The Syrian Future Movement congratulates the Syrian people on the anniversary of this day, March 15, 2011, when the Syrian revolution began, demanding freedom, dignity, and justice.
Today marks fifteen years since that moment when the people took to the streets in Daraa, Damascus, Aleppo, Idlib, Hasakah, and all other Syrian cities, beginning the longest and most costly of the Arab Spring revolutions.
The Syrian Future Movement, which emerged from the heart of this revolution in 2012, reflects today on the difference between our commemorations of this anniversary before and after liberation.
In past years, we commemorated March 15 in refugee camps, displacement camps, and under bombardment, remembering fallen martyrs and imprisoned freedom fighters, and chanting revolutionary slogans against a regime that was still in power.
March 15 was more of an occasion for defiance and resilience than a celebration.
Today, as we commemorate the fifteenth anniversary, the Assad regime fell on December 8, 2024, a transitional government was formed, and more than 1.3 million Syrian refugees have returned to their country, according to estimates by the UNHCR, with an additional million expected to return by 2026.
While significant challenges remain in providing services and addressing the cost of living, and the files related to transitional justice, the missing, and the forcibly disappeared await resolution, we celebrate today in a free Syria, with the defunct regime consigned to the past.
The Syrian Future Movement, while appreciating the transitional government’s decision to designate March 18 as a national holiday, affirms that March 15 marks the spark of the revolution and its historic launch, and that the memory of the Syrian people cannot be diminished or replaced. The Syrian Future Movement’s media office, as part of its “From the Memory of the Syrian Revolution” series, documented a demonstration in the Rukn al-Din neighborhood of Damascus in 2013. Women there held a banner that read: “March 15th, a day history will never forget… the day the era of victory began.” This is just one example, among many documents, that confirm Syrians, from the very beginning, considered this date a turning point in their struggle.
Therefore, the Syrian Future Movement calls for March 15th to be recognized as a national holiday, alongside March 18th. Neither should be substituted for the other; the two dates are complementary. While the first represents the launch of the revolution, the second represents its consolidation.
We believe that building national memory is not achieved by erasing milestones of struggle, but rather by acknowledging them all.
The Syrian Future Movement, which declared in its vision published on its official website that it is “a Syrian national civil political entity, born from the womb of the Syrian revolution,” and that its goals extend “towards a round table of dialogue that will present a draft national reconciliation document,” reaffirms today its commitment to this approach and calls upon all national forces to work together to build the just and civil Syria for which millions have sacrificed.
The Syrian Future Movement renews its pledge to our righteous martyrs, and promises the families of the missing that their cause will remain present until the fate of their loved ones is revealed. We salute every Syrian who persevered for fifteen years until victory was achieved.
