Claire Seid is calling for solidarity.
Seid, the president of F--- Rape Culture, will be joining other student organizations including the International Socialist Organization, Multicultural Activist Coalition, Shades, Students Teaching about Racism in Society and Feminist Equality Movement to organize a rally Friday.
“The Resistance begins: Rally for Solidarity and Peace!” will be held at 5:30 p.m. the day of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration into office. A group of students and the public wishing to participate will gather by Athens County Courthouse to listen to speeches from various activists, including Daniel Kington, a member of ISO.
“(The rally) will demonstrate to Donald Trump and his administration that we will not stand by and we will continue to demand change,” Kington said. “The protest in Athens is part of a budding national movement against the President-elect. There is a massive women’s march the following day in (Washington) D.C. and protests all over the nation.”
One of the goals of the rally is to unite oppressed people who have fears of Trump’s administration, Seid said.
“(The protest) will show everybody in the Trump administration that we’re serious and organized, but we can only really be successful if we get organized to a greater scale than we are now,” he said.
The mission of the rally is to present a united front, Rachel Lewis, a member of ISO and an Athens resident, said.
“Hopefully there will be a large number of people there,” she said. “We want it to be a space where people can express their discontent against Trump.”
Kington said he hopes the rally will motivate people to join groups committed to making a difference.
“The (rally) will bring people together in an organized way and show people that there are organizations paving the way for an Anti-Trump movement and so on,” he said. “We hope that people will join these organizations so that we can begin to do the work necessary to build our movement to scale and defeat the attacks of the far right.”
