THE International Human Rights Watch Festival that UOG hosts is something that I believe folks from all stripes can enjoy. I went to the one UOG hosted in 2004 and I have to say I was disappointed. Why?
I never saw Guam’s elected leaders, business leaders, media personalities (maybe they all came on another day). I did, however, see labor leaders such as Matt Rector and some indigenous rights activists. I just want to know if some people think that human rights especially of those abroad are not as important as their own family rights.
Newstalk K-57’s Ray Gibson said in passing that it is ‘liberal’ when his co-host Patti Arroyo said that the festival will be thought-provoking. The implication of course is since it is liberal, it is anti-Bush and the United States and therefore “irrelevant” maybe even “subversive.” That is fine. But if the implication is that it is not so important because a conservative Christian has upended the Constitution, approved torture and shown contempt for the rule of law, therein lies the problem.
If GW Bush was a Muslim, a Buddhist, or even a Zionist and done the things he did, the white Christian conservative crowd would have gone bananas and have called for “cessation” from these United States. But even locally, the lack of regard for labor (slow to move on minimum wage), vote suppression and wage depression all show the same contempt for universal rights people share and value. Like taking out MLK Day as a holiday. (If it is cost, take out another day to offset.)
In a related note, folks like to say that people of Guam are real nice and race relations are real good. Just because folks keep quiet does not necessarily mean everything is “hunky-dory.” You have to have friends in the Micronesian, Filipino and Korean (examples) communities and live with them to know how they really feel. People came here because it is more attractive from where they came from (to make money). But that does not mean that their rights were not TRAMPLED upon at some point.

MATT PHILLIPS
Mangilao, Guam