Tens of thousands of women plan to take to the streets of London this Saturday to show solidarity with American women protesting in Washington D.C. against the election of Donald J. Trump as the next President of the United States.
So far more than 200,000 people have indicated on Facebook that they plan to attend the Washington Women’s March, which organisers have said is intended to “send a bold message to our new government on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights”.
The organisers of the London march, by contrast, say their march is not specifically anti-Trump, although in a statement on their website the American election is cited as “a catalyst for a grassroots movement of women to assert the positive values that the politics of fear denies”.
They have invited people “of all genders” to gather “in London as part of an international day of action in solidarity”.
They added: “We will march, wherever we march, for the protection of our fundamental rights and for the safeguarding of freedoms threatened by recent political events.”
“The politics of fear and division have no place in 2017,” they stridently conclude.
Although the organisers of the London march have not been specific about which freedoms are under threat, the Washington march has made clear its commitment to a pro-abortion agenda, expelling one feminist group from the march for its pro-life stance.
Speaking to the BBC’s Newsbeat, yoga teacher and food photographer Kimberly Espinel, one of the eight organisers of the London march, said that the London protest had been inspired by events such as Trump’s election, which was prompting people to “stand up and get involved in the democratic process”.
“For a long time we had couch potato politics: we re-tweet party line (or a political statement) and feel like we’ve been politically involved or donate to charity at Christmas time and believe we’ve done enough to help those less fortunate,” she said.
The London march’s backers include Oxfam UK, which has links to the George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations, the National Union of Students, which is currently battling accusations of entrenched anti-Semitism, Black Pride, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation, among many others.
In total, there are more than 600 “sister marches” being planned globally, with more than one million women signed up to take part.
Dozens of marches are due to take place across Europe; 11 are being planned in the United Kingdom alone. Ireland is hosting a further two marches, and another seven will take place across France.
More than 800 women living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, are also planning to protest in solidarity with American women, against Donald Trump’s election as president.