Assyrian Voice Emagazine

By Abbey Mikha

Assyrians care about peoples from other cultures and they sympathize with their struggle!

I wrote this essay a few years ago for Slavery class.  I encourage all of you to read it.  Although it is not about Assyrians we can still learn from what other peoples of other nations have gone through and the struggle they faced at the hands of oppressors.

Introduction

Since the beginning of civilization many prejudiced catastrophic series of events have occurred which the human race should be ashamed of.   Such an event took place during the transatlantic slave trade.  This was certainly a miserable time in history, a strange time, when the human race had not yet understood itself in relation to people who appear different.  In that time Europeans devastated Africa.  They used African people as slaves and for many years they were their main labor force, which made a lot of Europeans materially rich, but in a historical sense evoked an image of them as morally devoid.  Slaves were important to the economic development of various countries and were shipped to the New World, to what is still today called the Americas.  The African slaves though did not forget about their home and always desired Africa.  Although they were not allowed to conjure an image of their homeland, they did so spiritually in the depths of their psyche and soul and through their music.  This psychological phenomenon became a gift to the New World from the slaves.  Although this world was unkind to them they still contributed to the culture. They told folkloric tales, danced, sang and kept alive the melody of their homeland.  It is undeniable that their beliefs were also repressed and substituted for Christianity, which was forced upon them.  Nonetheless, the melody and beat of Africa, which ran through their veins, would find its way into the notes and hymns of the slaves and the innovative rhythm of their descendants.  At first the music continued to be a reflection of the immeasurable sadness and hopelessness of an oppressed people. After, the interaction of African and European musical cultures as a result of the transatlantic slave trade created an undeniable musical revolution, which began with instruments such as the fiddle and the melody, which forever continues to have a major effect on the development of music in America.

Richard Jobson an English captain who visited Gambia during the years of 1620 to 1621 observed the importance of music in the African way of life: “There is without doubt, no people on the earth more naturally affected to the sound of musicke than these people; which the principal person [that is, the kings and chiefs] do hold as an ornament of their state, so as when we come to see them, their musicke will seldom be wanting.”[1] Zora Neale Hurston stated that in the time of slavery blacks “became lords of sounds.”[2] The melody of Africa was in the hearts of every black man and woman.  Although the sad melody of slaves became a mirror of sound of the torture they endured and a certain deep depressive expression of their calamity, one cannot deny the influence it was to have on America forever after.  Shane and Graham White said that, “For nearly three centuries of African American history, much of what was distinctive about black culture was to be found in the realm of sound.[3] Many people today attest to the fact that a large number of African Americans are musically gifted; this is evidenced by the eloquent gift of the spirituals that African slaves gave to people of all color.

For the slaves, as each day drew to a close and fading light made more work impossible, these physically tortured human beings were marched back to cabins for a few hours of rest:

“At night they would begin to sing their native songs, and in a short while would become so wrought up that, utterly oblivious to the danger involved, they would grasp their bundles of personal effects, swing them on their shoulders, and setting their faces towards Africa would march down into the water singing as they marched until recalled to their senses only by the drowning of some of the party”.[4]

In regards to such escapes and in some extreme cases nervous whites wished to silence slaves, at times quite literally.[5] Sometimes slaves were not allowed to even sing during their work so they “quietly hummed against the threat of punishment by the overseer or owner.”[6] This punishment of silence was perhaps why their heart was stubborn and still wanted to sing.  Words, rhymes, notes, and melodies after all are what make any life more bearable.  Although as time passed whites recognized their liking for many of the sounds of slavery. [7] “As would later happen with the paintings of Picasso and Braque, antebellum whites continued to use words such as “wild” or “strange” to describe the sounds that they had heard from colored people, but they also acknowledged the power of what had been revealed to them.”[8]

There were all kinds of songs that the slaves sang.  Some were work songs, dance and play songs, story songs or ballets, satirical songs, field and street cries, spirituals, and poetic forms.  The most common poetic structure was the call and response form, in which the solo verse alternate with the refrain lines. [9] The following is an interesting song with a typical arrangement.  In the song the “springs that never run dry” could be an expression commonly used by slaves to refer to that place where they could indulge in something so natural as a spring, where fresh water flows to the surface of the earth from underground, or even perhaps heaven a place where they would be free from the difficult physical labor which they had to endure on earth at that time:

I meet little Rosa early in the morning.

O Jerusalem! Early in the morning.

And I asked her, how [do] you do, my daughter,

O Jerusalem! Early in the morning.

I meet my mother early in the morning.

O Jerusalem! Early in the morning.

I want to go where Moses trod.

O the dying Lamb.

For Moses gone to the promised land.

O the dying Lamb.

To drink from springs that never run dry.

O the dying Lamb.

Some primary sources such as town and court records and assembly journals of the time reveal matters of musical interest among the lists of facts.  Thus we learn, for example, that the slave Nero Benson was a trumpeter in the company of Captain Isaac Clark.[10] The trial records of one slave revolt in 1741 show that one of the slaves involved was a fiddler named Jamaica, a slave of Ellis.[11] “Fiddling was an occupation that was commonly, if not exclusively, performed by African Americans and the tradition of black fiddling has its roots in slave culture.”[12] The record of slave fiddling was so strong, in fact, that some whites became convinced of the primacy of blacks as dance musicians in antebellum America.[13] Slave musicians had created a custom whereby they provided dance music for white America, and it was some time before blacks were seriously challenged in that field.[14] Therefore, a distinct African American musical tradition, one that combined elements of African and European music, had become well established.  This means there was cultural exchange and African slaves were influencing European music and revolutionizing the culture.  Had the Europeans known that this revolution in melody would occur and influence American culture to such an extent, they may not have allowed it.  It can be said that this gradual musical cultural exchange snuck through with mother time.  There were many songs, but there is a tune fiddlers played called “Lost John” which is said to have originated in black tradition.[15] The fiddlers were the hearts and souls of the party; for slaves it was a way to show their musical expertise and their free spirit.

There are eight important points in regards to slavery and fiddling, which Paul Wells stated in his article “Fiddling as an Avenue of Black-White Musical Interchange.”   These are very worth mentioning and are central to understanding the significance of the slave fiddler:

1.Slaves were playing fiddles for white dances as early as the 1690’s and presumably learned-and possibly adapted-the prevailing popular dance repertoire.

1. Black fiddlers also played tunes that were more African in character-“Negro jigs”-which do not conform to the standard British, Irish, American fiddle-tune mod but which may have influenced later southern fiddling, both white and black.
2. The combination of fiddle and banjo grew out of slave culture, and slaves were playing fiddles and banjos together at least as early as 1774.
3. Syncopated bowing patterns, which were likely borrowed from black fiddling, strongly influenced the development of a particularly southern version of fiddling and later forms of popular music.
4. White minstrels adapted black instruments, techniques, and repertoire and combined them with European musical elements to form a popular synthesis of African and European music.
5. Minstrelsy impacted later white fold tradition.
6. In late-nineteenth-century black urban communities, piano-based music supplanted the older fiddle and banjo dance music, leading to the development of ragtime.
7. The blues exerted a strong influence on white southern fiddling and, ultimately, on commercial genres that grew out of it.[16]

The African fiddler became an expert in his field and through his passion allowed white Americans to see the diligence and effort that the African slave was capable of.  Fiddling eventually became the most reported musical activity of African Americans during Antebellum America.

There have also been many forgotten songs influenced by slave culture but one song that everyone knows is “Amazing Grace” by John Newton.[17] “Although the origin of the melody is unknown, most hymnals attribute it to an early American folk melody. The Bill Moyers special on this song speculated that it may have originated as the tune of a song the slaves sang.”[18] Many people, to this day, do not appreciate the influence of slave cultures on America, and do not like to admit that it contributed anything profound, especially in the field of music.  The argument that slave music sounded very simple and primitive and could therefore not have influenced eloquent American music is not true.  Anyone with blood running through their veins knows that the saddest melodies are those that most touch the soul and influence musical minds that perhaps purposely overheard a song and were then inspired to write something similar combining style and music.  According to Samuel Floyd Jr. a journalist once said that Black music died at the hands of British rock groups in the 1960’s.[19] He says that, “part of the reason that such mythological thought continue to surface in scholarly writings is that too few black intellectuals have been involved in black music research for significant and persistent debunking to take place.”[20] Although he wrote this in 1983 it is still very true today.   It is sad that throughout history and even in this advanced century some scholars still deny the influence of slave music on America.  This gives witness to the fact that sometimes people who we believe to be thinkers, philosophers, and leaders in a certain field should be questioned, especially when the truth is so evident.

It is interesting to note that someone who is considered a great thinker like Friedrich Hegel also rationalized slavery.   He said that Africans lack consciousness, which sets man apart from other “animals”.  He thought that since Africans did not have that consciousness they deserved to be enslaved.[21] These are devastating thoughts and ideas, but even the Pope himself at some points in history sanctioned slavery.  Nonetheless, neither Hegel nor the Pope had enough authority to take away from slaves the power of music. Quite a few ex-slaves stated that their masters and mistresses and sometimes their white guests as well would come down to the slave quarters to witness and be entertained by a slave dance.[22] In the narratives, one finds references to blacks listening to white music and whites listening to black music.[23]

The truth is that racism has been there since anyone can remember,[24] but there have also always been a few kind people who knew that slavery was wrong on every level and tried to destroy it as an institution.  Sometimes the behavior of criminal peoples can be difficult to understand especially when we do not agree with them on any level. The transatlantic slave trade was a devastating event which, to say the least, shook and traumatized millions of Africans perhaps forever.  The creation of the universe may still be a mystery, but the creation of slavery was no accident.  One positive thing that came out of the transatlantic slave trade was the interaction of African and European musical cultures, which eventually created an undeniable musical revolution.  It was initiated by instruments such as the fiddle and the melody that forever continues to have a major effect on the development of music in America.

Imagine the fiddler, a man who happens to be black and also a slave, who in his moment of happiness shows excitement and creativity in play and in movement.  He created in the heart of the humanitarian onlooker a desire for a human uprising, an explosion of feeling, with his deliberate exchange and intermixing of techniques, notes, dancing, and feeling.  This musical expression, which stems from the source of the need to be free and to be allowed to exist is an image and sentiment that alone can influence generations of people in the beat of every second in time.

End Notes

[1] Eileen Southern. The Music of Black Americans A History. New York.  W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1971.  4.

[2] Shane White and Graham White. The Sound of Slavery. Boston: Beacon Press, 2005. Ix.

[3] White, The Sounds of Slavery. Ix.

[4] White. The Sound of Slavery. xi.

[5] White. The Sound of Slavery. xiii.

[6] White. The Sound of Slavery. 55.

[7] White. The Sounds of Slavery. 18.

[8] White. The Sounds of Slavery. 18.

[9] Southern. The Music of Black America. 190.

[10] Eileen Southern.  The Music of Black America. 30.

[11] Eileen Southern. The Music of Black America. 30.

[12] Paul Wells. “Fiddling as an Avenue of Black-White Musical Interchange.” Black Music Research Journal. Vol 23. 138.

[13] Wells. “Fiddling Avenue Interchange.”138.

[14] Wells. “Fiddling Avenue Interchange.”138.

[15] Wells. “Fiddling Avenue Interchange.”142.

[16] Wells. “Fiddling Avenue Interchange.” 145.

[17] Professor Mohamed H. Mohamed. Class notes.

[18] Al Rogers. Amazing Grace: The Story of John Newton. http://www.anointedlinks.com/amazing_grace.html (accessed December 1st).

[19] Samuel Floyd Jr. “On Black Music Research”. Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 3. 1983. 48.

[20] Floyd. “Black Music Research”. 48.

[21] Professor Mohamed H. Mohamed. Class notes.

[22] Robert Winans. “Black Instrumental Music Traditions in the Ex-Slave Narratives”. Black Music Research Journal. 1990.  53.

[23] Winans. “Black Music Ex-Slave Narratives.” 53.

[24] Professor Mohamed H. Mohamed. Class notes.

Works Cited

Floyd, Samuel Jr. “On Black Music Research”. Black Music Research Journal.  Vol. 3, (1983), pp. 46-57.  Published by: Center for Black Music Research – Columbia College Chicago and University of Illinois Press. (accessed December 2nd 2010). Jstor.

Southern Eileen.  The Music of Black Americans A History. New York.  W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1971.

Wells Paul.  “Fiddling as an Avenue of Black-White Musical Interchange.” Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 23, No. 1/2 (Spring – Autumn, 2003), pp. 135-147.  Published by: Center for Black Music Research – Columbia College Chicago and University of Illinois Press.  (Accessed December 1st 2010). Jstor.

White Shane and White Graham.  The Sound of Slavery. Boston: Beacon Press, 2005.

Remembering the Aboriginal Peoples who once roamed Canada. Wisdom from other ancient peoples…..

By Abbey Mikha

Harmony manifested within the Aboriginal peoples spirituality and spirituality was intertwined with every aspect of their being. Harmony was therefore omnipresent in the Aboriginal way of life.  The ancient Aboriginal peoples understood that to be in harmony with all things was not only the most divine way to live, but for them the only way to live. Their sacrament was one of being in harmony.

Harmony was the vine at the centre of their circle which is life that branched out and touched many aspects of their existence, shaping the ways in which they interacted and related to nature with compassion, creating balance within their autonomous non-hierarchical social organization and embodied within their respect for the individual identity of their children.

Harmony shaped the ways in which the Aboriginal peoples interacted with and related to nature with compassion. They had a deep, close, spiritual connections to their land, to the extent that it was tied to their own identity. In the article Bkejwanong it said that the Aboriginal peoples wanted to protect their land, their Mother Earth, which they believe to be their soul. It also said that Aboriginal peoples retained values, traditions, and knowledge that are inspired by the principle of living in harmony with the natural world. This being a primary ethic in their civilization embodied within their love for the earth and all its creations. If one crop was not available for them, others were used and they never over exploited one specific resource because they believed that the Creator held them responsible for the natural world. A Cree Proverb describing these preservationist attitudes states:

“Only when the last tree is cut; only when the last river is polluted; only when the last fish is caught; only then will they realise that you cannot eat money.”

The Aboriginal peoples valued nature more than the accumulation of riches. In the article Bkejwanong it also said that they believe, “We are spiritual beings, as such, our sources of life are all around us – the four elements of Earth, Water, Air and Fire.”  These elements were sacred and respected by the Aboriginal peoples who lived life compassionately at one with them.

The autonomous non-hierarchical social organization of the Aboriginal peoples was balanced because humans were at the centre of all things, rule was communal, and women had high degree of status and were allowed to take part in decision-making. Like for example the sister of Joseph Grant Mohawk who had a lot of power and influence in the Iroquois society. In the article Bkejwanong it said that a strong feature of the Aboriginal culture was that emphasis on community, on sharing resources through good and bad times, and on group decision-making through consensus. When the masculine and female psyches and essences were animate in such an atmosphere harmony was mediating.

Harmony was additionally embodied within the Aboriginal peoples respect for the individual identity of their children. In Eleanor Leacock’s article Le Jeune noted that, “Aboriginals cannot endure in the least those who seem desirous of assuming superiority over others and that they place all virtue in a certain gentleness or apathy.”

He also stated that, “Aboriginals cannot bear to have their children punished or even scolded.” These sentiments are interrelated with Aboriginals child rearing ways since they did not practise corporal punishment. Other societies use this sort of punishment because they want to shape the identity of their children by forcing them into submission restricting the child’s identity and personality. This contributes to a climate of violence, leaves a negative impression on children who are the most sensitive beings of all humankind and implies that society approves of their physical violation. Aboriginals instinctively knew this to be unhealthy and unnecessary to shape the psyches of their children in such a way. This lack of need for control of their childrens identities and superiority over them, speaks of confidence the Aboriginal peoples had in their identity as a nation and in the potential identity of their children within that nation. They knew their children’s individuality would shape themselves naturally more positively without their unnecessary intimidating interferences. A child after all is an innocent being and should be treated with benevolence.

In a society where generosity is of the highest value harmony cannot but be a pre-eminent melody and for the Aboriginal peoples harmony was as much a part of life as wind is a part of spring. Balance within the Aboriginals autonomous non-hierarchical social organization was achieved through an incarnation of harmony within the equality between genders in a community where rule was communal. Aboriginal peoples were part of the cycle of the earth. They lived life in love with nature and in that love abided harmony. Harmony was also found within the respect the Aboriginal peoples had for the individual identity of the most defenceless of souls, their children. These variables all gave witness to an advanced consciousness that embraces the ethos of equality for all.

In modern days it is a great achievement when an ethos is made into law. For the Aboriginal peoples the ethos of equality did not need to be made into law, it existed, as surely as birds own no castles other than the wilderness but one can still hear compassion in their voices when they sing for all of humankind. Authority and culture for the Aboriginal peoples was not based on gender, or even age, but also good will, civility, humanity, and harmony is at peace in such values.

Sources

Eleanor Leacock’s, Montagnais Women and the Jesuit Program for Colonization. An article from a class about Aboriginals.

Jacob Deans, Bkejwanong The Place Where the Waters Divide. An article from a class on Aboriginals of Canada.

Ashur Giwargis – Beirut
English Translation by Donis Ishaia – Syria

12/09/2011

Note: in the article hereinafter the reader may find phrases that do not appeal to them, like “changing the church”, whereby we do not mean any hatred towards our Chaldean Church, but it was used just to restrict debaters before reveling my point, for the Chaldean Church is an Assyrian institution, having been established in Assyria and by Assyrians as stated by the Cardinal Emanuel Dalli (during his Assyrian youth) in his doctoral dissertation under the title “The Patriarchal Institution in The Church of The East” in 1958.

If you are an Assyrian and you deny your nationality because you don’t know, you are a naïve Assyrian.
If you deny it because you don’t know it and you don’t want to know it, then you are a stupid Assyrian.
If you deny it and you know it, then you are a liar, sycophant and cowardly Assyrian.
If you acknowledge it and you don’t know it, you are an ignorant Assyrian.
If you acknowledge it and you know it, then you are an Assyrian believer.

However, if you are an Assyrian then you are an Assyrian willy-nilly.

Many still think that murdering the Assyrian identity has been fulfilled especially after it has been agreed among kurdist Assyrian parties to use the term “Christians” to avoid conflicts and keep esteem before their financial supporters whether they are the Diaspora’s naïve or the Kurdish parties.

In any case, “The expiry of the Assyrian identity” theory is very wrong. Moreover, attacking the Assyrian identity since October 2003 has reflected into the clinging of many Assyrians more and more to their identity, especially the Assyrian intellects from the Catholic Church, or the “Chaldean intellects” as we call them. But this did not materialize, since they did not play their role actively in educating the naïve about the Assyrian identity. They were only active in writing some articles with no actual move in the face of the campaign launched against the Assyrian identity, and which is led by the renegade personas, mentioned above, with support from the clerics.

In this context, it is worth analyzing the psychology of “some” individuals of this class of intellects finding a complex blocking their way to achieving their Assyrian notion. As an example, I’ll choose two brief conversations with two of the “Chaldean” intellects, who have been, to me, two angles of the Assyrian writing triangle, who educated me nationally before the age of the Internet. The third angle is from The Church of The East, but I have realized in the recent years that he is not more faithful to his Assyrian belonging than Younadam Kanna. Then I’ll move to a third person to get into the subject through the front door. To cut a long story short, I’ll get into the crux of my arguments with these two intellects. I was writing immediately what I heard.

Person one:

In the late 2006, came to Beirut one of the most well-known Assyrian intellects, a man of rationality, never been tainted with Aflaqism, Leninism, or Barazanism. He listens to my opinions and pursues my writings, although I consider myself a student of him in many Assyrian history lessons. In one of our Beirutian gatherings we discussed the Assyrian identity issue where he frankly said that it became a commodity to be traded with by the parties only to satisfy the voters. He, as usual, didn’t want to be involved in names and titles/headlines, but I asked him some questions trying to warn him that his pretext could/would not cover up his weak personality. So I asked him to give me answers to my “juvenile” questions no matter how insignificant he might find them. The conversation was as follows:

Me: Don’t you believe in your Assyrian nationality?
Him: (Smiling) more than you do, and you know that.

Me: Do you care if Saint Mary is called “Mother of God” or “Mother of the Christ”?
Him: I’m a believer, yet not pious, and I don’t get into such details. Of course it is not logical that a woman begets her creator. All of these were discrepancy established to enable some churches control over some parts of the world due to the political conflicts at the time. What matters to me is that I’m Christian clinging to my Christianity.

Me: Then, you don’t care if you are Chaldean or from The Church of The East, since you are an Assyrian Christian.
Him: Of course. But where are you trying to reach with your questions?

Me: What I want to get is an answer to the last question; since you care not about your ecclesiastical belonging but about your Christian one, and since you well know about the schisms in The Church of The East, and you wrote about the establishment of your church by power of the Turkish and Kurdish Agas, incited by Vatican, and since you actually don’t acknowledge the phrase “Mary is the mother of God”, so why don’t you announce to the public your withdrawal from this church and return to the mother church – The Church of The East? This would be of influence on many naïve Assyrians, especially those from your region who are misled by the delusion and malice of clerics towards their Assyrian nation.
Him: (guffawing) Dear, you don’t know our society. Anyone who engages in the Assyrian concern is pointed at with the forefinger, so how do you want me to abandon my people and relatives? I prefer to stay “Chaldean”, writing about our Assyrian belonging. This works better than your idea, with all due respect to your opinion.

Although his reply was clever, it was not convincing. So I threw a final question: “Well, then why do you only write? Why don’t you establish, with the rest of the Chaldean intellects (I named so-and-so…), an Assyrian national awareness movement inside the Chaldean society?” His shocking answer was that they (the people I named) were “cowards”, note that he himself expressed his fear from his society.

Person two:

This is the second angel of my national educational triangle mentioned above. I met him for the first time in The Church of The East’s hall at the Assyrian Quarter in Beirut, where I was introduced to him by another Assyrian writer. When he saw me he peered over his spectacles and asked: “Ashur Giwargis ? you?” surprised at my young age comparable my professionalism for writing and my profound knowledge in Assyrian history and politics (as far as he evaluated, of course).

As for my second meeting with him, it was just like the one with my first victim; a pure Beirutian gathering where the same talk went, and the man expressed his adherence to Assyrianism. To reassure him that I believed him, I reminded him of some of his harsh writings about his church spiteful towards its people’s nationality across occupied Assyria’s plains. He was surprised again that I had read his works since I was seventeen. After the customary eastern compliments, I told him, as I did with the first victim, to answer some questions no matter how insignificant he might find them. He smiled and all that he said was: “Go ahead”.

Me: You say you believe in your Assyrianism, don’t you?
Him: You yourself say that I’m one of your lanterns in the way of the Assyrian national awareness.

Me: Exactly. And do you care much more about your ecclesiastical belonging than your national belonging?
Him: As you know, I come from a communist family and I’m a former communist though being nationalist. Of course what I care about more is my national belonging.

Me: Then why don’t you announce your withdrawal from your Chaldean Church, which you attack every day, and return to your church to guide the naïve people?
Him: I think I’ll do best if I stay in my church. For your information, when I returned to my village after the fall of Saddam I dared not even to enter the church because of how people were looking at me. I even learned that the priest of the village asked: [what did this “Athournaya” come to do here ?] This is why it’s hard for anyone to leave their society. So we have to deal with this reality, which we refuse, in such a way that does not invite aversion of the others.

Me: well, sir, I understand that you can’t leave your church , but why don’t you establish a constructive and more influential movement than writings, along with other Chaldean intellects, specifically those of our thought and those nationally educated,?”
Him: For the time being and after all these years, I want to dedicate to my personal life. What I am into now is preserving our nation, whichever you call it, after the destruction our parties has caused to our cause”.

How strange is this man! A former communist fighter against the tyrant Saddam, who writes against his church, fears a Vatican smurf wandering in his kurdified village, though, at the same time, he (the debater) uses as a pretext the destruction brought to us by our heroic “parties”, ignoring his role and knowing that all ideological revolutions launch among the intellects then among the farmers, just like communism he has believed in.

Here we are done with two characters known for their writing, research and critique. We go on to a character from the outside of this triangle. I will name only this character because it is more expressive than the previous ones. This is in the drama that follows, which does not only express the problem of the Chaldean intellects, but also expresses the void arrogance of the “Bad time parties” and also of the Chaldean church malice towards its sons’ national belonging.

Person three:

Before holding Younadam Kanna’s festival in 2003, an attempt was made to form an Assyrian National Council initiated by the Assyrian Partriotic Party (APP) and attended by the so-called “Bet Nahrin” Liberation Party represented by Mr. Ishaya Eshu and independent dignitaries such as Mr. Odishu Malku, Aprim Samanu, Odishu Mikhael and others. They agreed on approaching Kanna’s Movement to take part in the council as an active party that has won the trust of many Assyrians (at that time). Sabah Mikkhael was chosen to represent the so-called “Bet Nahrin” Liberation Party, Aprim Samanu for the independents and another person of the Assyrian National Party. They met Kanna’s movement leadership represented by Touma Khoshaba who met their suggestion in an unbecoming and unaccountable way, sarcastically saying that they were not up to the status that qualifies them to invite an organization like the heroic Movement to join them in this project.

After this meeting, a Committee Foundation of the council was elected. It included Ishaya Eshu for the so-called “Bet Nahrin” Liberation Party (though the responsible of the party was present), Leon Simson for the APP and Odishu Malku for the Independents, on condition that negotiation must continue with other parties to be adjoined to the council. The APP suggested approaching educated and active persons from other Assyrian denominations, so the suggestion included each one of the “Chaldean” intellects: the linguist Binyamin Haddad, Mr. Saed Shamaya (the secretary general of the so-called “Chaldean Forum” today) and Adeeb Koka (now in Australia).

The first meeting was held, and the “Chaldean Intellects” started to break away, so another appointment was set at the headquarters of the so-called “Bet Nahrin” Liberation Party but the “Chaldean intellect” didn’t attend. A new appointment was set at Babel Club, where they reluctantly attended, and were embarrassed because of the persistence of the Committee Foundation. There they literally announced their stand as follows: “we can’t join because we belong to the Chaldean Church”. One of the attendees inquired about what deters them from joining as independents, and regardless of their affiliation in any ecclesiastical institution. The “Chaldean intellect” Binyamin Haddad’s answer came as: “My brother, we know that we are Assyrians, but our church does not accept it that we announce that”. Here the inquirer put an end to the hit-and-run game as he said: “An intellect who does not dare giving their thoughts for the fear of their church, is already not qualified to join this council”.

Finally, it’s the readers’ judgment, especially those from the Chaldean Church, and specifically their educated ones who have made clear more and more the biggest problems and complexes of the Assyrian society which we are still confused about their name: is it hypocrisy, fear or laziness? Whatever it is, it is still the problem of all problems regarding maintaining the Assyrian identity and its revival within the society after all the calamities the Assyrian Nation has gone through. It is a problem of the conflict with the ego of the “Chaldean” intellect, and those who suffer from this problem should put an end to it, to conclude with the known saying by Socrates: “The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be”.