Today, I joined thousands of people in Washington D.C. and many more around the world for the Women’s March on Washington.
I marched because I stand against the racist, sexist and authoritarian behavior and rhetoric that Trump has adopted. I reject the culture of corporate collusion that he’s promoting – putting business in charge of policy making, and placing Big Oil execs and their board members in key positions. And I believe that we’re stronger when we come together, not when we alienate and attack different groups of people.
President Trump’s campaign was divisive. It was insult-laden and full of negativity. He took gutter politics to a new low, and both targeted and alienated large groups of our society. This couldn’t be more against what I stand and work for.
ActionAid’s work in 45 countries around the world places people living in poverty at its very center. We know that when people come together, they can be powerful catalysts for change.
People like the brave women in Ethiopia who, faced with a huge drought, worked together to learn and implement new farming techniques and have gone from famine to food secure. And the women in West Kenya who got the government to support them to invest in their farms so they can grow more food and increase their profits.
Donald Trump isn’t the first American president or member of an administration who is rich, and he certainly won’t be the last! There has long been collusion of wealth and power in U.S. politics, but it’s not usually as obvious as what we’re seeing with the Trump administration.
Many of the appointments so far have ties to Big Oil, a sector that has long had influence over U.S. foreign policy, but is now likely to control it. He’s removed the middle person and is placing Big Oil executives and their board members in key positions. People who are now responsible for running our country.
The team and policies that Trump has announced so far are only expected to increase inequality in the U.S. and so many of the people who voted for him will end up disappointed at best, or further disenfranchised at worst.
That’s why we’ll resist the Trump administration’s attempts to increase divides in our nation. And we’ll work with allies at home and abroad to build bridges, not walls.
#LoveTrumpsHate #WomensMarch #dc pic.twitter.com/TI8q3WFkZL
— ActionAid USA (@ActionAidUSA) January 21, 2017
Last year, I joined the water protectors at Standing Rock in prayerful protest. And I will continue to Stand with Standing Rock – taking sides with native people defending the Earth.
ActionAid USA will take sides with the Movement for Black Lives, the Climate Justice Movement, and social struggles that will build the more equitable and sustainable world we envision.
We’ll continue to take sides with people living in poverty and exclusion around the world, and Americans dedicated to realizing an equitable and sustainable world.
We’ll stand strong in the face of threats to people’s rights at home and overseas, and continue to push for a government that’s responsive to the people, not a chosen few.
