https://socialistaction.org/2017/01/22/the-largest-protest-in-u-s-history-womens-marches-draw-4-million/
The largest protest in U.S. history: Women’s marches draw 4 million
/ 19 hours ago
feb-2017-gretchen-2By ANN MONTAGUE and MICHAEL SCHREIBER
Jan. 21 laid the foundations for a powerful movement for women’s rights.
The Women’s Marches, which took place in Washington, D.C., in over 600
sister U.S. towns and cities, and in many more cities around the world,
were an unprecedented expression of the determination of women and men
to struggle against any governmental attempts to roll back those rights.
The inauguration of the misogynist Donald Trump, whose presidential
administration along with Congress threatens to cut reproductive health
care and other services for women, gave a strong impetus for many
marchers to join the protests.
“What we are seeing is undeniable!” affirmed the TV news. Maria Theresa
Kumar of MSNBC told viewers, “I heard every language. I heard about
abortion and equal rights. I heard about LGBTQ rights.” Official
estimates came rolling in, and with each new city that was announced,
everyone was amazed. The projections on crowd size that rally organizers
had put forward only a day earlier had been exceeded in almost every
case.feb-2017-wom-ny-marty-3
By evening, it became apparent that we had witnessed the largest protest
in U.S. history. From 3,600,000 to 4,577,00 marched and rallied in the
United States on Jan. 21, according to Jeremy Pressman, from the
University of Connecticut, and Erica Chenoweth, from the University of
Denver.
At the same time, over a quarter of a million people rallied in other
countries—from Sweden to South Africa to Australia. Over 100,000 filled
the streets around London’s Trafalgar Square. In Paris, thousands
rallied near the Eiffel Tower, carrying posters that read, “We have our
eyes on you Mr. Trump” and “With our sisters in Washington.”
The official count for the march and rally in Washington, D.C., was
500,000, while some estimated that far more than 600,000 had
participated. Actress America Ferrera began the rally by stating, “Our
dignity, our character, our rights have all been under attack, and a
platform of hate and division assumed power yesterday. But the president
is not America. … We are America, and we are here to stay.”
Gloria Steinem told the crowd, “This is a day that will change us
forever because we are together. Each of us, individually and
collectively, will never be the same again.” She looked out at a sea of
people on the National Mall. Thousands wore pink knitted “pussy caps,”
which were seen as a retort to Trump’s crude remark about grabbing
women’s genitals.
A Socialist Action reporter who was in Washington points out, “The rally
was overwhelmingly made up of people who had never been on a protest
demonstration before. From the podium, they heard an incredible range of
commentary from people with long experience in the Black, prison, LGBTQ,
and other liberation movements, and from the unions. Despite the fact
that most of the solutions that were proposed did not go beyond what is
acceptable to the Democratic Party, people still heard an advanced
analysis from many movements. The message was that people do not intend
to go back to the old racist, sexist America.”feb-2017-wom-ny-marty
A great many demonstrators in Washington, as in other cities, carried
colorful and clever hand-lettered signs. Slogans included, “A woman’s
place is in the revolution!” “Tweet women with respect!” and “Girls just
want to have FUN-damental rights!” Many signs contained anti-racist
slogans and expressed solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement
against police killings and violence. Climate change was another issue
that many marchers protested on their signs.
In New York City, the mayor’s office estimated 400,000 marchers, and
Women’s March organizers estimated 600,000. Fifth Avenue was so clogged
that people had to move at a snail’s pace, and the march continued late
into the night. Los Angeles organizers put their number of marchers at
750,000.
A Socialist Action reporter in Chicago states, “The Chicago Sun Times
says 250,000 marched, estimated from aerial photographs. Organizers
cancelled the march after collaboration with the police, as its size
seemed to overwhelm them. Many of the signs at the protest reflected
revulsion of various aspects of Trump sexism, while others made
reference to Trump’s ‘illegitimate’ election.”feb-2017-gretchen-1
Seattle police estimated 130,000. About 175,000 gathered on Boston
Common, where Tanisha Sullivan, head of the Boston NAACP, called on
marchers to draw courage from the women who have marched in protests in
decades and centuries before. “Despair, my sisters, has no place here,”
she said. “Today, my sisters, we march through our disappointment to the
promise of freedom. We march through our fear in search of racial and
gender equality. We march through great uncertainty in pursuit of
justice for all.”
Other cities were amazed to see massive crowds fill their
streets—including 200,000 in Denver, 100,00 in Portland, Ore., 60,000 to
100,000 in Oakland, Calif., and 75,000 to 100,000 in Madison, Wis. In St
Paul, Minn., police estimated 90,000 to 100,000—five times the number
that had been expected and at least twice the size of any other
demonstration that had ever been held in Minnesota.
Other cities saw smaller, but still huge, numbers of marchers. The
mayor’s office in Philadelphia reported that over 50,000 marched there,
including a raucous contingent of 1000 LGBTQ persons from the national
Creating Change Conference, which was meeting in the city. In addition,
thousands of Philadelphians joined the national march in Washington, D.C.
Over 50,000 marched in the rain in San Francisco and 25,000 in San Jose,
and 5000 braved a heavy snow in Boise, Idaho. About 10,000 protested in
Kansas City and in Hartford, Conn., and 15,000 to 20,000 marched in
Montpelier, Vt.
The Tucson police said that over 15,000 marched there. Phoenix saw
36,000, and Flagstaff had 1200. There were high numbers of protesters in
the South, where Atlanta had 60,000, Raleigh 17,000, Houston 20,000,
Louisville 5000, and Memphis 900.
A number of cities and towns in Canada hosted women’s marches on Jan.
21, including 60,000 in Toronto, 15,000 in Vancouver, 10,000 in Ottawa,
and 5000 in Montreal.
Photos: Gretchen Marino / Socialist Action (Philadelphia) and Marty
Goodman / Socialist Action (New York City).
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January 22, 2017 in Uncategorized.
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Forward to the Women’s March on Washington!
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