Demonstrations have been taking place for close to 4 days now in the UK – and now more are happening across the USA where a staggering 2.9million people showed up Sunday to support the cause – making history with the number of turnouts.
The women’s marches, which have also seen men and children take part, were sparked after one woman made an invite on Facebook.
And it spread quickly with cities across Europe and the world taking part.
“What do they want?” “What’s their goal?”
If there’s a protest or demonstration, you can count on an observer asking these questions from the sidelines. And, to be fair, the answer is less than obvious when tens of thousands of diverse people have gathered, with signs, chants, and group memberships that cover a wide range of issues.
That’s already been the case for the Women’s March on Washington, taking place in Washington, DC, on Saturday. It’s been projected that this event drew more attendees than President Donald Trump’s Friday inauguration and has inspired satellite marches taking place across the country and around the world.
The mainstream understanding of the event is that it’s a protest against Trump. And the women participating have plenty to complain about — from his admitted sexual misconduct to the many sexual assault allegations against him that he’s denied to the serious threats to women’s health and reproductive rights that experts expect based on his threatened defunding of Planned Parenthood and appointment of conservative Supreme Court justices.
But organizers say something slightly different: They created the event to send an affirmative message that “women’s rights are human rights.” That’s why they call it a “march” or a “rally” instead of a protest.
Perhaps that’s splitting hairs, but it’s undeniable that a lot more thought than “Trump is bad” went into the planning — and that characterizing it only as a protest against him somewhat flattens the message that many participants hope to send.
Here’s what you need to know to understand why organizers created the march.
The simple, official answer to “What do they want?” is easy to find in the first paragraph of the march’s official policy platform, a four-page document titled “Guiding Vision and Defining Principals” that was released in advance of the event.
Noting that it aims to bring together people of all genders and backgrounds, the organizers proclaim its goal is “to affirm our shared humanity and pronounce our bold message of resistance and self-determination.”
What that means, exactly, is further illuminated by the rest of the lengthy statement of principles included in the platform.
It’s much broader and more aspirational than the simple lists of demands that accompany some protests and includes many things (freedom from sexual violence, for example) that could not be realistically achieved right away, even by a progressive, feminist administration.
In terms of symbolic goals, organizers also announced the event as a tribute to people living and dead, whom they recognized as having fought for the freedom of women.
But it’s safe to say that nearly all of them demonstrate support for women’s rights — however they define them — in a way that provides a contrast to the attitudes expressed by Donald Trump and the policies that are expected from his administration.
The platform doesn’t even mention the new president’s name. The larger goal seems to be to harness the energy around this particular moment to launch a robust, feminist activist community to fight the gender inequality and assaults on women’s rights and dignity — which of course, existed long before Donald Trump came to power.
With Additions from Vox.com/BBC.com/Mirror.co.uk
