The Women Rocked!

 Posted by at 12:32 pm  Politics
Jan 222017
 

Forty four years ago we had a Supreme Court that actually paid attention to the US Constitution, and they correctly decided that women’s reproductive health care decisions were hers to make and hers alone, and they proclaimed it in Roe v. Wade.  The electoral-college infestation of the Whitehouse by Donald Trump has put this right and all women’s rights in jeopardy like to an unprecedented degree.  So for women to march everywhere was most appropriate.  Washington DC was the highest profile.

0122DC

The day after what many had assumed would be the inauguration of the first female president, hundreds of thousands of women flooded the streets of Washington, and many more marched in cities across the country, in defiant, jubilant rallies against the man who defeated her.

Protesters jammed the streets near the Capitol for the main demonstration, packed so tightly at times that they could barely move. In Chicago, the size of a rally so quickly outgrew early estimates that the official march that was scheduled to follow was canceled for safety, though many paraded through downtown, anyway.

In Manhattan, Fifth Avenue became a tide of signs and symbolic pink hats, while in downtown Los Angeles, shouts of “love trumps hate” echoed along a one-mile route leading to City Hall, with many demonstrators spilling over into adjacent streets in a huge, festival-like atmosphere.

The marches were the kickoff for what their leaders hope will be a sustained campaign of protest in a polarized nation, riven by an election that raised unsettling questions about American values, out-of-touch elites and barriers to women’s ambitions… [emphasis added]

From <NY Times>

I was unaware of plans for Portland’s Women’s march, let alone that it would be happening right under my window, keeping me from sleep all day.  I was overjoyed to be kept awake, even though I’m bleary eyed now.  The marchers started going by at around 10:00 AM.  They just kept coming and coming, nonstop until around four PM.

0122Portland

They came from near and far. They came and they stood and they sang and they strode through the soggy streets of downtown Portland on Saturday.

And they came in unexpected numbers.

The gathering, billed as the Women’s March and attended by crowds estimated as high as 70,000 to 100,000 — well beyond the 30,000 that organizers expected as of Thursday — was not just for women, and it wasn’t just for marching. The massive throng that congregated at Tom McCall Waterfront Park on Saturday was no monolith and the causes represented were as diverse as the rally’s participants.

The rally in Portland was just one of the dozens of offshoots of the Women’s March on Washington. Just one day after Donald Trump took the oath of office on the National Mall, that same space was filled with hundreds of thousands of people opposed to his presidency. Similar marches took place across the country and around the globe on Saturday, from Atlanta to Albuquerque to Asia and even Antarctica… [emphasis added]

From <Oregon Live>

Yes, that picture really is Portland, and the beauty of it was that for all those hours, I never heard flash bang grenades, tear gas canisters, sound cannons, police loudspeakers or even a police siren.  The whole thing was entirely nonviolent.  They rocked!

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  23 Responses to “The Women Rocked!”

  1. Great news of women all around the world marching!!! The sayings on their posters were spot on too!
    I loved seeing them all!
    Thanks, Tom.

  2. To tie-in to the ongoing kerfuffle of Tweetler & his Press Secretary, "Baghdad Sean" Spicer, blatantly lying WRT crowd size – I enjoyed these two time-stamped photos of the Mall from Google Earth comparing Trump's on Friday and the Women's March on Saturday.

    Since I already used the KKK Kluckers in their sheets to explain the sea of white, I think the new Trump excuse is that it's odd that at least half of his supporters all had to use the Porta-Potties (actually called "Don's Johns") at exactly the same time the picture was taken.

  3. Limited mobility, as we all know, is a – well.  I've been supporting in the form of signing and encouraging, but no, I wasn't there, except in spirit.  I expect the same is true of many here who have physical issues of one kind or another.  But for those who were there –

  4. WONDERFUL!

    This momentum must be fed, can not be allowed to peter out!

  5. I'm afraid that I didn't go to the march in Austin.  I wish I had.  Word is that it was hard to get a signal down there. Maybe the system got overloaded but I thought that Austin was supposed to be "wired".  But I was told that that was the reason that not many pictures were being posted from Austin.  However, they too had an excellent turnout.

    A friend who went told me that she was thrilled that so many men had showed up.  Not only did they show up but the daddies were watching after the children while the women carried their signs!

    Another friend had her young'un hold a sign in his stroller that said "I throw less tantrums than Donny".

    • Looks like you Austinites (?Austinonians?) can be proud!

      There's a site by some professor who's keeping a running crowd count of most of the USA sister cities, and it lists Austin as between 30k & 50k!

      https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xa0iLqYKz8x9Yc_rfhtmSOJQ2EGgeUVjvV4A8LsIaxY/htmlview?sle=true#gid=0

      Pretty damn impressive!

      • I live about 30 miles north but commuted to one of those state office buildings in the background for 30 years. There is a large development near me where you have to be 55+ to live there (Sun City). The belief was that most residents were republican as the few Hillary signs disappeared on a regular basis.  So when someone there decided to charter a bus to make it to this event they weren't sure if they could get enough people.  They filled 3 buses!

        I don't live in Sun City but many of the members of my church do. I'm not sure how many of our friends went but I'm so proud of them! We are so happy to have found such a liberal church in Central Texas!

  6. I am SO proud of the marchers in every town, all over the WORLD! Even I'm Antarctica! We got ALL 7 continents!!!! So PROUD! Looks like back in the 60's, but without so much blood!!!

    Kudos, TC! Sorry You had to lose sleep, but what a wonderful way to lose it!

  7. Vancouver did it's part with several marches within Metro Vancouver.  The downtown march estimates about 16,000.  Check out the pictures.

    I was reminded of the Solidarność (Solidarity) trade union created in 1980 Poland.  As I recall there were people the world over standing in solidarity with Solidarność.  And so people stand in solidarity the world over for women's rights.

     

    Resist!!!

  8. WOW!!!  I am deeply impressed at all the marchers – well done to all and to all that helped in whatever capacity for such marvelous, well attended peaceful gatherings.  (I loved being told of the toddler's sign – 'I throw less tantrums than Donny' – thanks Bonnie!). 

    Simply wonderful.

  9. Right after Drumpf's inauguration speech a few hundred protesters demonstrated against Drumpf and our own Wilders in the Hague, but more than 3000 joined in the Women's March in Amsterdam the next day. People joined in the march in 670 cities all over the world and all were against Drumpf.

    From RTLNieuws/ANP

    From RTLNieuws/ANP

  10. Awesome!  Kudos to all who marched, women and men, and to all the countries who rallied in support.  Amazing what we can do when we want to…

  11. Kudos to all the peaceful demonstrators worldwide!

  12. Ah, so the above is what a ping back looks like.  Way cool.

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