Around the middle of April, Debbie and I flew back from Chuuk to Oklahoma. It was a long, tiring flight, made longer by the need for a frequent layover for the dogs, but after five days of travel, we arrived back home.
Home was not as we remembered; our house had been occupied by a stranger who left it in disarray and who must have needed a full set of power tools for her next dwelling. We spent days trying to clean and repair all the damage - made more difficult by the lack of power tools.
The US had also changed. When we left, the majority of young people were glued to their smartphones, thumbs flying furiously as they texted messages to their best friends (standing a few feet away). When we returned, it seems as though Americans now are compelled to use tech devices to find anything or do anything. The simple art of conversation is being eroded until I fear we will lose personal contact.
Chuuk experienced a typhoon a few weeks before we left. Another hit them soon after we left. Food is becoming difficult to obtain. Coconuts, breadfruit, and bananas were struck down by the fierce winds. Taro patches were flooded by seawater. Container ships had to divert away due to the storms, and now the food supply is in jeopardy. It will be months before the trees recover and bear fruit; some will have to be replanted, requiring years to restore the food supply.
We left so many good friends in Chuuk. We worry about them and their future. I know their family members living abroad will send money to help them, but that won't be enough to restore life as usual.
Monday, June 29, 2015
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Chuuk and Independence
On March 3, 2015, the people of Chuuk will vote on whether they will remain a state in the FSM or will become an independent republic. This will be an historical year for Chuuk.
After WWII, the US became the trustee for a UN-created territory composed of hundreds of tiny Pacific islands. The region was called Micronesia. Although it made sense to administer the Trust Territories as one unit, the attempt resembled the British when they put Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds into one administrative unit, known as Iraq. Micronesians are at least as diverse as the Iraqis, and the distance is substantially greater, so the effort to combine all Pacific Islands into one nation was doomed from the start.
Palau refused to join the FSM; the Marshall Islands also pulled out, and each of those groups formed a separate nation. The Northern Marianas also refused to join the FSM, and instead they voted to become a commonwealth within the US. Guam, with its established military base, remained a separate nation, as a territory of the US. That left Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae as the only "states" left for the FSM.
Inevitably, differences among the islanders made it difficult to form a cohesive union and sectarian preferences have led to charges of discrimination. Many Chuukese believe that the FSM national government (whose President is himself, Chuukese) does not adequately represent them, and they want out.
Some of the criticism stems from the FSM Constitution itself; while Chuuk hosts half of the nation's population, and thus half of the Congressmen, each Congressman has one vote on a bill's first reading. But on the crucial second reading, each state has one vote each, meaning that laws, spending bills, and other measures are voted by members, to assign them to committees, but when it comes to actually adopting the measures, Chuuk's half of the FSM Congress only gets 1/4 of the vote.
Some complaints arise from the repeated instances of Chuukese paperwork being lost within the national campus, going both ways. Requests to the national government have gone missing. Notices from the national government have not been delivered to Chuuk. Such an event, now and then, could be overlooked, but there seems to be more than coincidence involved.
US funding under the Compact of Free Association provides the opportunity for development, but Chuuk's projects are routinely delayed. Already, Chuuk is over $50 million behind in using Compact funds, and there may be no way for Chuuk to access its authorized funds before the Compact ends, in 2023. If the other states decide to divy up the unused funds, conspiracy theorists will deem their suspicions verified.
An independent Chuuk won't pose a threat to any of the world's powers. However, it may present an opportunity to establish an outpost for powers in the Pacific, and that is what makes the vote so interesting.
You won't hear much about the Chuuk plebiscite in the news; it isn't as glamorous as Scotland's vote, or as divisive as Crimea or Eastern Ukraine or even Catalonia, but it is part of a growing trend for the secession of ethnic groups from coalitions created long ago by former powers. It is as though WalMart is breaking up into stores that sell groceries vs. those that sell toys or household goods. It may seem counter-intuitive, if you view matters from a profit perspective, but when viewed from a tribal basis, it makes perfect sense.
Is the world becoming more tribal? Would that lead to chaos or more order? Would that lead to more, but smaller wars? Would WalMart shoppers clamor for a strong leader to unify us in spite of tribal differences?
After WWII, the US became the trustee for a UN-created territory composed of hundreds of tiny Pacific islands. The region was called Micronesia. Although it made sense to administer the Trust Territories as one unit, the attempt resembled the British when they put Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds into one administrative unit, known as Iraq. Micronesians are at least as diverse as the Iraqis, and the distance is substantially greater, so the effort to combine all Pacific Islands into one nation was doomed from the start.
Palau refused to join the FSM; the Marshall Islands also pulled out, and each of those groups formed a separate nation. The Northern Marianas also refused to join the FSM, and instead they voted to become a commonwealth within the US. Guam, with its established military base, remained a separate nation, as a territory of the US. That left Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae as the only "states" left for the FSM.
Inevitably, differences among the islanders made it difficult to form a cohesive union and sectarian preferences have led to charges of discrimination. Many Chuukese believe that the FSM national government (whose President is himself, Chuukese) does not adequately represent them, and they want out.
Some of the criticism stems from the FSM Constitution itself; while Chuuk hosts half of the nation's population, and thus half of the Congressmen, each Congressman has one vote on a bill's first reading. But on the crucial second reading, each state has one vote each, meaning that laws, spending bills, and other measures are voted by members, to assign them to committees, but when it comes to actually adopting the measures, Chuuk's half of the FSM Congress only gets 1/4 of the vote.
Some complaints arise from the repeated instances of Chuukese paperwork being lost within the national campus, going both ways. Requests to the national government have gone missing. Notices from the national government have not been delivered to Chuuk. Such an event, now and then, could be overlooked, but there seems to be more than coincidence involved.
US funding under the Compact of Free Association provides the opportunity for development, but Chuuk's projects are routinely delayed. Already, Chuuk is over $50 million behind in using Compact funds, and there may be no way for Chuuk to access its authorized funds before the Compact ends, in 2023. If the other states decide to divy up the unused funds, conspiracy theorists will deem their suspicions verified.
An independent Chuuk won't pose a threat to any of the world's powers. However, it may present an opportunity to establish an outpost for powers in the Pacific, and that is what makes the vote so interesting.
You won't hear much about the Chuuk plebiscite in the news; it isn't as glamorous as Scotland's vote, or as divisive as Crimea or Eastern Ukraine or even Catalonia, but it is part of a growing trend for the secession of ethnic groups from coalitions created long ago by former powers. It is as though WalMart is breaking up into stores that sell groceries vs. those that sell toys or household goods. It may seem counter-intuitive, if you view matters from a profit perspective, but when viewed from a tribal basis, it makes perfect sense.
Is the world becoming more tribal? Would that lead to chaos or more order? Would that lead to more, but smaller wars? Would WalMart shoppers clamor for a strong leader to unify us in spite of tribal differences?
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