‘Speak now or be spoken for:’ Guam’s fight for recognition on the world stage

By Myracle Mugol

 At this year’s Fanhita Conference, a panel on international engagement and Guam’s decolonization brought forward frank observations, lived experience and the quiet urgency of a people still pushing to be heard. The conversation didn’t center on idealism; instead, it focused on strategy, memory and what’s still missing.

“This is a David and Goliath story,” said Lisa Natividad, a longtime decolonization advocate and one of the panelists in the session titled “How International Engagement Can Support Guam’s Decolonization Movement,” held during the conference on May 6 and 7 at the Hyatt Regency Guam.

Natividad, a professor at the University of Guam, has been representing Guam in U.N. forums for many years. She described the international system as a venue where small voices can be heard, but only if they show up again and again. “It’s not about one speech or one resolution; it’s the repetition,” she said. “It’s the insistence that we’re still here.”

That repetition hasn’t always been easy. “The United States prefers our absence. When we’re not there, they speak for us,” said Leland Bettis, an officer of the Pacific Center for Island Security, who participated in commonwealth discussions during the 1980s and 1990s.

Bettis recalled instances when carefully negotiated U.N. resolutions, including language about CHamoru rights, were altered at the last moment after U.S. objections. In one instance, Bettis said, the entire section supporting self-determination was deleted after the Guam delegation had left the room.

H. Larry Raigetal, assistant professor at UOG’s Micronesian Area Research Center, shared a moment from an international environmental summit. He had spent time talking to a delegate from Guam, a younger man who carried the hopes of his community. But when the official session began, the delegate was replaced by a U.S. official. “I looked up and saw my brother from Guam sitting on the balcony,” Raigetal said. “He told me, ‘They speak for us.’ That moment hasn’t left me.”

He paused, then added, “That’s not sovereignty. That’s silence.”

The panel also addressed Guam’s role in regional diplomacy. While the island is now an associate member of the Pacific Islands Forum and part of the Micronesian Islands Forum, Natividad said that presence alone doesn’t translate to power. “At these meetings, Guam’s governor is often the most popular person in the room,” she said. “But she’s also the one with the least political authority.”

Funding is another issue. Melvin Won Pat Borja, executive director of the Guam Decolonization Commission, pointed out that Guam’s attendance in international meetings often depends on volunteers, nonprofits and sometimes just plain luck. “People donate miles. People sleep on couches,” Borja said. “We get there, but it’s not just about showing up. We have to know what to say when we get in the room.”

Still, the panelists agreed that community organizing isn’t enough. “The U.N. wants to hear from the governor of Guam,” Natividad said. “They don’t want statements from volunteers. They want the leadership of the territory to stand up.”

Guam’s increasing militarization was another concern. Bettis noted that, despite the island’s strategic value to the United States, its people are largely excluded from decision-making.  “We’re treated like a buffer zone, not a place where people live,” he said.

Natividad added, “People outside Guam are watching what’s happening with the missile defense systems and the buildup. But here at home, we act like it’s normal. It’s not.”

Toward the end of the session, the panel returned to the central question: What now? “We have to stop waiting for perfect conditions,” Natividad said. “If we wait for everybody to agree or every vote to align, we’ll be talking about this 50 years from now.”

Borja closed the session with the line: “If we want to be sovereign, we have to act sovereign. Otherwise, we’re just waiting for someone else to tell our  story.”

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