Monthly Archives: October 2022

Endangered Language on Guam
By: Brandon Dawson

An endangered culture is a culture than may face extinction due to key figures in a small cultural population, such as elders, dying off. An endangered language is a language that is not being taught to younger generations, and as such may face extinction. Guam, the largest of the Mariana Islands, is home to the Chamorro people. Being tens of thousands strong, they don’t face cultural extinction, but the language Chamorro is identified as an endangered language. While there are still nearly 38,000 native speakers of Chamorro, it is common for people to favor English over Chamorro due to a now defunct policy passed over 100 years ago. Naval Government Executive General Order No. 243, made in 1917, made English the official language of Guam, and banned speaking Chamorro. In the past century, a lot of work has been done to reverse the damage done by the naval administration. In 2013, a law was passed in Guam to increase the number of people taught Chamorro in school, and Chamorro immersion schools have been made which teach both Chamorro language and culture. Governor Torres of Guam has said “I know, it’s easier said than done. But my children speak Chamorro, because all we speak at home is our language. I give them love and respect in Chamorro. Children can speak English at school and with their friends, but they must learn Chamorro at home. Chamorro must start at home. Chamorro education is a plus, but it shouldn’t be the only tool for us to know our language.” However, many older people don’t speak Chamorro due to the old laws, so they couldn’t teach their children, so educational programs prove very important.

Endangered cultures are cultures that are close to being extinct due to the lack of involvement of the cultural traditions and the lack of the language being spoken from the culture. Wade Davis’s TED Talk “Dreams From Endangered Cultures” shines light on this issue. His standpoint is that since people have not been partaking in the cultural traditions and speak the languages that they hold, cultures have been dying off at fast rates. I agree with this because people during these times are not as interested in keeping cultural customs and languages alive as their elders and ancestors were and a lot of cultures have become extinct as a result of that. Another reason for some cultures and languages’ extinction is that a change of culture has happened, and the old traditions are left in history. An example of this is the language Tanema. This language is of the Solomon Islander’s culture and is spoken by only one person on the Vanikoro Island. The reason for this is because the Solomon Islands stopped using Tanema and declared Teanu as their main language. Not only did this change stop the language from being taught to people, but this also stopped the culture surrounding it. Even though the language and culture of Tanema is almost extinct because of this, nothing else has been left or lost.

The Evolution of Nationalism in Papua New Guinea

By Bianca Curtin

In the years 1945 and 1946 –following Japan’s surrender to the Allies at World War II’s conclusion– the formerly British and Australian protectorate territories of Papua and New Guinea were joined as an administrative union, thus becoming what we now know as Papua New Guinea. However, Netherlands (Western) New Guinea remained under Dutch colonial control until 1962, when the United States and UN administrative powers had them sign the New York Agreement, relinquishing the territory until a plebiscite would be held in 1969. The nationalist Indonesian government, who had argued for decades that they were the regions’ rightful successor state, ultimately conducted this vote, ironically dubbing it the Act of Free Choice. The plebiscite –demonstrated by a show of hands under military gun point, involving less than one percent of the populations eligible voter base– resulted in Papua New Guinea’s integration into Indonesia.

(Pictured: Free Papua Movement activists protesting)

The Free Papua Movement (OPM) has resisted nationalist Indonesian occupation since their establishment in 1965, both diplomatically and militarily. OPM separatists and sympathizers have been consistently attacked, imprisoned, and even charged with treason by the PNG government. Tens of thousands of migrants, driven by the nationally-enforced transmigration program of ’69, have been compelled to pledge to not engage in any and all anti-Indonesian activity.

Per the elections held in 1972, Chief Minister Michael Somare led the formation of a state ministry, simultaneously pledging to carry the nation to self-governance and independence– the former of these achieved in the December of 1973. Nearly two years later, on September 16, 1975, Papua New Guinea finally became an independent country, joining the United Nations the following month. Despite this, tensions with Indonesia prevailed. In 1986, both nations signed the bilateral Treaty of Mutual Respect, Cooperation, and Friendship– an attempt to establish the foundations of a cooperative and peaceful relationship between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. Nevertheless, the former failed to agree to adjoined border security operations, nor did the latter commit to keeping their military from crossing said border. To this day, inter-state relations remain turbulent, at their core lying the roots of the PNGs nationalist tendencies.

(Pictured: The Morning Star Flag– the official flag of the Free Papua Movement)

Indonesia’s repeated human rights abuses, frequent subversion of Papuan political and economic activity, and overall history of subjugating the diverse peoples of Papua New Guinea, has ultimately come to foster an immense sense of common identity that fuels pan-Papuan nationalism to this day. Such is exemplified by the Special Autonomy Law of 2001– policies incorporative of various ideologically OPM-aligned notions. The Indonesian government has demonstrated great reluctance in enacting the law.

Nationalism in Guam
By: Brandon Dawson

Patriotism is love or devotion towards one’s country. This is contrasted with nationalism, which is the belief that one’s nation is intrinsically better than others, and should be promoted, sometimes at the expense of others.
On July 21, 1990, the Chamorro Nation, or Nasion Chamoru in the Chamorro language, was formed by Angel Leon Guerrero Santos. The Chamorro Nation is a Chamorro nationalist group that seeks, among other things, independence for Guam from the United States. The Chamorro Nation was relatively short lived, but in its time it managed to get the Chamorro Land Trust Act passed in 1992, and it brought discourse surrounding the future of Guam and discussions about decolonization of Guam into the public sphere. The Chamorro Land Trust Act of 1992 created the Chamorro Land Trust Commission, and gave some land back from the government to Chamorro on Guam.

The founding members of the Chamorro Nation

Before the second world war, the only presence the American government had on Guam was a small naval base. On December 7, 1941, Guam was captured the Japanese military in part of a coordinated attack against multiple American and British military bases in the Pacific, most famously Pearl Harbor. After the US had recaptured Guam, they seized 61 percent of the island to build military installations so that Guam could become a buffer to protect the mainland United States against potential threats from Asia. The United States Government has since given back most of the land to the government of Guam, but retains about 28 percent of the land on Guam. The loss of land, and then lack of it for future generations, fueled Chamorro nationalist movements to regain Guam.
However, Pro-Chamorro nationalism in Guam is fairly rare. Most people living in Guam are vehemently pro-America. Every June 21st those on Guam celebrate Liberation Day in commemoration of the invasion and subsequent recapture of Guam by the US military from the Japanese. Those living on Guam tend to be supportive of the US military, if not at least amicable about their presence on the island.

In the Solomon Islands, there has been a long epidemic of inequality. For decades, two of the most predominant forms of inequality in the Solomon Islands are the issues of rape and other forms of violence against, whether with or without a sexual partner, and the economic unfairness against women.

According to an article from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, commonly known as UN Women, “about 90% of women who reported violence experienced it from an intimate partner, while 64% of ever-partnered women aged 15-49 reported physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner.” Along with that, there are “around 10% of women who had ever been pregnant reported physical violence during a pregnancy.” In the five year period from 1998 to 2003, a civil conflict was prevalent which led to an immense amount of violence and abuse which created a snowball effect that led to increased aggression towards against women and children from residents in logging camps.

In the workforce in the Solomon Islands, women are on the short end of the stick in all measures, mainly due to the belief of traditional gender roles. According to an article from UN Women, “about 60.4% of the Solomon Islands’ female population is in employment, compared to 72.2% of men, with over three-quarters of these women participating in subsistence work (76.2%) compared to 58.1% of men.” When women try to become educated to fix this problem, the schools favor the men more, which results in women not getting proper education to play major roles in society.

These are just two of the inequalities that are present in the Solomon Islands as of today. Though there are people attempting to put an end to the disrespect against women with movements and advocating for women’s rights, the conflicts and inequalities continue every day.

Solomon Islands,UN Women, https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/countries/fiji/co/solomon-islands

The Influence of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict on the Pacific

By Bianca Curtin

As civilians across the globe have learned since Russia invaded Ukraine this past February in an enormous escalation in the nations’ eight-year conflict, there is no region, no corner of society, immune to the wars effects. Such is the case for the economic stability of the island states and nations of Micronesia and Polynesia– even the physical safety of the Pacific archipelagos’ inhabitants is under threat.

Estimates say that up to three-quarters of these regions’ economies are service industries, subsistence agriculture and fishing being the predominant among them. Countryreports.org reports that the sum of the FSM’s imported goods is around 950% that of its earnings from exported materials. This immense dependency on global supply chains is unreliable, even during times of overall economic stability. Now, with the Russia-Ukraine Conflict waging on, the composite states face product shortages across the shelves, the most alarming among those being medical supplies and, of course, food.

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) severed diplomatic ties with Russia immediately following the invasion of Ukraine, condemning the aggressor state for it’s “unambiguously villainous” and “unjustifiable” actions. As well as this, ten Pacific island nations voted to suspend Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council– Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands not among them.

(Pictured: Federal States of Micronesia severs ties with Russia).

In March of this year, nerves were heightened when Russia tested missiles on the Japanese Kuril Islands, located in the Pacific. Two weeks proceeding this, they pulled out of peace treaty discussions with Japan to legally end World War II. In the same month, Russian president Vladimir Putin placed his nation’s nuclear arsenal on alert– not even twenty-four hours prior to the Marshall Islands’ federally-recognized Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day. Further, Putin was quoted describing the potential testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile as, “food for thought for those who try to threaten our country.”

All of these questionable actions on Russia’s part raise concerns across the Pacific, as the region has repeatedly throughout history been subject to the disastrous and deathly consequences of nuclear testing and warfare at the hands of global superpowers. The potential of suffering another attack of this nature looms, especially as outliers like the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu develop tighter relations with China, the former of whom recently signed a security pact that would enable Chinese warships and security personnel to enter their borders with the intention of “protecting Chinese interests.” Given the tumultuous dynamics of the relationship between Russia and China, it is understandable why many officials and civilians alike have voiced distress regarding the Pacific nations’ contradictory interactions with both bodies.

(Pictured: China-Solomon Islands security pact).

In the Russo-Ukrainian war, the fear of being attacked by Russia is rising dramatically. With that comes the concern if a country’s security is prepared for an incoming assault. According to the Global Times, journalist Nebojsa Malic states that Australian intelligence says that Chinese military and police are offering to help the Solomon Islands to assist in holding social harmony and build military holds on the ports nearby, but the Australian government is giving that proposal a harsh decline. Having a Chinese military installment within that close of proximity is a clear threat to Australia, which led David Llewellyn-Smith to say that Australia should bomb the capital of the Solomon Islands, Honiara.

This is all because of the diplomatic agreements China has with the Solomon islands, which were established in 2019. This is not just concerning Australia, but it is also concerning the United States. Since the United States’ trading routes pass by Guadalcanal, a place where America was fighting the Japanese during World War 2. This also intervenes with America’s “containment strategy in the Indo-Pacific.” This shows that the decisions of the Solomon Islands are infringing upon the US and Australia, and the decisions made in the future may determine if possible aggressive actions will be made by the Australian government and the United States.

Malic, Nebojsa.”Ukraine and the Solomon Islands: A clash of world paradigms.”Global Times. April 28, 2022. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202204/1260572.shtml

The Effect of the Russo-Ukrainian War on Guam
By: Brandon Dawson

Despite the war in Ukraine being roughly 10,000 kilometers away from Guam, there are still measurable impacts. When gas prices surged earlier this year, it hurt Guam especially bad. Gas was already expensive since it had to be shipped from somewhere else. Additionally, rising fuel prices increased the prices of airline tickets. This in combination with the destabilization of some east Asian economies led to a marked decreased in tourists coming to visit Guam. Guam’s biggest industry is tourism and air transportation, so there were fears that this could significantly harm the small island. However, Guam has since recovered, with more tourists from China and Japan coming en masse.

Russian refugees in Guam Protest the ongoing war

In May of this year in Guam, there has been an organized effort to gather supplies for war refugees and transport them to Poland so that they can help people who need them. Guam is a territory of the United States, and the United States has issued heavy sanctions against Russia, as well as supplying Ukraine with arms. Many countries around the world have issued sanctions against Russia, resulting in the Russian economy crashing. While the sanctions haven’t stopped the invasion of Ukraine, the looming threat of NATO intervention, headed by the US most likely curbs Russia’s enthusiasm.

According to the Solomon Islands Government webpage, through evidence from archaeologists and linguists, it’s said that people from Southeast Asia established themselves in the Solomon Islands within the range of 3000 to 2000 BC, but it wasn’t until 1568 when the Europeans found out about the Solomon Islands. During that time, a pioneer named Álvaro de Mendana discovered gold in Guadalcanal. His find of such treasury caused him to believe that he discovered the Bible’s King Solomon’s riches, which eventually led the span of islands to be dubbed the Solomon Islands. His voyage to the Solomon Islands gained popularity among other travelers which led to individual islands gaining Spanish names and a British protectorate being put in place in the islands of Tulagi, the capital of the protectorate, Makira, New Georgia, Malaita, and Guadalcanal.

During the 20th century, due to the aggression Japan had in World War 2, the islands turned towards to war. Later in the century, the British protectorate was removed from the Solomon Islands, which allowed them to be an independent nation in 1978. A couple of decades later, tribal strife stirred up into a violent arms conflict, but was settled in 2003 when RAMSI, the regional assistance mission to Solomon Islands, was initiated by Australia and its neighboring islands. Ever since that, the islands have been at peace.

Housing in Guam

By: Brandon Dawson

Guam, the southernmost of the Mariana Islands, has been a territory of the United States since it was annexed in 1898 following the Spanish-American War. Currently, it is home to Andersen Air Force Base, Naval Base Guam, Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz, the world’s largest Kmart, and roughly 170,000 people, of which approximately 21,700 are military members or their dependents.

Recently, housing prices in Guam have been surging, reaching a median single-family house price of $426,000. The prices of houses have been increasing recently primarily due to lack of supply. Although Guam constantly is home to many H2-B work visa construction workers, most of them work as military contractors on Guam’s multiple military bases. This leaves far fewer construction workers to be working on off-base housing projects. The lack of workers to build housing is only exacerbated by the unavailability of resources needed to build houses on Guam, for which exorbitant shipping fees need to be payed to receive them from off of the small island. When there are affordable houses available on the market, they are often quickly bought by military members or veterans who have access to VA loans, and can pay cash for the house. For those seeking rentals, many rental houses are priced according to the US Military’s board and housing stipend, which many Guamanians struggle to afford. Lack of available housing is one of the reasons that many Guamanians are leaving Guam for the mainland United States.