft resolution
concerning the transfer of the decolonization unit (document A/C.4/52/L.4)
to meet with him.
Hearing of Petitioners
ROBERT A. UNDERWOOD, delegate
from Guam to the United States House of Representatives, said that the
people of Guam had chosen to pursue a change in their political status, in
the form of a commonwealth association with the United States. That choice
was made in a series of locally authorized referendums between 1982 and
1987. However, such commonwealth status was intended to be an interim step;
it did meet internationally recognized standards for decolonization and it
was not independence. The Committee was urged to reaffirm the right to
self-determination of Guam's indigenous
people, the Chamorros. That principle was not negotiable. It would be
inappropriate to consider removing Guam
from the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
Although the United States Government had identified
excess lands for return to Guam, it had
yet to provide a process for their expeditious return, he said. In fact,
the current process allowed federal agencies to bid for those lands ahead
of Guam. The United
States Mission had
been asked to support a revised General Assembly resolution which would
address Guam's quest for greater
self-government.
MARK CAMPOS CHARFAUROS, Senator
in Guam's Legislature, spoke on behalf of Antonio Unpingco, Speaker of the Guam Legislature. He said that since 1946, the United
Nations had been confused by all the terms the United
States used to describe Guam's people -- Chamorro,
Guamanian, inhabitants of Guam and people of Guam.
That was apparent in the current draft resolution on the matter and in the
previously amended draft resolutions adopted by the Assembly during its
session last year. That misconception was understandable, for the United States had given the impression that
it considered two peoples when addressing the situation in Guam. The United States was not an angel,
and would resort to deception and manipulation to further its agenda.
Fourth Committee - 3 - Press
Release GA/SPD/110 5th Meeting (AM) 10 October 1997
Reference to the people of Guam must consider the context of a colonized people,
he said. One term used by the United States concerned a
people, another concerned citizenship. The United Nations had assumed the
Chamorro people's right to self-determination by including all American
citizens in its resolution on the matter, and the present draft resolution
continued that grave injustice. What had happened to the Chamorro people's
good relationship with the Fourth Committee and the Special Committee on
decolonization?
Sensing that the tide had turned,
the Guam Legislature had passed a law to
create the Commission on Decolonization for the Implementation and Exercise
of Chamorro Self-Determination. Another Guam
bill would protect the right of the Chamorro people to determine their
political status and that of their homeland. Upcoming hearings in the United States
House of Representatives would likely amount to nothing.
The Guam
portion of the original text of the omnibus draft resolution on
decolonization should be substituted for the current language, he said. The
United Nations should send a visiting mission to Guam
to personally hear the voices of the colonized Chamorro people, in order to
better evaluate their situation.
LELAND BETTIS, Executive Director
of the Guam Commission on Self Determination, speaking on behalf of the
Governor of Guam, said that December would mark the fifty-first year since Guam had been inscribed on the list of
Non-Self-Governing Territories. Since that time, nothing had fundamentally
altered the colonial nature of its relationship with the United States. The
administering Power extended its edicts without input from the
representatives of Guam.
The people of Guam
refused to be subject to the pageantry of a colonial beauty contest, he
said. Chattel was chattel was chattel. Under the internal legal mechanism
of the United States, Guam was mere property. There was no indication that
that would change. The Fourth Committee was therefore called upon to
carefully examine the situation.
He said that Guam's
identification as a Territory was under threat. There was a concerted
effort under way to strip the Special Committee on decolonization of its
political mandate and its ability to interact with the Territories.
Further, the administering Power now supported continuing Guam's
colonial status. The administering Power's Mission to the United Nations had stated
that the work of the Special Committee was finished. They had said that
colonialism was finished.
Guam was a small island with a
small population, and it was a colonial possession of the world's largest
nation, he said. Its lands remained occupied, and the rules of government
were subject to constant change without
Fourth Committee - 4 - Press
Release GA/SPD/110 5th Meeting (AM) 10 October 1997
local input. The administering
Power continued to present the Special Committee with inaccurate depictions
of the situation in Guam. The portions of
the Special Committee's omnibus resolution regarding Guam
were therefore unacceptable.
Offers to support visiting
missions to Guam had seemingly been
withdrawn and promised measures of cooperation had not occurred, he said.
The emasculation of the decolonization process by the administering Power
should not be allowed. Guam would advance
the decolonization process unilaterally if necessary. International
standards should continue to be fully reflected in the Fourth Committee's
consideration of the question.
HOPE ALVAREZ CRISTOBAL,
Chairperson of the International Networking Committee of the Organization
of People for Indigenous Rights, said that Guam's
journey towards self-determination was at a critical juncture. It was
important for the Fourth Committee to recognize that the question of Guam was one of decolonization. Guam
should not be removed from the list of Non-Self- Governing Territories.
The administering Power had been
negligent in its handling of Guam, she
said. The proposed implementation of commonwealth status for Guam did not mean it would achieve
self-determination. The administering Power had continuously tried to deny
the Chamorro people their right to self- determination. Those efforts included
an attempt to confuse the United Nations about the identity of the people
of Guam. Several different names --
including "people of Guam", "Guamanians" and
"Chamorros" -- had been used, making it seem that the people of Guam were a mixed bag.
The welfare of non-self-governing
peoples such as the Chamorro people of Guam
would continue to be compromised as long as the administering Power was
allowed to negate their efforts at the highest levels of the United
Nations, she said. It was a difficult pill to swallow, that the United
Nations was willing to minimize commentary on the administering Power's
sacred responsibility to promote self-government through decolonization. In
the case of Guam, that process had
stretched out for over half a century.
The Fourth Committee was asked to
oppose the current language of the section on Guam
in the Special Committee's omnibus resolution, she said. The shameless
changes to that portion of the text, initiated by the United States, would violate
the purpose and mandate of the Fourth Committee.
RONALD TEEHAN, of the Guam
Landowners Association, said there had been a significant increase in
pressure this year to pretend that colonial situations no longer existed,
but nothing could be further from the truth. At the United Nations, the United States
had attempted to undercut, if not eliminate, the decolonization process.
The fact that Guam had conducted local
elections did
Fourth Committee - 5 - Press
Release GA/SPD/110 5th Meeting (AM) 10 October 1997
not make it self-governing. Was
Guam self-governing when a United
States agency could take land that
belonged to its people? Guam's colonial
status dramatically impeded its political and economic development. The
Committee should regard with great suspicion any suggestion that colonial
politics was the primary manifestation of self-government.
He said that Guam
was not in position to control its resources or to make decisions about its
future; the administering Power reserved those decisions to itself. The
1996 General Assembly resolution concerning the situation in Guam and the
current draft resolution before the Committee actually undermined the
process of Guam's decolonization. The
United Nations decolonization process was becoming nothing more than an
accelerated effort to declare the International Decade for the Eradication
of Colonialism by the Year 2000 a success.
The administering Power had
raised concerns about the Chamorro people being the exclusive party to
decide Guam's colonial status, he said.
That was a cruel joke. The administering Power's immigration policy was
clearly a colonization policy; only those who were colonized should decide Guam's decolonized status. Guam
was inclined to reject any arguments that its requests should be to the
political realities of the United Nations. He urged the reinstatement of
the language adopted by the Special Committee in its 1996 resolution on the
situation in Guam. The resolution should
truly reflect the situation in Guam,
rather than serve the purpose of a political expediency.
PEDRO NUNEZ-MOSQUERA (Cuba) said informal consultations between
the Special Committee and the administering Power had produced the language
of the draft resolution on the situation in Guam.
Had there been any improvement in the situation as a result of those
consultations?
Mr. TEEHAN said the consultations
had not discernibly improved the situation. Rather, they had resulted in a
further weakening of the section concerning Guam.
UTULA U. SAMANA (Papua New
Guinea), Chairman of the Special Committee on decolonization, asked Mr.
Teehan whether the Guam Commonwealth Act passed by the Guam Legislature had
produced further movement on the situation on the island.
Mr. TEEHAN said that since the
Act was passed 10 years ago, Guam had consistently brought the matter to
the attention of the United
States Government. A bill was now before
the United States
Congress, but hearings on it had been postponed several times.
Implementation of the Act had not been supported financially by the United States
Government, but had been funded
Fourth Committee - 6 - Press
Release GA/SPD/110 5th Meeting (AM) 10 October 1997
locally, in Guam.
Many portions of the Act had been attacked by agencies of the United States
Government. Nothing concrete had occurred, except for 10 years of
protracted discussion.
JOSE ULLOA GARRIDO, of the Nasion
Chamoru, said the portion of the Special Committee's omnibus draft
resolution concerning Guam was appalling.
The Chamorro right to self-determination had fallen on deaf ears in the
Special Committee. Lands taken by the United States must be returned.
It was hard to accept that members of the Special Committee which were once
colonies would accede to the changes to the draft resolution supported by
the United States.
Those changes cut through the soul of the Chamorro people.
The purpose and mission of the
Fourth Committee to eradicate decolonization had been compromised, he said.
The Special Committee had assigned to the United States the right to
decolonize -- a right which belonged to the Chamorro people. Guam's colonizer had always been a master of intrigue
and deception but it had not been expected that some members of the Special
Committee would be co-opted. The United
States had created a welfare state in Guam. It was tragic that some countries had joined
the United States in
condemning human rights abuses in China
without condemning the treatment by the United States of indigenous
peoples in its colonies.
The United
States must unconditionally return all lands stolen
from the Chamorros of Guam, he said. It
had taken less than a month to take the lands; 50 years was too long for
them to take in returning it. Further, all titles over and control of
natural resources must be relinquished; all nuclear warheads and missiles
must be removed, and all 36 hazardous and toxic waste sites must be
cleaned. Visiting missions should be sent to Guam.
FAYSSAL MEKDAD (Syria) asked Mr. Garrido about
the change in the language of the resolution. What language did he have in
mind?
Mr. GARRIDO said he had been referring
to items 1, 3, 4 and 5 of the 1997 version of the omnibus resolution.
PATRICIA ULLOA GARRIDO,
representing the Ancestral Landowners Coalition of Guam, said the United
States' continued withholding of land documents from the government of
Guam, was a violation of treaty. In addition, repeated petitions on civil
and human rights by Chamorro leaders had been ignored. It was ironic and
evil that the United
States expected substantial payment for
the return of lands it had confiscated for military uses. That position was
designed to create a sense of hopelessness and resignation among the
Chamorro people. The Chamorro people would not pay for the return of their
lands; they did not have the required funds.
Fourth Committee - 7 - Press
Release GA/SPD/110 5th Meeting (AM) 10 October 1997
PATRICK SAN NICOLAS, a Chamorro
tribal chairman, said the draft resolution approved by the Special
Committee on 20 June included a new and appalling change. The Chamorro
tribe of the Marianas opposed any form of
self-determination which surrendered the sovereignty rights of the Chamorro
people.
The United States had divided the
Chamorro people into two separate forms of government, he said. There was
Guam, an unincorporated Territory of the United
States, and there were the northern islands of the Marianas. The Chamorros were one nation and would not
surrender their sovereign rights. The United Nations should recognize the
sovereignty of the Chamorros people and the United
States should be urged to recognize the Chamorros of
the Marianas. The Chamorro people could
then begin to experience true sovereignty.
DAVID SCOTT (United States), said his Government and that
of Guam supported the self-determination for the people of Guam but differed on who would exercise that right. That
right should be exercised by all the people of Guam.
Petitioners who had spoken today had asked only that a portion of the
population of Guam be allowed to exercise
that right. The United
States could not endorse a process which
excluded Guamanians who were not Chamorros. The ultimate outcome of the
self-determination process would depend on its ability to include all
citizens in its scope.
General Debate on Decolonization
HENRIQUE R. VALLE (Brazil) said his delegation fully endorsed
statements made yesterday by Paraguay on behalf of the Rio Group, as well
as by Uruguay, on behalf
of the Common Market of the Southern Cone (MERCOSUR), Bolivia and Chile. He reiterated Brazil's support for the Declaration on the Malvinas Islands
adopted last year by MERCOSUR, Bolivia
and Chile.
With respect to East Timor, Brazil
had always stressed the importance of a fair and internationally acceptable
solution, he said. Hope was placed in direct talks between the parties
involved. Brazil strongly supported the tripartite process being held under
the auspices of the Secretary-General, as well as the All-Inclusive East
Timorese Dialogue.
He drew attention to a resolution
adopted in July by the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the
Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries, meeting in Brazil, which established the
categories of "associated observers", "permanent
observers" and "invited observers". That decision allowed
for the presence in East Timor of
representatives of all interested political trends, without the
predominance of any of the parties or political movements there.
Fourth Committee - 8 - Press
Release GA/SPD/110 5th Meeting (AM) 10 October 1997
EL WALID DOUDECH (Tunisia)
said that it was necessary to strengthen the trend of international
cooperation in order to eliminate colonialism by the end of the century.
Although the time was short, there was reason to be optimistic. The Special
Committee's omnibus resolution last year had established principles;
practical measures for the next stage of the process must now be defined. A
programme for cooperation between the Special Committee and the
administering Powers must be devised as a matter of priority. The
aspirations of the Non-Self-Governing Territories must be recognized.
While there were a variety of
options in the decolonization process, free choice by the concerned people
was the key, he said. One of the questions facing the Special Committee
concerned the appropriate means for ascertaining the nature of those
aspirations. Such means varied, and it was appropriate to consider each
case individually. Visiting missions were an effective means, and
consultations should begin to organize such missions to relevant
Territories.
MIAN ABDUL WAHEED (Pakistan)
said that the increase in the United Nations membership from 51 to 185
States was a clear testimony to its success and achievements. It was a
matter of immense satisfaction that over 60 former colonial Territories had
joined the community of independent nations. The peoples of the remaining
17 Non-Self-Governing Territories looked to the United Nations for their
freedom. Efforts must be consolidated to end colonialism. The positive
response of the administering Powers was welcomed. Greater pragmatism and
innovation was needed in considering the issue.
Pakistan had achieved
independence through the exercise of its right to self-determination and
considered it a moral duty to support peoples which were under alien
subjugation, he said. Unfortunately, the right to self- determination had
been smothered in many parts of the world. That had occurred in the case of
the Kashmiri people, under occupation by India. Inhuman repression and
persecution had occurred, and 60,000 Kashmiris had been killed. The Indian
claim that Jammu and Kashmir were an
integral part of India
was a farce. It was a case of neo-colonialism. Denial of the rights of the
Kashmiri people was a violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of
international law.
JAVIER PEREZ-GRIFFO (Spain)
said that despite the United Nations achievements in decolonization,
unresolved issues remained. There was no single recipe by which to
terminate colonialism. The Organization should ensure that the peoples of
the 17 remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories could observe their right
to self-determination.
The situation on Gibraltar had peculiar features, he said. The Rock of
Gibraltar was acquired by force during the
eighteenth century. However, the
Fourth Committee - 9 - Press
Release GA/SPD/110 5th Meeting (AM) 10 October 1997
peninsula did not cease to be
Spanish. Also, the isthmus above it was acquired illegally and gradually by
the United Kingdom.
The survival of this last colony was difficult to reconcile with the modern
world. Gibraltar was converted to a military base by the United Kingdom,
which expelled the Spanish people there.
In the United Nations, there was
clear doctrine on Gibraltar, which urged the United Kingdom to end colonial
domination there, he said. Several General Assembly resolutions had
reiterated the principle of territorial integrity with respect to Gibraltar. Negotiations between Spain and the United
Kingdom on the situation had begun in 1985, and Spain remained firmly committed to dialogue
in the hope that negotiations would end the Gibraltar
dispute.
The Treaty of Utrecht
established Spanish sovereignty over Gibraltar
should it cease to be under British rule, he said. Spanish authorities had
stated their respect for the legitimate interests of the population of Gibraltar, as well as for their identity and
characteristics. Spain was ready to make a very generous offer, that once
reincorporation of Gibraltar with Spain had taken place, efforts would be
made to improve the economic situation of its people.
KATE SMITH (United Kingdom) said the United Kingdom considered the
rights of the peoples of the Territories to be of paramount importance in
determining their futures. Within the restraints of treaty obligations, the
constitutional framework in each of the United Kingdom's Territories
sought to reflect the wishes and interests of their peoples. Each of the
Territories held regular and free elections. Indeed, the inhabitants of the
Falkland Islands had exercised their
democratic rights in an election yesterday.
She expressed dismay at
statements made before the Committee this week implying that the choice of
independence was the only possible outcome of the free exercise of
self-determination. That was not the case. The vast majority of people in
the British Territories were content with their
basic relationship and with the degree of self-government they had
achieved.
The United Kingdom recognized the
important advances made on the text of the Special Committee's draft
resolution with respect to "economic activities", she said.
However, it was important to note that foreign economic activities did not
always do the Territories more harm than good. Often, the contrary was the
case. Foreign investment was a valuable source of income for a number of
the United Kingdom's
Territories, helping them to achieve a greater degree of self-sufficiency.
Fourth Committee - 10 - Press
Release GA/SPD/110 5th Meeting (AM) 10 October 1997
The United
Kingdom would continue to support the people of Montserrat in their plight, she said. Those wishing
to leave Montserrat would be assisted.
Statements made this week by representatives from the Caribbean region
calling for support for the people of Montserrat
had been appreciated.
The Committee then approved a
request for a hearing by a petitioner on the question of New Caledonia for the week of 13 October.
Right of Reply
KATE SMITH (United Kingdom),
speaking in exercise of the right of reply, said the position of the United
Kingdom with respect to the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) and Gibraltar had
been laid out in the right of reply statements by the United Kingdom before
the General Assembly on 24 and 26 September.
United Nations
This article comes from Science Blog. Copyright � 2004
http://www.scienceblog.com/community
MTX-MTX-MTX
�The
Department of Defense and our Joint Guam Program Office staff know the Guam build-up program will bring challenges and
opportunities to the islands' residents. We are sensitive to the impacts a
relocation of this magnitude will have on the islands' social fabric and
culture. We will continue to work closely with Guam
and Commonwealth government, community, and business leaders in helping the
islands prepare to meet the increased population of military members,
civilian employees, contractors, and their family members. We encourage
everyone to participate in this growing partnership. We need the
involvement of the islands' residents to make this Guam
build-up program successful for island families.and successful for the
military men and women and their families who will be joining you in
paradise.�
(Major General David F. Bice, U.S.
Marine Corps (Retired) is the Executive Director of the Joint Guam Program Office.)
Thursday,
May 8, 2008
 Guam News
Thursday May 8, 2008
By Therese Hart, Variety News Staff
LEADERS of the Association of Pacific
Island Legislatures believe that Guam has the right to determine it own political
destiny.
Participants to the APIL conference held on Guam this week said they will
support Guam's decolonization and back
Chamorro right to self-determination.
Teburoro Tito, former president of the Republic of Kiribati and now a
member of the Kiribati parliament, stressed the importance of Guam's cultural identity.
"The APIL is a gathering of Pacific island peoples. And the bottom line
is cultural identity and to be proud of what we are," Tito said.
Guam remains one of the 16 non-self governing
territories in the world.
"We support Guam in her quest for
self determination. I had the chance to talk to the military and it's
beautiful to have a military presence here in our part of the region. I
admire the Americans for devoting themselves to this task. But at the same
time, I did tell them what's important in this part of the world is
cultural identity. Our culture is very important and I ask them as friends
to be very sensitive to Guam's cultural
identity," Tito said.
Tito added that all island peoples have the right to be recognized as a
unique people separate from its administering power, which in Guam's case
is the U.S.
Posted by Added Entry at 12:05 AM  
Labels: MVariety
|
A
federal government report says Guam
and the Northern Marianas offer a "ready-made ...... Summit on Decolonization and Native Self-Determination ...
jgpo-guam-cmtf.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html
- 650k
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"Arms
buildup? I wouldn't use that language," says Air Force Maj. David
Griesmer from Pacific Command, which has its headquarters in Hawaii.
"There's certainly an acknowledgment that Pacom is half the world.
These capabilities need to either go on one side [of the world] or the
other. The Asia-Pacific region is growing. It's the way of the future.
There's a large amount of economic activity." Plus, he adds, "The
six largest militaries are in this area," a reference to China, the U.S.,
Russia, India, North
Korea and South Korea
Monday,
April 30, 2007
 Monday: April 30, 2007
The post 9/11 report by a federal
government regional security specialist states that "the level of
safeguards and federal control" on the islands has not measured up.
The report is five years old, but has resurfaced after former Northern Marianas Cabinet official, Mark D. Zachares
was charged for using his position to seek a copy of the report for now
disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The 2002 report states if the "high-risk environment is allowed to
stand, it will continue to threaten federal and public interests and
seriously jeopardize the national security of the United States."
The 2002 security report strongly recommended tighter scrutiny of
foreigners entering the islands, in part by applying U.S. immigration law in the Northern
Marianas and positioning federal Customs agents at Guam
points of entry for passengers and cargo.
A federal government report says Guam and the Northern Marianas offer a
"ready-made environment" for terror groups to launch attacks on U.S.
facilities and personnel reports the Pacific Daily News.
Posted by Added Entry at 10:00 AM
Labels: PacificMagazine
Monday,
April 30, 2007
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff
THE Japanese consulate office on Guam is gearing up for its expanded role
in ensuring a smooth transition when the Pentagon begins relocating the
8,000 Marines from Okinawa, a process that is targeted for completion by
2014.
�Right now, the discussion on the Marines� relocation is between Tokyo and Washington,
D.C. In Guam, what we can do
is extend assistance to Japanese officials who come here and arrange
meetings with Guam officials. At this
junction, that is the kind of job that we see our office doing,� Japanese
Consul General Tamio Tomino told Variety.
�When the discussion and the relocation process becomes a day-to-day
affair, then that�s when my office becomes more involved. The role of my
office will increase and we will be expected to provide necessary
information to both governments,� Tomino said.
Tomino was stationed in Papua New Guinea
before coming to Guam last week for a
two-year term on island.
During a courtesy call in Adelup last week, Gov. Felix P. Camacho and
Tomino briefly discussed the issue of the Marines� relocation.
�The governor and I hope for the success of this process. The military
buildup will be good for Guam�s economy.
With 8,000 Marines and their dependents transferring to Guam,
more people will spend money,� Tomino said.
Last week�s Japanese election removed a political hurdle in the �road map�
for realigning U.S.
bases in Okinawa. The relocation of the
Marines to Guam is heavily dependent on the Okinawans� willingness to
accept a comprehensive agreement to realign the U.S.
bases in Japan.
The U.S.-Japan realignment agreement, finalized last May, calls for a new
facility to replace the Futenma base. The target date for completion is
2014, after which 8,000 Marines will be relocated to Guam.
But in the year since the road map was finalized, there has been little
visible progress on relocating the Futenma base. Disagreements between
Okinawan officials and the Japanese central government over the new
facility�s design and a strong local anti-base movement have bogged down
the relocation efforts.
But with Sunday�s election to the Upper House of Aiko Shimajiri, who had
the backing of Japan�s ruling parties, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe now has an
important political ally in his efforts to convince Okinawans to accept a
comprehensive agreement to realign the U.S. bases in Japan. [*327*]
Posted by Added Entry at 4:51 AM
Labels: MVariety
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1
day ago in Guam-Guam-Guam
� Authority: 38. Author unknown ...
by Ronna Sweeney KUAM News
Saturday, April 05, 2008 Now just a click away, ...
technorati.com/blogs/www.kuam.com - 38k - Cached - Similar pages
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by
Clynt Ridgell, KUAM News
Sunday, December 30, 2007 Scheduled to arrive to Guam are representatives
... 100 days ago in Guam-Guam-Guam � Authority: 38 ...
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In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some
entries very similar to the 12 already displayed.
If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted
results included.
Guam War
Claims Legislation Moving to House Floor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE�May 4, 2007�Washington,
D.C�
Congresswoman
Madeleine Z. Bordallo announced today that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
of Maryland
has scheduled H.R. 1595, the Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act, to
be considered by the full House of Representatives on Monday, May 7, 2007.
H.R. 1595 was ordered reported to the full House
by voice vote in the Committee on Natural Resources this past Wednesday,
May 2, 2007. H.R. 1595 was introduced by Congresswoman Bordallo in
March and has bipartisan support, including support from Natural Resources
Committee Chairman Nick Rahall of West Virginia
and Ranking Republican Member Don Young of Alaska . Congresswoman Bordallo
has been working with Chairman Rahall and Ranking Member Young to move the
bill to the House floor without delay.
�Late today, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
announced the floor program for next week and the House is set to debate
the Guam World War II Loyalty
Recognition Act on Monday. I am grateful for
the support of Chairman Nick Rahall and Ranking Member Don Young
and their work with the House leadership to schedule the bill for
floor consideration,� Congresswoman Bordallo said.
Majority Leader Hoyer is
an original cosponsor of the bill. H.R. 1595 is one of a total of 17
bills scheduled to be debated on the House floor on Monday.
###
Remarks at the Guam Chamber of Commerce Meeting on May 31,
2006
Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo
Remarks at the Guam Chamber of Commerce
General Membership Meeting
May 31, 2006
"The Future is Bright"
Hafa Adai!
When I think about where we were a few
years ago, where we are today, and where we will be in a few short years, I
think about the song that goes, "the future's so bright, I gotta wear
my shades."
Thank you for inviting me to address
you today. It is a pleasure to be here. This is an exciting time for Guam,
and for Guam's businesses.
Guam is poised to receive a significant amount of
federal investment to support an increased military presence. The increase
in spending on Guam and the benefits
associated with having more military personnel and their families promises
to breathe new life and renewed strength into our economy.
This development also presents certain
challenges to our community, to our government, and to all of you. I
appreciate having an opportunity today to share my thoughts with you on how
we can approach these challenges together and on how can use them as an
opportunity to strengthen our community.
We have suffered through difficult
times recently, and we are recovering. Large federal capital investment and
other spending on Guam is a welcome
prospect. This level of investment may ultimately surpass the booms of the
past. It will make noticeable, positive impacts to our economy. And these
impacts will drive our economy for many years to come.
Guam is on the leading edge of a wave of economic
activity. It is imperative that we take full advantage of these
opportunities.
These new opportunities require us to
have a more focused approach to growth. Our planning efforts - those of
public and private sector stakeholders - must be coordinated with the
military's efforts.
I say this because work on the details
of this investment has only just begun. The full scope of what is needed
here on Guam has yet to be announced or,
perhaps, determined. As this process unfolds, we will know more specifics
and we are already learning how local infrastructure will have to interface
with the planned growth.
So, I want to take this opportunity to
caution everyone from fixating on specific dollar figures. The U.S. government budget process and that of
the government of Japan
must still approve the final dollar levels agreed to recently.
These processes are complicated and
will take time to play out. For example, it is important to remember that
the relocation of Marines to Guam is part of a broader package of military
transformation that includes significant relocation of forces within Japan.
But regardless of what the final
dollar figure for this build-up will be, we know that it will be
significantly larger than anything our island has experienced in recent
years. Let me briefly discuss what we know today about the anticipated
build-up.
The United States Government and the
Government of Japan have made a commitment to move 8,000 U.S. Marines and
their estimated 9,000 family members to Guam.
This realignment is the product of hard work done by many, including Deputy
Undersecretary of Defense Richard Lawless. As you know, Secretary Lawless
and Lieutenant General Dan Leaf, Deputy Commander of the United States
Pacific Command, visited Guam last week to
discuss this issue with leaders here. Preliminary planning forecasts that
the movement of the Marines and the necessary construction projects to
support them will be completed over the course of five to seven years,
hopefully beginning around 2008.
Although it will be a couple of years
before this agreement is implemented, Guam
will see a significant growth in military construction projects starting
this year. Guam will receive $209 million
dollars worth of military construction in FY 07. This is a $119 million
dollar increase over last year's military construction on Guam.
This year's increase is a part of the
overall plan to develop capacity on Guam in advance of the larger bulk of
military construction that is planned for Guam.
That is, the Department of Defense recognizes that it must ramp-up
capabilities on Guam - it's a 'rolling
start', if you will.
This 'rolling start' includes
expediting important projects at Andersen Air Force Base and Naval Base
Guam. Accelerating the construction projects associated with establishing a
global strike force capability at Andersen is one example of this 'rolling
start'. Apra Harbor will also be the site
of 'rolling start' work, in order to prepare its facilities there for
increased use.
Although the majority of the funds
will be made available in future years, increased investment on Guam begins this year. While we have adequate time to
prepare, we do not have the luxury of extra time.
I made this point yesterday at my town
hall meeting on small business. I want to repeat it today: preparation is
crucial. I believe that the
benefits of this investment will benefit our community, directly and
indirectly.
To complete contracts - whether large
or small - funds will be used to buy a wide range of goods and services on
island. These purchases will be distributed across all sectors of our
island's economy. In short, increased military will not be limited to the
construction sector. These new dollars will move through our economy -
generating revenues, growing our tax base, creating jobs, and increasing economic
opportunity.
For instance, it is estimated that
this move will net GovGuam approximately $50 million dollars in additional
income tax revenue, raising Section 30 revenues to well above $100 million
per year.
Additional tax revenues from
construction and service contracts will flow to the Government of Guam. To
enhance tax enforcement, I will be meeting later today with the Director of
Revenue and Taxation, Art Ilagan, to inform Rev and Tax that federal
contract awards can be tracked by utilizing the Federal Procurement Data
System. This database can provide Rev and Tax all the information needed to
begin aggressive tax enforcement for off-island firms to ensure compliance
with Guam tax laws, thereby leveling the
playing field for all businesses and increasing local revenues.
Retail, service, hospitality
industries will also receive increased revenues, as more consumers will be
on island, shopping, dining-out, participating in recreational activities,
and enjoying all that our community has to offer.
I agree, however, that open and frank
discussions regarding the impacts this sizeable increase to our island's
population will make are needed. Having these discussions will be a crucial
part of our planning and preparation process.
I believe that we can work through any
social impacts this relocation will require. In the end, I am confident
that Guam will welcome the Marines and
their family members into our community.
A second concern that we should
address is the fear that off-island firms will gobble up all the big
contracts. Granted, some of these contracts will be so large that they
exceed the capacity of local firms. But, within those large contracts there
will be subcontracting opportunities. Local firms should be well prepared
to successfully bid for such opportunities and to partner with other firms.
Other contracts will be smaller allowing local firms to compete
successfully for these contracts. Participation by Guam's
small businesses in programs such as the Historically Underutilized
Business Zone program - or HUBZone program - will be one way they can
compete more successfully for prime and sub-contracts.
Legislation that I had included in
last year's transportation bill allows for eligible small businesses
located anywhere on Guam to qualify for
certification as a HUBZone company.
But there certainly will be stiff
competition for this work. Small firms from off-island will compete against
you. Being a HUBZone certified company will help you be successful and
gives you a "home field advantage".
A third and major concern is the labor
issue. I have written to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to request additional
job training assistance, and I have discussed this issue with the Governor
and with Defense officials. We are all on the same page. We have to ramp up
job training programs that will anticipate the future needs. While the
local workforce will not be adequate to meet all the needs and will have to
be supplemented with temporary labor, it is in our island's interest to
maximize our own labor pool.
We should also review the prevailing
wage rate system and make the necessary adjustments so that we will attract
our local people to the new jobs.
We have a lot on our plate, but let me
say that having to contend with issues relating to economic growth is far
better than dealing with a recession.
On last thought - I just want to
remind us all that the military exists to defend our freedom and to provide
the security for our prosperity. I have been to Iraq
seven times, and when I get back to Washington,
I will be going on my eighth trip to Iraq to visit our troops.
Everywhere I go I meet servicemen and women from Guam,
in the Army, Air Force, Navy, and yes, the Marines. I am so proud of the
job that they are doing and their commitment to their mission. I want to
close by showing you a brief video of our men and women serving in the
Global War on Terrorism.
Thank you. God Bless America.
God Bless Guam.
A
Real And Present Unconscionable Remote Administrative Regional
Chamorro-Wedging Irritation
Northern Mariana Islands
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
The
Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), is a commonwealth in political
union with the United States of America located at a strategic
location in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about
three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines,
at 15�1′2″N,
145�4′5″E. The United States Census Bureau reports
the total land area of all islands as 463.63 km�
(179.01 sq mi).
It
has a population of 80,362 (2005 estimate). The official 2000 census count was 69,221 [1].
Of note is that the Northern Mariana Islands
have the highest female to male sex ratio
in the world, with an average of 77 men to every 100 women. This is due to
the overwhelming female majority of foreign workers, especially in the
garment industry.
Geography and climate
�  Wikimedia Atlas of
the Northern Mariana Islands, holding maps related to the Northern Mariana Islands.
The
Northern Mariana Islands, together with Guam to the south,
comprise the Mariana Islands.
The
southern islands are limestone with level terraces and fringing coral reefs; the
northern islands are volcanic, with active volcanoes on Anatahan, Pagan
and Agrihan.
The volcano on Agrihan is the highest elevation in the islands at 965
meters. About one-fifth of the land is arable, another tenth is permanent
pasture. The primary natural resource is fish, which causes conflict with
the protection of endangered species. Past development has
created landfills
that must be cleaned up and has caused contamination of groundwater on Saipan, which may contribute to disease.
Anatahan
Volcano is a small volcanic island located 120 km (80 miles) north of Saipan Island
and 320 km (200 miles) north of Guam. The island is
about 9 km (5.6 miles) long and 3 km (2 miles) wide. Anatahan
began erupting suddenly from its east crater on May 10, 2003 at about
5:00 p.m. (17:00h). Since then it has continued to alternate between
eruptive and calm periods. On April 6, 2005, approximately 50,000 cubic
meters of ash and rock were ejected, causing a large, black cloud to drift
southward over Saipan and Tinian. Recent
eruptions have caused some commercial flights to re-route.
The
islands have a tropical marine climate moderated by seasonal northeast trade
winds. There is little seasonal temperature variation; the dry season
runs from December to June, and the rainy season from July to October can
include typhoons.
The Guinness Book of World Records
has cited Saipan
as having the most equable temperature in the world. [2]
History
This
section does not cite any references or sources.
Please
help improve
this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help,
get involved!)
Unverifiable material may be challenged
and removed.
This article has been tagged since December 2006.
European
Occupiers
The
first European exploration of the area was that led by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, who landed on
nearby Guam and
claimed the islands for Spain. After being met offshore and accepting the
refreshments offered to them by the native Chamorros,
the latter then in exchange helped themselves to a small boat belonging to
Magellan's fleet. This led to a cultural clash because in the old Chamorro
culture there was little if any private property and to take something that
one needed such as a boat to fish with may not have been considered
thievery in the eyes of the local population.
Due
to this cultural misunderstanding, around half a dozen locals were killed
and a village of 40 homes burned before the boat was retrieved, and the
archipelago subsequently acquired the ignominious name Islas de los
Ladrones ("Islands of the
Thieves").
Three
days after he had arrived, Magellan fled the archipelago under attack--a
portentous beginning to its relationship with the Spanish. The islands were
henceforth considered by Spain to be annexed and therefore under their governance, from the Philippines,
as part of the Spanish East Indies. The Spanish built a Royal Palace
in Guam for the Govenor of the Islands
(its remains can still be seen in 2006).
Guam
was an important stop-over from Mexico for
galleons carrying gold and other between the Philippines
and Spain.
There are several unfound sunken Spanish galleons off Guam.
In
1668 the islands
were renamed by Padre Diego Luis de Sanvitores to Las Marianas after
Mariana of Austria, widow of Spain's
Philip IV.
Nearly
all of the islands' native population (90%-95%)[citation needed] died
out under Spanish rule, but new settlers, primarily from the Philippines and the Caroline Islands, were brought in to
repopulate the islands. Despite this, the Chamorro
population did gradually resurge, and Chamorro, Filipino and Carolinian
language and ethnic differences remain basically distinct in the Marianas to this day.
The
Marianas came under German contol for a brief period when Spain sold them to Germany, exclusive of Guam.
In 1919 the Japanese invaded and occupied these islands and the League of Nations, pre-cursor of the United
Nations, awarded them to Japan by mandate.
Japanese
Possession
The
Empire of Japan captured Guam during World
War II and Japanese governance of the Islands moved to Guam. The Japanese annexation of the Marianas was not
popular among its residents, and the Japanese forces have been accused of
atrocities during their occupation of the islands, including the torture
and killing of the residents of Guam and the Northern
Marianas.[citation needed]
American Takeover
In
1944, the United States Marines invaded Guam at great cost of life. From the sea, the
Japanese fortresses were not evident, and the Marines were largely mowed
down by Japanese defenses as they approached. The Marines were successful
and also took over Saipan and islands
further north. The Japanese commander wrote a letter to Emperor Hirohito
apologizing for the loss of the islands and then committed seppuku (hara-kiri
/ traditional Japanese form of ritual suicide).
On
June 15,
1944, during
World War II, U.S. Marines landed on the islands and eventually won the
bitterly fought three-week Battle of Saipan. The Marianas were a critical
part of the last chapter of the war, as Tinian provided the take off point
for the bombing of Hiroshima.
As
an unusual sidenote, the war did not end for everyone with the signing of
the armistice. As of 1972, Shoichi
Yokoi, a Japanese soldier, had been hiding out near the village of Talofofo since WWII. He was the last
soldier on active military duty when the Japanese left Guam,
and his family thought that he had been killed in action.
The
Commonwealth
After
Japan's defeat, the
islands were administered by the United
States as part of the United
Nations Trust Territory of the
Pacific Islands; thus, defense and foreign affairs are the
responsibility of the U.S.
The people of the Northern Mariana Islands
decided in the 1970s
not to seek independence, but instead to forge closer links with the U.S.
Negotiations for territorial status began in 1972. A covenant to
establish a commonwealth in political union with the U.S. was approved in 1975. A new
government and constitution went into effect in 1978.
Politics
Main article: Politics of the Northern
Mariana Islands
Politics
of the Northern Mariana Islands takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic system, whereby
the Governor is head of government, and of a pluriform
multi-party system. The Northern Mariana Islands are a commonwealth in
political union with the United
States. Federal funds to the Commonwealth are administered by the
Office of Insular Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Repeating
the separation of powers in other U.S. territories and state
governments, executive power is exercised by the Governor of the Northern
Mariana Islands. Legislative power is vested in the bicameral Northern Mariana
Islands Commonwealth Legislature. The judiciary
is independent of the executive and the legislative branches.
However,
politics in the Northern Mariana Islands
is often "more a function of family relationships and personal
loyalities" where the size of one's extended family is more important
than a candidate's personal qualifications. Some critics, including the
author of Saipansucks.com, charge that this is nepotism
carried out within the trappings of democracy. [3] [4].
The
Northern Mariana Islands have also come into the news recently due to their
connection to the scandals involving Jack
Abramoff and allegedly former House Majority
Leader Tom DeLay [5]. As a direct
result of lobbying by Abramoff and associates, the Northern
Mariana Islands received special federal subsidies. [6]
As well, Congressman
Bob Ney allegedly received free trips to the Northern
Mariana Islands from Abramoff, in violation of federal law. [7]
The
Northern Marianas Islands are also the site of another controversy
involving Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), Jack
Abramoff, and Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) and the alleged links to the
Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association and the Northern Mariana Islands,
role in stopping legislation aimed at cracking down on sweatshops and sex
shops� on the islands in 2001.
The
Northern Marianas
Islands allegedly harbor the most
abusive labor practices of anywhere in the United States. According to the
progressive think tank American Progress Action Fund, "Human 'brokers'
bring thousands there to work as sex slaves and in cramped sweatshop
garment factories where clothes (complete with 'Made in U.S.A.' tag) have been produced
for all the major brands."[1]
Political
status
In
1947, the Northern Mariana Islands became part of the post-World War II
United Nations Trust Territory of the
Pacific Islands (TTPI). The United States became the TTPI's
administering authority under the terms of a trusteeship agreement. In
1976, Congress approved the mutually negotiated Covenant to Establish a
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in Political Union with
the United States.
The CNMI Government adopted its own constitution in 1977, and the
constitutional government took office in January 1978. The Covenant was
fully implemented on November 3, 1986, pursuant to Presidential
Proclamation no. 5564, which conferred United States citizenship on
legally qualified CNMI residents.
On
December 22, 1990, the Security Council of the United Nations terminated
the TTPI as it applied to the CNMI and five other the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia
(Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Yap)] of the TTPI's original seven districts.
Under
the Covenant, in general, Federal law applies to CNMI. However, the CNMI is
outside the customs territory of the United States and, although the
internal revenue code does apply in the form of a local income tax, the
income tax system is largely locally determined. According to the Covenant,
the federal minimum wage and federal immigration laws "will not apply
to the Northern Mariana Islands except in
the manner and to the extent made applicable to them by the Congress by law
after termination of the Trusteeship Agreement" [8]
On
September
23, 2004,
Congressman Richard Pombo of California
introduced H.R. 5135 - the Northern Mariana Islands Delegate Act.
The bill, had it become law, would have allowed CNMI to elect a non-voting
delegate to the United States House of
Representatives starting with the 2006 election. The bill died at the
end of the 108th Congress. But, on February
18, 2005,
the Delegate Act was reintroduced by Pombo with a new number, H.R.
873. [9]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 873
To provide for a nonvoting delegate to
the House of Representatives to represent the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE
OF REPRESENTATIVES
February
17, 2005
Mr. POMBO (for himself, Mr. RAHALL,
Mr. FLAKE, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr.
FALEOMAVAEGA, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. CASE, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. BLUNT,
Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. WALDEN of Oregon, Mr. FORTUN.AE6O, Mr.
REHBERG, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mr. COLE of Oklahoma, Mr. GILCHREST, and Mr.
CANTOR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Resources
A BILL
To provide for a nonvoting delegate to
the House of Representatives to represent the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted
by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in
Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be
cited as the `Northern Mariana Islands Delegate Act'.
SEC. 2. DELEGATE TO HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES FROM COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS.
The Commonwealth
of the Northern Mariana Islands shall be represented in the United States
Congress by the Resident Representative to the United States authorized by
section 901 of the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America
(approved by Public Law 94-241 (48 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.)). The Resident
Representative shall be a nonvoting Delegate to the House of
Representatives, elected as provided in this Act.
SEC. 3. ELECTION OF DELEGATE.
(a) Electors and
Time of Election- The Delegate shall be elected--
(1) by the people
qualified to vote for the popularly elected officials of the Commonwealth
of the Northern Mariana Islands; and
(2) at the
Federal general election of 2006 and at such Federal general election every
2d year thereafter.
(b) Manner of
Election-
(1) IN GENERAL-
The Delegate shall be elected at large and by a plurality of the votes cast
for the office of Delegate.
(2) EFFECT OF
ESTABLISHMENT OF PRIMARY ELECTIONS- Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if the
Government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, acting
pursuant to legislation enacted in accordance with the Constitution of the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, provides for primary
elections for the election of the Delegate, the Delegate shall be elected
by a majority of the votes cast in any general election for the office of
Delegate for which such primary elections were held.
(c) Vacancy- In
case of a permanent vacancy in the office of Delegate, the office of
Delegate shall remain vacant until a successor is elected and qualified.
(d) Commencement
of Term- The term of the Delegate shall commence on the 3d day of January
following the date of the election.
SEC. 4. QUALIFICATIONS FOR OFFICE OF
DELEGATE.
To be eligible for
the office of Delegate a candidate shall--
(1) be at least
25 years of age on the date of the election;
(2) have been a
citizen of the United
States for at least 7 years prior to the
date of the election;
(3) be a resident
and domiciliary of the Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands for at least 7 years prior to the date of the
election;
(4) be qualified
to vote in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands on the date of the election; and
(5) not be, on
the date of the election, a candidate for any other office.
SEC. 5. DETERMINATION OF ELECTION
PROCEDURE.
Acting pursuant to
legislation enacted in accordance with the Constitution of the Commonwealth
of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Government of the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands may determine the order of names on the ballot for
election of Delegate, the method by which a special election to fill a
permanent vacancy in the office of Delegate shall be conducted, the method
by which ties between candidates for the office of Delegate shall be
resolved, and all other matters of local application pertaining to the
election and the office of Delegate not otherwise expressly provided for in
this Act.
SEC. 6. COMPENSATION, PRIVILEGES, AND
IMMUNITIES.
Until the Rules of
the House of Representatives are amended to provide otherwise, the Delegate
from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands shall receive the
same compensation, allowances, and benefits as a Member of the House of
Representatives, and shall be entitled to whatever privileges and
immunities are, or hereinafter may be, granted to any other nonvoting
Delegate to the House of Representatives.
SEC. 7. LACK OF EFFECT ON COVENANT.
No provision of
this Act shall be construed to alter, amend, or abrogate any provision of
the covenant referred to in section 2 except section 901 of the covenant.
SEC. 8. DEFINITION.
For purposes of this Act, the term `Delegate' means
the Resident Representative referred to in section 2. END.
Peace and Justice for Guam and the
Pacific
Monday, June 18, 2007
Secret Military Memo
1945 secret memo reveals US real intention for Guam
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff
June 19, 2007
IF THE U.S. government is making military decisions based on its post-war
policy for Guam, then the civilian population might not expect too much
help from the federal government when 8,000 Marines arrive from Okinawa
because the island�s economic development was the least of its concern.
In a secret memo issued on Nov. 21, 1945, Vice Adm. G.D. Murray, then
commander of the Marianas Navy Force, stated that �the economic development
and administration of relatively few native inhabitants should be
subordinate to the real purpose for which those islands are held.�
�Military control of these islands is essential as their military value far
outweighs their economic value,� Murray stated in the three-page memo that
recommended the Navy�s control of Guam and other western Pacific islands,
including American Samoa.
While recognizing Guam�s strategic importance, Murray
said the island�s commercial or industrial value and its resources were �of
little or no relative importance to the welfare of the United States.�
�From the military stand point,� Murray
said, �a contented healthy and loyal native population contributes a strong
link in the strength of those lands as bases.�
Murray described the island natives as �simple people, requiring few of our
modern luxuries for their welfare and happiness.�
�The characteristics and nature of the majority of inhabitants on these
islands are such that the artificial or forced raising of their standard of
living to one approaching that of the United States would be detrimental to
their best interest and would contribute little to the safety and welfare
of the United States,� Murray said.
The U.S. military
government on Guam began on June 21, 1898,
with the surrender of Spanish troops. By virtue of the Treaty of Peace
signed in Paris on Dec. 10, 1898, Spain ceded Guam, along with the Philippines and Puerto Rico, to the U.S.
Guam was invaded by Japan
in 1941, and recaptured by the U.S. on July 21, 1944, which is
yearly celebrated on island as �Liberation Day.�
Guam�s strategic location, long recognized by the military, remains to be
valuable to the U.S.
defense system, hence the unabated military expansion on island.
The business sector welcomes the military buildup, which is touted to
generate a construction boom, spur business activities and generate
thousands of jobs.
With limited infrastructure on Guam, however, local leaders acknowledge
that the island is not prepared to accommodate the influx of population
that will be transferred from Okinawa.
Local leaders have not received assurance of federal assistance to aid the
civilian population with the need for infrastructure developments and
increased supply of water and power.
The 2008 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act
passed by the House of Representatives last week appropriates $345 million
only for military construction projects that would accommodate the needs of
military personnel stationed on Guam.
The 2008 construction budget only covers projects within the Navy base such
as the Kilo Wharf extension, the improvement of
security of electrical systems, housing and fitness for Navy personnel,
upgrade of the Naval Base Guam wastewater treatment plant, and
infrastructure development at Northwest Field.
But just the same, Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo expects the military
construction activities to �go a long way in stimulating our economy and
new tax revenues from these federal projects will be a significant help to
our island once the projects are undertaken.�
(cut ends)
FOR MORE,
GOOGLE: (Micronesia Guam
Marianas decolonization Militarization)
Alternative
World Hood Principality Alert Menu
Pan Chamorro Diplomacy Principality
Alert note: Pan Federated Pacific Micronesia Principality, Self Rule and
W/S Projects in World Hood Host Ship Alert Menu, are most urgent now.
FACTSHEET
PLANNED U.S.
MILITARY EXPANSION ON GUAM
v
Two military bases on Guam,
Andersen Air Force Base (AAFB) and Big Navy, occupies one-third of the land
mass on the island of Guam and the potential exists for the U.S. Department
of Defense of taking back land that was decommissioned by the military in
the 1990s[22][22]
v
Plans to increase offensive
capability:
�
Intelligence,
Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Strike Capability� at AAFB involve stationing 12 KC-135 tankers, 4
unmanned Global Hawk surveillance aircraft, and rotating 48 F-22 and F-15E
fighters, and six B-1, B-2, and B-52 bombers.
v Influx of military
personnel.
o
2008 to 2012-
scheduled transfer of 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa that will
significantly add to the current Guam
population of approximately 160,000 people
o
2014�35,000
estimated population including servicemen, their dependents, and US
Department of Defense workers and other staff[23][23]
It was recently reported that, as part of the downsizing of
American forces in South
Korea (12,500 to be withdrawn by 2008),
at least one Army battalion may join these 8,000 Marines.[24][24]
The influxes in Guam may also bring with them an increase in the
military presence and use of the Northern Marianas islands, most notably Tinian.[25][25] The United States military already
controls nearly 18,000 square meters of the island (nearly 2/3) through
leases with the government of the CNMI, and has used it regularly for small
training exercises. According to Governor Fitial, the Department of Defense
has already informed him that the 8,000 Marines coming from Okinawa (due to
space shortage on Guam) will be doing their live-fire and jungle warfare
training on Tinian.[26][26]
These troop movements out of �contested� bases in South Korea and Okinawa into politically
�uncontested� ones, in the American colonies/territories in the Pacific
(Guam, CNMI, Hawai�i
) is being accompanied by a slow but certain re-introduction of American
troops into The Philippines.
In October of this year, 1,000 Filipino soldiers from the Marines, Navy and
Air Force and 2,000 of their American counterparts will hold
bilateral/cooperative amphibious exercise in the northern Philippines.[27][27]
Despite guarantees that the United States Military in Guam will not seek to expand or extend beyond its
existing footprint, the military is already making plans for the taking of
civilian lands. The lands most in danger of being seized are ironically
enough lands around the Finegayan area which first were taken from
Chamorros following World War II, and then returned several years ago.[28][28]
�
IMPACTS
OF INCREASED MILITARIZATION OF GUAM
v Cultural/Social/Political
Impacts
o
Militarization
infringes on the human rights to self-determination of the indigenous
people, the Chamorros.� The U.S.A, as
the administering
power and the major creator of the United Nations in 1946, is legally and
morally responsible under international law to respect and comply with the
United Nations Charter General Assembly resolutions to decolonize Guam by the year 2010[29][29]
o
There is little to
no discussion of how these military buildups, and the substantial
population increases they bring with them, will affect the political
landscape of all of the Marianas
Islands? For example,
in Tinian there are less than a thousand
eligible voters at present, what will the political impact be if hundreds
of perhaps thousands of military personnel are stationed there?
o
Increased
militarization increases the targeting of our island home by potential
adversaries of the U.S.A and places our people in danger of annihilation
and genocide[30][30]
o
Loss of language
due to banning of the Chamorro language before World War II has greatly
influenced rapid loss of culture
o
Proposed
educational curriculum to teach military history to lessen the resistance
to increased militarization, when no strong curriculum exists to teach
Chamorro language and culture[31][31]
o
Rapid displacement
and development of the indigenous peoples as second-class citizens in their
homeland�increase incidence of families selling lands in order to pay for
property taxes and living expenses
v Economic Impacts
o
Increased cost of
living due to significant increase in population.
o
Military personnel
stationed on Guam receive Overseas Housing Allowances (OHA) for living
off-base, which range from $1700 - $5,000 depending on their rank and
marital status, far higher than the monthly housing budget of the majority
of Guam residents. This purchasing power
combined with the increased terms of rotation (3 years) is already leading
to a flurry of military purchasing of properties, which has been steadily
driving real estate prices up since 20003.[32][32]
o
Corporate
carpetbaggers such as Home Depot are already setting up shop on Guam in order to take advantage of the anticipated
military construction boom. The lack of a managed economy on Guam in instances such as this ensures that the
majority of the economic benefits from this military increase will be
horded by off-island businesses and corporations, at the expense of local
businesses which don�t have the benefit of multi-national capital.
o
Burden of
improving and expanding infrastructure that will benefit all, civilians and
military, is borne by local residents; water rates are expected to increase
40% to pay for a recent $103 million revenue bond to improve the water
system[33][33] Recent statements from the Department
of Defense indicate that decreases in the quality of life (in particular in
terms of infrastructure) outside of military fences as a result of
increased military presence in Guam will not be the financial concern or
responsibility of the Department of Defense or the Federal Government.[34][34]
o
Privatization/militarization
agenda of politically well-connected leaders of the Guam Chamber of
Commerce[35][35] will create greater hardships on a population
in which 23% are below the federally-defined poverty level[36][36]
|
Guam News
Monday: April 30, 2007
Monday,
April 30, 2007
Wikimedia Atlas of
the Northern Mariana Islands, holding maps related to the