“Every time I feel very helpless today, I hear his voice telling me that it is worth it, and all this pain and this uncertainty and this helplessness is worth it…This is not about me having a chance to live a free and just democratic Syria…Everything I do is not only about me, it’s also about others. And the results, I might not witness, but it’s enough to me that someone will.” — Wafa Mustafa

When the Syrian people took to the streets on March 15th of 2011, they demanded freedom and dignity. Ten years later, the fight continues. Only now it has been taken beyond the streets to the hall of the UN General Assembly, the Oscars’ red carpet, and thousands of in-person and virtual events across the globe. The displacement of more than 12 million Syrians has only broadened the reach of this fight; the Syrian cause has been anything but abandoned. 

We often hear a different story of Syria, however. It is one of a single narrative, a single political narrative that asks the leaders of other countries how they envision the future of Syria. But this crisis is not an issue of geopolitics — at its heart, it belongs to the Syrian people and the future they see for themselves. 

On Wednesday, this false narrative was shattered by five powerful women in the Syrian and more broadly humanitarian space. When Lina Sergie Attar of Karam, Waad Al-Kateab of Action for Sama, Ghalia Rahal of the Mazaya Center, activist Wafa Mustafa, and Josie Naughton of Choose Love came together to commemorate the last ten years of fighting for freedom, the nuance of each Syrian’s experience was brought to light. Whether it was Wafa speaking on the disappearance of her father that forced her family to flee to Turkey, Ghalia explaining how she conducts her work out of a refugee camp in Idlib, or Lina sharing how she uses writing as resistance, the spirit of the revolution was humming stronger than ever. As each woman surfaced her unique lessons and experiences, we in the audience were transformed. And the movement itself became more vivid as the interests of non-Syrians dissolved from view.

The story of Syria irrefutably belongs to its people, and we urge you to gather your friends and family to watch this panel in order to ensure the right voices are being heard.

To learn more about the panelists and their organizations, click here.

To join us in building 10,000 Leaders for the future of Syria, click here.