{"id":7666,"date":"2010-08-18T01:08:05","date_gmt":"2010-08-18T09:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/?p=7666"},"modified":"2010-08-18T01:08:05","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T09:38:05","slug":"bevacqua-when-the-moon-waxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/?p=7666","title":{"rendered":"Bevacqua: When the Moon Waxes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"subhead\">Michael Lujan Bevacqua posted the following article on the Guamology website about his recent speaking tour in Japan for the World Conference Against A &amp; H Bombs:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-top: 5px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/author\/Miget\">http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/2010\/08\/when-the-moon-waxes\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1>When The Moon Waxes<\/h1>\n<div>August 17th, 2010\u00a0<a title=\"Click to view categories and tags (click again to close).\" onclick=\"return(display('filed-when-the-moon-waxes'));\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/2010\/08\/when-the-moon-waxes\/#\"><span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div id=\"related-when-the-moon-waxes\" style=\"display: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"CHinemma\u2019, Nina\u2019maolek yan Inarespetu para Direchon Taotao\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/2009\/09\/chinemma-ninamaolek-yan-inarespetu-para-direchon-taotao\/\">CHinemma\u2019, Nina\u2019maolek yan Inarespetu para Direchon Taotao<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"A Question Every Parent Must Ask Themselves\u2026\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/2010\/05\/a-question-every-parent-must-ask-themselves\/\">A Question Every Parent Must Ask Themselves\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Fanohge Sumahi\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/2010\/07\/fanohge-sumahi\/\">Fanohge Sumahi<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Otaku Recon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/2010\/05\/otaku-recon\/\">Otaku Recon<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Beatles\u2019 Wisdom for the New Year\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/2010\/01\/beatles-wisdom-for-the-new-year\/\">Beatles\u2019 Wisdom for the New Year<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Why My Daughter is Named Sumahi\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/2009\/12\/why-my-daughter-is-named-sumahi\/\">Why My Daughter is Named Sumahi<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Nenkanno\u2019 Gi i Tiempon Chapones\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/2009\/10\/nenkanno-gi-i-tiempon-chapones\/\">Nenkanno\u2019 Gi i Tiempon Chapones<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Focus On Life\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/2009\/08\/focus-on-life\/\">Focus On Life<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"More Than Meets the Eye\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/2009\/07\/more-than-meets-the-eye\/\">More Than Meets the Eye<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Searching for Shiro at Borders In Hawai\u2019i\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/2009\/07\/searching-for-shiro-at-borders-in-hawaii\/\">Searching for Shiro at Borders In Hawai\u2019i<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"filed-when-the-moon-waxes\" style=\"display: none;\">\n<div>Filed Under: <a title=\"View all posts in Featured Articles\" rel=\"category tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/category\/featured\/\">Featured Articles<\/a> \u2022  <a title=\"View all posts in Ideology\" rel=\"category tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/category\/food-for-thought\/ideology\/\">Ideology<\/a><\/div>\n<div>Tags: <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/tag\/column\/\">Column<\/a> \u2022 <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/tag\/conference\/\">conference<\/a> \u2022 <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/tag\/famaguon\/\">Famagu&#8217;on<\/a> \u2022 <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/tag\/fiji\/\">Fiji<\/a> \u2022 <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/tag\/france\/\">France<\/a> \u2022 <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/tag\/japan\/\">Japan<\/a> \u2022 <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/tag\/marshall-islands\/\">Marshall Islands<\/a> \u2022 <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/tag\/media\/\">media<\/a> \u2022 <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/tag\/newspaper\/\">Newspaper<\/a> \u2022 <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/tag\/nuclear-weapons\/\">Nuclear Weapons<\/a> \u2022 <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/tag\/peace\/\">peace<\/a> \u2022 <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/tag\/racist\/\">Racist<\/a> \u2022 <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/tag\/sumahi\/\">sumahi<\/a> \u2022 <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/tag\/uk\/\">UK<\/a> \u2022 <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/tag\/variety\/\">Variety<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>One of the reasons why I haven\u2019t been posting much on Guamology  lately is because I\u2019ve been writing a regular weekly column titled \u201cWhen  the Moon Waxes\u201d for the <em>Marianas Variety. <\/em>It runs every Wednesday right across from Dave Davis\u2019 \u201cThe Outsider Perspective\u201d column, which makes the Wednesday issue of <em>Marianas Variety <\/em>the most schizophrenic issue of the week.<\/p>\n<p>The title of my column comes from the song <em>Dalai Nene, <\/em>which  is the song from which I first heard the word \u201csumahi\u201d which is my  daughter\u2019s name. The first line of the song states that <em>I pilan yanggen sumahi, <\/em>or  when the moon waxes. Often times when I\u2019m driving around with Sumahi,  I\u2019ll sing that first line from the song and then make up the subsequent  lyrics, often times incorporating dragons, dogs and frogs who do  hilarious and ridiculous things which Sumahi knows they aren\u2019t supposed  to do.<\/p>\n<p>The column covers anything and everything. Since starting it last  month I\u2019ve written about decolonization, art on Guam, Chamorro dancing,  nuclear weapons, Native Americans getting their land back, and even last  week about puking on Liberation Day and the deep meanings involved with  that.<\/p>\n<p>This Wednesday my column will be about my recent trip to Japan where I  attended the 2010 World Conference Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs,  and gave many speeches in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on current events in  Guam, especially surrounding the US military buildups here. While at  this conference I got to hear so many stories from so many different  countries, especially those from places which have been negatively  affected by the use, storage or testing of nulcear weapons. My column  tells the story of Paul Ahpoy, an elderly man from Fiji who was a sailor  in the British Navy, who along with hundreds of other sailors,  witnessed numerous nuclear tests in Kiribati. Like all other communities  damaged by nuclear weapons, Paul and other veterans were beset by  numerous invisible and unknown diseases, which would riddle their body  with cancer, make them sterile, and even be passed down to their  children.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m pasting a preview of my column below for people to check out. If  you have any suggestions for future columns, please let me know!<\/p>\n<p>*****************************<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cSo Our Children May Live in Peace\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We on Guam should all know about the US testing of nuclear weapons in  the Marshall Islands and its deadly and tragic legacy. It is something  that this entire region should take seriously, and teach to students of  all levels, alongside Columbus sailing blue oceans, Americans and their  independence or Chamorros suffering in Manengon waiting for liberation.  It is critical because that history of nuclear testing speaks volumes to  the relationship Micronesia has to the United States, by making clear  this region\u2019s strategic value.<\/p>\n<p>But, one thing that we should always keep in mind is that the  Marshall Island weren\u2019t the only place where nuclear weapons were tested  in the Pacific. There were US tests in the Aleutians, French tests in  French Polynesia and British tests in Kiribati and Australia.<\/p>\n<p>At  the 2010 World Conference Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs that I  attended last week in Japan, I got the chance to hear the story of Paul  Ahpoy who is a member of an association for veterans from Fiji who were  adversely affected by the testing at Christmas Island in Kiribati. Paul,  who was a sailor in the British Navy and witnessed 7 tests, described a  test day as follows: \u201c\u2026we would line up on the beach and were told to  obey orders from a loud speaker on poles nearby. With our groups of  about 400 servicemen, none of us wore any special protective clothing or  monitoring devices.<\/p>\n<p>An airburst weapon would be dropped over the ocean about 12 miles  away\u2026, we would follow the drills, sit down, close your eyes, this would  be followed by a searing heat flash, then sound waves enough to bust  your eardrums. We would be ordered to stand up and turn around to see  the huge moonlike object in the sky which then turned into a huge  mushroom, blotting out the sun. We would then be yelled at to run for  cover as strong winds blew in from the seas and black rain would pour  down from the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A British veteran of those tests, Ken McGinley wrote in his book <em>No Risks Involved, <\/em>that  when the bomb exploded \u201c\u2026there was a flash. At that instant I was able  to see straight through my hands. I could see the veins. I could see the  blood, I could see all the skin tissue, I could see the bones, and  worst of all, I could see the flash itself. It was like looking into a  white-hot diamond, a second sun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Paul and other sailors were not warned about the radioactive  materials they were transporting, nor the dangerous effects of the  testing and were in fact being fed fish from the very waters which were  being poisoned by the testing. For the past 50 years, these sailors and  their families have struggled with unknown, horrible diseases, which  have claimed the lives of their children in mysterious shocking ways or  made them and their children sterile. It was common for them to kiss  their children goodnight and find them dead in the morning having choked  to death on their own blood. Paul summed up his own tragedies as  follows: \u201cPersonally I have had 59 lumps removed from my body. I lost my  daughter when she was 3 \u00bd years old. My son is sterile and I fully  understand that I will never have a grandchild. \u201c<\/p>\n<p>Through their organization, the Fiji veterans won the right to sue  the British Government for compensation last year. Despite this victory,  they recently had to close their office, and as in all cases such as  this, the more time passes, the more pass on and the heavier the burden  is for those who remain.<\/p>\n<p>Paul concluded his speech by recounting what these veterans were told  prior to these tests; namely that what they were doing with these bombs  was a great service to humanity so that all their children could live  in peace. Prior to the US conducting their testing in the Marshall  Islands, they told the people of Bikini a similar thing, that because of  the tests their islands, there would be no more wars.<\/p>\n<p>This is why, these tragic stories are so crucial for all of us in the  Pacific. These tests were not conducted on the mall in Washington D.C.,  in Piccadilly Square in London or Les Champs Elysees in Paris. They  were conducted in faraway, isolated islands where even if things went  horribly wrong, who would really be affected? A few thousand people  which as Henry Kissinger noted, no one gives a damn about anyways? Some  sea turtles and some coral and coconut trees? In other words, these were  places which matter precisely because they do not matter. The lesson  here is that while geography is strategically important in today\u2019s  globalized world, so is smallness and invisibility.<\/p>\n<p>While Paul was giving his speech, I had a copy of his prepared  remarks in front of me. After remembering those words about the great  service for humanity those tests meant, he choked up and he quickly  ended his speech. I looked down at the text to see what he had left to  say. It was just a single sentence, but perhaps the most important one  considering his tragic tale. The last line of his speech was: \u201cI now  thank you all for sharing with me and hope that our combined efforts to  remove forever all nuclear weapons from our planet becomes a reality, so  our children may live in peace.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>About the Author<\/h3>\n<p>Michael  Lujan Bevacqua comes from the  Bittot and Kabesa clans and is the father  to the mas \u00f1ang\u00f1ang na nene  giya Guahan Sum\u00e5hi, who is notorious on  island for ruining numerous  R-rated movies for childless adults. He has  way too many websites and  is involved in too many different activist  projects, that all keep him  from finishing his Ethnic Studies  dissertation.   Michael has many  dreams some of them possible, others needing lots of  work in order to  become possible. He dreams of an independent Guam, and a  Guam where the  Chamorro language is more pervasive than  yellow-ribbon-car-magnets,  watching a Test Cricket series between India  and Pakistan in India, and  becoming the front-man for a Chamorro  language Ska Band.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Lujan Bevacqua posted the following article on the Guamology website about his recent speaking tour in Japan for the World Conference Against A &amp; H Bombs: http:\/\/www.guamology.com\/2010\/08\/when-the-moon-waxes\/ When The Moon Waxes August 17th, 2010\u00a0 CHinemma\u2019, Nina\u2019maolek yan Inarespetu para Direchon Taotao A Question Every Parent Must Ask Themselves\u2026 Fanohge Sumahi Otaku Recon Beatles\u2019 Wisdom &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/?p=7666\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Bevacqua: When the Moon Waxes&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-7666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pacific","tag-nuclear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7666"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7666"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7668,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7666\/revisions\/7668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}