Pledge to Keep Organizing, Pledge to Keep Marching: People’s March 2025

No one said it better than Anailia Mejia, Co-Executive Director at the Center for Popular Democracy. At a rally before the People’s March 2025 in D.C. began in Farragut Park, Mejia shared the crowd’s sentiment, “I cannot believe we are still doing this bullshit.”

Dozens of organizations came together to create the People’s March 2025, coordinating with cities across the United States and countries around the world, bringing in hundreds of thousands of people to protest the policy promises of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump and to convey a loud message of resistance to the oligarch’s ultimate goal of a dictatorship. 

In well organized rallies, groups merged from Farragut Square, McPherson Square, and Franklin Park to march down the streets of Washington D.C., where the Women’s March originated in 2017, rallying at the Lincoln Memorial on January 18th chanting, “The people united will never be divided”, “My body, my choice”, and “Stand up, fight back”.

Although the D.C. March wasn’t as large in numbers as in 2017, it provided a space for multiple communities to organize in a group effort rebranding ‘Women’s March’ into the ‘People’s March’. People who came from all over the world marched for causes that included women’s rights, Indigenous rights, lgbtq+ rights, environmental justice, immigration rights, US demilitarization, Palestinian liberation, democracy, and racial equality. They were eager to have their voices heard.

“I’m not standing down,” Jill Sandeen said before the marching started. 

Sandeen was primarily there to protest the president-elect’s plan for the climate. She called Trump’s promise to ramp up oil drilling “horrifying” and said that she also supports many of the other issues being raised at the march. 

Many of the protesters agreed that another Trump presidency is a serious threat to our democracy and safety with the policy promises he declared during his campaign. Many protesters are alarmed at Trump’s choices for his administration. 

“I’m showing up because I’m showing up for my students. I work with a lot of students that are first generation immigrants, and Trump’s policies will directly affect their safety,“ 5th grade teacher Brooke Penne said. “I am worried for them. I do think it is likely that we’re going to see some kids not be in my class anymore if the immigration policies end up happening.”

Julia Basham wore a trans pride flag as she marched with a group of friends, and she highlighted that anti-trans policies championed by Trump and his allies are a threat to the lives of people in the trans community and are what drove her to leave her home state of Virginia. 

“I want to survive and I want people who are like me to do the same. So I believe strongly that I needed to go to this event because I’m really scared for the next four years,” Basham said. “(Trump) is very blatantly wanting to get rid of trans rights. I am terrified that hormones will become illegal, that discrimination will become allowed.”

Andrea Paskin said that she is “so afraid that our government has been bought” because of how many of Trump’s cabinet picks are billionaires and how many of his policies directly benefited the rich.

“So all of our rights, whether you talk about women’s rights, immigrants’ rights, everything is being kind of washed away with money, and it’s the wrong thing for us to be doing as a country,” Paskin said. 

The rights of Palenstinians were also widely supported at the march, with many Palestinian flags waving, chants dedicated to justice for Palestine, speakers for Palestinian liberation, and many attendees calling for human rights and justice for the Palestinian people. 

The Farlley family travelled in from New York to join the resistance. Mr. and Mrs. Farlley brought their children to be a part of history and to stand up for women’s rights, making it clear this is how they have raised their children-on the front lines. Jennifer Farrlley, a Social Studies Educator said, “I want to share this with my daughters. They have grown up protesting but this one is particularly important to us to stand up for women’s rights but also intersectionality and people’s rights as well.”

Patrick Farrlley, also an educator of History, added, “ Protesting and having your voice heard is very important and I want to share that with my daughters.” he continued, “I’m very troubled with the state of affairs. We are going backward on our rights.” Farrlley is concerned with the rise of disinformation and people’s inability to understand what’s going on.

Their daughters, who felt empowered by the size of the crowd, expressed hope and pledged to stay in the resistance.

Diego Aguiilar, a 19-year-old history major, said that he has studied tactics similar to Trump’s throughout history referring particularly to Germany in the 1930’s, and referenced Rome during the fall of its republic. 

“I am a history major right now, and I have seen stuff like this extensively before,” Aguilar said. “It usually doesn’t end well for anyone involved, so getting to watch it happen in real time is a little scary. But it’s also kind of your obligation to, you know, stand up against it.”

Susan Baraz flew in from California joining two of her friends from Wisconsin. Her home had just been in the evacuation route. She attended the first Women’s March by herself and thought this march was just as or more important than the first round of Trump. “It’s frightening that so many people are willing to destroy this country and our constitution,” Baraz said. When asked about the rise and support of the Oligarch, Baraz sternly said, “The people that have voted this party in are the exact people who will feel the most pain for him being in power and I mean power. It’s ignorance, just ignorance.”

“I think one of the main things is that we’re going to be protecting those folks who the administration is going to be going against,” Nico Uru-gama, partnerships coordinator at 350.org, said, “and trying to move our bases to actually be on the streets, organizing and defending those people. And we’re going to continue to do the political education that needs to happen.”

As we witness the first weeks of the new administration act straight out of the pages of Project 2025, the organizations involved in the march pledge they will only continue to do their work and we pledge we will be on the frontlines with the growing numbers of people who come to support these organizations who work hard for justice and peace.