On the march FOR CHANGE
Women and men rally across NM for second Women’s March, call for political transformation
New Mexico women — and men, too — filled Civic Plaza on Sunday, joining demonstrators around the world in a second annual widespread push for cultural and political change.
Local leaders and community activists who spoke at the 2018 Women’s March in Albuquerque shared words of empowerment while condemning current policies and rhetoric after what one speaker called a “long year of deception, immorality and cruelty.”
Thousands of marchers filtered in and out over the course of the four-hour event with homemade signs preaching pro-immigrant, pro-environment, pro-reproductive-rights messages. Demonstrations in New Mexico were also held in Santa Fe and Las Cruces.
Among the marchers in Albuquerque was Jen Panhorst, who said that if last year’s march left her feeling optimistic, this year she was feeling more pragmatic. While a rally or a march can be satisfying, she said, she hopes demonstrators this year leave thinking about real steps they can take that will lead to change: voting in midterm elections, calling representatives. It’s a reminder to stay vigilant and to keep pushing for change.
“We are having to think in a deeper way about the action that we’re taking,” she said.
Without that action, she said, “this doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot.”
Samia Assed, chairwoman of the New Mexico Women’s March, said that she and other organizers are hoping demonstrators left feeling re-energized to fight for gender and economic justice. And she hopes that translates over the next year into the elec-
tion of more female leaders who will push to turn progressive ideas into policy change.
“It’s historic,” she said. “It’s never happened where women have had this kind of momentum and you really have to pivot that toward something transformative.”
Following marches that drew huge crowds across the United States on Saturday, one year after Trump’s inauguration, protesters gathered Sunday on multiple continents, including in London, Paris, Sydney, Madrid and Buenos Aires.
The events culminated with a rally in Las Vegas, Nev., which launched an effort to register 1 million voters and target swing states such as Nevada in the U.S. midterm elections later this year, which could shift control of Congress. Organizers said they are planning future events in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas.
There was also a push for women to not just register as voters, but as candidates.
The demonstrations came at a time of reckoning for many men in Hollywood, the media and other industries as women speak out about sexual misconduct and inequity in general.