Democracy provides the means for and depends on all voices being heard. I was proud to be a part of a variety of voices supporting women's rights and proud to see so many women - and men (and adolescents & children) - of all ages and representing a range of background, experience, race, and ethnicities standing in unity. The event, designed initially for an expected 20,000, remained peaceful but forceful despite an eventual turnout of about 150,000.
Update: some news sources ('real ones') tonite are reporting 250,000 turned out in Chicago.
@boatpainter The rally was supposed to be in Grant Park by the band shell, followed by a march up Jackson, but the crowds were so huge that they filled the park, Balboa, Jackson, Monroe, Madison, Michigan Avenue, etc. so the entire march route already was filled with people. It was quite remarkable. And interesting in terms of the very definition of calm -- we had all received an email asking as part of logistics to please stay off the grass -- and people honored that despite the crowds!
Awesome collage and perspective. The one in Denver was great also. The original estimate was 40,000 would attend, but preliminary estimates are around 200,000. It was inspiring.
Impressive turnout and collage giving a record of a very momentous day Jaffy, after stating my ignorance on the march and going on the net to find out more on Friday, then it was all over the TV News on Saturday, I could not fail to be impressed by the turn out and passion not just in the US but world wide thanks for sharing your day with us:)
Wow Taffy what a great turn out. Good for you for taking part. I have been watching the events on the news. I can't help but feel the new President has rather deaf ears though. Hope it doesn't all end badly for the US.
Fav. Thanks for sharing these pictures. The same thing happened in all the big cities of the US. I have seen some incredible shots of the crowds on facebook. I cannot understand the reason for all these protests - were they against the election of Donal Trump as president of the US?
Absolutely awesome collage.. Definitely another 'where were you when...' event. - well done for turning out in support but also for taking some impressive images too.
Women power. Well done for joining in Taffy. Such impressive rallies all over the world. All controlled and peaceful but nevertheless showing great solidarity.
@busylady@dianen@terryliv Thanks for your comments, questions, and support. @sangwann In answer to your question about the purpose, I think there are a range of reasons people showed up. For me personally, I marched to show support for women's and human rights, which I think will be vulnerable given the turnover in Washington. The beauty of democracy is the peaceful turnover of power, even in the case of someone taking office for those (including me) who did not vote for the person taking office. But the other beauty of democracy is that voices from all sides can continue to be heard. In this case, my personal view is that we had become complacent as a nation -- less than 60% of the citizens voted for a range of reasons (some not in their control), so he ended up with about 27% of the . Further, he was elected by the electoral college which did not reflect the popular vote. The policies promised and cabinet appointments being made worry many of us given the beliefs and goals of those chosen. The march -- from my perspective -- was not designed to influence the current president as that would be naive, but to demonstrate to our elected officials (and to one another) that there is a strong voice for women's rights, public education, social services, equality and a strong voice against racism, sexism, and other issues women tend to -- as a whole, regardless of political position -- be concerned about. The march was designed to show the depth of support that exists for an alternative path than our president has laid out. My hope is that it promotes activism and gives voice to elected officials who believe in the rights of all Americans and who would want to set a strong positive example for the rest of the world. Probably too much information, but it's a worrisome time. We all win if he can be successful, we all lose if our fears come true.
Let's hope your voices will be heard, there were big turnouts in Amsterdam and The Hague as well. I personally hope that events taken place in the US and UK will be a wake-up call to mainland Europe and have a positive effect on the elections in France, Germany and The Netherlands this year
@taffy Thank you for that excellent summary Taffy. Not surprisingly, I agree with everything you said. Everyone I've spoken and/or listened to here is still in stunned disbelief that this narcissistic motor-mouth could reach the pinnacle of government in the land of the free. The rise of extreme elements of right-wing populism in so many countries, including a lunar fringe here, is very, very worrying to those of us who believe in equality, universal human rights and true democracy. Globalism seems to be inevitable, but now we all need governments which will genuinely try to redress the obscene inequalities within our societies.
@golftragic Thanks for sharing Marnie, and for your support for my posting about this. My hope is that we can make the world a better place by doing our part as individuals. It's a difficult time.
Really effective photos of the event and statement of why you marched. It's been wonderful seeing photos of marches from all over the world. I think we all need to keep encouraging each other.
Great collage Taffy!
@sangwann In answer to your question about the purpose, I think there are a range of reasons people showed up. For me personally, I marched to show support for women's and human rights, which I think will be vulnerable given the turnover in Washington. The beauty of democracy is the peaceful turnover of power, even in the case of someone taking office for those (including me) who did not vote for the person taking office. But the other beauty of democracy is that voices from all sides can continue to be heard. In this case, my personal view is that we had become complacent as a nation -- less than 60% of the citizens voted for a range of reasons (some not in their control), so he ended up with about 27% of the . Further, he was elected by the electoral college which did not reflect the popular vote. The policies promised and cabinet appointments being made worry many of us given the beliefs and goals of those chosen. The march -- from my perspective -- was not designed to influence the current president as that would be naive, but to demonstrate to our elected officials (and to one another) that there is a strong voice for women's rights, public education, social services, equality and a strong voice against racism, sexism, and other issues women tend to -- as a whole, regardless of political position -- be concerned about. The march was designed to show the depth of support that exists for an alternative path than our president has laid out. My hope is that it promotes activism and gives voice to elected officials who believe in the rights of all Americans and who would want to set a strong positive example for the rest of the world. Probably too much information, but it's a worrisome time. We all win if he can be successful, we all lose if our fears come true.