Posted by Lilly from ? (160.129.27.22) on Saturday, July 13, 2002 at 3:26PM :
In Reply to: Re: "The Eye'"...why doesn't Tiglath po posted by panch from pool0417.cvx25-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net (209.179.217.162) on Saturday, July 13, 2002 at 12:54PM :
: It is not quite accurate to say that Assyrians and Iraqis need to have money sent to them, when they had proven themselves quite capable of earning great quantities of the stuff themselves. It needs to be asked also why we are being turned even more into a nation of beggars.
xxx Well, perhaps it is an accurate statement in *some* sense... the infrastructure is gone... they are not beggars by choice, but by fate - the fate made certain for them by a corrupt partnership between US-based, multinational industry, the US government & a tyrannt. David's not saying that if given opportunity, they will remain dependent on external funds. But for now, they need it...
: The problem the Assyrians face in the north...as they do anywhere in common with the rest of the people of Iraq, is that people in the rest of the world don't know our side of the story...because it is an American puppet who rules there...not anyone with the interests of Iraq in mind.
xxx I think the real problem is that certain Assyrians themselves don't care to know the story of their Northern Iraqi folk... well the folk not *directly* related to them. The rest of the world may appreciate us, eventually, but that doesn't mean that the majority of the world, much less the US population, will *actively care* for us, no matter how noble our heritage.... Most people in capitalist societies are too busy trying to get by or are too occupied with more trivial things that industry tells them are important. For instance, look at Wal-Mart - here we have the *classic* case of necessity + junk. The average customer wanders in, looks for the broken pipe replacement or hammer, & on the way to the cash register, is convinced, in one way or another, that a new Barbie for his kid or a trashy magazine for her "pleasure" are also worth purchasing. This drains the average household of money they could use for their own true betterment or for charity. & the money goes right to the big guys at Wal-Mart. Same thing for any other market place that mixes the sales of commodities w/ necessities. We desperately need a maximum wage law here in the States.
: In fact most of those countries are run by compliant tyrants...not by people who are eager to educate the world about their true status and character. Assyrians in Iraq need to be known, need to be respected and valued as human beings...just as the Iraqi people all do...ALL of them.
xxx Exactly, but so many people here don't have time for that... their time, money, & energy is all sapped up by their societally enforced role of consumer. They are even led to believe that to be a consumer is patriotic or humanitarian... Well, being a consumer would be patriotic or humanitarian if the money went to the people if the money they spent benefitted the people who really need it & who work hard for a less-than-living wage.
: They need bread too of course. But beyond that...as far as rebuilding and making a secure place for themselves...then no...a rebuilt church or house or village...new water systems and cell phones...none of these things will make us secure in anything over there.
xxx Actually, a stable & good economy can work wonders on racial intolerance... it doesn't completely solve it, but it takes away one root of it. The economy has to be solid & the community as self-sufficient as is practical.
: The people need humanitarin aid...they need roofs and heaters and water...but if an even greater effort isn't made on the diplomatic front ( GOD how odd to use that term in conjunction with us, how it sounds like AUA twaddle!!)...to gain recognition for who we are and why that region and the people in it, ALL of them are such a valuable asset to the entire planet...then we'll all be back here again begging for money and roofs all over. It's happened to us before and it will again.
xxx True. Both are necessary to the survival of the people. However, do you really think that diplomatic efforts, by themselves, would have saved Assyrians/Chaldeans in North Iraq from what they're going through right now? The corporate media has sway over the hearts & minds of the masses here... when they don't like something, they make sure the masses don't, too.
: We ALWAYS rebuild...when we don't abandon. What is missing from all of this is a determination among the rest of us in Diapers for far too long, that our Homeland is also our Holy Land and must be preserved and well served in every way. Alas, we are still fighting over WHO gets to call his village our "homeland"...of which sect is authentic...which region more Assyrian than the other...whether Chaldeans exist when they are RIGHT THERE telling us they do...when we argue over any trifling thing we can find because no one trusts what will happen to their little enclave if we should come together.
xxx Yup, if we can't have unity, we ought to strive for harmony.
: This is what Assyrians in Iraq suffer from. This is our enemey of the future...not a Kurd or a Turk or a Muslim. What we desperately need so we wont be SO damn desperate...we wont provide for ourselves...and it is OURS to bestow upon ourselves...it can't be given to us by anyone else...there isn't anyone we can beg it from.
xxx Yeah, we need self-sufficiency there backed by a genuinely caring diaspora & associates.
: Imagine if Turks controlled Chicago and blocked the Shumirum...we might just be moved to action then...not because we valued the Shumirum any...but because we were being opposed by one of "them". Even then, we'd probably just move to Detroit...never realizing that we hold some good part of our destiny in our hands...over here, in this country where the laws and instutuions exist to allow us to get, for ourselves, what we need for our selves.
xxx That "Turk" suggestions sounds like a plan, to me.
-- Lilly
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