(Washington) Eight years after the historic Women’s March which took place when Donald Trump first took power, a second demonstration is planned for Saturday in the American capital.
Posted at 8:48 a.m.
Rebranded and reorganized, the march has a new name — the People’s March — to broaden support. The Republican is sworn in on Monday.
Women outraged by Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential victory gathered in Washington in 2017 and held large rallies in cities across the country, building the base of a grassroots movement that became known as Women’s March. The Washington rally alone attracted more than 500,000 demonstrators, and millions more participated in local marches across the country, marking one of the largest single-day protests in state history -United.
This year’s march is expected to be ten times smaller than the first, as many progressive voters navigate feelings of exhaustion, disappointment and despair following Kamala Harris’ defeat.
PHOTO SHANNON STAPLETON, REUTERS
People gathered for the Women’s March on Washington, January 21, 2017.
-“The reality is that it’s just hard to capture lightning in a bottle,” said Tamika Middleton, executive director of the Women’s March. “It was a really special moment. In 2017, we hadn’t seen a Trump presidency and the kind of vitriol that represented. » The movement fractured after the hugely successful day of protests, amid accusations that it was not diverse enough. This year’s name change to People’s March is the result of an overhaul intended to broaden the group’s appeal. Saturday’s protest will focus on themes related to feminism, racial justice, antimilitarization and will conclude with discussions hosted by various social justice organizations.
The People’s March is unusual in that it brings together “a wide range of issues under one roof,” said Jo Reger, a sociology professor who studies social movements at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. . Women’s suffrage marches, for example, focused on a specific goal, the right to vote.
For a large-scale social justice movement like the March, conflicting visions are impossible to avoid and there is “immense pressure” for organizers to meet everyone’s needs, Ms.me Reger. But she also said that some discord isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“Often it brings change and new perspectives, especially from underrepresented voices,” she emphasized.
Mme Middleton, of the Women’s March, said a massive protest like the one in 2017 was not the goal for Saturday. Rather, it was about drawing attention to a broader set of issues — women’s and reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, immigration, climate and democracy — rather than focusing more closely on Donald Trump.
“We do not consider the march as an end in itself,” said M.me Middleton. How can we ensure that people who run in organizations and in their political homes can continue to fight in their communities for the long term? »
