October 3, from 1-3pm

New World Foundation

666 West End Ave (at W. 92nd St), New York,NY 10025

RSVP: Michael Leon Guerrero, Board member, New World Foundation, e-mail michael@ggjalliance.org

Background: 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 World War II 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 U.S. Department of Interior.

This 212 square mile island has been called the "tip of the spear" by top U.S. military brass. As part of the US-Japan forces realignment agreement, 8,000 Marines and 10,000 dependents will be relocated from Okinawa, Japan -- a sizeable increase to the current population of 160,000. The Department of Defense, occupying 30% of the island with the potential to expand, is rapidly increasing the offensive capability of both the Air Force and Navy. Current plans are 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, and adding as many as 6 nuclear submarines to the 3 Guam already houses. 60% of the Navy's Pacific Fleet in the region will be based on Guam. 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 stand in the face of the governing administration, the politically well-connected leadership of local Chamber of Commerce, and the Guam elite who unrelentingly push the militarization/privatization agenda in the hopes of obtaining potential dollars from the new influx of military personnel. 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, 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.

Activists from Guam and the Chamoru diaspora are coming to NYC in October 2006 to provide testimony in front of the U.N. Committee on Decolonization to hold the U.S. accountable, as the administering power, to its moral and legal responsibilities of ensuring the right to self-determination of the Chamoru people and safeguarding their cultural, economic, and natural resources. They will also be meeting with local movement groups to build relationships and share strategies.

Progressive funders interested in supporting organizing rooted in indigenous, cultural and spiritual values, indigenous human rights, activism in U.S. Territories, in the Pacific Islands, peace and movement building, environmental health and justice, and Pacific Islander women's and youth leadership building will find this topic of utmost importance. This is a a critical area of U.S. foreign policy, and it is a timely opportunity for the world to support the efforts of activists in Asia/Pacific region to promote peace and assert their human rights.

Presenters include:

Hope A. Cristobal, Organization of People for Indigenous Rights (OPI-R)

Julian Aguon, I Nasion Chamoru Fanai Castro, Chamoru Cultural Development and Research Institute (CCDRI)

Victoria-Lola M. Leon Guerrero, Guahan Indigenous Collective Tiffany Rose Naputi Lacsado, National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF)

Sabina Flores Perez, International Peoples' Coalition Against Military Contamination (IPCAMP)