Comments

  1. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Kinda reminds me of when I was in the Rose Parade forty some years ago. It seemed to go on forever.

  2. microraptor says

    Oops, the above should have read “I heard that LA got a turnout of 750,000 marchers.”

  3. toska says

    I had a lovely time marching in Seattle. The protesters were simultaneously full of love for humanity and our diversity and full of anger at those who threaten us with their racism, transphobia, homophobia, misogyny, ableism, religious bigotry, and every prejudice you can imagine. There was a good turn out all over the world, and I am so proud to have been a part of it. I’m especially glad that the march (at least in Seattle) was very intersectional and didn’t seem to be representative of only white feminism.

  4. Rich Woods says

    @jrkrideau #6:

    Could anyone define “intersectional” for me?

    Sure. It means a wide variety of people.

  5. The Mellow Monkey says

    jrkideau @ 5

    Could anyone define “intersectional” for me?

    Sure. Coined by Professor Kimberle Crenshaw, it refers to how different aspects of oppression intersect to create unique situations. Because a Black woman’s experience of gender discrimination is necessarily influenced by her experience of racism, she will have a unique experience that is not the same as that of a Black man or a white woman. To make a movement intersectional is to take this into account. To recognize that a feminist movement that centers on gender discrimination as middle class, straight, white, able-bodied cis women experience it is to shut out the experiences of all other women and, ultimately, to reinforce the white supremacy and other forms of privilege those middle class, straight, white, able-bodied cis women benefit from.

  6. mudpuddles says

    I just hope that the demonstrations continue, and continue, and continue, and continue…..

  7. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    The Boston march was quite inclusive. All categories were represented. Women’s March was just a title, not exclusively women. And many signs presented many issues intersectional with women’s issues. One I’d like to highlight was one sign about Water Protection and #NoDAPL.
    News reported a single Trump supporter silently holding a (wordy) sign as the crowd marched by. His sound bite on the news was “Trump is misunderstood”. ‘yeah, right’, was my response, and very glad I missed him. I might have made a scene if I encountered him there.
    [offstage whisper]John Cleese visited Worcester Friday (to show Holy Grail) and commented on the low inaugural turnout. Paraphrasing, “I don’t think Trump supporters actually know where DC is, so that’s why they weren’t there. *chortle*”

  8. says

    A wonderful event. The biggest march in Seattle ever, as far as I know. Everyone was very tolerant and helpful to each other. Since people mostly made their own signs, there were many wonderful ones. “Viva la vulva”. “Electile dysfunction”, “I can’t believe I still have to protest this shit”. Plus many even more hilariously obscene ones.

  9. m n says

    @killyosaur – I’m with you there, damn the flu. As soon as I decided I could manage going out in a crowd for it (I have… trouble with crowds, and with crowded trains, which I’d need to ride to get downtown), I bought some yarn for a hat, and I was immediately struck down with the fever and aches, but it looks like the turnout up here in Vancouver was quite respectable (up to 15,000?).

    I’m sad I couldn’t be there, but I’m glad the message has gone out. It’s bigger than any one of us, and bigger than any one city.

  10. says

    Friends who marched there told me the turnout in Bellingham, Washington was 10,000 – 15,000. In Olympia, Washington 10,000. If you know how small those towns are, this is astonishing.

  11. toska says

    @Joe Felsenstein,

    Friends in Helena, Montana also told me they had 10,000 people show up. Really incredible for a very small town in a red state. I’m so proud of what we have collectively done, and I hope we can keep it up all four years.

  12. jrkrideau says

    @ Rich Wood & The Mellow Monkey

    Thank you. It remains a totally stupid term for me but it is nice to know what it means.

    ‘it refers to how different aspects of oppression intersect to create unique situations.’
    DUH and I should be impressed. Sorry but it really is a bit obvious.

    But then I don’t live in the USA. And yes I mean that seriously.

  13. says

    @slithey tove. First memorable thing, a group of us from Rockport and Gloucester (Glosta for you locals) took the train to Boston. It was quite packed for a Saturday in Winter and almost all of us were heading to Boston Common to let Twitler, the nation and the world know we are legion, we’re pissed, and we’re holding him accountable. It was a party train with complete strangers walking around chatting it up. The Countess and I even made some new friends.

    Next memorable thing, what a turn out. Breathtaking. Add the spectacle of marches in other cities and towns and this… this is what the founders envisioned when they told “we the people” to rise up if the government acts against the people. Not some rabid III% traitorous militia vowing an uprising because their fee fees were hurt when this country invalidated their misogynist, racist, and neo-Nazi agendas. I’m sorry, but as a veteran, I can only see them as traitors to the Constitution I swore to uphold.

    Most memorable thing, being treated to a speech from the Honorable Senator Elizabeth Warren. I’m sorry, but I think that woman is a national treasure. I’m ready to vote her for President in 2020, here’s hoping she wants to run.

    Bonus, heading to Boston Chinatown, another treasure, after it was all over and getting some om noms at Bubor Cha Cha (yes, we know it was shut down for health violations once, but we like it anyway).

    You know, it’s possible something really good may come out of Twitler’s reign, not that it’s on purpose, mind you. Even though he is a divider and is going to rule (not govern) as a divider, he may unwittingly unite us and perhaps heal the political rift in this country by rallying many of “we the people” against him.

    Anecdotally, I know a number of people who regret voting for him and I saw a number of self-identifying Republican voters joining us on Saturday (happily, I did not witness any badgering of these folks, they were simply accepted). Now, think about his approval/disapproval numbers. I think it would be safe to say that people who voted for Hillary already disapprove of Twitler, so if his approval numbers are dropping, and they never rose before dropping, then those defections are coming from his voters.

    Finally, and The Countess and I have had some disagreement on this topic, but I would not rant on that some people marching on Saturday may not have voted and landed us in this mess in the first place. I don’t know nor care what all the reasons might be for a sane person to allow this to happen through inaction. Maybe the incessant drumbeat of right wing propaganda and lies got to some folks, I don’t know and it does not matter now because it is in the past and cannot be changed. I am heartened, though, with the turnout around the country and around the world because it means we are all engaging again.

    Just sayin.

  14. EigenSprocketUK says

    Over on this side of the pond, I was able to go to London along with about 99,999 others, marching all the way from the US Embassy to Trafalgar Square, taking in a palace or two on the way and all the most expensive plots on the Monopoly board. It was a massive and brilliantly good-natured crowd. Everything that’s right in the world was there. The march spilled out beyond the cordons set up to keep traffic flowing, and traffic ground to a halt. By the time those of us near the back got to Trafalgar Square hours later, the event was already over (!).
    And we didn’t mind.
    There were loads of other marches in the UK too. Wish I could have gone to them all.

  15. davidc1 says

    More liberal lies ,only one person in the whole world marched .YUK YUK .
    Just made a donation to Planned Parenthood ,only 20 Yankee Dollars.
    Didn’t see an option how to leave it in the name of the vice president .

  16. says

    Dan Dare

    So, all this protest, how did Grump get elected?

    Very easy: because in the USA some people’s votes are worth a lot more than other people’s votes, or to turn it around, in the USA some people’s votes count only as 3/5 of other people’s votes.

  17. quotetheunquote says

    @DanDare #20:

    You see, there’s this antiquated bit of crap called the Electoral College in the U.S., the primary purpose of which seems to be to make sure that the majority of voters do NOT rule….

  18. Knabb says

    @Giliell, 23; Dan Dare, 20

    Worth more is only part of it – there are also vast differences in how easy it is for some people to vote depending on where they live, which are not infrequently deliberately created to drive away democratic voters. For some, it’s a five minute line and a quick voting booth (or filling out a ballot at home and dropping it off at a nearby box), for others the nearest polling station is well out of the way, covers a huge number of people, and frequently has lines that are several hours long. Then there’s voter ID, there’s the disenfranchisement of convicted felons and the ubiquity of innocent people arrested on felony charges (and for that matter the felonious rich consistently not getting in trouble for their felonies), there was the repeal of legislation that blocks states from blatant voter disenfranchisement in states that have a history of blatant voter disenfranchisement on the basis of how said disenfranchisement went down when it was illegal, and there’s dozens of other problems. The electoral college is the tip of the iceberg for U.S. voting being fundamentally broken.

  19. moblues says

    The DC march was a bus load short from my neck of the woods after a Trump supporting driver sabotaged the bus and talked about leaving the riders in DC on facebook. So far the charter company is not responding to phone calls or emails from understandably pissed customers.
    http://www.athensnews.com/news/local/pro-trump-bus-driver-accused-of-delaying-bus-headed-to/article_bde82242-e0d6-11e6-a0ed-739e7e4520f7.html
    S&S Coach http://sscoach.com/ are the folks who employ the nitwit driver.
    In better news, using alternative math, the local protest was several million strong.

  20. JustaTech says

    toska and Joe, it was great to march with you! It was upbeat, determined, intersectional and kind. I saw all kinds of people, all ages, all genders, all religions, from all over the city and all over the world (I marched with a group of Canadians and saw some East African ladies with American flag head scarves). To paraphrase Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, everyone was cool to each other.

    Now we’ve just go to keep it up!

  21. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    I wonder about all the kanukes(so) and expats who were denied border entry when they answered the question “are you 4 or anti Trump?” As “4 the protest”

    Sounds like a treaty violation to ask such a <redacted>question

    Trump is breaking every law presented
    Fucktrump #notmypresident

  22. annetaylor says

    My rusting bible belt city of St. Louis turned out more than 15,000 souls. (I couldn’t attend due to a fierce bout with the flu.)

    I was much more impressed with little Willow Springs in the Ozarks (roughly 40 miles north of the Arkansas state line.) Their population of 2000+ deeply conservative folks in out-state turned out 60 marchers. I haven’t been there since my teens (Youth Conservation Corp brat), but I remember that little place very fondly.

  23. KG says

    It [“intersectional”] remains a totally stupid term for me – jrkrideau@18

    Why? It has a clear meaning, it meets a clear need, and is completely consonant with the set theory meaning of “intersection”. I certainly agree there’s some total stupidity here – but it’s not in the term.

  24. KG says

    EigenSprocketUK@21,

    I was at the Edinburgh demo (the application for a march permit was made too late). Around 2000 people outside the American consulate. It was organised in the last couple of weeks by a 16-year-old schoolgirl, Leah Higgins of Glasgow and her friend, Calum Stuart (it’s remarkable that this positive report is in the Scottish Sun, a Murdoch rag). They thought maybe 30 of their friends would show up.

  25. JohnnieCanuck says

    Canadian news reports are covering a number of different groups of people who were detained for several hours before being turned back at the border. Others eventually were allowed to continue. As reported, many of those who were turned back, Americans and Canadians alike, will now have to obtain a visa before they can be granted entry into the US in the future.

    There’s a chill in the air and dark things are gathering. We thought old friends would welcome our concern, but no.

  26. archangelospumoni says

    “Actually, there were 39 marchers in Seattle.”

    Kellyanne “Baghdad Bob” Conway, Drumpfh whisperer, stating “alternative facts” to somebody.

  27. archangelospumoni says

    “I am not fat and any normal human would have gotten stuck in that bathtub!”

    Taft Administration Alternative Facts Spokesman

  28. archangelospumoni says

    “Aaron Burr is really a swell guy, is a great friend of Alexander Hamilton, hates duelling and only meant to scare him.”

    Jefferson Administration Justice Department Alternative Facts Press Release.

  29. archangelospumoni says

    “This vial of anthrax PROVES Saddam has weapons of mass destruction”

    Bush Administration Central Intelligence Agency Alternative Facts Press Release.