Militarized Currents: Toward a Decolonized Future in Asia and the Pacific

3. The Exceptional Life and Death of a Chamorro Soldier: Tracing the Militarization of Desire in Guam, USA

33 3 The Exceptional Life and Death of a Chamorro Soldier Tracing the Militarization of Desire in Guam, USA Michael Lujan Bevacqua Hacha: Living (Un)Exceptional Lives The banal ambiguity of Guam’s political existence, along with other sites such as Guantánamo Bay, either signals the coming of empire or already marks quietly its passage.1 But, as opposed to Guantánamo Bay where the de- and reterritorialization of empire can be seen in much clearer and camera-ready terms, Guam is important precisely because its political existence represents forms of banal coloniality that continue to evade even the sharpest critical eyes.2 It is spectrally indistinct, meaning that whatever specters of colonization or injustice it conjures up, they remain the type that do not haunt. If a brave new world of cosmopolitanism and global democracy arrived tomorrow, it is more than likely that Guam’s status as a distantly imagined appendage to the American empire will remain untouched and unquestioned. Since September 11, Guam has been a magnet for military activity and buildup. Posturing by President George W. Bush and his administration that troops in Europe will be redistributed through Asia and the Pacific in anticipation of “hot spots” in the region has only increased Guam’s value as a forward military outpost. Despite Guam’s status as one of the world’s last official colonies, this increased militarization of the island has registered little to no protest on an international or national level. In American media, what little coverage does exist assumes either that the stationing of more bombers or fighters on Guam is routine or that the mere 34 · MICHAEL LUJAN BEVACQUA mentioning of Guam, as a “dot on the map,” should make the inhabitants feel fortunate for the “extra” attention.3 In Guam, the local media uncritically celebrates these increases by reprinting military press releases and writing glowing editorials. On the edge of American empire and the margins of international sovereignty , the banal yet exceptional existence of Guam can be instructive in the more subtle ways that militarism works. On an island where the U.S. military controls one third of the territory and has a century of militarization and colonialism in support of its occupation, we see the effects of militarizing impulses and inconsistencies on the bodies, the gazes, and the desiring of Chamorros, its indigenous people.4 Given this position, it would be an understatement to say that Chamorros on Guam live an ambiguous and indistinct existence. Although they are American citizens, by virtue of their residence in Guam they do not receive all the subsequent rights, such as a vote for president or representation in the U.S. Congress. Although they are geographically and politically distant from Washington, D.C., the federal government has plenary powers over Guam, meaning absolute and total control over the island. This control over Guam has at least been theoretically contested by the United Nations (UN), which continues to list Guam as one of the sixteen remaining non–self-governing territories of the world. These non– self-governing territories are sites where the UN’s mission to “eradicate colonialism” from the world and to provide colonized peoples paths to self-determination remain unfinished.5 For the past two decades, Chamorros have made regular pilgrimages to the UN in New York City to testify on the state of their island before the UN Fourth Committee and UN Special Committee of 24. These Chamorro delegations also call upon the United States to recognize and see through its obligation to decolonize the island.6 The position of the United States on this UN mandate is unsurprisingly ambivalent. During the testimonies provided for the Fourth Committee in October 2006, a member of the Guam delegation, Victoria Leon Guerrero, noted that the representative of the United States who was present in the room while they testified would not look at them or even acknowledge that they were there: “From where we were sitting, the U.S. representative had to turn his head in order to look at us . . . He never turned, never looked at us. That’s how the United States government relates to the people of Guam.”7 The same could be said for how the United THE EXCEPTIONAL LIFE AND DEATH OF A CHAMORRO SOLDIER · 35 States refuses to respect, or even accept openly or publicly, that the island and its people have any right to decolonization. Although...