Thursday, June 21, 2007

United Nations, United Natives


FOR IMMEADIATE RELEASE
Contact: Keith Camacho
Email: decolonizeguam@gmail.com

Chamorro Delegation Urges United Nations Intervention on Human Rights Violations in Guam

New York City, June 20, 2007 — Chamorros from Guam today testified before the United Nations Special Committee of 24 on Decolonization to insist the international community pay closer attention to Guam's continued colonial status as the United States, its Administering Power, increases its already large military presence on the island.

The UN General Assembly created the Committee of 24 to consider appropriate forms of self-government for the world's 16 remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories (NSGT), including Guam.

Delagations from Guam have appealed to the Committee of 24 for more than 20 years regarding Guam's political status and the United States' refusal to respect the Chamorro people's right to self-determination. Today's delegation represents a second wave of Chamorros demanding their right to sovereignty.

Hope Antoinette Cristobal, a Chamorro and Doctor of Psychology called attention to the health effects colonization has had on the people of Guam.

"The colonization of Guam has had an impact on the psychological disposition of my people," said Cristobal, who has dedicated her academic training and career to the study of colonized and marginalized indigenous communities. "The Chamorro population in Guam experiences a wide array of health, mental health, and legal problems. My people are over-represented in correctional facilities, probation rolls, and within the mental health system. My people suffer high rates of family violence, substance abuse, teenage suicides, school drop-outs, and other social problems."

The United Nations is obligated to do more to address the continued colonial status of Guam, which remains on the UN list of Non-Self Governing Territories said Keith L. Camacho, an assistant professor in the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"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 United Nations Resolution 1541," said Camacho, a researcher in issues of colonization and decolonization in the Pacific Islands and elsewhere. "In fact, the United States history of political relations with Guam can be best described as one of apathy, ignorance, racism and unilateralism. On the other hand, Chamorro activists, attorneys, community organizers, educators, policy makers and religious leaders boast a history of critical anti-colonialism that has not been heeded by the United States and the United Nations. Thus, the question of political status in Guam remains unresolved, if not temporarily stalled."

Sabina Flores Perez, an indigenous Chamorro who testified before the UN Special Political and Decolonization Committee 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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Saturday, June 09, 2007

Long Visits Voicing Indigeneity

This discussion between Miget, Long and I focuses on our department, the challenges of doing indigenous studies in ethnic studies and the work of our cohort.

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Songs of Sovereignty

Hello friends, Miget and I got together yesterday afternoon for a podcast, unfortunately Madel is out of town and we missed her wisdom but we struggled through and had a good discussion about sovereignty. Hope you enjoy it!

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Sunday, June 03, 2007

Indigenous Politics: Summer Schedule

From Kehaulani Kauanui:

Greetings, My radio program has a new time slot for the summer season:
Friday from 4-5pm EST. Starting this Friday, May 25, and for the rest of
the summer, all fifteen shows from the Spring season will be broadcast
during this new time slot. SEE BELOW FOR A FULL SCHEDULE. You can listen
online LIVE when they air at: www.wesufm.org. Mahalo, Kehaulani

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Please tune in each Friday from 4-5pm (Eastern Standard Time) for
"INDIGENOUS POLITICS: FROM NATIVE NEW ENGLAND AND BEYOND"
on WESU (88.1 FM), Middletown, Connecticut
with host J. Kehaulani Kauanui
Listen online via LIVE stream from WESU website:
www.wesufm.org

Friday, May 25: Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee) President
and Executive Director of The Morning Star Institute, discusses the state
of Indian Country on Capitol Hill.

Friday, June 1: Richard Velky (Schaghticoke) Chief of the Schaghticoke
Tribal Nation on the politics of their struggle for federal recognition
and the role of the state of Connecticut in opposing them;

Friday, June 8: Randolph Lewis, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Oklahoma
University, and author of, Alanis Obomsawin: The Vision of a Native
Filmmaker, the first book devoted to any Native filmmaker;

Friday, June 15: J. Kehaulani Kauanui, Ph.D. (Kanaka Maoli) offers an
overview of Hawaiian sovereignty politics;

Friday, June 22: Robert J. Miller (citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of
Oklahoma) Associate Professor, Lewis & Clark Law School, and author of new
book, Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis &
Clark, and Manifest Destiny;

Friday, June 29: David Cornsilk (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) discusses
the recent vote at Cherokee Nation to disenfranchise the Freedman
descendants and the history of Cherokee slave holding, citizenship, and
sovereignty issues;

Friday, July 6: Ned Blackhawk, Ph.D. (Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone),
Associate Professor of History and American Indian Studies at the
University of Wisconsin, Madison, and author of new book, Violence over
the Land: Indians and Empires in the Early American West;

Friday, July 13: Richard Anguksuar LaFortune (Yup'ik), Director, 2SPR- Two
Spirit Press Room, a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Native media
& cultural literacy project;

Friday, July 20: Dale Turner, Ph.D. (Temagami First Nation in Northern
Ontario, Canada), Associate Professor of Government and American Indian
Studies at Dartmouth College, author of new book, This is Not a Peace
Pipe: Towards a Critical Indigenous Philosophy;

Friday, July 27: Brian Baguck Wescott, Ph.D. (Koyukon and Yup'ik nations),
is a co-producer, filmmaker, and actor currently producing and acts in the
docudrama, "We Are Still Here," an educational biopic about Cahuilla elder
Katherine Siva Saubel from Banning, CA, and also has a major documentary
series in development, tentatively titled "The 20th Century Indian Show,"
which will be written by novelist Thomas King, and directed by Chris Eyre;

Friday, August 3: Host J. Kehaulani Kauanui, Ph.D. (Kanaka Maoli) offers
an overview of current political issues facing tribal nations in New
England and the role of the states in opposing their quest for sovereign
recognition.

Friday, August 10: Sarah Deer (Muscogee) attorney who serves as a Victim
Advocacy Legal Specialist for the Tribal Law & Policy Institute in Saint
Paul, Minnesota discusses a report just released by Amnesty International
USA on April 24, 2007, titled, "Maze of Injustice: The Failure to Protect
Indigenous Women From Sexual Violence in the USA".

Friday, August 17: J. Kehaulani Kauanui (Kanaka Maoli), Ph.D. discusses a
proposal awaiting a vote in the US Senate for the federal recognition of
Native Hawaiians as a domestic dependent governing entity.

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