The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5

=> finishing the job my grandfather started.....

finishing the job my grandfather started.....
Posted by pancho (Moderator) - Wednesday, December 18 2013, 16:34:44 (UTC)
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A while back someone wrote that I should be ashamed of myself for going against what my grandfather, Baba Parhad, worked for as a young man alongside Freydoun Aturaya in drafting the Assyrian Manifesto way back when. But that was only part of the story. My grandfather was a young, idealistic man who believed in the words of Woodrow Wilson, as many naive people did, that the small groups of people set free by the destruction of the Ottoman Empire should be allowed to form their own nations...in other words, wouldn't it be good for the Western Powers if they could once again impose “divide and rule”, especially if they could make it seem like a benefit to the silly people clamoring for their own tiny, weak and easily manipulated “nations”.

The first fruits of that folly came even before when the Assyrians were cajoled into helping the Brits against their own homelands, for which they received nothing but lost all, many including their lives....my grandfather was there, among the men fighting with Agha Poutrous so he experienced it first-hand...and after when he had to take his wife and children and run for their lives from what had been their home for as long as anyone could remember.

He settled in Iraq and was able to leave the camps early to find work in the government hospital in Mosul....and then it was the 20s and the Brits came knocking once more. This time they needed Assyrians to make up a colonial police force because Britain was exhausted and broke from years of war and the British public had no stomach left for posting their army in far off lands, and paying for it.

Being a natural leader in the community my grandfather was asked for his opinion...should Assyrians sign up, after all there would be good pay and the promise, again, that the Brits might actually fulfill the “promise” they made to settle the refugees in an Assyria of their own, carved out from the land of other people...maybe with just a little more service, a little more treachery and enhanced animosity towards them from the native population, they might impress the British enough that this time...this time.

My grandfather told them not to listen to the Brits...hadn't they learned their lesson the hard way only a few years back? But many didn't take his advice and joined the Levies and did England's dirty work, even killing innocent Iraqis, the people who had welcomed them into their country as refugees. That sealed their fate. After that no Assyrian child attend public schools at any but an elementary level and certainly not college. This meant their children would be taught by illiterate priests and remain ignorant all their lives, and learn to prefer it. The Assyrians were disliked even more after that and distrusted as well....and they relegated themselves to the meaner and poorer jobs and living conditions...after all, when might the Brits come calling again? No one could be sure of their loyalty.

Because of his position my grandfather's children were not included in the general proscription and so it became his dream that his sons would all become doctors and his daughters nurses and they open a hospital for the Assyrians. In this way four Assyrians graduated medical school in Iraq when there were many more young Assyrians who could have as well, but were not allowed.

I think my grandfather realized that it was pointless for such a small and powerless community to pit itself against the major players of that day and hope to benefit by it. Taking the side of the Brits, who were not nearby, meant they sacrificed the good wishes and benefits of those living nearest to them and therefore with the most impact on their daily lives, in preference to a supposed good-will of Europeans many miles away whose interests were for themselves and not for the Assyrians.

His advice had been to settle in Iraq...to make it their new home, to work hard for the sake of their families, who had lost everything, and become loyal citizens of Iraq...which meant letting go the fantasy of getting an Assyria for themselves. Many listened or were inclined that way already...but enough did not and acted on their delusions of promises made and meant to be kept, and went out and did what ruined it for everyone.

And since some portion of that kind of thinking still exists today, albeit from the safety of Turlock and London, I see it as a continuation of my grandfather's evolution on the subject of an Assyria resurrected anywhere....and those same people who cling to this forlorn hope, merely because they to hope “big”, are around us still, though their voices are finally drifting off into oblivion.

Me? I just gave them a gentle shove, is all. My grandfather would approve.



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