Rallies planned in Washington, NYC, L.A., and worldwide.
WASHINGTON — On the one-year anniversary of the Women’s March that swelled the streets of Washington and cities worldwide, activists reconvened Saturday in the nation’s capital and around the country with new determination to flex their power in the voting booth and on the ballot.
The gathering also comes on the anniversary of the inauguration of President Trump, whose election in many ways gave the movement its first impetus.
As a sign of the power struggle looming in 2018 between Republicans and Democrats, the march in Washington is playing out against the backdrop of a government shutdown.
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Hundreds of gatherings are planned Saturday and Sunday across the country, as well as in Beijing, Buenos Aires, Nairobi and Rome, under the banner the #WeekendofWomen on social media.
In Zurich, the pink, crocheted “pussy hats” that dominated last year’s marches, even put in an appearance among a group of 20, mostly expatriate Americans, who gathered on the fashionable Bahnhofstrasse shopping street with posters and leaflets.
“Dear World,” read the poster carried by Katherine Harper, an American from northwest Indiana now living in a Zurich suburb, “on behalf of the U. S., I’m sorry. “
The gathering also offered concrete ways Americans abroad could participate in the political process back home, starting with registering to vote from abroad.
“The Swiss have a deep love of American ideals,” Harper said. In the past year, as the Trump administration took actions such as pulling out of the Paris climate agreement, Dufresne said she “often felt ashamed and embarrassed about what the U. S. is doing around the world.”
In Washington, the rally was scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET with musicians and civil rights activists meeting at the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial for speeches, followed by a march to the White House at 1 p.m. ET. The monument was to stay open, despite the government shutdown.
Even organizers are not expecting the huge crowds that swarmed the capital, and other cities, in 2017 in the wake of Trump’s election. More than 10,000 were signed up for the march in Washington, sponsored by the Virginia chapter of the Women’s March.
Organizers said the goal was to solidify the movement and use that clout in 2018 elections. In Virginia’s statewide races last year, women turned out in huge numbers at the polls and on the ballots as Democrats made expected gains in state legislative races.
More: Is the Women’s March more inclusive this year?
“The unifying theme of the movement is: When we vote, we win,” movement organizers in Virginia said on their website . “When we stay engaged, we win. When we support each other, we win!”
In New York City, where almost a half-million people turned out last year, the Women’s March Alliance is organizing a rally and march beginning at Central Park and 61st Street.
In Las Vegas, the Power to the Polls rally Sunday will kick off an effort to register 1 million voters and target swing states in the midterm elections.
More: Power to the Polls: When and where is the women’s march in 2018?
“We made a lot of noise,” said Elaine Wynn, an organizer last January. “But now how do we translate that noise into something concrete or fulfilling?”
Linda Sarsour, one of the four organizers of last year’s Washington march, said Las Vegas was picked for a major rally because it is a swing state with one of the most competitive Senate races in 2018.
Last year’s march in Washington sparked debate over inclusion, with some transgender minority women complaining that the event seemed designed for white women born female. Some anti-abortion activists said the event did not welcome them.
The organizers for the Sunday rally are striving for greater inclusion this year, with Latina and transgender female speakers, said Carmen Perez, another co-chair of the 2017 Washington march. Women in the U. S. illegally, sex workers and those formerly incarcerated are welcome, she said.
Contributing: Doug Stanglin in McLean, Va.; Donna Leinwand in Zurich
