270+ “No to Trump” Actions on January 18 — By Ted Glick

By Ted Glick –

*Originally posted January 8, 2025.

With 10 days left to mobilize, it is clear that the People’s March, initiated by the Women’s March, is going to be a big deal throughout the country. At the People’s March website can be found 270 localities, as of right now, that are signed up to demonstrate on that day.

The biggest march will be in Washington, DC, and it is important that this one be big because that is where Trump will be inaugurated two days later. But the broad geographic sweep of this mobilization, combined with the many tens of thousands already signed up who will become hundreds of thousands, or more, on the 18th is also very important.

A strong national progressive resistance movement needs strong local organized networks, interconnected with one another and engaging periodically, as on January 18th, in coordinated actions which show both ourselves, progressives, and the country as a whole that WE HAVE NOT BEEN DEFEATED AND WE WILL RESIST.

What are the focuses of these actions? Here’s what can be found on the People’s March website:

“We all march for different reasons, but we march for the same cause, to defend our rights and our future.

“If you believe that decisions about your body should remain yours; that books belong in libraries, not on bonfires; that healthcare is a right, not a privilege for the wealthy; if you believe in the power of free speech and protest to sustain democracy; or if you want an economy that works for the people who power it—then this march is for you.”

Who are some of the groups putting this mobilization together? Here’s a partial list: Coalition of Labor Union Women, Democratic Socialists of America, Grassroots Global Justice, Movement for Black Lives, National Organization for Women, Planned Parenthood Federation, Popular Democracy, Radical Elders, Right to the City, Rising Majority, Sierra Club and Stand Up for Racial Justice.

This mobilization has reminded me of the March to End Fossil Fuels on September 17th, 2023. The major action on that day was in New York City, where upwards of 70,000 people participated. This was after the main organizers of the march, concerned about overestimating and just a few days before it happened, were saying they expected at least 20-25,000. But the months of bringing hundreds of groups together and the day-to-day organizing on the part of thousands of organizers ended up with many more than that in NYC, and there were also, like January 18th, hundreds of localities where coordinated actions took place. Many hundreds of thousands took part altogether.

My personal involvement in this historic mobilization has been via work on a major action in Newark, NJ on the 18th: the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. March of Resistance. From a first meeting to discuss the idea of such a march in late November attended by reps of 23 New Jersey groups, there are now 260 organizations which have endorsed. Because of the leadership for this action coming out of the Black community, the fact of Trump’s inauguration happening on the same day as the federal holiday for Dr. King has been highlighted.

There is no better person to contrast what Trump and MAGA are all about and what this country and world really need than Dr. King.

As we’ve done our organizing we have remembered and raised up King’s focus in the last year of his life on what he called “the sickness of racism, poverty and militarism” in the United States. He understood clearly how deep-seated these destructive and interrelated ideologies and practices are within the USA, and they still are today.

In the spirit of Dr. King and the many other heroes and heroines of the struggle for justice in this country, let’s make January 18th the truly historic and empowering day that it clearly can be. 10 days left to mobilize.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.