On Saturday, Jan. 21, millions of people across the world rejoiced to peacefully protest at the Women’s March. The march in London had approximately 100,000 like-minded individuals all marching to protest against injustice and for much-deserved rights, but with crowds reaching hundreds of thousands it’s difficult to remember that each person is fighting their own battles and each person has their own reason to be at this march. I interviewed a few random individuals, at the march, with the question: “What are you marching for?”
One protester I asked stated: “I’m marching for the equality for all who can’t march for it” and when I further inquired on his sign (a trouser drawing with the words “down with trousers” scrawled across) he simply explained that it meant “down with patriarchy” because “it’s stupid and outdated”.
Another stated: “I’m here to show solidarity with the rest of the people, as I feel at this sort of time it’s important to be a part of a great movement. You know, one person on your own you can’t do a lot, but if anything else it helps you feel a little bit more hope. Strength in numbers is what is important right now”.
This one father I asked had two of his children marching alongside him, here’s his input: “I’m marching in support of all women against the ‘big baddie’ Trump”. Although his children may not have been able to fully comprehend the importance of this march and why they may have been marching, they continued to shout and scream with the crowd with every “Dump Trump” chant. Which further proves that racism, misogyny, bigotry and islamophobia is not inherited but indeed socialized into our youths. Children have the ability to understand what’s right and wrong, some are just taught different rights and wrongs.
“I’m standing for equality in all its forms, basically I think we should all stand together against racism, homophobia, sexism, misogyny. I just think it’s really important that we all come out and stand as a united nation” one protester stated defiantly as he held his: “No freedom till we’re equal” sign.
A final protester said: “We’re just standing up for, you know, human rights, equal rights for women and we also don’t like what’s going on at the moment so we just want to have a protest, and stand up against Trump and all his racist followers” They then proceeded to tell me that they have a song and began singing a rendition of “Girls just wanna have fun” replacing the lyrics to “Girls just wanna have fundamental rights” to the tune of the Cyndi Lauper song.
Overall, the energy at the protest was palpable; everyone chanting, cheering and waving their signs together, it was a unity I hadn’t witnessed in a while. We were all there: Muslims, Black people, Latinx people, the LGBTQ+ community, Native people, undocumented people, everyone was there fighting for a cause they believe in, fighting for their own rights and beliefs and fighting for those who can’t. Even though Donald Trump is the President of the USA and not of London, we still realized that in order to remain strong and stop the divide: we have to stand together as a nation and fight for what’s right. In the grand scheme of things, none of us truly matter but it’s important to give people a voice and a way to stand up against what they don’t believe while simultaneously standing up for what they do.
It’s also important to note that this isn’t the only march or protest for justice: there are also many Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+, Islamophobia (and many other) marches across the world I recommend attending. If you were at the London March, you may have noticed they were giving out leaflets for a “Stand Up To Racism” march happening on March 18, which will be protesting against Islamophobia, Racism, Anti-Semitism and the unwelcoming of refugees and migrants, which I also recommend attending also.
I leave you with a few pretty photos I took at the march.
