About 40 people joined hands to mark one year of the Global Women’s March on Saturday, which was staged in the United States protesting against Donald Trump’s inauguration last year.

January 20 marked one year of Donald Trump’s inauguration and some members of the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre also showed their support to women who protested in the US.

The march was a worldwide protest on January 21, 2017, to advocate legislation and policies regarding human rights and other issues, including women’s rights, immigration reform, healthcare reform, reproductive rights, the natural environment, LGBTQ rights, racial equality, freedom of religion, and workers’ rights. Most of the rallies were aimed at Donald Trump, immediately following his inauguration as President of the United States, largely due to statements that he had made and positions that he had taken, which were regarded by many as anti-women or otherwise offensive. It was the largest single-day protest in US history.

The centre co-ordinator, Shamima Ali, said last year in January after Donald Trump won the election, people were angry about him winning the elections so the women’s march was organised protesting against his election as the President.

“The march was organised because of his policies and it went global and everyone marched in all the other countries,” she said.

“This year, we decided to have an event at the headquarters for the people who are interested and are part of the global movement. And that is why we are talking about all kinds of rights, women’s rights and human rights.

“We met and discussed issues that we would like to bring up in Fiji and in the region and linking it to what is happening worldwide, which is climate change, the destruction of mangroves, the forests and how it’s impacting the women and children.”

Roshika Deo, who was an independent candidate during the 2014 general election, was also part of the group on Saturday. She said: “The march was very relevant to us in Fiji and the Pacific in terms of the foreign policies, the impact of the global gag rule where funding to organisations were promoted to women’s sexual reproductive health rights in terms of being pro-choice has been suspended and we have the international plan of parenthood federation in the Pacific that used to work a lot on violence against women issues and human rights issues.

“Any kind of funding that we used to receive, a lot of non-governmental organisations do not get them anymore. It is a huge concern with respect to the climate change agenda.”

Edited by Naisa Koroi

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