On January 21, thousands of people gathered to rally for the Albuquerque Women’s March and to protest Donald Trump’s first year as president.
The day began with a 200-person march through downtown streets ending at Albuquerque’s Civic Plaza. Once at the plaza marchers joined a crowd of thousands. They entered chanting “The people united will never be divided,” “Money for jobs and education not for war and deportation” and “When women’s rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”
Workers of all backgrounds stood in solidarity as speakers touched on critical issues such as Indigenous rights, protecting DREAMers, climate change, deportation, LGBTQ rights, Black Lives Matter, as well as ending racism and assault against women. The #metoo movement was given a main focus calling for support to all survivors of sexual assault and harassment.
The overall focus of the action was on voting for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections. Several Democratic Party candidates spoke urging attendees to vote for them, encouraging other women to run as well. This was in keeping with the main slogans of the event were “Hear our vote” and “Power to the polls.” This fails to take into consideration the fact that racism and sexism can not be simply voted away.
Despite this orientation, some speakers actually did speak against U.S. imperialism and intervention in the Middle East.
The rally in Albuquerque showed great solidarity among workers, and also demonstrated how much work is still to be done to get rid of the two-party-system mindset. The working class needs its own Party!
