Interview with Malfono Youhanon Qashisho

Malfono Youhanon Qashisho at
Malfono Gabriel Afram's
house in 1978

Q: Malfono Youhanon, if I read the following names of places to you; Esfes in Turkey, Palestine, Damascus, Aleppo, Beirut, Bucharest and Södertälje. Which one of these places has stolen your heart?

A: Here in Sweden the beauty of nature is greater than there. When I came here and saw the green of the trees and meadows, the people and the civilization, I began to like Sweden. I liked all that was green, I liked the nature. But over there, the Middle East that is, Qamishly, Mosul or Babylon, was the land of our forefathers and it was there we had hopes and expectations and carried the names of suryoyo/athuroyo since three – four thousand years. Of course there is no difference between the two names since they both have the same origin.

Q: If you would turn your gaze back in time and evaluate what you have done, is there anything you would like to have done differently? Do you have any regrets?

A: Under the circumstances of that time, the activities we conducted about 20-30 years ago were correct and legitimate. No greater mistakes were made in our collective. Mistakes which, during the course of history, have lead to great disruption, have emanated from a common belief. Although we had a common belief and a common book, there was great disruption within our people. But the disruption within our people after the beginning of the 20^th century is relatively small.

Q: It is often said that man deserves his own situation. Does our situation today, with emigration and scattered people, have anything to do with the leadership of our people?

A: The connection here is very weak, and even if it exists it is not a decisive thing that proves one thing or another. Everything that has happened to us was above our comprehension and was outside the boundary of our rights. Naturally, smaller mistakes have occurred in our activities, but as I said they were not of a decisive nature. By the way, what characterizes our activities? The activities mostly take place in the social field. The associations are there as pastime for the youth, to make them avoid drugs and other bad things, encourage them to concentrate on their education etc.

Q: I agree with you that these activities are important for our youth, but I have heard you say the word “pastime” several times. Is it possible to call a national activity, aimed at creating a future for our people, a pastime?

A: I do not mean the activity as a whole. All national, cultural or political activities contain some components just to pass time. One cannot struggle day and night, while lacking a form of pastime in one’s life.

Q: How do you characterize the word “struggle”, concerning our people?

A: Malfono, our people has for a long time, especially during the last millennium, fought for their survival and defended their faith. Correct, these activities are mainly cultural, but basically also have a political character. Since political struggle leads to confrontation, we have not been able to take up a political struggle. All we wanted was to live in our villages and cultivate our land peacefully and in coexistence with our neighbors.

Q: But as you know all different people are part of the regions society, and hence we were a part of the region’s political scene. Was it not a mistake that we remained outside this political scene?

A: Malfono, we had no access to the political scene. Our circumstances did not give us this opportunity. Naturally, I am older than you and have seen some of these occurrences. I know that until 1922 we referred to ourselves as Jacobites. Political activity did not at all exist among us. This was the situation of our people, where even our name was incorrect.

Q: You were raised in a churchly environment and you are the son of a priest. But as I have gotten to know you, during the times we have worked together, you are completely independent from any religious aspects in your life. How do you explain this?

A: Malfono, I remember following my father to church every morning, during my first 30 years, but never got any satisfaction out of it. Finally, I said to myself that it was enough. I stopped going to church because I felt I was developing backwards instead of forward. After having learned the English language I began to get acquainted to western ideas and philosophy. I studied English with Malfono Abrohom Gabriel Sawme, who lives in Brazil today. He urged me to continue my English studies, in which he thought I had a future. After that I read the works of most great English philosophers. I also read German and French authors, e.g. about the French revolution.  These books and ideas completely unchained me from my religious upbringing.

Q: You are considered as one of the great authors of our people during this century. Especially your poems in Assyrian are very valuable and are the crown of your national engagement. You just said that Malfono Gabriel Sawme urged you to continue studying the English language, but we can see that you have concentrated your efforts on Assyrian and Arabic. Do you consider this a mistake in your life?

A: Malfono, I have thought a lot about this before and I have also discussed it with you, if I remember correctly. I lived in countries and places where Arabic was spoken, e.g. Qamishly, Bethzabdai, Mosul, Aleppo and Palestine. I thought the following; if we neglect the Assyrian language it will die out. Therefore I chose to write in Assyrian. As regards Arabic, I thought that 90% of our people understand this language. But I must admit that my knowledge in English would have carried me far as an internationally acclaimed author. I am convinced that I would have served my people better in that way, if millions of people could have learned that I was Assyrian.

Q: Malfono, the national spirit is more clear and obvious in your Assyrian articles than in your Arabic ones. Why is that?

A: I will tell you one thing; in order for my Assyrian poems to have the same linguistic level as in Arabic, English, French or any other great language, I have put much effort into them. I have not wanted to say the same thing in Arabic as I did in Assyrian, out of fear of the problems and conflicts it could lead to. These poems are for us and not for others. This is the reason that I have dedicated myself to our modern literature in this way, so that coming generations can learn and conclude that a transformation occurred in the 20^th century in our literary and poetic heritage.

Q: Right now you live an ascetic and isolated life. Can you tell us what an ordinary day looks like for you?

A: (After a deep breath and a sigh, he replies) What can I say Malfono? Since 22-23 years I live in solitude. Before I used to spend my days writing and taking part in organizational activities. But since my old age has gotten the best of me and my sight has deteriorated, I usually listen to the news and try to read a bit with the help of a magnifying glass. But what has been, has been, Malfono!

Q: Malfono, I will now discuss things that you like. You have written much about love and beauty, especially in Sweden. You write these love poems when you are between 60 and 70 years old. Where do you get the intensity in the poems?

A: Malfono, need is the mother of invention. I have not really experienced love in real life. How, you ask? Certainly, I have experienced some love, but have still been deprived of these peaks in life. So when I write about beautiful girls and beautiful women, it is my way of granting them the right to their beauty. I write with great intensity and glow. To tell you the truth, it is what I feel in my heart that emerges.

Q: Malfono Youhanon, have you ever fallen in love?

A: Yes, when I was little in school. One of the girls I fell in love with now lives in Sweden, I think, and the other in Syria. We were in fifth grade, but I am talking about an innocent and pure love. We could not kiss in those days. Therefore, I have written why I love beautiful colors and beauty so much, why I love her and her etc. I am convinced that I could not have written in that way about love and beauty, if I had had a beautiful woman.

Q: You have written in Assyrian in a way in which you have revolutionized the language. It was not long ago, that it was forbidden to sing for example in the language of Jesus Christ. But you have not left out anything in your articles and poems, e.g. about beauty, love, about drinking…Where do you think you will find your place in the afterlife?

A: I swear to God that there is no place for me there. My place is here on earth, for beauty is here, beautiful women are here, good food and drink are in this life, until you reach the bottom of your love. Then it all ends here on earth.

Q: Malfono, why has no one else dared to follow your example and write about the pleasures in life? This would possibly have allowed the people to keep their connection with the language, to a greater extent.

A: Malfono, in the past no one has written in this way. A hundred years ago, we need not go further back in time, the ones that controlled the language were the deacons in church. Among these deacons, but also among priests and monks, there were those with impeccable knowledge of the language. But according to the bible and other holy scriptures it was forbidden to write about these things.

Q: Malfono, is this why our people and our youth have been estranged from the language, or is this just one reason?

A: Malfono, this is only one of the reasons. The greatest reason was political and social. But why shouldn’t one write about non-religious subjects in Assyrian, e.g. love, the atom, technology, mechanics, pictures and many more? Why? The Assyrian language is very rich, so why not include new things in it?

Q: Malfono Youhanon, some of your poems have been turned into songs. Can you sing a short verse from one of them for us?

A: Well, only a short verse. (And he begins to sing):

In Beth- Nahrin a long time ago,
by the great rivers of Euphrates and Tigris,
was born a great nation which is ours,
the honorable nation of Assur and Kaldo – our forefathers.

Q: Malfono, you have now reached the age of 73, and have for example written the following in one of your poems, called Autumn of Life: The autumn of our life begins at sixty, the years rapidly move towards winter, they exclude the development of youth and life goes to its end – not to its beginning. How do you interpret your life, in accordance with this verse?

A: This is a general truth, although exceptions do occur. There are people who remain active and write and learn until their death. But I have not been that fortunate. If my sight and health had not failed me, now would have been the time for me to write the modern history of our people.

Q: What I mean is, you have divided human life according to the change of seasons.

A: Yes of course. I wrote the poems “Spring of Life”, “Summer of Life” and “Autumn of Life”. But nothing about the winter of life, because then you are already in your grave. The spring of life is the time of youth that does not admit to anything. The summer of life is a male symbol, where you still have power but also greater maturity. The autumn of life comes between sixty and seventy. After your seventies, everything is downhill, both mentally and physically. Even here, naturally, there are exceptions. There are people who have written their “book of books” first after the age of seventy. But the decrease of strength is a law of nature.

Q: If you had stayed in Syria, would you have been able to be as productive as you have been during the last period?

A: What I have produced in Sweden could not have been produced by any of our writers during the last seventy, eighty or hundred years, neither in the west nor in our homeland. Both our language and I were lucky I came to Sweden, which has the right conditions and atmosphere to allow me to write freely for the first time in my life.

Q: Malfono, our people today have two magazines (in Sweden); Huyodo and Bahro Suryoyo. You are familiar with Huyodo, since you have worked with it, but what do you think about Bahro Suryoyo?

A: It is good. I want us to have, and like the fact that we do have, several magazines, regardless of what they write. Each one works according to its potential. Right now we cannot tell Huyodo or Bahro Suryoyo, or others, to write this or that. Every magazine is published according to its own potential and ability.

Q: Finally, I would like it if you sang the song with your lyrics Ninwe lam emo d Gabore.

A: (He immediately starts singing in a frail and aged voice):

Nineweh, mother of heroes,
mother of prominent rulers,
your children crushed mountains and walls,
so it says on their grave stones,
so it says on the grave stones.
Nineweh, city of Assyrians……