Friends back US People’s March
Quakers took part in a morning of resistance
Quakers took part in a morning of resistance against the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president last week.
‘Our aim is to raise hope and gather messages of support for those in the USA who are fearful and angry about the future. Messages will go on social media afterwards,’ said Norwich Quaker Lesley Grahame, before the event at Hay Hill in Norwich.
The UK gathering was intended to mirror the People’s March in Washington two days before the president’s inauguration on 20 January. With the number of attenders there estimated by Washington DC police to be around 25,000, the rally was supported by more than 350 protests in cities across every US state. In New York, around a thousand protesters showed up outside the federal court buildings in lower Manhattan.
The People’s March in Washington was a significantly smaller gathering than the previous rally in 2017 when Donald Trump was inaugurated for the first time. This was then called the Women’s March. Evvie Harmon, global coordinator of the marches, said initial and unofficial estimates put the crowd in Washington at that time at more than one million. The attendance at events worldwide was in excess of three million, she said.
Jo Reger, a sociology professor who researches social movements at Oakland University in Michigan, told The Guardian that the People’s March on 18 January was unusual in its ‘vast array of issues brought together under one umbrella’. This included feminism, racial justice, and anti-militarisation. There were also talks by social justice organisations.
‘We probably ain’t seen nothing yet but resistance is growing and bracing for whatever Trump/Musk throws at us,’ said Lesley Grahame about the Hay Hill witness in the UK. Organised by Norwich Women in Black, the key theme was ‘not going backwards’, she said, adding: ‘So let’s plant our dreams and not bury them.’
