Sunday, December 18, 2011

On The Verge Of Transition In Syria.

Contributed by Naser Danan, M.D.

Keynote address delivered on Nov. 19.2011 in Detroit, Michigan at a conference titled "On the Verge of Transition" hosted by "Syrian Expatriates".

It's my great honor and privilege to be addressing such esteemed and distinguished Patriotic Syrians today gathered in the spirit and hopes of cooperation to assist in the resurrection of our long oppressed and long restrained and wounded Syria and its great Syrian People.

Liberty and dignity are two values by which our human family stands apart, and without which our sense of humanness is diminished and compromised.

Having experienced growing up in Syria under the watchful eye of a police state and a totalitarian despotic regime that robs its citizens from both, I -like many of you- was determined to seeking them elsewhere.

However, our Syrian people have recently asserted their demand to restore their long robbed God given human and citizen rights through their peaceful grassroots Revolution. Their struggle thus far has been rife with bloodshed and sacrifice. Their determination has astounded all near and far and earned them praise and respect. They have reasserted the notion that human spirit may temporarily be defeated but it can never be permanently subjugated. The path has so far proven tortuous but the Will unyielding.

We are a diverse nation and our diversity speaks not only of our tolerance but our acceptance and celebration of our diversity. Our land had been in the business of producing civilizations for thousands of years, as well as providing refuge to the oppressed from around the World, from Armenia to Kurdistan, to Circassia.

A chain is as strong as its weakest link so are nations. Therefore let us harness this diversity to strengthen each piece of our mosaic in the face of tyranny as we have in years past, and remember, in our diversity lies strength and in our division lies strength for our enemy. Let us continue this tradition and celebrate our differences.

Our Revolution is not a revolution of bread but a revolution of dignity, a revolution of liberty, a revolution of equality and equity and a revolution of pride.

Our revolution is against tyranny, against despotism, against nepotism but above all; against our past failures that facilitated the subjugation of an entire nation to the Will of few.

In short, it's a revolution against all that hinders the spirit of any citizen from soaring high.

Many concerned free Syrians both in Syria and abroad have chosen to rise up and speak out in support of their Syrian People's struggle, risking much but in return aspiring to achieve what was unimaginable a mere generation ago.

We are such free Syrians among many. Let us aspire to a free Syria in which the rule of Law prevails. Liberty, dignity, justice, equality and equal opportunity, freedom of speech and expression are but few of the universally shared values we shall seek to restore. Civil, pluralistic and constitutionally democratic. We shall envision a Syria for all Syrians constrained by nothing less than the limitless human ingenuity and imagination.

Naser Danan, a Pediatrician from Cleveland Ohio, activist in civil rights and social justice, serves on the Cleveland Leadership Council of the ACLU, Syrian Expatriates advisory board, National Consensus Movement executive committee member