Defending the country on the backs of the indigenous people of Guam and destroying their socioeconomic and environmental conditions, is not only unconscionable, but also preposterous. The attacks on America provided the evidence and the proof of the preposterous nature of the mistreatment of the people of Guam under “national defense.”
As an indigenous people we now find ourselves seriously threatened by the planned military expansion on island. The damaging mistakes following WWII are still in place.
The seed of fear of weapons of mass destruction to control the people was sowed. Guam’s future in handouts was permanently in place. However, the return of such policy is the staggering federal deficit and the terrorist attacks.
This military buildup is a continuance of the extremely damaging wrong actions that took place over 60 years ago. The destruction to Guam’s economy, the erosion of the environment, and the effects on our culture, language, identity, and future well-being all adversely affected. They are about to be attacked again in an unimaginable unprecedented catastrophic proportion.
As a people we have never been allowed to be at the table in discussions that predated the decision to significantly increase Guam’s overall population or drastically change the use of the land. America’s insensitivity to Guam is not only an understatement, but also dreadfully counterproductive.
Even if one carefully reads the draft environmental impact statement, it is not clear how Guam’s history, economy, language, culture, and future will be protected as a result of the troop expansion articulated in the draft study. Guam’s needs cannot continue to be overlooked and working with the governor, the Legislature, and others does not ensure that the people of Guam as a whole much more individually are being heard.
We must correct the mistakes of the past. The North and Central Guam Land Use Plan for the military buildup in the draft study are not acceptable. Guam has long needed a comprehensive and holistic master land use plan for the entire island for safety, maximum and best use of the land, and conservation. But to take one example, there is not an island community of Guam’s size anywhere that could sustain without serious damage to its cultural identity the influx of 80,000 people in the timeframe envisioned by the draft impact report.
When and how and within what forum will these issues be dealt with? Surely, given all of the technology of modern warfare, it is not the intent of the U.S. military with its expansion, consolidation, and relocation plans to permanently press the Chamorro people to the point of losing their identity.
Neither do I believe that it is the intent of the U.S. Congress, the President, or Americans in general to bring about permanent negative changes to the people of Guam. I believe it is the Joint Guam Program Office’s responsibility to bring our concerns to the attention of those who are guiding the relocation of Marines from Okinawa to Guam.
TONY ARTERO
Agana Heights, Guam
