Comments

1
Oh how silly. Your grandmothers and mothers who protested in the 60's would be appalled. You need audio.
2
I think it's disgraceful that the organizers have been promoting this march for months only to announce 7 days before the event that 50,000 people must march without a voice. I am a POC, adult woman who has been told, and continues to be told, to be quiet. We sit on the precipice of a new era when our constitutional rights and civil liberties are very quickly being dismantled. I. WILL. NOT. BE. SILENT. And for those telling us to go to other cities to march, Seattle is my city. I stand with my city. I speak with my voice in my city. For the hundreds of people that have asked organizers respectfully to please compromise and allow a contingent to march with their voices that have simply been ignored or dismissed, I offer you this: On Jan 21, at 10:30, let's gather at the northwest corner of Judkins Park. We will have no leader and our only goal is to march peacefully and respectfully but not silently. We can identify each other with duct tape arm bands that just say #SNL (silent no longer). #freethemarch
3
Yes, because everyone likes silent, obedient women. Looks like I won't be going.
4
I can see the point behind wanting this protest to be silent. At certain times and in certain venues it can be quite powerful.

I am far from sold that this is one of those times or one of those venues. It also seems to be disenfranchising a significant portion of the march.

If my sisters feel their voice is being unnecessarily silenced, I have to side with them in the end.
6
I support women saying what they need to say, where they need to say it. As a non-heterosexual woman of color, my voice is an essential and powerful part of how I assert and defend myself. I believe in the words of President Obama, who said, "One voice can change a room, and if one voice can change a room, then it can change a city, and if it can change a city, it can change a state, and if it change a state, it can change a nation, and if it can change a nation, it can change the world. Your voice can change the world." We are many voices. If some choose to be silent at the march, I am okay with that. I'm not okay with someone saying to me, "Just come on and be silent with us." It's condescending and overpowering, and not an affirmation of the march's diversity.
7
Catch 22. Cliched "women talk too much" so this must be a BFD if all of them can actually stay quiet for more than a minute BS. If some women want to express themselves by shouting, they should be able to, especially if they're always told to shut up. Maybe it should just be Do the Opposite of Your Nature March. Let the usually quiet women yell till their throats hurt and the Usually Vocal Womxn back them up on it. It's a march though, there should be no rules except Respect Each Other.
8
The Devil whispered in my ear. "You're not strong enough to withstand the storm." Today I whispered in the Devil's ear. "I AM THE STORM." My voice will be heard, not silenced on 1/21.

Signed -
U.S. Military Veteran, Mother of 3, Married to a BLACK man, and tired of being SILENCED.
9
@3 At the risk of quoting a dead, white, cisgendered, male member of the patriarchy, "We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."

@6 Straight-up question for you: what is it about your gender, race and orientation that makes your voice an essential and powerful part of how you assert and defend yourself? Is that less true for people of other races? Other genders? Other orientations? Should we assign greater or lesser value to people's voices on those grounds?

I think President Obama was talking about the power of ideas, argued passionately, convincingly, and with conviction. Surely the ability to do that is independent of the traits you mentioned.

You seem to have accepted an identity based on those traits. To a large degree, society imposes that identity on you. What I'm suggesting is that you are much, much more than that.
10
I am mad as hell and will NOT be silent!
12
Nobody is obligated to school @9. Hey @9, listen more and answers will come.

I appreciate us women's voices. I rarely get to hear them over the din of men. Do not silence yourselves just because one person wishes it so. Those who wish to remain silent can do so, and convey their message. Those who don't feel silence conveys their message should not attempt to please anybody by staying silent. Feminism should make people uncomfortable, and put-out, and annoyed. Feminism wasn't put here to placate anybody. Women's lives are not about observers' *feelings*.
13
Fuck, Trump hasn't even taken office and we've already started fighting among ourselves:(
14
Why not have two groups? Have the silent protesters up in front with the non-silent protesters a block or two behind. Imagine hundreds of protesters silently marching only to be followed by the roar of the unsilent.

Do away with the soapbox speakers. Have them speak at the start and the end, but have the march not be about one or two appointed speakers, but about all of us, silent and vocal
15
This is as good a time as any to figure out how to organize a thing without letting the nihilists and narcissists turn it into a dumpster fire. Remember Occupy?
16
Good to know that organizers in Seattle are telling folks with "diverse voices" and "angst" to go to the marches in Spokane, Bellingham, and Olympia instead... really? Um, Olympia's got plenty of angst already, not sure we need any more.
17
The silent march has historical precedent. "When tens of thousands of people march and chant, the focus is on the chant. When tens of thousands of people march and are silent, the focus is on the people." https://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/cityroo…
18
It's finally happened. My eyes rolled so much that they are stuck.
19
@15 ugh occupy, what a shit show look at occupy vs the tea party. Turns out the right protests and votes, the left protest and infights :(
20
I am willing to defer to those who have volunteered their time and energy to planning everything for Saturday! I made my sign! That will be my message to communicate to the world! Silence is incredibly powerful, and is actually much more frightening and formidable than a bunch of separate voices. When I saw it on the website, I definitely felt goosebumps! Silence is a way to show our solidarity. Also, as a white woman, in order to demonstrate my support of others, I am cool with shutting the heck up and listening to some other voices. What's the quote..."My feminism will be intersectional, or it's bullshit?"
21
Silent march more powerful.
Slogans/chants sound silly --very high school.
I've done that.

Plus, if you get chants, you will ge huge disagreement on specific issues.
22
The 1917 march was about 10-20% the size of this one and took place in a community that had been much more intensively organized, for longer, and evidently had some kind of consensus on the issue (which we don't have here). Gandhi's salt march was 78 people. The idea that the organizers are going to use the internet to assemble 50,000 - 70,000 people and wave some kind of magic wand and have them be silent is...not gonna happen. They're your fellow citizens, not props in your show. Just be glad people show up. Which they will.
23
Our presence speaks quite loudly. More so than a bunch of random chants.
25
This is fucking ridiculous. The organizers are trying to turn this into their own personal performance art. I don't think so. Just try to compel me to silence. It ain't gonna happen.
27
@25
You are projecting your own mental state
28
I will be at the DC march to stand alongside my sisters in solidarity!
29
The silent idea isn't workable, The concept won't be accepted and the voices will be heard.
31
The regressives continue to eat their own while the right wing fascists pick up the pieces. Good job identity politics; look what you've wrought!
32
You want to know why Trump won? THIS is why Trump won. We liberals can't help but keep fighting each other, allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good, even in the face of certain orange disaster.

"Slye says that room was diverse: 'It was a mix of people - old, young, Black, white, Asian, Spanish-speaking.'"

How about some diversity of THOUGHT? Whether it's Occupy, BLM, or pick-your-favorite-Seattle-progressive-cause, it's always the same faces, the same tired unfocused rhetoric, the same ineffectual "direct actions."

Whether the Womxns March is silent or not, it will achieve nothing unless we progressives work together and quit infighting. We also need to learn to FOCUS on one cause and one unified message when we demonstrate. Friday is NOT the day for Free Mumia, NNYJ, Decolonize, Bernouts, and all the other other leftist causes to be pushing their agendas. We need to UNITE with ONE VOICE against DJT - and we should NOT be SILENT.
33
@32 No, we lost because we chose a candidate with a net negative favorability rating and a few too many skeletons in their closet, right or wrong, that could be used to easily sway the public.

But I will say infighting is a problem on a green root level.
34
Sorry, grass root level.
35
@31
And next thing they'll give lectures on intersectionality and the benefits of Gender Identity.
The March is against Trump -- it's not for this SJW bullshit
36
Why argue over this at all? A silent march is so not happening. Just ignore all that, show up, march, and remain silent or don't, whatever moves you. Just show up.
37
@35 dumbshit, you don't think this is about social justice?
38
@37
No, the March is anti-Trump which is much bigger than this so-called "social justice" business
39
As an ex-Seattleite, who will be returning home for the march, I have to say that this is just "so Seattle." Only in my dear but hopelessly sanctimonious hometown would they attempt to take the passion, power, joy, and courage of thousands of women coming together--and turn it into a grim slog. Sigh...I will be there in my Valkyrie costume, marching in memory of my kick-ass feminist mom, and I will sing, laugh, and shout whenever I damn well feel like it. See you there!
40
@38's point was crudely but accurately put. No other causes need to matter in the women's march except women's human rights. I'm tired of all this Free Tibet NO GMO Occupy Wallstreet baloney we women feel we need to use constantly to dilute our messages. Forget bathrooms for a second. How many artists boycotted states which shut down all but a few abortion clinics? How many local governments banned using public funds to travel to places where women are being prosecuted with felony charges for attempting to perform their own abortions? Who protested against states who fund pregnancy crisis centers with public funds?

These are life-and-death matters for women and girls, and nobody cares. This march probably won't be very "intersectional" because this is Seattle, but it shouldn't be a medley of different completely unrelated causes either. Women are allowed to focus on themselves once in awhile.

It should be a rally instead. The time to protest Chump was a certain Tuesday, last November. This should be a rally to energize and organize. But since the organizers asked, white women voted for Chump, and for that reason alone I think maybe they should be the most silent.
41
Christ almighty, telling women to silence their voices.

It's time for the organizing committee to understand this was a wrong tack.

We are fucking furious. We need the cathardic primal scream. Stop trying to control us, we've had enough.
42
SAT, JAN 21, 10:30AM, NORTHWEST CORNER OF JUDKINS PARK. USE YOUR VOICE #FREETHEMARCH
43
Some people just like telling other people what to do. If they chose teacher as a career, it could work out pretty well, but instead they chose to be power tripping asshats telling their peers what to do.
44
If you want to chant, sing, shout, make music, and be loud at the Womxn's March, join us in the NOISE BLOC!

Our aim is not to disrespect, disrupt, or protest the silent march. We want to make space for people to BE LOUD in their opposition to the inauguration.

Our opponent is oppression, not other feminists.

https://www.facebook.com/events/12221951…

45
@44
Chanters, sloganeers = boring, ineffective
47
Way to disenfranchize everyone who intended to bring their kids. Or anyone who's objective was to make personal connections through dialogue to build a sustainable and collaborative movement of change. Or to quiet people who wanted to amplify causes of immigrant rights of racial justice. I think the organizers are making the same mistake as the DNC by telling people to line up and get behind what the organization determines to be the message. Vs Trump who succeeded in basically making people feel heard who were airing concerns that maybe drifted from the official party platform. Telling people to be quiet, let the organizers handle it wait until the end and we'll all rally together seems strongly parallel to how we got in this mess in the first place. We all have our own reasons and we need to come together, I don't feel this furthers that objective in any way since communication is key and and a little yelling would be nice too. In their comments the seem really concerned about how observers perceive this. I'm personally not really caring about how things look in photos or sound or don't sound. But I might not be there since I was going to build connections of other marchers and don't want to drag my son on a silent march for miles and have to run at the end. Think of the marchers a bit more and a bit less about the observers.
48
It was renowned feminist Emma Goldman who said, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution." If a handful of people are wanting us to be players in their silent performance art piece, well, I guess we'll just have to show up and make a big, beautiful, powerful noise anyway.
49
https://www.facebook.com/events/12221951… Another option for marchers with a voice. #FREETHEMARCH!
50
@13:

We've always fought among ourselves; it's one of the hallmarks of the Democratic Party and liberals in general. The ability to tolerate a diversity of opinions and positions is one of our strengths, but our inability to fall into lockstep behind a common goal or plan of action (which, whatever else you can say about conservatives is rarely an issue for them) is also one of our greatest weaknesses.
51
From what it looks like from here in SF (another progressives turn on each other city), maybe they were trying to have a cohesive sentiment for a change. God knows, all the 'people's marches' here are a conglomeration of causes because no one can subsume their own egos long enough to just support whatever the march is for.
Which leads me to believe that all the people bitching about the idea of a silent march (A) didn't do any of the actual work involved and just planned on showing up and (B) planned on showing up with their own agenda.
52
If a white women had suggested a silent march she would've been accused of trying to co-opt the NAACP March and Salt March and shot down.
53
What is with the x? I understand using a y. Can even pronounce it.
54
The only response here (besides @18 which is hilarious) that resonated with me is @2. Planning a march with tens of thousands of people for weeks/months while trying to draw in as many folks as possible and then asking everyone to be silent at the last second seems like really bad planning and leadership. I get the idea, it sounds like it would be amazing, I get that the planners had goosebumps, I get every part of it-but goddamn if I wouldn't also expect an incredibly strong backlash against the suggestion if it weren't incorporated from the beginning and in light of the supreme fuckery we're all bearing witness to.
55
I am one Woman that has had a life time of being told to shut up because the other person's voice is the only one of importance. I have turned my back on having those type of people in my life. I will be damned, if I have a few women who made a decision for all of us women to shut our mouths, to fit their agenda and their agenda alone....and, so their Soap Box Speakers can be heard over our voices chanting. It's not our fault that they didn't start organizing this better and ask all of us how we felt about a silent march. It isn't our fault that they didn't think to schedule their Soap Box Speakers before and after the march, as is done by every march I have been on. I will not stand in line like an good obedient woman and do what I am told, for the sake of those few women. I am totally baffled that anyone would think that an Anti-Trump "protest" should be treated as an Anti-Trump 'vigil". We have had enough being told to be good and shut up in our lives, we don't need that same treatment by the Sisterhood. Oh....and, telling us women to go to another march, if we don't like their "silent" rule...that's no better than White folks telling Black people to get in the back of the bus or walk to your destination!
56
Good grief. Is this a funeral? Should we wear black too?

I'm going and tailgating a group of young ones. They've made their signs and are guaranteed to be vocal. It's their first march after all. I just can't hear all that enthusiasm being shushed. I'm not sure they'll get the symbolism of silence in the age of Trump. As one said, "yuuugely ironic."
57
I want to clarify something in this article tho....we women that discussed this in the FB event's page....did not get into a heated argument with each other, as much as, we got heated about the march being silent. I don't remember one woman, even the few women that wants this to be a silent march, that said one thing negative to me or to any other women. Unless, my tolerance of argumentative people is way up there.
58
The comments thread on the March's Facebook page has been entertaining. There have been fights over a silent/loud march, the pink hats are triggering people, agoraphobics want a walled-off section in the march itself, not enough diversity, not everyone's individual demands are being met, only WOC should have speaking/leadership rolls, fighting over the decision to use "womxns", blah blah blah. If this had went on for much longer the march would have consisted of 50k women arguing amongst themselves.
59
@57- there where people tearing each other apart over the pussy hats.
60
58 & 59, if stuff like that rocks you, then you'll be happy because you'll never be short on entertainment. Trump loves twitter wars. After the marches, he'll have many more people to insult in between starting a war with China and making enemies of old allies.

Trump has managed to unify all these marchers despite their differences. Who knows, if Trump keeps this up, he'll unite the world. If there's a world left...

61
@15, 31, 32: Word.
62
The effect and voice of tens of thousands of silent women bound together in a single cause will be louder than a hundred thousand screaming women.

Someone asked if they should dress all in black, Yes! Our rights, our very bodily integrity, is about to be taken! Dress in black, dress as the Reaper. But band together, there is strength in numbers and power in silence.

Don't fulfill the stereotype of the screaming women, go in grim silence to remind the world what is happening. Do something they cannot ignore or push away.
63
The silent march sounds like a compelling idea in theory. In practice, getting that many women to comply with this request at THIS march, especially when a lot of women who want to participate don't even agree with the premise (a lot of feminist women don't mind being seen as angry and loud, especially in times like this), is unnecessarily complicating things. I am now picturing a lot of women going and shouting, only to be shushed by other women who are passionate about following the request of the organizers. Instead of uniting women, a lot of them will probably leave annoyed by their fellow marchers.

A silent march is a good plan for future, smaller marches when the objective is stated right at the start. But when this is Seattle's main march planned on the day that cities across the country are doing the same, I think the message is already clear, that this is a united march against the Trump Administration to let them know we are active and ready to fight for our rights.
64
This is just bad form all around. You get that many people together for one day of such enormous solidarity and then you try to turn it into a fucking art performance? Narcissist entitled idiot commandress Slye should step off that soapbox.
65
These white women are out of control. Fucking kumbaya for jilted hillz supporters. Pathetic.
66
Try alternating? A few minutes of silence then a few minutes of non-silence? I believe this is what the 30K or so immigration protesters did a few years ago marching up 2nd. I have no idea how they coordinated it but it was impressive.
67
I was supportive of the organizers of the march up until they started telling people to go to other cities to march if they couldn't follow their rules. To then see them bullying people on FB (see noise bloc event listed above) calling out people by race and questioning their intentions further demonstrates their utter luck of self awareness and commitment to creating real unity at a time when we desperately need it. I am a first-generation POC, woman and I will proudly march with all of my friends--white, black, Latino, Asian, gay, straight --and after following this issue and seeing how organizers have conducted themselves, we will be marching loud & proud!
68
Silent my ass. You all know somebody is bringing a drum, right?
70
It's interesting to see images of people with signs and buttons with the slogan "Loves Trumps Hate" bit their faces show barely a trace of love on them. Look, if you're about overthrowing the patriarchy and smashing the state, you do you. But don't pretend to do it from a place of compassion. You're less Dr Martin Luther King and More Patty Hearst.
71
Sometimes silence speaks louder than voices especially thousands of voices saying different things. As a mother, I know my "look" at the kids is way more impactful than when I scream and yell. it may feel better and more cathartic to yell and chant, but it doesn't have the same effect.
72
always remember, Leaders = Controllers.

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