Guam soon to decide future of political status

Transcript

A pro-independence leader on Guam says he's happy the island may finally be deciding the future of its political status. 

Michael Lujan Bevaqua is the co-chair of the Guam Taskforce for Independence, which is part of a decolonisation committee established this year by Governor Eddie Calvo. 

That committee is expected to submit a report to Mr Calvo within the next few weeks about whether to proceed with a plebiscite in November's election. 

Dr Bevaqua, a Chamorro who supports Guam breaking away from the United States, says that after a century as an unincorporated territory, the fact Guamanians are now raising their voice is significant.

But he says it will be difficult to make Washington listen. 

MICHAEL LUJAN BEVAQUA: Just recently here in Guam we hosted the Festival of Pacific Arts and Cultures. It was a very exciting experience, but it reminded us of our political status in the Pacific. We were visited by all these islands who are now independent nations. So Fest Pac was a big reminder that Guam represents a previous historical era, a time when colonialism was common, and in a way much of the world has come to the understanding that colonialism was bad and we should eradicate it from the world, but there is still really small islands like Guam where this hasn't happened. For me I feel like it's time for Guam to join the world community as an equal and not sort of be a footnote to a previous era.

JAMIE TAHANA: It is a weird situation though isn't it, cause you're a Pacific Island a long way away from the continental US but Guam does have one of the highest military enlistment rates, it does have a high level of development compared to other Pacific countries, you've received some stuff from the United States, is there an American-ness there and what would happen if you were to become independent? 

MLB: The great thing about coming independent is that it doesn't necessarily mean you cut yourself off. But really Guam has had a long association or history with the US, but that history has been very one sided. So our political development is usually if the United States wants something to change they change it for us and we request that something be changed then they sometimes change it; they sometimes refuse. The US military increases they're proposing represent another step in that, you know because the US intends to increase its presence on Guam dramatically and we don't really have a say in that, so part of the move for decolonisation now is also tied to that idea that this may be our island, but the United states claims us as their possession and so we don't really get to negotiate what happens here. 

JT: If a plebiscite does happen it's still symbolic only isn't it? The final decision rests with congress and with their planned build up, their planned pivot to Asia, how confident are you they'll take heed with whatever result Guam decides? 

MLB: We can't look at this as a rope alone. But it has to be a part of a larger struggle. The United States has been very clear that whatever we vote on it is not binding to them, they will accept it and do whatever they want with it. It's really going to be up to us them to submit it to them, try to work with them and if they refuse, we will need to pick our own plans to sort of make that future possible.