Today, August 7th is the national day of mourning for the Assyrian Martyrs murdered during World War I, known as Simele massacre. The genocide which transpired in 1933 was an early massacre following many others committed by the Iraqi government towards Assyrian Christians of Northern Iraq. The term not only describes the massacre of Simele, but also the annihilation that sustained amid 63 Assyrian villages in the Dohuk and Mosul areas; the number of deaths estimated 500,000 – 750,000.
Please find attached the 2008 Assyrian Youth Excellence Application. Which will take place at the 2008 Assyrian American National Federation Convention in Hartford, Connecticut.
Integrating Assyrian Genocide within Illinois School Curricula
By Michelle Mkrdichian & Mary Oshana
CASCA Advocacy Report
Washington -- Today the U.S. Congress completed action on the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Act, sending the bill to the President's desk for his signature. For the first time, the bill contained money and policy direction for administering U.S. Government aid to address the suffering of the Chaldean/Assyrian/Syriac people of Iraq.
Specifically, the bill includes the following language:
December 1, 2007
On Sunday, 2 December 2007 the CBS News show, 60 Minutes, will air a segment on the hardships confronting the Iraqi Christian minority. According to a CASCA press release the segment explores what has happened in the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad and the displacement of Iraqi Christians. The link below will take you to a story trailer for Sunday's airing:
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/29/60minutes/main3553612.shtml
Refer to your local television schedule for the exact showtime in North America and elsewhere.
Zinda Magazine
"Origamist Robert J. Lang has been fascinated by folding paper since he was six. A Caltech-trained physicist and engineer who has used origami theory on projects from automobile-airbag folding to a space-telescope prototype, Lang has developed almost 500 compositions—including this box-pleat rendition of the Oriental Institute’s “Assyrian Bull,”
Dear honorable Dick Durbin,
I am contacting you because of major distress of the Assyrian community. Mr. Durbin, Assyrian Christians in Iraq live in complete turmoil. Sadly, the Assyrians are being forced to flee the country in diaspora. For example, in Mosul, Iraq, radical Islamic groups gave the Assyrian three days to leave the country or they will be shot and killed. Already, thousands have been found dead. This is a major concern that is brushed under a dusty rug. Please, Mr. Durbin this is a plea for serious emergency help. Thank you for your time. God Bless.
The Assyrian people are intimately familiar with the void in heart and mind left by lack of a permanent, recognized homeland. In a modern society that does little to nourish the artistic soul, strong personalities are needed to embrace and bolster the rich culture that fills that void.
In this natural state of emptiness, our culture's longing for symbolic representations have been long repressed. But, in our new state of embracing the fruits of democratic expression, Assyrian artists emerged as first class warriors, gracefully defending our identity through form, shape and color.
Although there has been an increasingly sensitive humanitarian crises following the American led invasion of Iraq in 2003, we have seen a decrease in finances to supplement issues from malnutrition to education. The numbers at a glance:
