US Recognizes ISIS Persecution against Assyrians as Genocide

Good on them but you can't truly take back those earlier statements. I don't know what they were thinking.
 
British recognised 1915 as a genocide and then reneged on their word, calling it a "tragedy" instead.  I hope this political nonsense does not happen again.  Our people have been through way too much without becoming political pawns once again.  Either way, FINALLY!
 
Kelba said:
I haven't seen this posted on this forum yet - the US has recognized that ISIS actions against Assyrians, Yezidis, and Shia Muslims is officially a genocide. I believe it is the first nation to officially classify it as genocide. The UN as an organization was hesitant to label it a genocide earlier last year, so I am wondering if they will follow America's lead now.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/17/politics/us-iraq-syria-genocide/index.html

To prevent future genocides or the disappearance of our people, we need our own borders. If we don't get them, our only other hope is excelling in diaspora as a highly skilled and academic society/societies.
 
Sharukinu said:
To prevent future genocides or the disappearance of our people, we need our own borders. If we don't get them, our only other hope is excelling in diaspora as a highly skilled and academic society/societies.

We need to maintain them though.  In Sydney we had TAAAS (The Assyrian Australian Academic Society) but that fell apart.  Unity is difficult when our churches constantly have conflicts (when parishioners get involved in stuff that has nothing to do with them).  When and only when we have unity in our various communities will a homeland ever be possible.
 
Crocodile Bani said:
We need to maintain them though.  In Sydney we had TAAAS (The Assyrian Australian Academic Society) but that fell apart.  Unity is difficult when our churches constantly have conflicts (when parishioners get involved in stuff that has nothing to do with them).  When and only when we have unity in our various communities will a homeland ever be possible.

Then why are we letting the churches control us? It's the people who make the church.

Is the church so blind that it doesn't realize that, if we disappear, the Churches themselves disappear?
 
I think that if we have any chance to collectively turn back to Assyria and reclaim our stake in the Motherland through a renewed sense of patriotism without people and society, this begins with curbing assimilation. There are many churches that actively promote patriotism. I know that for a fact. This is especially true of smaller ACOE congregations, Old Calendar congregations which passively promote our culture, and especially a Presbyterian congregation of Iranian-Assyrians in Turlock led by an Assyrian ultranationalist Pastor. However, the problem  of assimilation being exported to religious centers is rooted in multiple branches: 1) Sarhad Jammo's violent crackdown on the Assyrian identity and subsequent totalitarian institutionalization of passive Chaldean nationalism in his Diocese, 2) the presence of assimilation in larger ACOE congregations specificaly in California such as in Turlock-Modesto/LA/San Jose (coupled with theological liberalism in these cities but excluding Stanislaus County), and 3) certain Protestant congregations, most especially Evangelical ones, which actively curb Assyrian nationalism in the name of keeping the mission and vision of the church centralized. 
 
mrzurnaci said:
Then why are we letting the churches control us? It's the people who make the church.

Is the church so blind that it doesn't realize that, if we disappear, the Churches themselves disappear?

I can talk about this topic forever but I will keep it as short as possible here.

The church itself does not control anyone.  Individuals control themselves.  Unfortunately, too many people feel extreme passion for their church and it gets in the way of common sense.  An example of this is the trouble 10 years ago between ACOE and Mar Bawai.  Several of my relatives don't talk to each other anymore because of this, but neither the ACOE nor Mar Bawai instructed anyone to take this type of action.  Whilst I myself have an opinion of this particular situation, I also understand that disagreements can happen anywhere, and between anyone, including Mar Bawai and the ACOE.  SO WHAT?  No need for everyone to lose their cool over somebody else's conflict.

The church has a dilemma.  People are leaving it either for spiritual reasons (they have found a church where they are learning something about Jesus) or they are leaving simply because they don't believe in what it stands for.  It is happening to many of the older more established churches around the world.  With the Westernised generation, they are not willing to let the church be the political representative of our people, unlike previous generations who look at the church as our only representative in front of the world. 

We are in a transition and I have no idea where it will lead us.
 
Sharukinu said:
If we don't get them, our only other hope is excelling in diaspora as a highly skilled and academic society/societies.

That's okay, the number of Assyrians in Sweden I saw on Instagram that put as Engineer, doctor, scientist ect on their bio. is very high.

So it really is a good thing.
 
Domanic said:
That's okay, the number of Assyrians in Sweden I saw on Instagram that put as Engineer, doctor, scientist ect on their bio. is very high.

So it really is a good thing.

I think our immediate goal should be connecting these people by forming groups that regularly meet and/or communicate. These groups should unify people with common skills/interests such as writers, engineers, doctors, lawyers, musicians etc. I've heard of a plan that was meant to do that called operation Tammuz....I can not find any of its groups though.

Does anyone know if Operation Tammuz is still alive? If so, how can a person get involved?
 
Sharukinu said:
I think our immediate goal should be connecting these people by forming groups that regularly meet and/or communicate. These groups should unify people with common skills/interests such as writers, engineers, doctors, lawyers, musicians etc. I've heard of a plan that was meant to do that called operation Tammuz....I can not find any of its groups though.

Does anyone know if Operation Tammuz is still alive? If so, how can a person get involved?

I agree :)

Also, what is Operation Tammuz?
 
Domanic said:
I agree :)

Also, what is Operation Tammuz?

Exactly what I was talking about. A plan to connect Assyrians from around the world who share common skills/interests. I think that it was meant to form local groups that regularly met for example, Engineers from Sydney Australia might constitute one group that meets every fortnight.
 
Sharukinu said:
Exactly what I was talking about. A plan to connect Assyrians from around the world who share common skills/interests. I think that it was meant to form local groups that regularly met for example, Engineers from Sydney Australia might constitute one group that meets every fortnight.

We had that already but fell apart finally just a few years ago.  I was involved in setting it up (TAAAS) from day 1 but disagreements and criticisms led to TAAAS's demise.
 
Crocodile Bani said:
We had that already but fell apart finally just a few years ago.  I was involved in setting it up (TAAAS) from day 1 but disagreements and criticisms led to TAAAS's demise.

so you're saying that selfishness and stubbornness led to the demise of an important institution?

Also, Operation Tammuz can still be revived. Thing is that I'm a programmer, not really with IT.
 
mrzurnaci said:
so you're saying that selfishness and stubbornness led to the demise of an important institution?

I am not sure that selfishness killed it.  Have you ever heard the song that goes, "Now that we've found love, what are we gonna do, with it"?  TAAAS was kind of the same.  Assyrian University students (Originally recipients of the Rabbi Nimrod Simono scholarship but many others were added to the mix) thought it would be a good idea to start an academic society.  Problem was, after it was established, nobody could agree on what its aims were, what its purpose was, what its priorities were and of course, how to go about enacting those aims.  Then you had people sitting on the sidelines, who did nothing but criticise (which is everyone's right to) but offered no alternate solution.  I am hardly free of any faults myself and I won't paint a picture of myself as an angel.  I was also quite critical at times, but at the same time, I would lend my support and help out when I was able to.

TAAAS has the noblest of intentions but in the end and quite ironically, nobody truly understood TAAAS's intentions.
 
Crocodile Bani said:
I am not sure that selfishness killed it.  Have you ever heard the song that goes, "Now that we've found love, what are we gonna do, with it"?  TAAAS was kind of the same.  Assyrian University students (Originally recipients of the Rabbi Nimrod Simono scholarship but many others were added to the mix) thought it would be a good idea to start an academic society.  Problem was, after it was established, nobody could agree on what its aims were, what its purpose was, what its priorities were and of course, how to go about enacting those aims.  Then you had people sitting on the sidelines, who did nothing but criticise (which is everyone's right to) but offered no alternate solution.  I am hardly free of any faults myself and I won't paint a picture of myself as an angel.  I was also quite critical at times, but at the same time, I would lend my support and help out when I was able to.

TAAAS has the noblest of intentions but in the end and quite ironically, nobody truly understood TAAAS's intentions.

why not have multiple aims? Why have a single aim?

The Assyrian Australian Academic Society could've focused on modernizing Syriac or creating more Syriac learning material for those who wanted to learn it.

Maybe even make a dictionary of these new terms? Maybe also a modernized English to Syriac dictionary?

How about creating a standard Assyrian dialect so the Suryoyo Assyrians and Eastern Assyrians could understand each other alot better and connect with one another better?

I just threw three suggestions within few seconds. They seriously couldn't pick one aim, then why not pick multiple aims?
 
Your examples sound more like projects than aims. 

Examples of aims are: 

Are we just a group of Assyrian university students and if so, what exactly are we out to achieve by forming this group? 

Are we a group of university graduates?  Do we also include those who studied hair dressing at a TAFE college?  If so, should we include current university students?  Why or why not?  How many rights do students have?  Either way, what exactly are we trying to achieved by forming this group?

Are we a surrogate political group? Do we get involved at all in areas that politicians would normally get involved with?  Do we make statements on behalf of the Assyrian people in the absence of statements from our political leaders?

Are we in existence to encourage young Assyrians to follow the path to academic success?  Are we here to provide encouragement and other help to make the academic dreams of Assyrians comes true? 

Should we just concentrate on activities such as parties and picnics to engage the youth, in order to encourage young Assyrians to mix with the academics of the community?  Is a publications committee necessary?  If so, what is the purpose of the monthly magazine, 'Purely academic"?
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My list could go on but I think you get the drift.  The one thing we ever agreed upon was not to take any sides in the church debate or favour the Nineveh Club over the Culture Club (or vice versa).  Remain neutral in areas such as politics and religion when there are multiple institutions. 

Don't get me wrong.  TAAAS did some great things and achieved some great things but they only happened when people with one vision worked together.  Once it became a fractured and divided group, it became dysfunctional and eventually fell by the wayside.
 
Crocodile Bani said:
Your examples sound more like projects than aims. 

Examples of aims are: 

Are we just a group of Assyrian university students and if so, what exactly are we out to achieve by forming this group? 

Are we a group of university graduates?  Do we also include those who studied hair dressing at a TAFE college?  If so, should we include current university students?  Why or why not?  How many rights do students have?  Either way, what exactly are we trying to achieved by forming this group?

Are we a surrogate political group? Do we get involved at all in areas that politicians would normally get involved with?  Do we make statements on behalf of the Assyrian people in the absence of statements from our political leaders?

Are we in existence to encourage young Assyrians to follow the path to academic success?  Are we here to provide encouragement and other help to make the academic dreams of Assyrians comes true? 

Should we just concentrate on activities such as parties and picnics to engage the youth, in order to encourage young Assyrians to mix with the academics of the community?  Is a publications committee necessary?  If so, what is the purpose of the monthly magazine, 'Purely academic"?
********************************************

My list could go on but I think you get the drift.  The one thing we ever agreed upon was not to take any sides in the church debate or favour the Nineveh Club over the Culture Club (or vice versa).  Remain neutral in areas such as politics and religion when there are multiple institutions. 

Don't get me wrong.  TAAAS did some great things and achieved some great things but they only happened when people with one vision worked together.  Once it became a fractured and divided group, it became dysfunctional and eventually fell by the wayside.

And why did it fracture? The best medicine is prevention which begs to ask why did it fracture and divide? Why was there no compromise between groups?

To me, this is selfish thinking because they were thinking about THEIR ideas of thinking about how all the groups could benefit as a whole.

If I can be that move quoter everybody hates ;) ...

From the Lord of the Rings...

The king of the Elves, Elrond, I quote saying "Isildur kept the Ring. It should have ended that day, but evil was allowed to endure. There's no strength left in the world of Men. They're scattered, divided, leaderless."

This quote can easily be attributed to Assyrians, we are scattered and divided BUT we have too many leaders squabbling with each other that we are effectively leaderless because all of those "leaders" have drown themselves out and never learn to compromise.
 
In principle, I agree with you 100%.  In reality, without clear aims, everybody was bound to have their own idea.  Compare it with an orchestra without a conductor.  Every member of the orchestra can play their instrument but without a conductor, the orchestra will sound like pregnant cows.  TAAAS was the same. No clear aim or purpose, therefore everyone had their own idea of what they were about or should be about.  The sad reality was, it took 4 years of meetings among a core group of Assyrian university students to come up with aims, but as soon as others from outside came along, it was fractured before it was actually established.  The outsiders to their credit worked very hard and achieved several good things, but nobody understood their aims, especially as it was vastly different from what the original group of university students intended.
 
mrzurnaci said:
From the Lord of the Rings...

The king of the Elves, Elrond, I quote saying "Isildur kept the Ring. It should have ended that day, but evil was allowed to endure. There's no strength left in the world of Men. They're scattered, divided, leaderless."

This quote can easily be attributed to Assyrians, we are scattered and divided BUT we have too many leaders squabbling with each other that we are effectively leaderless because all of those "leaders" have drown themselves out and never learn to compromise.
Very good analogy there though.
 
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