What is Assyrians?
1.
A lot of Assyrians are too proud of their roots, so they love proving that Chaldeans are really Assyrians.
Let me say, if you are Chaldean, more than likely, you are historically Catholic. The name came from the Catholic church back in the 15th century to break ties Chaldeans (babylonians at the time) from their previous ties identities to other groups. Chaldeans maintain full communion with the Pope in Rome today.
But the Assyrian population is not constrained by the Catholic religion. There are many different religious affiliations with the Assyrian identity, such as the Assyrian Church of the East, Assyrian Evangelical Church, and Assyrian Pentecostal Church, to name a few.
Assyrian Catholics and Chaldean Catholics are ancient people, and chaldeans, syriacs, and assyrians came from one people and then split off into 3 groups, but both groups have evolved, so for anyone to say we are the same people are extremely ignorant.
But let's say we are all Assyrian. Taking this information from the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), 45% of Assyrians are Chaldeans (i.e. THE MAJORITY). The Assyrian identity proponents want a majority to change their name?
Finally, as a little anecdote, as my uncle/boss was reading the article (he is around 38 years old), he asked me "what is an Assyrian?" If that doesn't clearly illustrate to you why we shoud not change our name, then I don't know what will. If a man does not even know what an Assyrian is, how can we forge through the trenches and call him an Assyrian, something he knows nothing about?
Chaldeans can unite with Assyrians not through name change; it is completely unnecessary and irrelevant. When you say "Save Christians of Iraq" that encompasses all Christians, not just Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Syriacs. "Assyrian" is NOT a great unifier. Whoever decided to start this whole Assyrian campaign is an idiot. It is offensive, unintelligent, and based on hubris. It is the sole reason that there is a division today. I'm happy that Chaldeans aren't laying down and taking everything they are being spoon fed for face value. I am one of those THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of Chaldeans.
Chaldeans seperating from Assyrians is older from the Americans seperating from the English. Does that make Americans truly English? NO.
- H.S.
Ashur (assyrians): YOU'RE ALL ASSYRIAN! WE MUST SAVE THE ASSYRIAN NAME SO WE CAN GET OUR LAND AND SAVE OUR PEOPLE!
Brando (syriacs): Okay, let's call ourselves syrian and get the land
Sargon (assyrians): NEVER!
Yousif (chaldeans): Yeah, you tell 'em, Brando!
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2.
The most racially mixed people in the Middle East.
Most Assyrians look Mediterranean. Though, many do look European/White and Arab/Middle Eastern. A number of them look Hispanic, too.
However, we may also find some Assyrians looking like they are half Asian. Also, some will look Indian and some will look like they are Pacific Islanders/Aboriginals.
Assyrians are people of colour.
"Hi, so...you're European?"
"No, I'm an Assyrian. I'm from Iraq. All Assyrians look different from each other. They range from pale white to dark.
"Oh, you're Middle Eastern!?
______________________________________
"Let me guess your nationality...Um, you're an Aboriginal or Samoan?"
"I'm actually an Assyrian, from Syria. People do think I look I'm Samoan. Hehehe..."
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3.
I recently read Joyce Wiswell's piece entitled "Will - and should - Chaldeans and Assyrians unite?" and I firmly believe that the identity designation of "Chaldean" should not be used interchangeably with "Assyrian.”
Many Assyrians argue that the designation of the Chaldean name is religious, and not cultural. At first, when the Catholic Church gave the Assyrian Catholics the name “Chaldean” in 1553, we shared nearly identical traits in our culture with the other Assyrians. But we are currently living half a millennium after the fact. In those 500 years, Chaldeans have developed their own dialect, traditions, and ways. Our culture is directly correlated to our religion, Catholicism. This doesn’t mean that we cannot have a culture to supplement our strong religious values.
In Michigan alone, there are 120,000 Chaldeans. I would venture to guess that 80% refuse to denote themselves as Assyrians. There’s a reason for this choice; we are no longer the same people. Our parents didn’t just decide that we aren’t Assyrians out of thin air. We’ve acknowledged ourselves as Chaldeans for centuries, and we’ve embraced our culture. It’s ours, and we shouldn’t be willing to compromise it by assimilating into an Assyrian identity. In my 18th year as a Chaldean, I’ve been criticized for not calling myself Assyrian, which isn’t only an identity I don’t associate with, but also a name that will become the end to our culture.
Examine the consequences of Chaldeans accepting ancient relations and identifying themselves as Assyrians. Already, the forced assimilation has occurred in media. A prime example is of the recently martyred Father Ragheed Ganni of Iraq, who was mentioned as an Assyrian priest killed in an Assyrian Church, with no mention of his ties to the Chaldean Catholic Church. Our Chaldean villages, like Telkeppe and Alqosh, are designated as Assyrian villages on the user-edited Wikipedia, which millions of users use as a source of reliable information. Our name is being erased, and this systematic and carefully planned Assyrianization (as I call it), will prove to be the end of the Chaldeans. We'll be remembered historically as the Ancient Chaldeans, and that's if the history books of the future don’t decide to call us Catholic Assyrians.
Assyrianization is very similar to the Arabization process. The Arab name was forced on us in Iraq. We were forced to speak Arabic, and punished when we spoke our mother tongue. Indeed, history repeats itself, and this time, it’s more subtle. This approach is proving an end to our rich culture, just by simply identifying as an Assyrian. As I’ve already illustrated, there’s so much to a name; it is not just a name.
Hopefully, Assyrian groups will not insist an identity change from the Chaldeans. It is my hope that we can work together, without forcing an identity on anyone else, in order to help our suffering people of Iraq. We’re related to the Assyrians historically, but we’re no longer the same people. We’re simply Modern Assyrians and Modern Chaldeans. We’re different. And everyone should assess the consequences of this very important issue before a culture is erased.
-Hadeer
ashur (assyrians): i love assyria!
yousif (chaldeans): bro, assyria doesn't exist anymore
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