You’re reading The Husk's Weekender, a countdown/roundup of miscellanea from Micronesia, Guam, and Earth.

stories from the last Pacific Islands Forum meeting

OK BUT THE PIF MEETING HAD SO MUCH GOING ON 👀

• 'We'll remove it': Pacific caves to China's demand to exclude Taiwan from leaders communique, per RNZ

• PIF mission to New Caledonia likely in October, per Fiji One

• Guam accepted into 'formidable' Pacific Islands Forum, per Pacific Daily News + Guam, American Samoa PIF status upgraded to associate membership, per MBJ Guam

  • Plus: Tough conversations needed on PIF membership - Solomon Islands diplomat, per RNZ

• The State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific 2023 report was released at the Pacific Islands Forum, per PINA. Along with the report, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “Surging seas are coming for us all.”

  • Plus: Read the report here

Palau wants to host the 2026 PIF meeting, according to NIT.

stories that show me how past nuclear testing continues to haunt us relentlessly in the present, just looming over us and casting a shadow on the future

• Per the Pacific Island Times, Depletion of Bikini Atoll funds sparks lawsuit against trust manager + Marshall Islands: Bikinians sue United States trustee bank for ‘loss’ of $90 million, per RNZ

• Must listen: Tamatoa Tepuhiarii — we know him, we love him — spoke with Bobby Maccumber and Moale James for “Stories From the Pacific” about how France’s nuclear testing continues to impact the community of Ma’ohi Nui to this day.

Tamatoa Tepuhiarii's island may be slowly killing him but he will not leave ABC Radio Episode

• Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero wrote to RNZ and said “To be clear: I do not support the presence of any nuclear armament in Guam or the Pacific. Nor do I support the escalation to nuclear warfare. I stated that Guam will likely be at risk for potential conflicts because of our strategic location in the Western Pacific which controls access to Asia trade routes. Disputes in this area could escalate into military actions. I reiterate, Guam must be prepared and must be secured.” This is according to Saipan Tribune. Gov. Leon Guerrero also issued a press release. Her statement came after this report from RNZ and after Our Common Wealth 670 raised concerns.

Micronesians making moves

• Per the PDN, Karmen George, who launched Nemin Boutique, won the Elevate-HER pitch contest at this year’s Fanachu Famalåo’an conference, which is amazing! The Husk featured Karmen in 2021, and I am so excited to see her get this award! Plus, she won the People’s Choice Award.

• Kalea Edgar, a Pohnpeian singer and actress, was featured in a recent commercial. Her first! Congratulations, Kalea! Kalea and her family are all so talented, and I’ve written about them too.

fact sheet

• The FSM Embassy released this helpful fact sheet about the Compact of Free Association terms and services available to people. The fact sheet was updated as of Aug. 10, 2024. It was uploaded to Facebook.

Other things on my radar¹

• Committee discusses overrepresentation of COFA migrants in Guam judicial system, from The Guam Daily Post

• Debate Persists Over Rights Denied To Millions From U.S. Territories, from Honolulu Civil Beat

• Land wars over Guam's militarised landscape - 'I want my freedom', from RNZ

• House passes bill to seal Washington's diplomatic ties with Pacific island states, from PIT

• Dr. Theresa (Isa) Arriola made the 2024 Grist 50 list, from Grist

• Vancouver Chuukese community strives to bridge barriers, foster culture, from The Columbian

• The Forgotten Pacific documentary dropped on YouTube

  

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With every issue of the Weekender, we’ll leave you with a send-off song (not necessarily from a Micronesian artist) curated by my brother, Henry, whose musical tastes have left a lifelong impression on me and, now hopefully, you.

This month, however, the send-off song comes from the collective. We’d be remiss to not include “Why Can’t I Get Over You” by Hara and Memet as our send-off song, considering it’s been absolutely everywhere lately.

We’re building a send-off song playlist on Spotify that includes the songs mentioned in past Weekender posts. Check it out.

Why cant I get over you Hara.691

Thank you for reading. You rock. Have a wonderful weekend,

Jasmine