On January 20, the inauguration of President Donald Trump will take place in Washington. In connection with this event, both festive activities and protests are expected in the nation's capital. One of these protests, called the "People's March," is scheduled for today, Saturday.
It is anticipated that tens of thousands of people will participate. The event is organized by groups advocating for civil rights, racial justice, and the protection of reproductive health.
The name of this protest echoes the "Women's March" of 2017. At that time, many women, dissatisfied with Trump's victory in the 2016 elections, organized large demonstrations in cities across the country. One rally in Washington alone drew over 500,000 participants, with millions more joining protests in other cities, marking one of the largest single-day demonstrations in U.S. history.
This year, the march is expected to be about ten times smaller than the first, as many Democratic voters are feeling fatigue and disappointment following Vice President Kamala Harris's defeat.
"The reality is that it's hard to catch lightning in a bottle," says Tamika Middleton, managing director of the "Women's March." "That was truly a special moment."
After that successful day of protests, the movement fractured due to accusations of insufficient diversity. This year's "People's March" is the result of a reorganization aimed at broadening the group's appeal. The Saturday demonstration will focus on themes of feminism, racial justice, anti-militarization, and other issues, concluding with discussions organized by various social justice organizations.
The "People's March" is unique in that "a huge number of issues are gathered under one umbrella," says Joe Riger, a sociology professor studying social movements at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. "In contrast, marches for women's suffrage were aimed at achieving a specific goal – the right to vote."
According to Riger, in such a broad social justice movement as the march, it is impossible to avoid contradictions, and the organizers face "tremendous pressure" to meet everyone's needs. However, she also noted that some disagreements are not necessarily a bad thing.
"Often, this leads to change and opens up new perspectives, especially for underrepresented voices," said Riger.
Middleton, a representative of the "Women's March," states that a mass demonstration like the one in 2017 is not the goal of Saturday's event. Instead, they aim to draw attention to a wider range of issues – women's and reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, immigration, climate, and democracy – rather than narrowly focusing the march around Trump.
"We don't think of the march as the end goal," Middleton says. "How do we engage those people who come to the march into organizations and their political groups so they can continue the fight in their communities for a long time?"