With a different focus each month, people gather to write letters to officials, make phone calls, and learn about existing activist groups they can work with

Every second Sunday since Donald Trump was elected, groups of women across the country have been holding Solidarity Sundays – activist meet-ups that aim to resist the president. And the number of different meet-ups has been growing.

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There are now more than 100 different Solidarity Sundays groups in the US, including in traditionally conservative states such as Missouri, Texas and Louisiana.

With a different focus each month, the organizers attempt to tackle national issues at a local level. People gather in apartments and houses to write letters to elected officials, make phone calls, and learn about existing activist groups they can work with.



“We try to build communities and encourage people to get in touch with local groups and let people know they are not alone in the feelings they are having,” said Emily Gallagher – the co-organizer, along with Ryan Kuonen, of the Williamsburg chapter of Solidarity Sundays, in Brooklyn, New York.

At their first meeting, in January, about 25 people gathered at Kuonen’s apartment. The February meeting, held in a loft apartment in Williamsburg, focused on the Black Lives Matter movement and attracted 60 people.

In March, the group focused on how women can run for office. The US congresswoman Carolyn Maloney gave a speech, and activists talked about running for local office.

“We try to have a guest speaker every time,” Gallagher said.

“Always a woman who is an expert or authority role on a particular issue. They come and share their insights and experience.”

We do have power. We just have to use it Emily Gallagher

Solidarity Sundays was the brainchild of the California activists Leslie Dotson Van Every, Kate Schatz and Jennye Garibaldi. It started with meetings in one of their homes, but after Trump’s election, the movement exploded.

It is Dotson Van Every, Schatz and Garibaldi who have been setting the themes for each month – in April the topic will be the Environmental Protection Agency – and who send out information to organizers ahead of the events.

Gallagher said each chapter then chose a focus within their own area. The Williamsburg group will have an environmental activist speak about issues pertaining to New York City.

“At least for our branch, I think it’s really important that people start to see in detail the connection between national and local – and to understand that while it’s important to be involved in the national conversation, at the local level is where we can actually affect lasting change,” Gallagher said.

“And to make people feel their own power. Because we do have power. We just have to use it.”