Today millions of people marched down the streets of Washington D.C., Detroit, Boston, Atlanta, and multiple other cities throughout the country to protest the Fascist-in-chief. The Woman’s March happened today. A collaborative demonstration all over the nation, to show that we-all of us– will not be giving up the fight so easily. A demonstration against the oppressive values and capitalistic interests that the new illegitimate administration will try to force upon us. It is a march for solidarity and comradeship. This event shows that our nation will not stand for the slow removal of women’s rights, the degradation of protections for minorities, nor for the obvious corporate interests that infect the new administration.

Democracy is not a natural occurrence. It didn’t come out the blue one day, to lighten our world and give the people power to decide their fate. Democracy is hard. Democracy is difficult to maintain, and constantly we feel its effects are slowly fading away, crumbling to dust. As citizens, we have the object of making sure our democracy will not fade, will not crumble, and will not be taken over by the fascist threat. Democracy happens today, all day, everyday. It is not something that we can leave on the side, let it grow, and tend it only when it calls for us. Democracy requires constant attention, retaliation, demonstration, and most importantly; education.

Yesterday was a horrid and somber day for our American democracy. Today is a beautiful and hopeful day for the future of this democracy. We cannot stop here.

Democracy takes effort, and we must give that effort. We cannot give up, because there are people who will suffer. People who’s rights will be taken away and trampled on. People who will stand to lose everything, and gain nothing. I’m talking about the students, the working class, the middle class, all our minority comrades, LGBT, the artists, the writers, teachers, our public institutions- you and I.

This does not mean you must march everyday, punch every neo-nazi you see, demonstrate, utilize direct action, or any of the above on a daily basis.

What you can do is: educate yourself; Protect those who are under threat; Attend a march or demonstrate weekly or monthly; Call your congress members; Join the DSA; Donate to the ACLU; Find solidarity among your peers and community; Get in touch with local organizers and leaders; volunteer for Planned Parenthood escorts; Teach your children, inform your friends and relatives, get them to join the fight; and if there is a protest in your area, go to it, and bring a friend.

I’m going to end this post with words of man of considerable respect. A man who struggled to break free his chains, and crawl through his Allegory Of The Cave.

“The struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will…” -Frederick Douglass