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"My Native Land"
In the A.D. Second Century a Roman citizen of the city of Samasota (Aramaic Shimsheta or Of the Sun) in southeastern Turkey, wrote satires about the lives of his contemporaries and the politics of his day. He was called Lucian and often referred to himself as the Assyrian. Although he spoke Aramaic, Lucian wrote mainly in Greek and his Trips to the Moon are said to be the earliest writings on space travel and science fiction. Lucian lived between A.D. 120 and A.D. 192 - eight hundred years after the Fall of Nineveh - and miraculously more than 80 pieces of his works have survived to this day. Rome was in those days much like today's United States, a hegemon, at times irritated and even defeated by the Persian rulers. During Lucian's life, Emperors like Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius expanded Roman dominance over far reaches of Europe, into Britain, and north Africa. As the power of Rome grew, so did the discontent of its colonized subjects. When Lucian was a young boy, Jews in Palestine rose against the Romans under Bar Khokhva. When he died, Romans had been defeated in Scotland. Not long after his death Persians took his city from the Romans. Lucian wrote "My Native Land" 1800 years ago about his homeland of Assyria, as the Romans and the Persians took turn in plundering its towns and metropolises. The raids and pillages of Assyria have never stopped and yet every day we "yearn and pray to end our life" on the banks of its twin rivers. It is this yearning that compels us to survive, adapt, and excel everywhere and in everything we do. "My Native Land" by Lucian the Assyrian "Nothing sweeter than one's native land" is already a commonplace. If nothing is sweeter, then is anything more holy or divine? Truly of all that men count holy and divine their native land is cause and teacher, in that she bears, nurtures and educates them. To be sure, many admire cities for their size, their splendour and the magnificence of their public works, but everyone loves his own country; and even among men completely overmastered by the lust of the eye, no one is so misguided as to be forgetful of it because of the greater of the number of wonders in other countries. Therefore a man who prides himself on being citizen of a prosperous state does not know, it seems to me, what sort of honour one should pay his native land, and such an one would clearly take it ill if his lot had fallen in a less pretentious place. For my part I prefer to honour the mere name of native land. In attempting to compare states, it is proper, of course, to investigate their size and beauty and the abundance of their supplies; but when it is a question of choosing between them, nobody would choose the more splendid and give up her own. He would pray that it too might be as prosperous as any, but would choose it, no matter what it was. Upright children and good fathers do just the same thing. A lad of birth and breeding would not honour anyone else above his father, and a father would not neglect his son and cherish some other lad. In fact, fathers, influenced by their affection, give their sons so much more than their due that they think them the best-looking, the tallest and the most accomplished in every way. One who does not judge his son in this spirit does not seem to me to have a father's eyes. In the first place, then, the name of fatherland is closer to one's heart than all else, for there is nothing closer than a father. If one pays his father proper honour, as law and nature direct, then one should honour his fatherland still more, for his father himself belonged to it and his father's father and all their forebears, and the name of father goes back until it reaches the father-gods. Even the gods have countries that they rejoice in, and although they watch over all the abodes of man, deeming that every land and every sea is theirs, nevertheless each honours the place in which he was born above all other states. Cities are holier when they are homes of the gods, and islands are more divine if legends are toldof the birth of gods in them. Indeed, sacrifices are accounted pleasing to the gods when one goes to their native places to perform the ceremony. If, then, the name of native land is in honour with the gods, should it not be far more so with mankind? Each of us had his first sight of the sun from his native land, and so that god, universal though he be, is nevertheless accounted by everyone a home-god, because of the place from which he saw him first. Moreover, each of us began to speak there, learning first to talk his native dialect, and came to know the gods there. If a man's lot has been cast in such a land that he required another for his higher education, he should still be thankful for these early teachings, for he would not have known even the meaning of "state" if his country had not taught him that there was such a thing. The reason, I take it, for which men amass education and learning is that they may thereby make themselves more useful to their native land, and they likewise acquire riches out of ambition to contribute to its common funds. With reason, I think: for men should not be ungrateful when they have received the greatest favours. On the contrary, if a man returns thanks to individuals, as is right, when he has been well treated by them, much more should he requite his country with its due. To wrong one's parents is against the law of different states; but counting our native land the common mother of us all, we should give her thank-offerings for our nurture and for our knowledge of the law itself. No one was ever known to be so forgetful of his country as to care nothing for it when he was in another state. No, those who get on badly in foreign parts continually cry out that one's own country is the greatest of all blessings, while those who get on well, however successful they may be in all else, think that they lack one thing at least, a thing of the greatest importance, in that they do not live in their own country but sojourn in a strange land; for thus to sojourn is a reproach! And men who during their years abroad have become illustrious through acquirement of wealth, through renown from office-holding, through testimony to their culture, or through praise of their bravery, can be seen hurrying one and all to their native land, as if they thought they could not anywhere else find better people before whom to display the evidences of their success. The more a man is esteemed elsewhere, the more eager is he to regain his own country. Even the young love their native land; but aged men, being wiser, love it more. In fact, every aged man yearns and prays to end his life in it, that there in the place where he began to live he may deposit his body in the earth which nurtured him and may share the graves of his fathers. He thinks it a calamity to be guilty of being an alien even after death, through lying buried in a strange land. How much affection real, true citizens have for their native land can be learned only among a people sprung from the soil. Newcomers, being brut bastard children, as it were, transfer their allegiance easily, since they neither know nor love the name of native land, but expect to be well provided with the necessities of life wherever they may be, measuring happiness by their appetites! On the other hand, those who have a real mother-country love the soil on which they were born and bred, even if they own but little of it, and that be rough and thin. Though they be hard put to it to praise the soil, they will not lack words to extol their country. Indeed, when they see others priding themselves on their open plains and prairies diversified with all manner of growing things, they themselves do not forget the merits of their own country, and pass over its fitness for breeding horses to praise its fitness for breeding men. One hastens to his native land though he be an islander, and though he could lead a life of ease elsewhere. If immortality be offered him he will not accept it, preferring a grave in his native land, and the smoke thereof is brighter to his eyes than fire elsewhere. To such an extent do all men seem to prize their own country that lawgivers everywhere, as one may note, have prescribed exile as the severest penalty for the greatest transgressions. And it cannot be said that in this view lawgivers differ from commanders. On the contrary, in battle no other exhortation of the marshalled men is so effective as "You are fighting for your native land!" No man who hears this is willing to be a coward, for the name of native land makes even the dastard brave.
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Assimilation, Exodus, Eradication: Iraq’s minority communities since 2003 Report of the Minorities Rights Group International The following are excerpts from the report published by the
Minority Rights Group International (MRG). The excerpts selected pertain to Assyrians in Iraq. The author,
Preti Taneja, is a journalist specializing in human rights. She is
a regular contributor to a range of international print, web-based
and audio media. As a filmmaker she has produced
and directed a number of human rights documentaries. She
holds a degree in Theology and Religious Studies from the
University of Cambridge. Preti Taneja Evidence of violence against minorities: Christians The Chaldo-Assyrian and Syriac Christians see Iraq as
their ‘mother country’, ‘the centre of their historical cultural
and demographic weight’. They live mainly in
Kirkuk, Basra, Baghdad, Mosul and on the plains of Nineveh.
Both communities speak Syriac, which is derived
from Aramaic, the language of the New Testament, one of
the oldest continually written and spoken languages in the Attacks against businesses Attacks against Christian business owners have taken place systematically over the last three years. Because Christianity does not prohibit drinking alcohol, and under Saddam Hussein’s government only Christians and Yazidis were permitted to sell liquor, off-licence owners in Iraq are easily identified as being from minority groups. Shops selling alcohol in Baghdad, Mosul and Basra have been bombed, looted and defaced. According to the Christian and Other Religions Endowment Bureau in Iraq, approximately 95 per cent of alcohol shops have closed following threats by Islamic extremists. Traditionally, the Christian minority also own businesses such as gymnasiums, beauty parlours, CD and DVD shops and recording studios, again making them obvious targets. In May 2003, Sheikh Mohammed al Fartousi, a member of al-Sadr, issued a fatwa banning alcohol, commanding women to wear the veil and ordering cinemas to close. In a sermon at Muslim weekly prayers at Al-Mohsen mosque in Baghdad’s Shia suburbs of Sadr City, he told ‘several thousand’ Muslims:
According to another report, al Fartousi also said: ‘Our
fatwa is for all the people. Alcohol is banned under every
religion’. He claimed to have up to 1,000 armed former
soldiers under his control. Several alcohol factories were
attacked just hours after the fatwa was issued. This is not a unique occurrence. In June, armed
intruders broke into Sami Tammu’s off-licence in Baghdad
and shot him when he tried to escape. In August
2004, reports told of masked gunmen shooting Sabah
Macardige in Baghdad in broad daylight. According to
witnesses, Macardige had received warnings to stop selling
alcohol. A pattern of churches and Christian-owned buildings
such as schools being targeted has also been noted
throughout this period. Reports of casualties show that
the attacks are planned for maximum impact when ser-vices
are taking place. 2003 saw a rocket attack on a
convent in Mosul, explosions in two Christian schools in
Baghdad and Mosul, and an explosion in a church in
Baghdad on Christmas Eve. A bomb was found and
defused in a monastery in Mosul.
In October 2004, more attacks on churches across Baghdad
left at least one person dead and nine injured. Some
of the churches were severely damaged and the Roman
Catholic Church of St George, which was constructed of
wood, burned down. The attacks occurred on the second
day of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. Christian areas and associations with MNF-I People have been abducted or killed in attacks simply
because they are in targeted Christian areas, work for foreign
companies, or hold official or professional positions.
These include civil servants, medical personnel and civic
and religious leaders. Such attacks strike directly at the
social infrastructure of communities, leaving a void of fear
and disabling those who are left from carrying on their
everyday lives. On 7 June 2004, four masked men drove
into the Christian Assyrian quarter of Hay Al-Athuryee in
the Dora district of Baghdad and opened fire on Assyrians
on their way to work. Three men and one woman were
killed instantly. The Assyrian internet magazine Zinda reported that on 19
August 2003, Nadan Yonadam was killed in an ambush
while working with the US Army as a civilian translator. Hate speech World events in the ‘war on terror’ and reports of abuse of
(often Muslim) detainees in American jails in Guantanamo
Bay and elsewhere fuel the violence against the
Christian minority in Iraq. In September 2006, Pope
Benedict made a speech referring to the 14th-century
Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Palaeologos: ‘The Emperor
comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war,’ the
In the days following the Pope’s speech, militant Islamist websites reportedly posted messages threatening reprisals against ‘worshippers of the cross’. Sunni and Shia clerics in Iraq united in condemnation
of the Pope’s comments, calling them an insult to Islam
and the Prophet Mohammed. After the speech, the New
York Times reported that in Baghdad, many churches had
cancelled their services and have not opened since. Reverend
Zayya Edward Khoshaba, pastor of the Church of
the Virgin Mary in Baghdad, said, ‘The actions of fanatics
have increased against Christians.’ The same article
reported that a Christian teenage girl had been kid-napped,
and her captors had initially demanded a ransom.
Later, they said the Pope was the only one who could
release her, and she was eventually killed. Intimidation and threats Christians have also reported receiving threats of violence
at the neighbourhood level through leafleting, text messages
to mobile phones and one-on-one intimidation. Minorities in disputed territories in northern Iraq Many minority rights violations perpetrated in Iraq today
form part of an ongoing cycle of violence and injustice
that goes back to the government of Saddam Hussein. From the western city of Sinjar on the Syria/Iraq border to Khanaquin on the Iran/Iraq border in the east, including Mosul, Erbil, Kirkuk, Diyala, Dohuk and Suleymaniyah, hundreds of thousands of Kurds, Faili Kurds, Shabaks, Turkomans, Mandaeans, Assyrians and Yazidis were affected by Saddam Hussein’s genocide or Anfal campaign.
Launched in 1988, the campaign resulted in the death or forced disappearance of some 100 000 people – mostly Kurds, but including many thousands of people from different minorities – and the policy of ‘Arabisation’ that continued until 2003. The right to return and how this is effected has therefore
become a crucial issue since 2003, one which, given
the competing tensions in this traumatised area of the
country, has been fraught with difficulties. The question
of just redress for the Kurds, who now wield significant
political and military power and who seek to ensure that
they will not be vulnerable in the future, as well as what As well as disappearances and murder, the Arabisation
policy officially forced minorities to change their ethnic
identity. The 1987 and 1997 national censuses obliged all
Assyrians to choose between an Arab or Kurdish nationality;
those who insisted on identifying as Assyrian were struck off
the list or arbitrarily registered as Arab or Kurd. Under considerable pressure from the US, the Kurdish authorities have consented not to press by immediate force their claims for restitution of Kurdish land and property in the Kirkuk area. The Kurdish policy is now to promote ‘normalisation’, or the return of communities displaced from Kirkuk and the restitution of their property, followed by a census of the population and the referendum on the status of the city, due to take place in 2007 (see below).
But statements from various minority representatives
interviewed by MRG emphasise the direct violence and
intimidation they are experiencing at the hands of the
Kurds, particularly on the Nineveh plains and in Kirkuk.
There are reports that minorities are being pressured to
support Kurdish political parties or to state their identity
as Kurdish, which will strengthen Kurdish claims to the
land. In return they are offered protection. Like all Iraqi citizens, minorities in northern Iraq are caught up in sectarian violence between majority groups. But if the prospect of a political settlement over Kirkuk continues to recede, the threat of renewed inter-ethnic violence and forced displacements perpetrated by different factions or militias will increase. Minority communities will be among the most vulnerable should this occur. Chaldo-Assyrian Christians Chaldo-Assyrians in Kirkuk are caught up in violence between larger ethnic groups. Their numbers, however, are much smaller – an estimated 12,000 in 2006. The Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration
has reported on the serious difficulties Christians face as
they attempt to reclaim their properties in northern
Iraq.
Speaking in 2004 in the House of Commons,
Stephen Pound MP said: ‘At least 58 Chaldo-Assyrian
villages have been partially or fully occupied by Kurds:
eight are completely occupied and 50 partly occupied.
All are in Dohuk province and in areas controlled by the KDP.’
He added: ‘Instead of returning the land to its
rightful Chaldo-Assyrian owners, the current Minister of
Defence, Hazim al-Shaalan, has sent a letter to the Minister The lands in question are in the following Chaldo-Assyrian districts of the Nineveh plains: Telkepeh, The Washington-based Assyrian organisation the Iraq Sustainable Development Project (ISDP) conducted a field trip to northern Iraq in early 2006. It reported extensive land seizure by the KDP with no recompense for minorities, and threats and coercion for minorities to assimilate. (However, church leaders who become members receive reconstruction funds for their churches and homes). One priest has been identified as informing the Kurdish authorities of Assyrians who oppose KDP control of the Nineveh plains. ISDP also reported that in order to get and keep jobs, minorities are forced to become members of the KDP. ISDP alleges that all Chaldo-Assyrians applying to work at the Sheraton hotel in Erbil were required to become members of the KDP; those who refused had their job offers withdrawn. Political Participation Where territory is disputed, minorities can also experience
violations to their right to participation and political representation.
The fierce fight for control of Kirkuk and the
border areas around the KRG has a specific political
impact on minority communities where votes will make a
difference to the outcome of elections. In the January
2005 elections, non-Muslim minorities (and non-Kurds)
After the elections, the UN news agency IRIN reported
that a crowd of mostly Turkomans and Christians numbering
approximately ‘300 ... protested outside the fortified
Green Zone in Baghdad, unhappy about alleged irregularities
on election day, especially in Kirkuk, where witnesses
accused Kurdish parties of entering polling stations, breaking
ballot boxes open and stealing ballot papers.’
Whether the last assertion is true or not, it demonstrates the level of suspicion between the groups that flared almost immediately in 2003.
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A Rose By Any Other Name Would Smell As Sweet “The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.” G.K. Chesterton, English author When I was very young, I reviled Assyrian parties. Being a little girl, the music was always too loud for my small ears, the dance lines that snaked around the ballroom always got in my way when I wanted to run around and play, and the food was never appetizing. The best part of the night was when the clock rolled past my bedtime hour, and my mother sat me on her lap so I could sleep. Amongst the ruckus and the laughter and the celebration around me, I had one ear pressed against my mother's perfumed chest, where her heartbeat rocked me to sleep. The other ear was turned outward, and the sound of the Assyrian language being spoken and sung was a familiar sound. Falling asleep was never a problem then. I have faith in Assyrians left in the Homeland – they seem to grasp what is happening around them at an alarmingly more efficient rate than us “Westernized” Assyrians. It is us, in the Diaspora – those who have left and either never been, or haven’t been in decades – that worry me.
The Assyrian nation is so unique, we find it difficult to search for answers to our various problems in comparative studies, history, sociology, or any other social science – we have a collective identity, while refusing to use a singular name. We have several groups which come from the same geographic area, speak the same language, identify with each other as one (“soorayeh”) yet differentiate from each other according to which Patriarch rules over their denomination. We cling to the same millennia-old history, yet look at each other and say “we are different from each other now”. I invite sociologists to study the Assyrian nation – we were the first civilization, we were pioneers on this earth in every way – and we are re-defining identity and nationalism as we live and breathe. Our religious institutions have both saved us and condemned us to “different-ness”. It is an interesting concept Assyrians must learn to grasp – as right as 2 and 2 are 4, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Aramaens, and all other Assyrian-speaking folk are, indeed, Assyrians. To divide these people into a dozen different ethnic groups is an exercise in politics, not historical integrity. But as right as the name Assyrian is, I cannot call anyone by a name they do not choose. Anyone who thinks otherwise is illogical or stubborn. Anyone who says “who cares and to hell with them” is not a nationalist – he is exclusionary, and a nationalist does not exclude portions of his people. Being right, but being a stubborn bully, does not make a righteous guardian of an identity. We must, must, must accept it: Assyrian is the right name, but not all Assyrian people are ready for it. One cannot force a square peg into a round hole. If Assyrian nationalism will be borne into Syrian Orthodox and Chaldean Catholics, it must start with the people of the Syrian Orthodox and Chaldean Catholic Church. Not by political parties who believe the “other” identities are inferior. Much like the U.S. cannot force democracy on Iraq – so must identity be homegrown. The question becomes, do we, who use the name Assyrian proudly, believe that those who call themselves by our Christian denominations are also Assyrians? I do. I believe they are all, every last one of them, Assyrians from the very center of what was Assyria. I cannot say “to hell with them”, because they refuse the name Assyrian. I cannot – not because it is cruel or wrong, but because regardless of their sentiments, I still believe we are one people. And I cannot tell my people they don’t matter. And no nationalist could. There is a difference, a deep difference, between accepting Chaldean, “Syriani”, (and even the very recently invented “Aramaen”), and accepting “Arab” or “Kurdish” Christian. Arab and Kurdish are not our names. Those are distinct ethnic identities, a people with a different tongue, ancestry, history (although the Kurdish one is mostly unknown, a seeming conglomerate of Persian, Turkish, and some tribes, even Assyrian). Chaldean is our name. Syriani is our name. Whether true or false, they belong to us and no other. I don’t think the conversation regarding our national identity should stop – in fact, it needs to continue. It is difficult to have a nation torn. But the course of the conversation needs to change. In the U.S., the largest Assyrian and Chaldean Catholic organizations have united to work towards the goal of the Nineveh Plains for Assyrians in Iraq. Regardless of what they think of the Assyrian name, identity, and our churches, they are working together for a common goal. This whole concept takes discipline, modesty, and true nationalism. Many of us love the Assyrian name and everything it means and is, and anger at the fact that we have to constantly fight for it. And it’s unfortunate. But it’s our reality as Assyrians. It won’t last forever – nothing does. In the meantime, let’s stop the arguments, so we can continue in our discussions.
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Mass-grave in Mardin, Turkey Prof David Gaunt Two weeks ago Prof. Dr. Yusuf Halaçoglu, head of the Turkish Historical Society, challenged me in Turkish media to give him an answer about a joint investigation of the mass-grave found last October in Mardin province. I answered him immediately proposing the period of 23-25 April as a possible date for a preliminary meeting and first site inspection. This was not intended as a provocation, but I made this time slot by canceling some lecture invitations to which I had already agreed. Since then, I have not heard a word from Prof. Halaçoglu. I have written to him privately, faxed and e-mailed, but with no result. This unnatural silence leads to the conclusion that he no longer is interested in making a truly scientific investigation of the mass-grave find. What could be the reason? In order to give this investigation some scientific legitimacy, I had suggested that an impartial international group of crime scene investigators be the first to inspect the cave in order to ascertain whether the bodies had been manipulated in any way and whether the site was intact. Only if and when they would give a clear signal would any other investigators enter. Are we forced to conclude that the site has indeed already been prepared, and that trained persons would easily discover the manipulation? In that case it would be reasonable for Prof. Halaçoglu to want to forget his invitation. At present there are few alternative interpretations to his behaviour other than that he regrets the publicity he has given this matter.
European Parliament Conference: Assyrian Seyfo Sabri Atman We are happy to announce that the GUE/NGL, European United Left/Nordic Green Left together with the SEYFO CENTER are hosting a conference about the Assyrian Genocide of 1915. We will be discussing various topics including the perspective of Turkey joining the EU. We would like to cordially invite you and the representatives of your organization to attend our conference in the European Parliament at Rue Wiertz in Brussels, room P7C050 on Monday 26 March 2007 at 15:00 until 17:00. We have a limited place in the conference room and would appreciate your response to our invitation no later than three weeks before the event. We require the participants full names for booking and security requirements. At the conference, three languages, English, German and France will be used and with the stimulant method you will chose the language you want. We don’t promise but we try to arrange Assyrian as well. We wait with anticipation to your early response. For more information write to info@seyfo.com.
Rev. Yosip Qelaita's Assyrian School of Mosul Project Rev. Yosip Qelaita's Assyrian school in Mosul operated from 1920-1945; it was a remarkable school that produced the next generation of Assyrian leaders and intellectuals. The following information was obtained from Shamasha Yosip Zia (#42), who attended the school from 1920-1923. The school year began on November 1st and ended on May 30th. The school was co-ed, with boys and girls attending classes (in the photograph there is only one girl shown, #132); Shamasha Zia says there were many many girls in the school, but few made it to the advanced classes. In 1921 a disagreement between Benyamin Arsanis and Qasha Yosip Qelaita arose, regarding the curriculum. Benyamin Arsanis wanted to stress history and science, particularly Assyrian history, and wanted a more secular curriculum, while Qasha Qelaita wanted a more religious curriculum. The Mar Shimoun sided with Qasha Qelaita and Benyamin Arsanis was forced to leave the school. This photograph was taken in 1922 and shows 129 students and 5 instructors. Rev. Qelaita, a deacon (Shamasha) at the time, is the white-bearded man seated in the middle (#114). Some of the names of these students are known, others are not. We wish to identify each student in this photograph. We also would like to compile a list of all the students that attended the Assyrian School of Mosul. If you recognize anyone in this photograph or know of anyone who attended this school, click below to send us this information. click here to identify or add a person. At press time 16 teachers and students have been identified.
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Jozef Essavi : Candidate for the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustee, Seat # 3 Jozef Thomas Essavi was elected to the Winnetka Neighborhood Council in 2005. He serves as Winnetka Senator to Los Angeles Congress of Neighborhood Councils. Jozef is a product of Los Angeles Valley College and was elected and re-elected as the ASB Union Treasurer in the 90's and was unanimously nominated from LAVC to become LACCD Student Trustee. He was able to keep student learning center open even after all the funds had been exhausted. Jozef knows the inner workings of LACCD, its flaws and positive aspects and has worked with faculty, staff and administrators in a fair and balanced fashion. He went on to receive his BA from UCR and MA from Cal State Northridge and currently is working on his PhD. He is committed to the district's taxpayers and Proposition 13 and to accountability and responsibility. He is committed to full student access to education, lower unit fees, and expanded scholarship programs. He is committed to teacher tenure rather than shuttling between campuses. He is committed to giving independence to each of the nine campuses and their administrators. Jozef Thomas Essavi will be “a Trustee for all of us”. Please help by voting or donating to his campaign and by visiting his website (click here). To view Mr. Essavi's Campaign Video click here. Hanna Hajjar: Candidate for the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustee, Seat # 5
Press Release It is my pleasure to introduce myself as one of the candidates running for the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD), Board of Trustee, Seat #5. Please view LA's certified candidates list, page #2 at the following link: click here. I take this opportunity to invite you to visit my website (click here), as my approach to campaigning is completely different. In my website you will find something different, unique, and creative. I am an engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, artist, and the president of my Alumni, a very rare combination. I am pioneering in a new type of online election campaigning, thought the use of online video clips; I believe that this new idea would be of interest to you. You can view my clips at www.YouTube.com at the following links: Video Clip #1: click here Title: Da Mariachi (with 8360 hits at press time) Looking forward to hearing from you soon. I can be reached at: hh@hanna4trustee.com or by phone at: 818-300-4734. International Women's Day Shoshan Lamassu We - a network of Iraqi women’s rights organisations based in Iraq and the UK – want to draw attention to the plight of Iraqi women. We the London based, Marem Reshakh: Assyrian Women’s Human Rights are one of the catalysts behind this event, which will of course highlight the suffering of the Assyrian women along with the Iraqi women in general. We have come together to organise an event to mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, 8th March 2007. In the context of what Iraqi women are experiencing in their everyday life in Iraq, we hope that this celebration of universal rights, freedom and equality, for which Iraqi women is continuing to struggle to voice their opinion courageously will be a historic event. Since the invasion and beginning of the occupation of Iraq in 2003, our society has been driven into a state of instability, chaos and anarchy. At times like this, everyone suffers, but it is the women who are the first victims. Lack of adequate health care, clean water and electricity, unemployment, abductions, rape, sex trafficking, rise of politicized, religion, ethic, honour killings, violence at the hands of occupation forces, Islamist militias and insurgents, criminal gangs and families, as well as sectarian killings and targeted assassinations terrorise the lives of thousands of women. In mounting this event, we want to draw attention to the outrageous situation in which Iraqi women are having to live, work and raise their families, and we also want to celebrate their extraordinary resilience and ability to go on fighting for their rights. We want to say ‘no’ to being divided along sectarian and ethnic lines and ‘no’ to the violation of women’s rights in Iraq under occupation.
Lamassu Productions Launches "Assyrian Identity – Sponsorship Tour" André N. Anton FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DETROIT, MI, Feb 14, 2007 /Lamassu Productions/ -- On Saturday, February 10th, 2007, Lamassu Productions kicked off their "Assyrian Identity – Sponsorship Tour," in Connecticut. The tour marks a significant date in the progress for the upcoming film, Assyrian – The Struggle for Identity. This process marks the transition from conceptualization to the pre-production phase. The film deals with the struggles of the Assyrian people, a people that have been subjected to various forms of discrimination and persecution since the fall of the Assyrian Empire approximately 2600 years ago, linking the cultural, historical, and political aspects of the Assyrian identity in a way to preserve and uphold an ancient civilization on the brink of extinction. During their visit to Connecticut, producers André N. Anton and Feras Majid Shammami attended the Assyrian-American National Federation's (AANF) national meeting to promote the film project. This particular visit stands as a powerful message in regards to its symbolic nature. The AANF was founded in the early 1930s in Connecticut in response to atrocities and slaughters committed against Assyrian communities in Iraq. As being one of the first Assyrian groups founded in America, the launching of the tour at the AANF's national meeting serves as a representation of a new beginning, the formidable spirit of Assyrian perseverance and will to survive. According to Shammami, the presentation was a success: “André and I launched our tour with tempered expectations and they were more than exceeded. The presentation led to a discussion and a truly humbling show of support. This is more evidence of the hunger that Assyrians have for exactly this type of project. Assyrian – The Struggle For Identity is truly more than a movie and we are starting to witness that in the reactions we are receiving. I believe a young man at the meeting, Ninos, put it best: 'This movie is our movement.'" The next stop on the tour travels to the Detroit area, as the tour meets with several community organizations and media outlets. In addition to sponsorship for the movie, Lamassu Productions is reaching out to unite the Chaldean, Syriac, and Assyrian communities and to bridge the gap between the young and the old. But no matter what ethnic or religious backgrounds reside in a person, compassion and humanity must prevail to help those that are suffering. To schedule a tour of the presentation and/or receive a sponsorship package, contact Lamassu Productions via e-mail: sponsorship@assyriandoc.com. Call for Architectural Sketches for Assyrian Genocide Monument in Yerevan, Armenia The Assyrian Organization of Armenia The Assyrians of Armenia have been provided with an opportunity to erect a monument in Yerevan (the capital city of Armenia) commemorating the victims of the 1915 Assyrian Genocide. The proposed site is the lower corner of the Chamber Music Hall Park (intersection of Nalbandian and Moskovian). Assyrian architects, artists, and other talented individuals are requested to submit ideas and concepts in the form of architectural sketches for the subject monument. The space allocated for this monument is 3 meters in width, 4 meters in length, and 3 meters in height. All efforts have been made to create this 17-page self explanatory document to clearly
define the environment where the monument will erected. If any further clarification is
required, please contact us. NOC Iraq is Looking for Athletes National Olympic Committee of Iraq The National Olympic Committee of Iraq is calling all Iraqi athletes residing outside Iraq or who are citizens of said countries to send a resume of their performance as listed bellow. The NOC of Iraq is looking for high performance athletes to represent Iraqi National Teams in International championships and be a part of the Iraqi teams taking part in Arab, Asian, and Olympic Games. At the moment, one male swimmer and one female swimmer are needed to represent Iraq in the World Swimming Championship and then the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008. Athletes with competition experience in the winter games are also needed. 1- Must have competitive experience in his/her sport and still in training. Contact Information:
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Missed Opportunities
What drew my attention was his beautiful fountain pen: black, sleek, a gold band on the cap. As we waited for our individual flights at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, I felt a kindred spirit with him because of my great love for fountain pens. He was well dressed, in a distinct European way, and sitting across from him, occasionally I got a whiff of English lavender. It looked to me he was writing a letter. From time to time he stopped and gazed into the distance. I saw longing in his eyes. He wrote many pages. Time passed. My flight was delayed. I stayed glued to my seat. Finally he capped the fountain pen and studied what he had written. Then he straightened the pages together and ripped them into strips, methodically, as if in slow motion. I saw dew in his eyes, but I could have been wrong. He sat there for a long time afterward and stared into space, until his flight was called. Then he was gone, leaving me to ponder my failure to begin a conversation with him. Why didn’t I do it? I would have liked to know about him. Even found out about the letter. To whom was he writing? What was he writing? And why tear it up in the end? That picture still haunts me. Life is a stream of missed opportunities that, unlike a roll of dice, will never again create the same combination. I think of another missed opportunity, perhaps the most profound in my life. It was not getting to know my great uncle, the writer and historian Binyamin Arsanis. We called him Mom Yameh. When I was a little boy, he was a giant. Looking back now, I wish I had been old enough to know him better. To converse with him as a mature person. Assyrian to Assyrian. Artist to artist. He could have told me so much about being an Assyrian. About being a writer. I remember Uncle Binyamin was always hunched over a manuscript at his writing table under a big tree in his yard, fountain pen in hand. This is in Tehran, Iran, where I lived my early years. I grew up learning to read and write Farsi, whereas he wrote in our own language: Assyrian. Perhaps he could also have taught me to try my hand at writing in Assyrian. What a gift that would have been for me. Unable to read or write Assyrian, although I speak it, I have never read what he wrote, though I remember as a youngster being taken to a performance of one of his plays. I don’t recall the play, but an image plays in my head of the curtain falling and the theatre exploding with cheers and applause as the audience shot to its feet. It mu |
