L'île de Guam est un territoire américain non incorporé de l’archipel des îles Mariannes dans le Pacifique.
Pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, Guam est attaquée par l'Empire du Japon et
conquise trois jours après l'attaque de Pearl Harbor, après la première
bataille de Guam en décembre 1941. Dans le cadre de la campagne des îles
Mariannes et Palaos pendant l'été 1944, l'île fut reconquise par les Américains
lors de la seconde bataille de Guam juste après l'invasion de Tinian.
Elle
demeure une importante base pour les forces armées des États-Unis dans le
Pacifique. Andersen Air Force Base a
été utilisé entre autres pour les raids de bombardement stratégique depuis
cette période, et la base navale de Guam est l'une des trois pouvant accueillir
des porte-avions de l'US Navy dans la région. (Wikipédia)
Y a-t-il endroit plus stratégique? Pour qui? L'avenir le dira...
Boston Review a publié cette lettre coup de
poing qui remet tristement le sablier nucléaire à l’heure. À mon avis, elle
pourrait aussi s’adresser à la Corée du Nord qui ne cesse de tester des
missiles dans le Pacifique... «Des jeux de guerre sans fin», en effet.
Extrait (traduction maison; lettre intégrale en anglais ci-après)
«Aujourd'hui vous occupez près du tiers de notre
île, avec une station de bombardiers et de sous-marin nucléaires très puissants
ici pour intimider nos voisins. Vous jouez à des jeux de guerre sans fin, répandant
des gaz toxiques dans l'atmosphère, l'eau, le sol et sur nos corps. Nous
respirons les émanations des bombes que vous testez sur nos îles sœurs; transportés
par les vents ces nuages se rendent jusqu’ici. Nous mangeons du poisson venant
des eaux que vous bombardez autour de nous. Nous pleurons les baleines échouées
qui pourrissent sur le rivage, égarées à cause de vos essais au sonar. Nous
sommes contraints de sacrifier – sans notre consentement, et pour beaucoup
d'entre nous, contre notre volonté – l'accès aux anciens villages sacrés et un
millier d'acres de landes calcaires et d’habitat forestier luxuriant, que vous
voulez détruire pour construire une base de tir pour vos Marines. Vos bombardiers
survolent ma maison à des heures indues. Hé l’Amérique, j’élève de jeunes
enfants ici! Des bambins qui remarquent votre drapeau hissé au-dessus du leur
et qui n'aiment pas ça. Qui se cachent sous la glissoire du terrain de jeu, leur
seule zone de protection, et disent à leurs amis de se couvrir quand retentissent
vos B-1, B-2. Il y a un panneau sur la route qui dit : «Ralentissez, des
enfants jouent».
Tout un arsenal!
An Open Letter from Guam to America
Victoria-Lola
M. Leon Guerrero
Dear
America,
I
am glad that you are finally paying attention to what is happening in Guam.
Many of you, as I am reading online, are asking for the first time, “What is
Guam?” Every day growing up here, we have been told all about you. I am sorry
that it is only when we are the subject of bombs that you even attempt to say
the word Guam; there are so many more interesting things I wish you would want
to know about us. We, on the other hand, are not as surprised by the latest
bomb threat. We are quite used to hearing Guam and bomb in the same sentence.
Every month or so, when another missile is tested, or rhetoric fired, we hear
how North Korea, or China, or Russia could bomb Guam. I have even saved
pictures of China's infamous “Guam Killer” bombs on my computer so our
Independence group can use it in Independence 101 presentations as an example
of why we need to get free NOW. Yes, there are people in Guam who want
independence from you. But there are also people in Guam who hear these threats
of bombs and cower to the hype. They start to believe that we need your mighty
military bases and beg for more, because then we would not be bombed, right?
But you have been the source of all our bomb problems.
The
worst bombs that have ever been dropped on Guam were yours near the end of
World War II. At the beginning of the war, you left us defenseless to the
Japanese, knowing full well that they were planning to invade Guam all along.
You safely boarded your white military wives on ships and sent them home months
before the attack, but did nothing to protect us. That's right, the last time
an invading nation that you said you would protect us from attacked, you
surrendered in 2 days and left 20,000 people to suffer, many falling victim to
the most atrocious of war crimes. But we are strong and we survived not just
that ugly war but also the losses that came after. When you returned in 1944,
you leveled our island with your bombs, leaving most families without a home to
return to. We were scattered and displaced so you could build your enormous
bases. And we were so grateful to you that our people served and continue to
serve your military and die for your freedom in higher numbers per capita than
you.
The
worst bombs that have ever been dropped on Guam were yours.
Today
you occupy nearly one-third of our island, and station bombers and nuclear
powered submarines here to flex your might to our neighbors. You play endless
war games emitting fumes and dumping waste into our air, water, soil, bodies.
We breathe in the fallout when you test your bombs on our sister islands upwind
– those clouds
make their way down here. We eat fish from the waters you bomb around us.
Grieve the beached whales who rot at the shore, led astray by your sonar
testing. We are being made to sacrifice – with no consent (and for many of
us, against our will – access to sacred ancient villages and a thousand acres of a lush
limestone forest habitat that you want to destroy to build a firing range for
your Marines. You fly bombers over my home at ungodly hours. Come on, America,
I am raising babies here. Little ones, who notice when your flag is flown above
theirs, and don't like it. Who hide under the slide at their playground and
tell their friends to duck when your blaring B-1s, B-2s, be everything in their
safe zone. There is a sign on the road that reads, “Slow down, children at
play.”
Will
you please slow down and allow my children to play? I want them to grow up
here. This is their/my/my mama's mama's mama's homeland. There is no other
place in the world I want them to be. I understand that for many “Americans,”
you had to flee your homeland. That America became your better life, or at
least the promise of it. That many of you long for your homeland and can't
return. And sadly, many of you don't think enough about the indigenous
Americans whose lands and lives were stolen to manifest this destiny. But this
land, this beautiful island everyone wants to bomb because of you, is my land,
not yours. And I don't want to flee. I left my land once for your college
education. But I ached for home the entire time. As soon as I got my degrees, I
came back to use them here. My home is my better life. I am nourished by my
land, where my family grows our own food. I am raising bright babies, with the
jungle as their backyard, and this is the life my ancestors wanted for me and
for them. I want to go to sleep peacefully knowing that my family is safe in
our home. So please, stop all this bomb talk. And instead, ask yourself why
Guam is still your colony in 2017.
Good
night and good morning,
Victoria-Lola
Leon Guerrero
1:40
a.m. August 10, 2017
Yo'ña,
Guåhan (Guam)
En mai 2016, un B-52 s'est écrasé sur l'Andersen Air Base à Guam. Imaginez les conséquences...
Des voeux pieux pour se donner bonne conscience
Vision Statement (promulgated in 2009, Oregon)
Vision Statement (promulgated in 2009, Oregon)
Guam
National Wildlife Refuge
Guam
National Wildlife Refuge hosts a unique and fragile blend of native plants and
animals found nowhere else in the world. It stands as a special place and source
of pride for all. Here at Guam National
Wildlife Refuge, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works with others to
conserve and restore the precious resources of both land and sea. Guam’s
native wildlife flourish in the native limestone and coastal forests and sea
creatures are bountiful in the tropical blue waters. Visitors seek out the
beauty and tranquility provided and enjoy seeing and learning about wildlife. The
refuge is a vital link between Guam’s cultural and natural heritage, a vibrant
reminder of the place nature holds in all of our lives and a treasure for
future generations.
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Sounds like a very very bad joke...
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Sounds like a very very bad joke...
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