Visiting indigenous Guahan (Guam) peace activist Monaeka Flores told a July 31 gathering in Sydney hosted by the Catholic Peace and Justice Office that she was motivated to stand up against United States militarism and the expanding bases on her Pacific island nation by the love of her people, peace, decolonisation and anti-racism.
Flores, who spoke alongside another indigenous Pacific peace activist from Okinawa, Shinako Oyakawa, recounted that Guahan was recently hit by a powerful typhoon. Her community "which was already at ground zero of a climate crisis that the US military has helped create" had to struggle to carry out relief efforts because of the monopolisation of resources by the US military.
To add insult to injury, the Australian people, like those of Guahan and Okinawa are also being asked to foot the huge bill for this power projection of the "US empire", she added.
"There is a horrible cost to our peoples."
Trillions of dollar are being spent by the US on the military instead of on "housing, education, health, food security and water security — all genuine security issues" while doing great harm to the environment and the desecration of our sacred sites..
"We are being kept under colonial violence and this is all connected to capitalism. A few people are getting very wealthy and making a lot of money from the arms industry. Capitalism also supports white supremacy," Flores said.