Women’s March to reconvene around 2018 after Charlottesville

Heidi M. Przybyla | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption 5 ways to be an active feminist From the organizers of the Women’s March on Washington.

WASHINGTON — The Women’s March, which organized the biggest national protest in U.S. history, is reconvening.

The goal is to direct its resources and grassroots network toward the 2018 midterm elections.

For the first time since an estimated 2.6 million citizens marched on Washington and in cities across the country and globe a day after President Trump’s inauguration, organizers are asking their allies to regroup in order to focus on the congressional, gubernatorial and local elections taking place next year.

The Women’s Convention, to be held in Detroit from Oct. 27-29, will bring together thousands of the women who organized sister marches across the country on Jan. 21 and have formed 5,000 local groups, or huddles, in 50 states to organize resistance actions over the past several months.

“People have always asked us how we are going to change from a march into a movement. It’s not just enough for us to mobilize in the streets,” Bob Bland, co-president of the Women’s March, told USA TODAY.

“Bringing us all back together, I think, will truly be a historic turning point for the women’s movement and all of the most marginalized groups in this country who, as you saw from Charlottesville, are under attack,” said Bland, a New York City fashion designer who is among the march's original organizers.

While the conference was planned before the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville that claimed the life of 32-year-old Heather Heyer, the alt-right protest in Virginia brings new urgency to the need for women to accelerate their organizing efforts, said Bland.

In just under 24 hours, March leaders worked with a coalition of 16 partners to organize 700 vigils across the country.

“Heather is exactly the type of woman, the type of activist, the type of human being that I see every day in our Women’s March organizing. Heather is us,” said Bland. “She is exactly the kind of person the Women’s March attempted to pull in,” she said. “We need to answer her mother’s call through continuing to fight, to not allow this violence or weak condemnation to send a signal to white supremacists.”

The goal of the conference is manifold, including training organizers and prospective candidates for office. According to the Women's March, their strongest local chapters are in Republican-leaning or dominated states, including Ohio, Florida, South Carolina and Georgia, where the need for new Democratic leaders is greatest. “Building power is not just about power in the streets. It’s about political power,” said Bland.

According to Emily’s List, a major force in Democratic Party recruiting of females, an estimated 16,000 women nationwide have expressed an interest in running for office.

There will be a need-based scholarship fund and crowdsourcing to help bring women of different socio-economic backgrounds to Detroit.

What happened in Charlottesville “shows why we are resisting and why we are marching,” said Bland. “This isn’t just because we didn’t win an election.”

“We continue to welcome women across the country to look past partisan politics and look into their futures and their children’s futures. We must come together to confront white supremacy and hatred in all our communities and it begins with us,” said Bland.

Other actions

Since January, March leaders have organized a series of actions, including a “Day Without a Woman” and protests against Attorney General Jeff Sessions and a failed GOP health care bill. More recently, a march from the National Rifle Association headquarters in Fairfax, Va., to the Department of Justice.

Their efforts haven’t been without controversy. The leaders, including Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian American and former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York, regularly receive death threats, and Sarsour has become a particular target of the far right.

Separately, Women’s March leaders accused the NRA of releasing an ad featuring NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch that is a “direct endorsement of violence” against protesters. Loesch has become a prominent foe of the March organizers, whom she criticizes for failing to give women who oppose abortion, for instance, a platform at their events.

A recent New York Times opinion editorial by editor Bari Weiss said “the movement they lead has embraced decidedly illiberal causes and cultivated a radical tenor that seems determined to alienate all but the most woke.” In a response, Bland said the piece “perpetuates a flawed narrative” that “threatens to divide and distract progressives at a time when we need to stand united.”

As opposed to Saturday’s Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, the Women’s March on Jan. 21 was notable for its lack of violence.

Michael Nigro, a male ally and progressive activist who has filmed numerous Women's March actions, was among those hit by the moving vehicle that killed Heyer. After being hit and injured, he got back up and continued filming the aftermath.

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