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=> Re: From Farid: "The Forced Conversions Rag"

Re: From Farid: "The Forced Conversions Rag"
Posted by Maggie (Guest) - Monday, October 30 2006, 21:38:40 (CET)
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Ashur wrote:
"I am positive that when I knew you a young humble and shy girl with your parents with a nice smile always , and I was a young man but senior than you at least five years or so."

Aziza Ashur, I am sorry I do not recall who you are, or remember ever meeting you, but I am glad you remember my smile, as I have one for every human being I meet.

"What I mean in saying this you never been acquainted with our Assyrian situation in the Middle East".

I was born and raised in the Middle East. My parents were born and raised in the Middle East, so were both of my brothers and my sister, so were my cousins and any relative you can mention, except for those relatives of mine that were born in France and later migrated to the U.S. and their children born in the U.S.

When I was a little girl I remember all our family summer trips to Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt, vividly. We would stay all summer and our chaufer would take us everywhere. We visited ancient ruins of Petra, we took tours throughout Jerusalem, we toured Lebanon extensively visiting ancient sites like Baalbak, and ancient Assyrian monasteries in the mountains where Khalil Gibran grew up. We never stayed with our relatives in Hamra because my parents wanted to contribute to the economy of Lebanon by staying in some of the mountainous resorts in Beirut.

In Iraq, where I grew up, we took the train from Baghdad to Basra, visiting my mother's family in Basra, where the Marsh Arabs lived. We visited the Gulf quite often and my big shot uncle took us to the port of Basra quite often and showed us all the ships coming and going into the port. Evenings in Basra were the most memorable for me. We would sit on the river in various casinos on the Korneesh and eat fresh sea food and watch the entertainment. I grew up in Northern Iraq, Khanaqeen, and some summers we would head north and stay in northern Iraqi resorts, such as Shaqlawa and Sarsang, where it was cool in the mountains and we would swim in the most beautiful natural waterfalls and soak in the natural hot-springs. My dad wanted us to be educated about the ancient ruins so he took us to see Nineveh, Milwiya D'Samaraa, and some times we drove south to see the ruins of Babylon.

When I lived in Iraq, my dad was in charge of the Masfa Alwand oil refinery. He was responsible for employment as well as purchasing materials for the refinery as well as the community. He alloted homes, he issued furnishings, cars, household servants, etc. to the entire community and outlying areas where the Kurds and Turoman lived. I lived a very priveledged life, but my parents kept things simple and humble because neither of them were prejudiced. They taught us the value of each human life. We interacted with other underpriveledged kids in the community as if they were the same class as us. Kurds came to my father for jobs, Arabs came to my father for jobs, Turkomen came to my father for jobs, and Assyrians came to my father for jobs. He employed them without a single question. He never saw ANY difference between ANY of them, but saw them as human beings, all trying to survive and feed and cloth their children. The Kurdish women would try to repay my dad with Liban Arbil, goat cheese, or whatever they could. They would come knocking on our door with full hands to thank my dad for giving their husbands jobs. My dad would NOT take it and prevented ANY of us from taking it, because he knew they could sell those bowls of yogurt and cheese to feed their families. They would beg my dad to take it, but he refused. Turkomen would come with sheep and goats to repay my dad's kindness for employing their head of household and my dad would refuse their gifts for the same reason. Sometimes, my dad would run out of jobs to employ these men, so he would bring them to our house to work. I remember my mother telling my dad she did NOT want a washing lady, because she had a washing machine, she did not want a gardner because she had one already, she did not want a cook because she liked to cook for us, she did not need a chaufer because she already had one, she did not want a cleaning lady because she wanted to do her own cleaning. My dad insisted employing them inspite of my mother's protests, because the $5.00 dinar a month would make the difference for these people as to whether they would starve that winter or feed their families well. The Assyrians my dad employed acted the opposite. They would get huffy after a few months, and would plot against my dad. When my dad would take his trips to get supplies for the company, the Assyrian wives would try to scare my mother by tapping on the windows and making noises to scare my mother. She would be huddled in a corner, in the dark, scared to death until morning. One day my dad caught the perpetrators by coming home early from one of his trips. He found out that they were the very same Assyrians he had taken out of the gutter and employed and given them beautiful houses to live in and given them FREE household help, just to employ the Kurds and Turkomen. Out of their jealousies, they would bad mouth my dad and be jealous of my mother, where a Turk or a Kurd would defend my dad to the death if they had to.

We lived peacefully side by side with the Kurds, Arabs, and Turkomen. Never was there a day when we had a skirmish because of the differences in ethnicity or religion. We all respected one another, we all helped one another, and we all loved one another. My dad brought in a doctor and a midwife into the community exclusively for the Kurds and Turkomen who were not eligible for healthcare in the hospital that was exclusively for the staff and their families.

When we moved to America in 1966, EVERYONE from the outlying Kurdish and Turkomen villages came to our neighborhood and lined the streets of our community. Grown men were crying like babies, and blocking our car from moving. They kept begging my dad not to leave. They would say through their sobs, "who is going to take care of us now?"

I went back to the Middle East in 1998 and toured all the major cities of the Middle East, (Eqypt, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, as well as Pakistan, Singapore, and Indonesia.) In 2001 I went back to the Middle East visiting Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Israel, UAE, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The US would not give me a visa to Iraq, so I got one from Algeria. At the end of my trip I took a taxi in Jordan and went to Iraq. Inspite of the 13 year sanctions, Iraqis were living in harmony and were helping each other survive against America.

So you see dear Ashur, I am VERY familiar with the Middle East, and vividly remember we had lived together in harmony for thousands of years until the imperialists needed our resources and themn would enourage the Middle Eastern to slaughter one another and keep them busy killing one another so they could get to our oil.

"the only thing I will ask you to question your father who is older than us a mature and educated religious man to judge to what both of us said, and ask him honestly to see who is on the right track? I will accept the judgment hoping you will do the same."

When I first started to do my show on AssyriaSat, I wasn't sure if my nation was ready for what I was going to say or do on television. I knew Assyrians were deeply rooted in Christianity and did not know ANYTHING about their Assyrian hisotry. I had a dream where a holy man with long, salt and pepper hair and long beard and piercing black eyes, was holding a big holy book in his hand, reading the book. When I stepped into his room, he looked up at me and shook his finger at me and said "rookhit qoodsha paqoodakh eela". He said this three times, commanding me. I was so scared I fell out of bed. I didn't sleep all night, I was so frightened. I had never had a dream where Assyrian was spoken. In the morning, I went to my dad's house and told him about my dream. My dad said "if the holy spirit is commanding you to tell it like it is, who can stop you now?" So you see, it was my dad who encouraged me to go ahead and do what I am doing, otherwise, he would have stopped me 7 years ago. My dad always tells me to be careful lest some fanatic Assyrians bring harm to me for telling the truth. He knows his own people would be the first to betray or bring harm to one of their own, before ANY outsider would think of it. But I am not afraid of ANYONE, and no one can shut me up or silence me. I have ALWAYS lived a good life, even when I became a poor single mother, putting myself through college and raising my son by myself without a single penny in child support, or any support form anyone. I did it by myself, and I did it my way, and I am too strong for ANYONE to beat me!

My parents did NOT move to Amrerica because of religious and ethnic clashes in the Middle East, as there were NONE! They moved to America because my dad was under pressure to join the Communists, the Socialists, or the Baath party, which ever came in power at the time. He got fed-up by the puppet regimes America and Brittain were installing in Iraq, depending on their needs. My dad has NEVER harbored recist or elitist attitudes toward his fellow man. He is fair and humble, and works with ALL Assyrians who are trying to do something good for their fellow Assyrians. He has never spoken against anyone, believing in the human dignity God accorded to all beings.

Without asking my dad your question, I know what he would say:

"All these wars, ethnic clashes, sectarian violence, invasion, occupation,and devestation is due to a battle between the haves and the havenots". My dad is no dummy, he is an educated man, a writer, an author, and knows without doubt, it was the imperialists who destroyed the Middle East in the past, and continue to destroy it today for economic gain. My dad knows the world oil resources have RUN OUT EVERYWHERE except the Middle East, and this is a fight to the DEATH of those who have it, and those who want it. If it isn't Britain, it is France, or Germany, or America that is the invader, occupier, and colonizer of the Middle East, and therefore the biggest threat to the Middle Eastern people. All the other stuff you hear is just an excuse for these invasions and occupations, (i.e. democracy, terrorism, extremism, fundamentalism, etc.) All American created and made in America.


khouba O shlama,

Maggie



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