On January 21, the Women’s March, one of the biggest demonstrations in U.S. history took place. Millions of people across the U.S. and around the world flooded the streets. People expressed anger at Trump’s policies – the attacks on women’s rights, on immigrants, his racism, his anti-Muslim and antigay and transgender attitudes, and his mockery of disabled people, People expressed anger at his disregard for global warming, his threats to build a Mexican border wall and more nuclear weapons.
Trump represents the most disgusting face of this political system of the 1% – what we get when the mask comes off and we see the reality usually hidden from us. Democratic Party politicians may present much more respectful attitudes but they presided over mass incarceration, set a record for immigrant deportations and carried out brutal warfare in the Middle East. Our solution cannot to put the Democratic party back in power.
The numbers of people protesting last weekend were incredible. In total, five million people around the world marched on every continent. A million people were gathered in Washington D.C.. In Los Angeles, 750,000 people marched and 250,000 in New York City and Chicago. Both Oakland and San Francisco saw 100,000 people marching. In small cities and towns people turned out everywhere.
Demonstrations also took place in 81 other countries and all the continents, from Argentina to Thailand to Iraq. Protests ranged from hundreds to thousands. In England more than 100,000 demonstrated. Even in Antarctica, nearly 100 people demonstrated. It is clear that the resistance to the Trump administration is widespread.
The protests were full of anger, but also full of joy as people came together, often carrying their own signs with their own slogans. It was a protest but it was also a celebration. It showed the real possibility for people to be active participants, rather than isolated and silent.
When we come together in such large numbers we can feel that a different world is possible. When we see how hundreds of thousands of people from all different backgrounds, who don’t know each other, can march together for hours without incident, and in friendship, we get a glimpse of a what a different society could be if it were based on equality, respect and solidarity.
The Women’s March was a good beginning. It showed that if we organize together we could have the power to stand up to the attacks being prepared through the Trump regime. Our power does not lie in their elections. We are the majority. We do all the work and run all the services that keep society going. Our power is in our numbers in our workplaces, our communities, and our schools. We can learn to trust in our own forces, our own creativity, our own possibilities and that of the millions ready to join us! The time for waiting is over. We are the ones we have been waiting for!
Standing Up For What’s Right!
When Trump signed an executive order aimed at restoring the Keystone Excel and Dakota Access pipelines thousands responded. And in response to his edict preventing people from Muslim-majority countries from entering the US, thousands have showed up at major airports across the country to support those who were being blocked from entering. The American Civil Liberties Union got an emergency injunction halting the enforcement of Trump’s order. But it is far from over.
People all over the U.S. are refusing to accept Trump’s orders that threaten our lives, our rights and the health of the planet. People are right to stand up and resist. We need to continue act on the idea that “An injury to one is an injury to all”.
