26.2.05
No votes in Nineveh: We are the new Kurds, a crushed people
Abbas makes me aware to the following article...and it sets me off after speaking with my cousin:
Want to know WHY many in my family don't like what's happening in Iraq today?
Does anybody out there care?
Will we be run over by such a cruel fate?
Will we be left completely unrepresented?
Do we even exist now?
Imagine why I am starting to begrudgingly favor Allawi as the prime minister. The only way this is happening is because of the series of unfortunate events that has come to pass. The smaller minorities in Iraq will probably be extinct because of this illegal war and no plan at all by anybody to protect them in the aftermath.
I spoke with a cousin recently. He blew my mind. He said, "We should be ashamed to be Iraqi. Iraq doesn't want the [our family name] family any more. We should all leave." Of course, how I gather, he was referring to the combination of a couple things: 1) the frustration of being mistreated by people outside Iraq (even in a working environment) once they found out he was Iraqi. He said, "People think you have chemical weapons in your pockets. Everything is normal until you tell them you're Iraqi. Then they start to treat you differently." 2) And being a part of a minority left out of the democratic process completely...as have Assyrians, Turkmen, Yezidis, and the Shabak in Iraq.
So, imagine how it feels to be one of us completely disenfranchised people now. All sides are hostile to us. We don't belong inside Iraq because we are a little cared about minority or OUTSIDE Iraq because we are still Iraqi. IT makes me angry. Very angry.
I still don't believe my cousin told me what he did. But maybe he's right. So, not only are members of my family refugees, but now we can be refugees of our own mind--if we choose to be--by simply cutting ourselves from our identities. Sure, many in my family are currently finding homes elsewhere, but we're fortunate. There are so many inside Iraq and that have been forced to leave Iraq that ARE NOT as fortunate. And I'm speaking up for us ALL.
I want to know which Iraqis, in the blogosphere or just wandering around on the internet...I want to know whom of you support us. Please let your voice be heard.
OUT,
LIMINAL
Our people, the Assyrians, the original inhabitants of Iraq - whose empire preceded Babylon, many of whom still speak Aramaic, the language of Christ - have been robbed. Along with other minorities in the north of our country, the Turkmen, the Yezidis and the Shabak, we were promised democracy. But the ballot boxes never arrived. The recent elections simply passed us by, our complaints ignored, our rights trampled, by people who should know better, because we shared their experience of repression under Saddam Hussein. As a result, no Assyrian representatives will be taking their place in the new Iraqi parliament.
Want to know WHY many in my family don't like what's happening in Iraq today?
Does anybody out there care?
Will we be run over by such a cruel fate?
Will we be left completely unrepresented?
Do we even exist now?
Imagine why I am starting to begrudgingly favor Allawi as the prime minister. The only way this is happening is because of the series of unfortunate events that has come to pass. The smaller minorities in Iraq will probably be extinct because of this illegal war and no plan at all by anybody to protect them in the aftermath.
I spoke with a cousin recently. He blew my mind. He said, "We should be ashamed to be Iraqi. Iraq doesn't want the [our family name] family any more. We should all leave." Of course, how I gather, he was referring to the combination of a couple things: 1) the frustration of being mistreated by people outside Iraq (even in a working environment) once they found out he was Iraqi. He said, "People think you have chemical weapons in your pockets. Everything is normal until you tell them you're Iraqi. Then they start to treat you differently." 2) And being a part of a minority left out of the democratic process completely...as have Assyrians, Turkmen, Yezidis, and the Shabak in Iraq.
So, imagine how it feels to be one of us completely disenfranchised people now. All sides are hostile to us. We don't belong inside Iraq because we are a little cared about minority or OUTSIDE Iraq because we are still Iraqi. IT makes me angry. Very angry.
I still don't believe my cousin told me what he did. But maybe he's right. So, not only are members of my family refugees, but now we can be refugees of our own mind--if we choose to be--by simply cutting ourselves from our identities. Sure, many in my family are currently finding homes elsewhere, but we're fortunate. There are so many inside Iraq and that have been forced to leave Iraq that ARE NOT as fortunate. And I'm speaking up for us ALL.
I want to know which Iraqis, in the blogosphere or just wandering around on the internet...I want to know whom of you support us. Please let your voice be heard.
OUT,
LIMINAL
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