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The World
Congress of Poets is an organization linked with UNESCO, and was
established 33 years ago under the slogan “World Brotherhood and Peace
through Poetry”. It is still going strong and the Chinese Poetry Society
recently hosted the 23rd congress in Taiwan from November 23-30. This
year’s main topics were Nature and Music. Among its 272 participants,
most of them locals, we are proud to have had two famous Assyrian poets
– Malfono Ninos Aho and Rabi Yosip Bet-Yosip.
Malfono Ninos read one poem in the eastern dialect
“Shimsha d-Shrara” (the Sun of Truth), and one in the western dialect
“Habtho d-Heto” (Grain of Wheat), and Rabi Yosip also read a poem in the
eastern dialect “Ganta d-Alaha, Atri Bet-Nahrain” (The Garden of God, my
Land Mesopotamia). English translations of all the poems were published
along with biographies of the poets in the anthology of the Congress.
In their poems, Rabi Yosip and Malfono Ninos passed on
their message about the 7,000 years of civilisation Assyrians gave the
world, contrasted with our present predicament as a stateless and
refugee nation – an ironic historical juxtaposition. Rabi Yosip’s poem
especially touched on how Mesopotamia has been occupied by foreign
armies, whose chemical bombs have not only destroyed the ancient sites
and natural beauty, but have also damaged the children and hence the
future of Iraq.
The Congress program was as follows: November 23-25 in
Taipei University, and then a tour of the island from November 26-30.
The highlights included poetry readings at the Vandana Buddhist
Monastery on November 27 and at Ling-Tung College in Taichung on
November 29. During the opening and closing ceremonies, and all the
poetry readings, the auditoriums were packed with keen students,
numbering about 500 in all.
Whilst there Rabi Yosip and Malfono Ninos visited the
Taiwan National Museum and were please to see displays comparing and
contrasting Chinese and other world civilisations – including the
Assyrians. They were also happy to see one of the displays mention that
fact that in 635 AD, Christianity was brought to China by the Church of
the East missionary Alopen. Some of the poets attending the Congress had
heard about Assyrians before, but others hadn’t. Most of them were happy
to hear information that was new to them and see that Assyrians still
exist and the Aramaic language is still a living language.
In all, it cost the poets about US$2,000 each.
Registration was $300, the tour $300 and the accommodation $750, not
including the airfare. While they were there they were able to sell some
of their CDs to help pay these expenses. |
