Photo by Jonathan Sa'adah
That's me, leaving for the demonstration at 10:30 this morning. I didn't sleep well at all last night, so I was tired, but woke up determined to go add my presence and voice to the rally at the Esplanade at Place des Arts in Montreal, in solidarity with the Women's March on Washington. If I'd been in the U.S. I probably would have gone to D.C. Eight years ago, Jonathan and I were there for Obama's inauguration. What a different feeling on that day - never in a million years would I have expected that a far-right candidate could be elected in the U.S. less than a decade later.
I am tired: I feel like I've been doing this all my life; I'm angry, sad, worn-out. But I wanted to be there, taking a physical stand for human rights and diversity, for peace and non-violence, against racism and hate, against the unleashing of police violence, and especially for the younger women I love who should never have to fight these battles that we thought were already won. So I got up, and got going, knowing a lot of you were doing the same thing in your cities.
When I entered the metro, the tv screens were showing footage of angry Montreal women burning and stomping on an effigy of Trump. But when I arrived at the Place des Arts, I saw nothing of the sort; there was a large crowd of women and men and children, it was peaceful, respectful, and attentive to the speakers who spoke in French and English. I even ran into several people I know, which made me feel like I really do belong here in my adoptive city. After a while I began moving around through the crowd, asking permission to take photos and having my own picture taken too. Here are some of those images.
"Solidarity Doesn't Have A Border" - this woman was so kind when I told her I was a dual citizen; her purpose in being there, she said, was to support American women.
This young American woman is a student at McGill.
The sign reads: "Yes to: the arts, diversity, compassion, public education, feminism, social justice, electoral reform, climate protection, human rights. No to: hate, fear, homophobia, trans-phobia, xenophobia, misogyny, isolationism, toxic masculinity, and the culture of violence."
How's that for a great slogan?
"Justin" refers to the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.
I had a really good conversation with this Iranian woman who has lived in Montreal for the past 18 years, and was holding a banner for an association of Iranian women. She was concerned about the fate of the recent treaty with Iran, but mainly upset about intolerance in America, where she has friends and family.
Yes, and the rest of us are with you on that.
And a final word from the late great Montreal son, Leonard Cohen.
--
I'm glad I went. I feel considerably better than yesterday, which was one of the darker days in my life.
But to avoid the problems of protests like the Occupy movement, it's crucial that this is the the first day of an increasingly organized, disciplined resistance, with clear positions and demands, and a coherent leadership. Our next task is to organize. We have a great deal of work to do, and it's going to be a very difficult road, but there are a lot of us, we're strong and fierce, we've have justice on our side, and we're everywhere.
This is beautiful. Thank you for these photographs and for bearing witness. I wasn't able to march today; instead I led services, and gave a sermon that I hope spoke the truths I needed to say, and have spent the afternoon with my son being mom and cooking and doing laundry and refreshing all of my social media pages endlessly, cheered and heartened to see so many people around the world standing up. I know that the work ahead of us is vast -- but today I just needed a droplet of hope, and posts like this one are balm for my soul.
Posted by: Rachel Barenblat | January 21, 2017 at 04:00 PM
Thanks for sharing. It is hard to believe that our legacy project is to continue to fight even harder against the multiple injustices we have spent a lifetime trying to eliminate. Let's hope that the Trump debacle has galvanized and unified young and old alike who believe that the human project can be better than Trump and all that he represents.
Posted by: Veronica | January 21, 2017 at 05:05 PM
I wish I had gone with you :(
(And I do love that slogan about brains.)
Posted by: Martine | January 21, 2017 at 06:07 PM
Yesterday, I read your blog post and was wondering myself if it was worth going to our march in Chicago. And I too slept very little. But I'd promised a friend we'd go together so I pulled myself out of bed and went. I've never been so happy I got myself going. In Chicago, the sun shone and the temperature climbed to about fifty degrees. From the time we boarded the elevated train in Oak Park there was a unique sense of warmth and solidarity. All ages--I was amazed at women who brought babies swaddled in snuggles. We marched and flooded the streets of Chicago so thoroughly that the actual march portion was called off. That didn't stop most of us, though, from crowding through the streets for hours to make the actual march. I'm tired, too, that we have to fight these fights all over again. But after today, I feel energized to begin the actual work of organizing and accomplishing things.
Posted by: mary | January 21, 2017 at 07:54 PM
Great Post Beth, love reading that your experience was similar to ours in Seattle! Its just day 1, but its heartening to see how strong and global our team is.
Posted by: Chris | January 21, 2017 at 09:32 PM
Such a fine, beautiful record - thank you xx
Posted by: Jean | January 22, 2017 at 04:17 AM
Beautiful, Beth,
Posted by: Hattie | January 23, 2017 at 04:50 AM