March like a girl

 

Shook shook the nation

Donald Trump maakte zich de voorbije jaren niet enkel schuldig aan talloze vrouwonvriendelijke uitspraken, maar nam ook heel wat schokkende standpunten inzake vrouwenrechten in. Teresa Shook, een voormalig advocate uit Hawaii, was net als velen onder ons verontwaardigd over de houding van de Amerikaanse president tegenover vrouwen. Begin november maakte ze op Facebook een event aan waarop ze een veertigtal vriendinnen uitnodigde voor een mars richting het Witte Huis. Toen ze de volgende dag haar laptop opende, bleek het evenement opgepikt door de populaire Facebookpagina ‘Pantsuit Nation’ en stonden zo’n 10.000 (!) mensen aanwezig. Dat aantal nam de daaropvolgende weken alleen maar toe.

Uiteindelijk groeide de optocht uit tot een indrukwekkende organisatie waarin heel wat bekende en minder bekende activisten zetelden. Tamika D. Mallory, Carmen Perez, Linda Sarsour en Bob Bland werden benoemd tot national co-chairs van de Women’s March on Washington en zorgden samen met een gemotiveerd team voor een mission statement, verdere bekendmaking en partnerships met heel wat noemenswaardige Amerikaanse organisaties.

 

Sisters are doing it for themselves

Gisteren was het dan eindelijk zover. In élk continent kwamen vrouwen, mannen en kinderen op straat om hun ongenoegen te uiten. De mars bleef zo goed als overal vredig, maar daarom niet minder strijdvaardig. Heel wat bekende vrouwen en mannen lieten van zich horen in de menigte, op podia of via sociale media.

Wanna feel the girlpower? Kijk, lees en luister dan even mee naar enkele van de krachtigste en meest inspirerende speeches van Amerikaanse vrouwen. Kip-pen-vel.

 

AMERICA FERRERA

https://youtube.com/watch?v=wrQt0J4hWj4

“It’s been a heart-wrenching time to be both a woman and an immigrant in this country. Our dignity, our character, our rights have all been under attack, and a platform of hate and division assumed power yesterday. But the President is not America. His cabinet is not America. Congress is not America. We are America. And we are here to stay. We march today for our families and our neighbors, for our future. For the causes we claim and the causes that claim us.”

 

ALICIA KEYS

https://youtube.com/watch?v=x9QL227vb3U

“We are mothers. We are caregivers. We are artists. We are activists. We are entrepreneurs, doctors, leaders of industry and technology. Our potential is unlimited. We rise! We will not allow our bodies to be owned and controlled by men in government – or men anywhere, for that matter. We will not allow our compassionate souls to get stepped on. We want the best for all Americans. No hate, no bigotry, no Muslim registry. We value education, healthcare and equality. We will continue to rise until our voices are heard, until our planet’s safety is not deferred, until our bombs stop dropping in other lands, until our dollar is the same dollar as a man’s.”

 

TAYLOR SCHILLING

https://youtu.be/kvc1Ojhv4zo

“I’m marching because I believe women’s rights are human rights. I believe that, when we listen to each other, there are solutions beyond the rhetoric of fear and hate. I’m here because I believe in the power of action and love and hope to conquer hate. There is space for every person here to be unabashedly who they are, in whatever shape or form that takes. I think we can tell this administration that we are going to be heard and we are going to be seen. I’m here fighting for the right for a woman to be judged on the content of her character versus her shape in a skirt. Treating women as commodities cheapens our nation. And we can, together, change that.”

 

ANGELA DAVIS

“This is a women’s march and this women’s march represents the promise of feminism as against the pernicious powers of state violence. An inclusive and intersectional feminism that calls upon all of us to join the resistance to racism, to Islamophobia, to antisemitism, to misogyny, to capitalist exploitation.”

 

MADONNA

https://youtube.com/watch?v=4Jka9mrEFpY

“Welcome to the revolution of love. To the rebellion. To our refusal as women to accept this new age of tyranny. Where not just women are in danger but all marginalized people. Where people uniquely different might be considered a crime. It took us this darkness to wake us the fuck up. It seems as though we all slipped into a false sense of comfort, that justice would prevail and that good would prevail in the end. Well, good did not win this election. But good will win in the end. So what today means is that we are far from the end. Today marks the beginning; the beginning of our story. The revolution starts here.”

 

ASHLEY JUDD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUNcELLc9vE

“Our pussies ain’t for grabbing. They’re for reminding you that our walls are stronger than America’s ever will be. Our pussies are for our pleasure, they are for birthing new generations of filthy, vulgar, nasty, proud, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, you name it, for new generations of nasty women.”

 

SCARLETT JOHANSSON

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-6ofCjjUz-Q

“President Trump, I did not vote for you. That said, I respect that you are our president-elect and I want to be able to support you. But first I ask that you support me, support my sister, support my mother, support my best friend and all of our girlfriends. Support the men and women here today who are anxiously awaiting to see how your next moves may drastically affect their lives. Support my daughter who may actually, as a result of the appointments you have made, grow up in a country that is moving backwards not forwards, and who may potentially not have the right to make choices for her body and her future.”

 

 

Foto boven: Jim Beckel/The Oklahoman via Associated Press