Tag: Hosting

PHOTO: Noam Galai/Getty Images

After millions of women gathered throughout the U.S. just one day after Donald Trump‘s inauguration—in what was the largest single-day protest in the country’s history—the organizers of the Women’s March tried to keep up the momentum in the following months. Now they’re doing so in a major way: This fall, this team of activists will be bringing fellow organizers and progressive leaders together for the Women’s Convention, an event designed to energize and mobilize the resistance ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Scheduled for the weekend of October 27-29 at the Cobo Center in Detroit, the convention doesn’t have a concrete agenda yet but will include a series of “workshops, strategy sessions, inspiring forums and intersectional movement building,” according to the official website. And as the leaders explained, “Tapping into the power of women in leadership as the fundamental, grassroots force for change, participants will leave inspired and motivated, with new connections, skills and strategies for working towards collective liberation for women of all races, ethnicities, ages, abilities, sexual identities, gender expressions, immigration statuses, religious faiths, and economic statuses.”

“A lot of us are just waking up to how horrible it is for the rest of the country, and that it really is unbearable for us to continue benefitting from a system that oppresses everybody else,” Bob Bland, one of the Women’s March co-organizers, told the Huffington Post. “We can’t let this happen and we can’t continue. We need to build an America that we can be proud of. And I know with women in leadership we can do that.”

For the organizers, the decision to host the convention in Detroit was a deliberate one. “Detroit is a beautiful city, full of historical and political significance, and a multitude of lived experiences—a perfect setting for women, femmes and our allies seeking to strengthen our growing, intersectional movement,” they wrote. “Many of the issues that led us to march in January 2017 are starkly visible in Detroit and its surrounding areas: economic inequality, environmental injustice, de facto segregation, ICE raids, violent policing, and overall unequal access and opportunity. At the same time, Detroit is home to a rich musical history, a vibrant art scene and a long and radical history of grassroots activism—something that continues today.”

The attendance fee for the Women’s Convention currently runs $295 a person, but the organizers are working to raise funds so they can offer discounted admission to people who can’t pay the full price. How many women will attend in October is still TBD, but assistant treasurer of the Women’s March board Linda Sarsour expects about 5,000 people.