We Are Guåhan at UN Special Committee on Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries & Peoples

STATEMENT

OF

WE ARE GUÅHAN

Before the

THE UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE SITUATION WITH REGARD TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GRANTING OF INDEPENDENCE TO COLONIAL COUNTRIES AND PEOPLES (C-24)

June 22, 2010

INTRODUCTION

This testimony is being presented on behalf of We are Guåhan, an organization dedicated to advocating for the political, social, environmental, and human rights of the people of Guam.

We are Guåhan was formed in November of 2009, shortly after the release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, an 11,000 page document detailing U.S plans for the future of Guam. Our organization formed in order to read and critique the massive document on behalf of the local community, which is largely unfamiliar or unable to engage in the kind of critical analysis and formal response required to participate in the draft’s formal commenting process.

Our goal is to keep Guam’s residents informed and active in all discussions involving the future of our home island, as we have been excluded from most discussions entirely and decisions have been made unilaterally. Our organization is comprised of residents from all sectors of society; and we are deeply alarmed by the injustices that will be perpetrated upon the people of Guam by the plans within the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Since our formation, the every-day residents and individuals within We are Guåhan have been forced to quickly digest and understand the complex issues of decolonization, environmental sustainability, cultural preservation, and political self-determination in order to respond to the U.S. government. Needless to say, we are overwhelmed, alarmed, and outraged by the lack of power we have in determining our futures.

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) has triggered an outpouring of concern by Guam’s residents. The Guam Environmental Protection Agency (a Federal entity) gave the DEIS its lowest possible rating, calling it the most poorly constructed Impact Statement they have evaluated. U.S plans within the DEIS have shown the people of Guam, yet again, that they are powerless in controlling their destinies. The political freedom, environmental safety, and cultural legacy we leave to future generations is one that is ultimately decided by those who view their home as nothing more than a gas station or military training ground in the Pacific.

Decolonization for the Chamorro people is needed now, more than ever, not just for the Chamorro people of Guam, but for all who consider the island their home and have now been forced to face the reality of being a resident within an United States Colony. The Chamorro people must be granted their inherent and inalienable to right to exercise self-determination.

The basic necessities for maintaining or creating a self-sustaining, empowered, healthy population of residents have been threatened by U.S. plans. We are Guåhan, which is dedicated to representing the concerns of the diverse population that calls Guam its home, is here to report the findings of local residents and organizations within the DEIS, in order to highlight why self-determination must be granted to the Chamorro people of Guam.

ISSUES OF CONCERN WITHIN THE DEIS

Water Supply

Water, our most basic necessity to live, is greatly endangered by plans within the DEIS. In addition to a 2.3 million gallon per day shortfall of water for residents who do not live on Department of Defense controlled properties. This shortfall will force residents to live with low water pressures and could result in microbiological and other contaminants entering the water distribution system, which will result in illness. The basic sanitary needs of our island will be degraded an yet, the DEIS has not identified a funding source for the improvements that are required to sustain the population increase they propose.

Education

An educated community is an empowered community and our island’s educational system is already grossly underfunded. The military build up projects an increase in up to 8,000 more students at the build up’s peak, requiring 532 more teachers to a Department of Education that already struggles to fill up to 300 vacancies per year.

We’ll need to build new schools; and the estimated cost of building these new schools is $134 million dollars, which exceeds our Department of Education’s budget by 70%.

Economy

DEIS projections for our economy have been greatly misrepresented. Local economists have pointed out that the direct and indirect impacts have been inflated by over 118%. The DEIS failed to acknowledge that the projected tax revenues will not be enough for the Government of Guam to support the 80,000 new residents that will arrive in 2014. Even more outrageous has been the Department of Defense’s admission that the standard of living on Guam will most likely decrease within the DEIS.

Housing

The predicted shortage of housing through 2014 will drive housing prices up, increasing homelessness, overcrowding and illegal housing units. The predicted over-supply of housing after 2014 will also likely result in many more abandoned buildings over the once scenic landscapes of our beautiful island. The DEIS is “deafeningly silent” on how DoD will mitigate the impact on Guam’s housing market.

Reefs

The reefs which protect our island from storms and earth quakes will be greatly impacted, and the Environmental Protection Agency explained that “Impacts to coral reefs on the scale proposed in the DEIS are unprecedented in recent CWA 404 permit history.

Noise

Our residents will be forced to navigate through noise and pollution daily and our disadvantaged, under served, and overburdened communities are likely to have pre-existing deficits of both a physical and social nature that make the effects of environmental pollution more, and in some cases, unacceptably, burdensome.

CONCLUSION

Unfortunately, this brief outline is just the tip of the iceberg when articulating our concerns regarding further military expansion. Despite the overwhelming amount of damage to our island and its future as a sustainable, safe home for our future generations, the U.S. Government continues with its plans to increase its United States military presence on the island.

We have repeatedly sought political rights; and the actions in response to those requests over the years have moved at a pace we no longer have the luxury of accommodating.

Chamorro self-determination must be granted. As stewards of our island and environment, the indigenous people of Guam require these basic human and political rights to secure the future of our island for all who love it and are invested in preserving its integrity. It is no longer satisfactory (or realistic) to expect that self-determination be an issue addressed with the influence of the administering power. As we have seen so clearly within the DEIS, the administering power cares very little about the ways in which our home, its economy, the education of our children, and our environment is jeopardized by plans in their interest.

Our organization advocates for the process of decolonization to take place without the administering power and with the cooperation of the United Nations. We recommend that actions be taken before any more damage occurs through the increased militarization of our island.

It is imperative that an investigation be conducted regarding the compliance of our the administering power to uphold its obligations under the UN Charter to promote and preserve the integrity of our home island and our human and political rights.

We thank you for this opportunity to share our concerns. These issues are complex and we continue to learn and try to understand how we are negatively affected by the administering power’s military plans on a daily basis. These lessons are those that require time and assistance, but unfortunately, our people and island have run out of time. We are standing immediately before plans that rush toward us at an alarming pace, plans that will forever change (and even erase) the island that so many of us have come to love and call home.

Si Yu’os ma’ase,

We Are Guåhan

Ally speaks on behalf of the people of Guahan. "Strike while the iron is hot!"

Famoksaiyan caravaned down to San Diego a few weeks ago, taking our literature table + storyboards on the road to the Chamorro Cultural Fest sponsored by Che'lu Inc. We were able to meet lots of young folks and family. Eka performed her wonderful composition "Back to Guahan." I'll post our fotos soon.

We met up with Doloris Cogan at the Cultural Fest. She continues to be a valuable ally for the people of Guahan.


Guam Pacific Daily News

Author: Move Troops Back to US


By Doloris Cogan • April 9, 2010

Guam book for Obama: Doloris Cogan, author of "We Fought the Navy and Won: Guam's Quest for Democracy," gives President Obama, then a U.S. senator, a copy of her book during a campaign stop in Indiana. (Photo courtesy of Doloris Cogan)

It's time to start thinking outside the box. I have read the Region IX EPA comments on the proposed move to Guam of U.S. troops on Okinawa. My conclusion is that both the environmental impact and the cost would be absolutely devastating.

Therefore, I think it's time to start moving those troops and their families back to the United States, where there are plenty of empty barracks and unemployed workers to build whatever may be lacking. In this space age of the Internet, the Predator, fast fighters and cargo planes, security no longer depends on large forward bases. There is no need for a heavier military footprint on Guam than the island already has.

There is no need to train American pilots on foreign soil or on the Pacific islands. Our National Guard forces from all 50 states serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have proved that.

Many entrepreneurs on Guam will say this idea would deprive them of economic opportunities desperately needed on the island. To them I say, go after federal appropriations for improved roads, schools, trash removal, toxic waste cleanup, land surveys and outstanding reparations for land confiscated by the military decades ago. All that would provide jobs.

You now have the attention of President Barack Obama and Congress. Strike while the iron is hot! The Organic Act of Guam is almost 60 years old, and your infrastructure could use some repairs. Some of the money saved by not making that expensive move from Okinawa to Guam could be used for the above purposes.

Blaine Harden raised the proposed move of the Marines above the radar by writing what became a front-page story in The Washington Post on March 22. I was delighted to see Lt. Gov. Mike Cruz quoted in Harden's news story, along with many sons and daughters of the heroes in my book, "We Fought the Navy and Won: Guam's Quest for Democracy." I met Cruz and many of those sons and daughters in July of 2008 when my book was brand new and I went to Guam for the celebration of Liberation Day.

Guam is at another real crossroads of its history. Decisions should not be made quickly or without full discussion. Saving the island for future generations is up to you.

I met Obama twice at public rallies when he was campaigning for the presidency in Indiana and had an opportunity to ask questions, as well as give him my book, which he later acknowledged with a short personal letter. I'm proud of the picture I have of the two of us and my book, which I used as my 2008 Christmas card. His decision to visit Guam tells me he knows a lot about the island and the implications of moving more troops there.

(Recently) I was in San Diego, signing copies of my book at the Chamorro Cultural Fest. I was thrilled to meet so many Chamorros who are well-educated and holding responsible positions in the Navy and private industry. Guam's young people are specialists in the high technologies and communications. I'm convinced they can turn those skills into new professions and industries on Guam, supplementing the military economy and tourism.

What's more, they understand and practice democracy. They could be USAID workers and ambassadors to Third-World countries, and would know better than to try to impose their (or our) culture on their hosts.

This is a great time to be alive and meet the challenges ahead. My interest in Guam is as strong now as it was 60 years ago when I wrote and edited the Guam Echo, airmailed monthly from Washington to 500 Guam members of the Institute of Ethnic Affairs. We wrote in the Guam Echo about "self-determination" for indigenous inhabitants all over the world, and in San Diego I met a few Chamorro leaders hoping and searching for more of that and and less "military domination" for Guam. Self-determination is an "ideal" still discussed at the United Nations, and in the context of the proposed move and the the civil rights of the local Chamorros, it could come up again.

Now is the time to work together to find solutions to whatever serious problems exist. I tend to agree with Theodore Parker, who said, "I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one ... and from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice."

As writer/editor of the Guam Echo from 1947 to 1950, Doloris Cogan helped get the Organic Act of Guam through Congress, and from 1951 to 1955, she served as Pacific Island Assistant in the Department of the Interior, implementing the act.

http://www.guampdn.com/article/20100409/OPINION02/4090325/Author-Move-troops-back-to-U.S.