Exchange to Change May 2017 20170524 EtC mei 2017-web | Page 9

INTERVIEW
9
Mollie Gleiberman | United States
E2C: Could you provide some
background with regards to the
reasons and origin of the protest
movement you were involved
in? I recently participated in the
Women’s March on Washington,
which took place the day after
Trump’s inauguration. I think this
march resonated with so many
people because it addressed both
the disgusting chauvinism exhibited
by Trump himself, and the wider
Republican assault on women’s rights
(and progressive values) in general.
E2C: Did you feel it made a
difference? I don’t think it
changed any minds in the Trump
administration, but it was a way
to demonstrate - to Trump, to his
supporters, to the world - that he does
not have a popular mandate. Perhaps
more importantly, the march became a
positive focal point for channelling our
collective outrage, our bewilderment,
into an animated progressive
counterforce to the administration.
E2C: How did you get
involved? I was glued to
civil disobedience
my computer screen all
November, watching the
unfolding crisis of a Trump
presidency when one day,
an item popped up in my
Facebook feed: a plan for
a women’s march on
Washington DC set to
coincide with his
inauguration. I thought,
“Ok, this seems really ad
hoc and maybe won’t
even happen, but… I need
to be there.” Within
consumer boycot
twenty minutes I’d
booked a flight.
volunteer
E xchange to change M ay 2017