Community in Wonderland: Weaving Solidarity

A little while back myself and other members of the local community were contacted by a Graduate student in the Department of Anthropology and International Development at The George Washington University in Washington DC.  Hermon Farahi and his partner are trying to come out to document the Chamorro social movement against the military build up.

I recently received a message that I'd like to share with all of you, in case any one would like to help.

Friends and Family,

I would like to cordially invite you to join us in support of our newly initiated KICKSTARTER Project, entitled: "Weaving Solidarity: Indigenous Chamorro Movements & The US Military Buildup of Guam". Help us to conduct valuable social-anthropological RESEARCH, and to produce a DOCUMENTARY FILM, as well as PHOTOGRAPHS, depicting the issues facing the Indigenous people of Guam and The Northern Mariana Islands.

THE ISSUE:

The Indigenous Chamorro people of Guam and The Mariana Islands are facing the impacts of the single largest military base expenditure in modern history, with an estimated budget of $16 Billion USD. The US already occupies a third of the island for Military purposes, and seek to further dispossess the local inhabitants off their land. In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has deemed the buildup as “environmentally unsatisfactory”, attributing the worst possible rating to the proposed plans. All this is in the context of 500 years of continuous colonial occupation, which has not changed til this day.

We NEED your HELP to make our project a reality. Please Visit our Kickstarter Page to learn more and donate to both the cause and the project! 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/psalms133/weaving-solidarity-indigenous-chamorro-movements-a

We're also offering some pretty cool rewards for your pledge/donation, so you'll get something back in addition to supporting an important cause and project! 

Si Yu’us Ma’ase!
Sincerely,
Hermon Farahi & Jeannae Flores

Weaving Solidarity: Indigenous Chamorro Movements & The US Military Buildup of Guam from Hermon Farahi on Vimeo.

What is happening on the island right now is really interesting. Speaking out against the military is something very rarely done here. We've been raised to be appreciative of our liberation and not to question the intentions of the military. Those that did were looked down upon and ignored.  But now it's almost like our people are waking up. People are beginning to openly discuss our history and our future and how much we are willing to give up.  This is an important time.  This is history in the making and it should be documented, whether it goes our way or not. It'll be nice to be have proof that we did what we could to have a say, to finally have a voice on our island.