March 15th is the 7th anniversary of the onset of the Syrian revolution as part of the Arab Spring uprisings which began in the early months of 2011 in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain with reverberations in Morocco, Jordan, Iraq. Millions of people, with women playing a leading role, rose up fearlessly against brutal dictatorships. They were among the most momentous uprisings in human history & it has taken massive repression, massacres, carpet bombing, vilification, mockery, & international treachery & military intervention to reverse them.

We should take a moment to honor those millions who dared all & are paying such a heavy price for trying to make this a more democratic & humane world. The problem is not that they tried & failed because they have not yet conceded defeat. Things are always harder to do than they appear & that is nowhere more reality than in creating social transformation from a world of sorrow, brutality, & inequality. That mistakes were made is obvious. The problem is more that they stood alone without the giant phalanxes of international solidarity. Who among us has not tried to change the world as they did have no right to sneer at the monumental struggle they dared & continue against all odds.