{"id":1605763,"date":"2024-04-12T02:06:25","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T02:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=99736"},"modified":"2024-04-12T02:06:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T02:06:25","slug":"indigenous-rights-flag-burning-protest-rocks-cnmi-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/04\/12\/indigenous-rights-flag-burning-protest-rocks-cnmi-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Indigenous rights flag-burning protest rocks CNMI community"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/authors\/mark-rabago\">Mark Rabago<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/international\/pacific-news\/\">RNZ Pacific<\/a> Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas correspondent<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A man on Saipan has burned the official CNMI flag in protest, saying that it does not truly represent Indigenous people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas (CNMI).<\/p>\n<p>A public video of the flag-burning was posted by Raymond Quitugua that has stirred various negative reactions within the CNMI community.<\/p>\n<p>Under the CNMI&#8217;s constitution, <a href=\"https:\/\/cnmilaw.org\/pdf\/cmc_section\/T1\/223.pdf\">flag-burning is prohibited<\/a> and those found to have breached the law can face up to one year in jail or fined up to US$500 (NZ$835).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/news\/local\/we-want-peace\/article_4fef1912-f71c-11ee-a18f-fb17b0f2160c.html\"><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> The CNMI flag burning, \u2018We want peace\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_99745\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-99745\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-99745 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/CNMI-Flag-RNZ-680wide-300x188.png\" alt=\"The official CNMI flag\" width=\"300\" height=\"188\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/CNMI-Flag-RNZ-680wide-300x188.png 300w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/CNMI-Flag-RNZ-680wide-672x420.png 672w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/CNMI-Flag-RNZ-680wide.png 680w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-99745\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The official CNMI flag . . . disputed by some Chamorro critics. Image: 123rf\/RNZ<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Quitugua said the true CNMI flag was the initial design presented back in the 1970s that featured a latte stone with a star in the front of it on a field of blue.<\/p>\n<p>The current official flag of the US territory consists of a rectangular field of blue, a white star in the center, superimposed on a gray latte stone, surrounded by the traditional Carolinian mw\u00e1\u00e1r.<\/p>\n<p>But Quitugua claims the official flag does not accurately represent the Indigenous people of the CNMI, which he believes is the Chamorro community (not including the Carolinian community).<\/p>\n<p>He added that he burned the flag as a form of protest and he intended to take the issue to court.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Disappointed, insulted<\/strong><br \/>\nRenowned elder in the CNMI community, Lino Olopai, as well as one of the many champions of the CNMI&#8217;s flag, expressed disappointment and insulted by Quitugua&#8217;s actions and said that warranted jail time.<\/p>\n<p>Olopai said the basis of the current CNMI flag was indeed the Chamorro flag, but a group of Carolinians that included himself fought to have a mw\u00e1\u00e1r on the flag as a representation of the Carolinian community as they believed they, too, were indigenous people of the CNMI.<\/p>\n<p>He added that Quitugua&#8217;s flag-burning is a form of discrimination against the Carolinian community, which like the Chamorros, are the two recognised Indigenous people of the CNMI.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Stop the racism. We are all part of the Pacific islands,&#8221; Olopai said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We should maintain peaceful attitude and spirit with one another. Not just between the Chamorro and Carolinian communities, but with other communities across the Pacific,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>In a letter to the editor of the <em>Saipan Tribune<\/em>, former lawmaker Luis John Castro also criticised Quitugua&#8217;s flag-burning, saying there were other more constructive forms of protest.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If something such as the flag does not jive with your beliefs, OK you don&#8217;t have to agree,&#8221; he said, adding &#8220;but there are many ways to resolve differences other than desecrating a cultural symbol&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Conduct an online poll, call into [a radio station] and make it a topic of discussion. Hold a town hall meeting with other concerned citizens, ask a legislator to draft bills or initiative to address its look, or file a certified question with the courts to get an answer to your concerns.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Why do something like burn the flag? To seek attention? To get likes and shares on Facebook? To incite civil unrest?&#8221; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p><i><em>This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2024\/04\/12\/indigenous-rights-flag-burning-protest-rocks-cnmi-community\/\">Asia Pacific Report<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mark Rabago, RNZ Pacific Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas correspondent A man on Saipan has burned the official CNMI flag in protest, saying that it does not truly represent Indigenous people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas (CNMI). A public video of the flag-burning was posted by Raymond Quitugua that has stirred various<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":400,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78277,61055,78280,250,5,78281,78282,6,7,61057,41338,402,12,431,14,1156,368,15,1743],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1605763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/400"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1605763"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1605763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1608207,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1605763\/revisions\/1608207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1605763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1605763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1605763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}