my people are dying. assyrians are undergoing another genocide – and honestly the past genocide never really ended. over a century of persecution. a hundred years of massacres, of our land being stolen, of systematic oppression and targeting. two thirds of our global population has been murdered in the last one hundred years. the majority of our population now lives outside of our native homeland in iraq. most governments do not officially recognise that we exist, or our right to our homeland of ancient assyria. it has taken tragedy of horrific proportions for us to gain any recognition. we continue to be erased – left completely unmentioned in many articles and discussions even as our culture and heritage is actively being destroyed, even as our people die protecting what is left; or mentioned only as ‘iraqi christians’ and so with our ethnic identity ignored we are reduced to pawns in racist and islamophobic wars and discussions by the west and daesh. yes we as a community are christian, but that is not all we are. we are a distinct and ancient ethnic group and whilst daesh and western christians want to call this a religious war, and indeed daesh’s general actions are the result of exported waahabism, this is not a religious war for us and i will not allow my people to be used as tools to spread further racism against various middle eastern ethnic groups and islamophobia (or antisemitism). we are middle eastern. we are poc. the genocide against us is ethnic in origin and continuing many years of attempted ethnic cleansing against us. we are native, indigenous to the land and yet even as we make up only an estimated 3% of iraq’s current population assyrians make up to 40% of the emmigrating population. there are large diaspora communities in such unstable countries as syria. many of the older generation have resigned themselves sadly to losing what is left of their culture and heritage, calling iraq history. even as we fight and hold onto hope, our screams could be the death rattle of our people.
we are using our voices, are you listening?
- who are assyrians?
- why referring to us solely as iraqi christians is offensive and erasure
- in the last week our ancient city of nimrud has been razed to the ground; an assyrian genocide memorial has been vandalised; artifacts of our culture and heritage continue to be destroyed; tens of assyrians have been murdered; and turkey has upped it’s hateful denial of the seyfo massacre. an assryian church was bombed on easter weekend.
since i first posted this several more monuments to assyrian genocide have been vandalised in several different countries, and tens more assyrians have been killed – included two important community leaders and officials. our people continue to be murdered, chased from our land, our towns and villages destroyed, our history and culture our heritage erased.
since my last reblog of this yet more assyrian heritage has been destroyed, more assyrians have been kidnapped and are being held hostage including many women and children, and several assyrian leaders have been murdered.
this is still happening. as a person of m.e descent raised in an assyrian household, this devastates me. this is a genocide.
Published
A Middleground 