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| Woman's March, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
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| Woman's March, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
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| Woman's March, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
The Force is with me, and I am one with the Force. -- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
"Freedom," John Paul Sartre (greatest Western philosopher of the 20th Century) declared, "is what you do with what has been done to you."
On 1/20/17, our nation's capitol city fell into the grasp of deeply disturbed men who want to drag us all into a dystopian Handmaid's Tale / Fahrenheit 451 future: anti-woman, anti-nature, anti-science, anti-democracy, anti-reason, anti-humanism.
On 1/21/17, the great cities of America (and the rest of the world) responded. In Washington, D.C. itself, at least half a million dissenters celebrated true freedom, probably many more, and certainly thrice as many as had gathered for the travesty of the previous day. Likewise, the protests in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco were bigger than the travesty of the previous day.
Marches and rallies were also held in Boston, Seattle, Denver, Miami, Houston and elsewhere across the U.S.A., as well as throughout the world, e.g., in London, Paris, Barcelona, Tel Aviv, Mexico City, Melbourne and Berlin. Millions and millions of human beings, really, at over 670 events.
Here in San Francisco, in the pouring rain, such a multitude, so many powerful women, so many brave children, so much love, so much peace, so much clarity of mind, so much rich diversity.
This post includes some images from actions in San Francisco on both 1/20/17 and 1/21/17, and embedded videos of three powerful statements delivered at the Women's March on Washington, one from Madonna, one from Ashley Judd and one from Alicia Keys.
Remember, corporations are not people, money is not speech and 2 + 2 = 4.
May the goddess of liberty prevail. May the patriarchy be overthrown in the collective psyche.
May altruism and sustainability be exalted as spiritual and existential imperatives.
May the great shift accelerate.
May the vajra of the heart be realized in this lifetime.
-- Richard Power
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| Woman's March, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
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| Anti-Inauguration, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
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| Woman's March, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
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| Anti-Inauguration, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
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| Woman's March, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
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| Anti-Inauguration, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
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| Woman's March, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
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| Anti-Inauguration, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
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| Anti-Inauguration, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
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| Woman's March, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
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| Anti-Inauguration, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
Madonna: Welcome to the revolution of love, to the rebellion, to our
refusal as women to accept this new age of tyranny, where not just women
are in danger but all marginalized people, where being uniquely
different right now might truly be considered a crime. It took this
horrific moment of darkness to wake us the f--- up ... To our detractors
that insist that this march will never add up to anything, f--- you ...
It seems as though we had all slipped into a false sense of comfort,
that justice would prevail, that good would win in the end. Well, good
did not win this election, but good will win in the end. So what today
means is that we are far from the end. Today marks the beginning, the
beginning of our story. The revolution starts here, the fight for the
right to be free, to be who we are, to be equal. Let’s march together
through this darkness and with each step know that we are not afraid,
that we are not alone, that we will not back down, that there is power
in our unity and that no opposing force stands a chance in the face of
true solidarity ... To our detractors that insist that this march will
never add up to anything, fuck you. Fuck you ... We choose love! We
choose love!
VIDEO: Madonna, Women's March on Washington, 1/21/17
Ashley Judd (reciting Nina Donovan's poem "I Am A Nasty Woman"): I am a nasty woman. I'm not as nasty as a man who looks like he bathes in
Cheeto dust. A man whose words are a diss track to America. Electoral
college-sanctioned, hate-speech contaminating this national anthem. I'm
not as nasty as Confederate flags being tattooed across my city. Maybe
the South actually is going to rise again. Maybe for some it never
really fell. Blacks are still in shackles and graves, just for being
black. Slavery has been reinterpreted as the prison system in front of
people who see melanin as animal skin. I am not as nasty as a swastika
painted on a pride flag, and I didn't know devils could be resurrected
but I feel Hitler in these streets. A mustache traded for a toupee.
Nazis renamed the Cabinet Electoral Conversion Therapy, the new gas
chambers shaming the gay out of America, turning rainbows into suicide
notes. I am not as nasty as racism, fraud, conflict of interest,
homophobia, sexual assault, transphobia, white supremacy, misogyny,
ignorance, white privilege ... I am not as nasty as using little girls
like "Pokemon" before their bodies have even developed. I am not as
nasty as your daughter being your favorite sex symbol, like your wet
dreams infused with your own genes. Yeah, I'm a nasty woman — a loud,
vulgar, proud woman ...
VIDEO: Ashley Judd, Women's March on Washington
VIDEO: Alicia Keys, Women's March on Washington, 1/21/17
Alicia Keys (singing "Girl on Fire"): She's just a girl, and she's on fire/ Hotter than a fantasy, longer like a highway / She's living in a world, and it's on fire ...
Alicia Keys (singing "Girl on Fire"): She's just a girl, and she's on fire/ Hotter than a fantasy, longer like a highway / She's living in a world, and it's on fire ...
Corporations are not people. Money is not speech. Healthcare is a human right. 2 + 2 = 4.
Richard Power is the author of eleven books, including most recently, "Cauldron Yoga, Gaian Poetics and the Way of the Ancient Future," along with the other four volumes of his "Primal Reality" series, all of which are available in both softcover and Kindle versions via Amazon.com.
For information, visit his Amazon author's page.
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| Woman's March, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
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| Anti-Inauguration, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |
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| Woman's March, San Francisco, 1/21/17 |