Also filed here:

• Categories
  • No categories

CPT - Iraq Reflection: What’s in a name?

CPTnet - 14 September 2006 - by Jan Benvie

I think words are important. Maybe it’s because of my background as a teacher. Or maybe it’s because for the past year and a half I have been working with children who experience communication difficulties, children who can’t find the words to express themselves.

The words and names we use for people and objects often have deeper meanings. This use of language is something I have become more aware of over the past few weeks. Coming to a foreign land can involve more than learning a new language; sometimes it also involves changing some of your existing language.

For example, where am I living at present? Am I in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Kurdish area of Iraq, or Southern Kurdistan? (Northern, western and eastern Kurdistan being the Kurdish areas of Turkey, Syria and Iran respectively) Should one call the people Kurds, Kurdish Iraqis or Iraqi Kurds? People can be offended if you use the “wrong” term, even though there does not appear to be a “right” term. The answer lies in your perception of the situation here in Iraq–or should that be Kurdistan?

I have also been thinking about the names that the media use to describe individuals and groups. The terminology used often expresses an opinion.

The Middle East has been a top news story over the past two months. Israeli soldiers have been “kidnapped or seized” by Hezbollah and Hamas, who are terrorist organizations. The Israeli Defence Force “arrests and holds” prisoners. Thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese are in Israeli jails without who have not been charged with any crime and not offered due process under the law.

I wonder how many people have noticed that countries have defense forces, never offense forces! Those denied statehood–like the Kurds, Palestinians, or the black South Africans– are terrorists. Of course, names such as “terrorist” can be temporary. I wonder if Nelson Mandela, during his long years of imprisonment for terrorism, dreamed he would one day be feted by world leaders?

Governments, eager to shape public opinion, (generally) have chosen their words carefully. No more so than when naming military operations. The invasion of Panama in 1989 was called “Just Cause”; Afghanistan was “Enduring Freedom” and Iraq “Iraqi Freedom.” The recent Israeli invasion of Lebanon was called “Operation Just Reward.” The Israeli military called its military action in Gaza “Operation Summer Rain.”

This question of names is not limited to the political arena. A few weeks ago we met an Iraqi Christian leader who told us that we were not “loyal Christians” because we told him we did not agree with his anti-Muslim statements (said in front of our Muslim translator.) People in Iraq have sometimes suggested that we change our name, omitting the word “Christian” because it would “put people off.”

What, indeed, is in a name?