WASHINGTON – On January 18th, dozens of civil society organizations plan to converge on Washington, D.C. as “The People’s March” to spark a “new social movement” that will confront the MAGA forces descending on the 20th to take power of all three branches of federal government. Among these groups are immigrant, environmental, and civil liberties advocates, racial justice groups, labor locals, and feminist organizations.
The logistical efforts will be anchored by the Women’s March, a group that emerged from the Women’s March on Washington in 2017 that protested the first Trump inauguration. Though the weight of the mobilization will be focused on Washington D.C., more than 300 supporting events have been planned across the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
According to the People’s March website, forces will be spread among three different meet-up locations, Farragut Square will contain contingents focused on democracy, immigration and peace; McPherson Square will contain contingents focused on DC-specific issues like home rule; and the Franklin Park location will focus on bodily autonomy, gender and LGBTQ issues.
After gathering in these three locations, a march will proceed to the Lincoln Memorial for a rally and opportunities to network. The most important aspect of the mobilization, according to organizers, is to help those who attend find “political homes” through “onboarding, political education, organizing and mobilizing work capacity.”
Though organizers do not expect the same level of turnout as the 2017 Women’s March, which was the largest protest in United States history, they do not see it as an indication that the movement is any weaker. “Mobilizations of this kind are much better indicators of people who are moving into movement,” said organizers. “Rather than representing the totality of movement, or even a temperature check of movement.”
“We want to meet people where they’re at, and looking at the next four years of another Trump presidency is daunting,” Ryann Perkins, co-director of the Claudia Jones School for Political Education, told People’s World. “To face another Trump presidency and its fascist agenda, we must approach the tasks that lie ahead with the broadest possible unity.”
Mobilizing organizations include Movement for Black Lives, UFCW3000, Time to Act, Popular Democracy, Sunrise Movement, Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, Claudia Jones School for Political Education, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Adalah Justice Project, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Jewish Voices for Peace, United We Dream and the Women’s March. The Democratic Socialists of America and the Communist Party USA will also be present in DC on the 18th.
NeeNee Taylor, of Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, said her organizing was mobilizing to McPherson Square because of the threats that a MAGA-run government present directly to DC. “Washington, DC is not a state. Donald Trump has made threats to revoke D.C.’s Home Rule,” a law that allows DC residents to elect their own leaders. “This is not just a D.C. issue; it’s a national one… a threat to local governance in D.C. is a threat to local governance across the country.”
Indeed, one of the greatest MAGA threats to local rule regards access to reproductive and gender-based healthcare. Sweeping federal bans or reviving the federal Comstock Law which monitors federal mail could limit hundreds of millions from accessing abortion and trans healthcare. “Make no mistake, misogyny is on the march,” said Tamika Middleton of the Women’s March. “If you believe that decisions about your body should remain yours, that books belong in libraries, not on bonfires, that healthcare is a right, not a privilege for the wealthy… then you should march too.”
The Communist Party also intends to mobilize members from across the Mid-Atlantic to participate this weekend, while elsewhere members intend to join local actions hosted by the People’s March. “We’ll be at the People’s March because we want to be where the people in struggle are. The resistance lives!” CPUSA co-chair Joe Sims told People’s World. “The struggle against the Project 2025 agenda will affect all communities and workers, and the Communist Party is willing to do our part to build the broadest and deepest possible anti-fascist coalition possible to meet these challenges.”
At the same time as pro-democratic forces converge on Washington D.C., MAGA forces are allegedly gathering to celebrate what they consider to be a major victory. More than $170 million dollars have been raised by the Trump inauguration committee since November. That money will go towards paying for lavish events that the ultra-rich plan to hold across the DC area this weekend, including a fireworks display and reception at Trump’s in Lowes Island, Virginia and a MAGA victory rally on the 19th at Capital One Arena.
While the Trump campaign insists that inauguration events are all at capacity, the New York Times reports that many donors sent money without the expectation of VIP tickets. If this inauguration is anything like Trump’s previous inauguration in 2017, the resistance to the incoming Trump administration may well outweigh MAGA supporters in the streets.
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