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| After Success of Women’s March, a Question Remains: What’s Next? | After Success of Women’s March, a Question Remains: What’s Next? |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| More than a million people who turned out on Saturday for a women’s march in all 50 states have put down their placards, taken off their pink hats and ended their chants in what was an extraordinary display of dissent against the Trump presidency. | More than a million people who turned out on Saturday for a women’s march in all 50 states have put down their placards, taken off their pink hats and ended their chants in what was an extraordinary display of dissent against the Trump presidency. |
| A critical question remains: What happens now? | A critical question remains: What happens now? |
| The challenge facing the organizers is how to channel the resolve and outrage of an organic protest into action that produces political change at the local and national level. It is a goal that has eluded other popular movements, from Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matter. And it is a daunting task, given that Democrats were unable to defeat President Trump in 2016 despite an emerging demographic majority. | The challenge facing the organizers is how to channel the resolve and outrage of an organic protest into action that produces political change at the local and national level. It is a goal that has eluded other popular movements, from Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matter. And it is a daunting task, given that Democrats were unable to defeat President Trump in 2016 despite an emerging demographic majority. |
| The organizers are trying. Within minutes after the march in Washington ended at sundown on Saturday, its leaders convened a four-hour pep rally and networking session called “Where Do We Go From Here?” On Sunday, Planned Parenthood held a training session for 2,000 organizers to try to turn mobilization into political action, with health care atop its priority list. David Brock, the Democratic activist, assembled a group of about 120 leading liberal donors in Aventura, Fla., to hear plans for lawsuits and other challenges to Mr. Trump. | |
| Past movements rallied around one unifying cause: the Vietnam War, civil rights, the government bailouts and spending that helped create the Tea Party. On Saturday, marchers and liberal activists embraced a vast array of issues, from reproductive rights to mass incarceration to environmental activism, raising questions about how to create a cohesive movement. | |
| But the leaders believe that the common thread — revulsion and contempt for the man who is now president — may be powerful enough as a unifying cause. | But the leaders believe that the common thread — revulsion and contempt for the man who is now president — may be powerful enough as a unifying cause. |
| “The size of the turnout at these rallies is a direct rejection of Trump’s approach to the presidency, which is to keep talking to the people who agree with him,” said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut, who attended a gathering of 10,000 in Hartford. “What you’re seeing is not going away.” | “The size of the turnout at these rallies is a direct rejection of Trump’s approach to the presidency, which is to keep talking to the people who agree with him,” said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut, who attended a gathering of 10,000 in Hartford. “What you’re seeing is not going away.” |
| Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and a supporter of the protests, said that organizers intend to study the marches in all 50 states to identify issues and recruit volunteers to gear up for the 2018 elections. In Washington at the post-march panel, Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood and a sponsor of the marches, held a mass call-in where participants called their senators and urged them to protect their access to health care. | Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and a supporter of the protests, said that organizers intend to study the marches in all 50 states to identify issues and recruit volunteers to gear up for the 2018 elections. In Washington at the post-march panel, Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood and a sponsor of the marches, held a mass call-in where participants called their senators and urged them to protect their access to health care. |
| Even before the march, the left was seizing on panic over Mr. Trump to rally voters who were not so easily roused during the election. | Even before the march, the left was seizing on panic over Mr. Trump to rally voters who were not so easily roused during the election. |
| Last Sunday in Macomb County, Mich. — the well-chronicled home of the Reagan Democrats and a county Mr. Trump decisively won — about 6,000 Democrats braved frigid temperatures to hear Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, and other Democratic officials defend the Affordable Care Act. It was one of dozens of similar rallies across the country. | Last Sunday in Macomb County, Mich. — the well-chronicled home of the Reagan Democrats and a county Mr. Trump decisively won — about 6,000 Democrats braved frigid temperatures to hear Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, and other Democratic officials defend the Affordable Care Act. It was one of dozens of similar rallies across the country. |
| The day before, so many constituents of Representative Mike Coffman, Republican of Colorado, packed an Aurora library to confront him over his support for repealing the law that he had to leave through a back door. | The day before, so many constituents of Representative Mike Coffman, Republican of Colorado, packed an Aurora library to confront him over his support for repealing the law that he had to leave through a back door. |
| Yet it was telling that women galvanized the largest protests. Hillary Clinton’s defeat prompted soul-searching about why appeals to feminism did not carry the day. Now a wide array of groups that advocate for women are trying to capitalize on the momentum to turn an event into a sustained movement. | Yet it was telling that women galvanized the largest protests. Hillary Clinton’s defeat prompted soul-searching about why appeals to feminism did not carry the day. Now a wide array of groups that advocate for women are trying to capitalize on the momentum to turn an event into a sustained movement. |
| Todd Gitlin, a former president of Students for a Democratic Society and a scholar of political movements, noted that the civil rights and antiwar movements succeeded because of organized networks that preceded and followed any single mass protest. “The march on Washington in 1963 was the culmination of years of local activism including civil disobedience, registering voters, protecting civil rights workers and voter education movements,” he said. “Organizations need to be ready to receive the protesters when they’re ready to take the next step. You need to be a full service movement.” | Todd Gitlin, a former president of Students for a Democratic Society and a scholar of political movements, noted that the civil rights and antiwar movements succeeded because of organized networks that preceded and followed any single mass protest. “The march on Washington in 1963 was the culmination of years of local activism including civil disobedience, registering voters, protecting civil rights workers and voter education movements,” he said. “Organizations need to be ready to receive the protesters when they’re ready to take the next step. You need to be a full service movement.” |
| That, the organizers say, is what they are trying to do. They face several potential obstacles. Leaders believe that the only way to mobilize their coalition is to sweep in a broad range of groups, which can risk diluting their message. The wounds inflicted by the election still run deep, with black women in particular concerned that the newfound attention to the white working class will once again supplant issues urgent to them. Attention to specific causes has not always translated into votes on the local level, where Republicans have won statehouses and governorships. | |
| The urgency of the Trump presidency, the organizers say, may help them bridge these divides. “We together have to have the resources and creativity enough to solve problems for all of us,” Ms. Poo said. “There’s a lot of work to do to get there.” | The urgency of the Trump presidency, the organizers say, may help them bridge these divides. “We together have to have the resources and creativity enough to solve problems for all of us,” Ms. Poo said. “There’s a lot of work to do to get there.” |