The Votes Are Counted. Peaceful Transformation Happens!

I have been disheartened of late. The vectors of change around the world have been depressing…everyday another mark against the possibility of collaborative revolution for the common good. A world that works for all children of all species?! Get real. Most recently the death of fellow action researcher Dr. Martha Farrell, killed in Kabul while giving gender equality training. She was in the very same hotel as the dear sister of one of our ARJ board members who was murdered in similar circumstances a year ago. Patriarchy strikes back! Then the almost unbearable revelations of how young women have been violated as chattel by the Islamist fundamentalists boko haram. Closer to home the US fundamentalist right wing with their arrogance on fire. Yet today the votes have been counted. Ireland, my country of origin, voted in a national referendum to become the first nation in the world to legalize gay marriage. I am floored. Centuries of repression have been gently stepped over. Just like that. Well that and decades of collaborative organizing to make it happen! Transformation happened. Transformation happens. And peacefully.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/ireland-becomes-first-country-to-approve-same-sex-marriage-by-popular-vote-1.2223646

-PLL, Hilary
This is part of a blog series from the AR+ conveners’ desk.