Text Fwd: [famoksaiyanfriends] [ Michael Bevacqua, Guam] Realizing Our Destiny [마이클 베박쿠아, 괌] 우리의 운명을 실현하기

* Image source: Michael Lujan Bevacqua's Minagahet Chamorro blog, Oct. 6, 2010

* Image source: Michael Lujan Bevacqua's Minagahet Chamorro blog, Oct. 2, 2010
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* Text sent from Martha Duenas on Oct. 13, 2010.

Marianas Variety
Realizing Our Destiny
Wednesday, 06 October 2010
By Michael Bevacqua

There is almost too much to say and contemplate about last week’s Realize Our Destiny Rally, organized by We Are Guahan and held at Adelup. In place of my still congealing thoughts, I have reproduced below two passages which were featured in the program for the rally.

The first is the Realize Our Destiny document, which was signed by numerous current and hopeful leaders at the event. The second is a statement on the importance of many of the critical comments which were submitted as part of the DEIS process, but which were not attended to as they were considered to be outside the scope of the military buildup.

As people of the land and sea, we look to our past in order to shape our destiny. We are guided by the wisdom and ways handed down from our ancestors, and carried on through our children. We have the power within us to thrive in the land we inherit and to ensure that our culture and beliefs are respected. We have an obligation as people of Guahan to enrich our future for generations to come.

We have reached a crucial point in our history, and we must come together to lift our voices and spirits, and shape the fate of our home and people.

We come together, as a united people, ready to protect our resources – our land, our air, our ocean, our culture, our families, our spirits and our beliefs. We will not allow them to be taken away.

Together, as children of the Marianas, we acknowledge the historical injustices that continue to plague our islands, and we promise to pave a path toward a more just history. We will tell our own stories of ourselves and ensure that our children know their past.

A history of empowerment requires a willingness to look deep into our past, reclaiming the values, ways and beliefs that have been lost in our rush toward a destiny not designed by ourselves.

The language and culture that have shaped our identity continue to be threatened. We have been told that we are lost, but we will not make this our destiny. Our ancestors fought against the oppression of our unique people and home, and we must continue their legacy.

They have taught us to continue the traditions that sustained them despite the famine, disease, and violence brought to our shores. Like our ancient women, who kept our culture alive, we pledge to do the same.

We commit to guiding our island toward a destiny that refuses to accept that our people, culture, and history have disappeared.

We unite, across the generations, to guarantee that our children will not inherit a world that reminds them they are inferior or non-existent.

We unite to realize that our destiny can and must be shaped by ourselves.

For years, the people of Guam were told that a huge military build-up was coming to their island, but they were not given any concrete details about what to expect. It wasn’t until the DEIS was released in November 2009 that the people of Guam were at last given a picture of what was in store for their island, and it took 11,000 pages of complicated language to explain.

Initially, Guam was paralyzed by the massive size of the DEIS, which matched the massive scope of the buildup itself, and how it would irrevocably alter Guam’s culture, economy and environment. What people had been told for years was a dream, became more like a sprawling and confusing nightmare.

But the people of Guam did not give in to that paralysis and instead began to act. Protests were held, petitions circulated, hundreds came out to testify publicly, reading groups started and new organizations were formed. By February 2010, the public had submitted more than 10,000 comments, which meant almost one comment for each page of the DEIS.

In those thousands of comments, the people wrote their fears, their tears, their minds, their souls. They ranged from the scientific, the angry, the remorseful, the poetic. Some spoke directly to the DEIS, criticizing it, making corrections, spotting errors, making light of its many possible inadequacies. Others challenged the process itself and the narrow limits that were placed upon what topics were considered to be related and relevant to the buildup, and what weren’t. Despite the power of their words and the legitimate concerns that were raised, the people of Guam were politely dismissed by the Department of Defense who did little to change their plans and adequately address the community.

The DEIS process, for all its apparent openness, was still an exercise in limiting the discussion, trapping it and narrowing it to keep the buildup train moving forward. Comments that were deeply critical of issues, which struck at the foundation from which all federal-territorial relations are built upon, were cast aside and considered to be irrelevant. Comments with a larger view of the buildup and Guam’s history criticized the military’s plans through issues such as colonialism, self-determination, land dispossession, racism, neo-liberalism, militarism, war reparations and a lack of fundamental human rights. To all of these comments, the response was a generic, “thank you for your comment.”

We encourage everyone to read the critical comments found in Volume 10 of the Final EIS (www.guambuildupeis.us) because both those issues and the passion and care with which they are written go right to the heart of how Guam, as a unique, colonized place, struggling for self-determination can realize its destiny.