Meltha Magazine Online

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2002 May Conference pages 18-19

A Global Strategy For Assyrians

Dr. Ronald THOMAS-ZADEH

Twentieth century marked the acme of Assyrian genuine efforts and sacrifices to maintain and perpetuate our ethnicity, cultural identity and even claims to the rights of nation-hood, yet at the same time every where we witness the Assyrians being driven to abyss of non-existence, disintegration, assimilation, neglect and oblivion, so that at the turn of the century we have been drifted to the margins of history .No doubt, part of this tragedy befell Assyrians because of the catastrophic circumstances imposed on us from with-out. This aspect of Assyrian problems have been investigated to some extent, and to escape such externally imposed unhappy fate, a considerable number of Assyrians chose to emigrate to Western countries where in many arenas they have enjoyed unprecedented opportunities not only to sustain their social existence, but also to achieve cultural development. Paradoxically, not only such expectations did not materialize, but the process of ethnic disintegration and assimilation was intensified and thus a major question was brought up to the attention of all who studied and were thoughtful about the fate of Assyrian cause in the contemporary times -that what have been the causes of Assyrian social institutions incompetence, which increasingly have been unable to maintain nor sustain Assyrian ethnicity and socio-cultural existence and identity by passing of time. This lecture will concentrate on the present Assyrian predicament and will seek probable methodological solutions for ways to sustain Assyrian socio-cultural existence and political aspirations on a global scale, without forsaking local realities, for on such realities and trends of history and the structure of international relations and politics, global Assyrian strategies should be adopted.

The lecture will have a general theoretical survey of Assyrian socio-cultural circumstances in twentieth century and the background of Assyrian social activists. Then on the basis of conclusions drawn from the twentieth century historical experiences, the significance of establishing genuine criteria for objective assessment and of networking of Assyrian social and cultural and political development will be discussed and it will be emphasized that individualist or idealist approaches to Assyrian cause will not be successful, as this has been manifested so far. Establishment of the above referred criteria in turn depends upon adoption of global Assyrian strategies aiming at best allocation of resources at hand for Assyrians. The lecture will also discuss practical measures which should be undertaken in this respect to enable the concerned and responsible Assyrian social scientists and senior and experienced activists to formulate a global strategy for Assyrians.