MASSIVE INSPIRING AND UPLIFTING PROTESTS WORLDWIDE

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I marched in Los Angeles Saturday where we were told there were as many as 750,000 people. It felt like it. I can’t prove it but when I stood on the stage to speak there were masses of people as far as the eye could see and that didn’t even include the masses who filled all the side streets and were out of sight. It was awesome to be among so many people, all supporting each other, no pushing or negativity and the signs and banners were diving and original. Don’t let anyone write this off as some liberal elite event. There were significant marches in all 50 states, and on every continent! Millions came together in peace, and pledging solidarity.

I was thrilled that our march featured many city officials as participants. Rather than flanking the streets with police in riot gear Eric Garcetti, our Mayor spoke in front of a City Hall draped in American flags.

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There were two stages set up. One at City Hall another a few blocks away on Hill Street. We marched Starting at Pershing Square from 10am until 12pm snaking, weaving shoulder to shoulder through downtown Los Angeles. People were still arriving when I took the stage around 1PM at Hill Street. The Metros were filled to capacity. I’m told passengers in Hollywood had to head on the North bound trains and ride the entire route in order to make it downtown. Some stations ran out of tickets to sell and some of the stations stations opened the turnstiles and let passengers ride for free. Traffic in some areas was a complete standstill.

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It was quite a crowd, but if everyone who wanted to come could’ve gotten there we probably would’ve been over a million people. It was so nice to see men in the march as well as millennials and young children. It really spanned a wide range of sexes, ages and ethnicities. A Troupe of Muslim dancers were preparing to perform.

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I marched with many women friends and my son and daughter-in- law. I always feel better, safer when they are close.

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And I hugged James Franco. I think he’s such a brave, original talent across a lot of disciplines. I was so glad he was there. As was Barbra Streisand, Kerry Washington, Miley Cyrus, Jackson Brown and so many more.

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Natalie Portman, far into a pregnancy, gave a terrific speech about how awesome and mysterious women’s bodies are and that a mostly white, male government should not be allowed to tell a woman what she can or can’t do with her body. She said that such a monoculture government was a problem, calling it “taxation without representation.” Alfre Woodard read a poem called “Sweet Honey in the Rock” and boy did she rock it!

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We carried large banners and posters saying “Rise Against the Preditor-in-Chief.”

In my remarks I emphasized the importance of refusing to normalize or legitimize him. Fake news, false promises and foreign interference in our election renders his election illegitimate. I said that on the national level, we need to play defense– systematically resisting, disrupting and blocking the Predator-in-Chiefs every attempt to roll back our democratic rights and freedoms.

On state and local levels we must be on the offense: training and supporting organizers who need to be out in our communities for the next 4 years and beyond, bringing people together behind a shared vision of true Democracy–political, social and economic–that everyone can see themselves reflected in. We need to build an intersectional Movement of movements. We need to identify and groom righteous women to run for office–school boards, county commissioners, city councils, state legislatures. We must work locally to take back our government where we live. State governments will, more and more, be determining much that affects our federal policies and thus our lives.

I called for an end to policies that maintain the Wall Street centered economic status quo that enriches the few and deeply harms working people and the poor and the middle class. And like all the other speakers I called for solidarity across race and class.

It was a good day, and uplifting, hopeful day. There has to be many more like these. We can’t stop. We can’t stand down we must rise up and resist — don’t agonize, organize!

This could very well be the start of something. Women are going to continue to organize visit womensmarchla.org for updates.

Here are some more photos from the incredible day

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My son wearing a “Supreme” Tshirt with yours truly.

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Before the March with Jamie Lee Curtis.

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A friend emailed me this photo, wish I could have run into this man.

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Never pass up an opportunity to Dance with the one and only Debbie Allen! Debbi also spoke reminding us that “freedom must prevail!”

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The view from the stage on Hill Street.

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With Juliette Lewis who sang a rousing rendition of U2s “In the Name of Love” with the Edge.

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Demi Lavato, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Troy Garity.

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81 Comments
  1. Thank you for your activism all these years. Seems we need it more than ever these days,

    Btw, I started watching Grace and Frankie a few weeks ago and just finished the last episode of season 2 a bit ago.

    I absolutely love it and look forward to season 3!

  2. Dear Jane,

    Below is a recent post on my FB page.

    Thank you again for your inspiration and being a voice of the mother earth and all of its inhabitants.

    Love,
    Steve

    I am no longer holding back. My liberty and your liberty is more important than being in the shadows or being politically correct. The continual assault on the “truth,” including a responsible, free press, more so than any administration in my lifetime, is both dangerous and unprecedented. No wonder in the latest Public Policy Poll 46% of the American voters are in favor of impeaching Trump and he has only been in office 3 weeks. And the most alarming statistics in this poll is that 51% of Trump voters report he should have the right to overturn court decisions. (http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/polls/)

    There was no widespread voting fraud in the 2016 election. But there was an incessant, pathological liar candidate and now Liar-in-Chief who is spreading these lies. These lies are part of an explicit blueprint for increased voter suppression and placement of additional infringements and lack of transparency to rig future elections in the U.S. in favor of a party who supports the fascist agenda, namely, the so called Republican Party and like minded individuals. The only fraud that the American People need to be concerned about is real fraud, the Liar-in-Chief and his fraudulent cabinet.

    The truth is: There is a Liar-in-Chief, as the head of government in the United States, who is mentally ill. He has proven, even as a candidate, that he is woefully unfit for office. He should immediately be removed from office by use of the 25th Amendment of the United States Constitution. (https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-…/…/amendment-xxv)

    I wish I could write things are going to get better in the United States. Unfortunately, it is highly probable things will become worse before they become better. In the meantime, please become aware and help others become aware of what is transpiring under a Trump administration, donate to non-profit organizations who truly represent you, the people, call your Senator and representative’s office to voice your dissent and participate in PEACEFUL, grassroot, protest demonstrations. (https://www.indivisibleguide.com/web/)
    Persist!!! Resist!!!!

    http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-voter-fraud-senators-meeting-234909

  3. Jane: I just now found an excellent resource to locate grassroots meetings and upcoming grassroot protests. Looking over their website and Facebook page (see links below), it appears that this a very promising, political force to help us funnel our anger, concerns, and outrage in a constructive manner. I even love the title of this new grassroot movement: Indivisible…… “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all… Only love. Steve
    https://www.indivisibleguide.com/show-up
    https://www.facebook.com/indivisibleguide
    Pages« Previous 1 … 3 4 5

  4. Terrific to see your handsome son and his stunning wife. They are such a beautiful couple!
    I LOVE Troy’s shirt!! LOL He is proud of his Mommy! What a terrific day! Thanks for sharing!

  5. Some people are saying that we should give Donald Trump a chance, that we should “work together” with him because he won the election and he is “everyone’s president.” This is my response:
    •I will not forget how badly he and so many others treated former President Barack Obama for 8 years…
    •I will not “work together” to build a wall.
    •I will not “work together” to persecute Muslims.
    •I will not “work together” to shut out refugees from countries where we destabilized their governments, no matter how bad they might have been, so that we could have something more agreeable to our oligarchy.
    •I will not “work together” to lower taxes on the 1%.
    •I will not “work together” to increase taxes on the middle class and poor.
    •I will not “work together” to help Trump use the Presidency to line his pockets and those of his cronies.
    •I will not “work together” to weaken and demolish environmental protection.
    •I will not “work together” to sell American lands to companies which then despoil those lands.
    •I will not “work together” to enable the killing in any way of whole species of animals just because they are predators, or inconvenient for a few, or because some people want to get their thrills killing them.
    •I will not “work together” to remove civil rights from anyone.
    •I will not “work together” to waste trillions more on our military when we already have the strongest in the world.
    •I will not “work together” to alienate countries that have been our allies for as long as I have been alive.
    •I will not “work together” to slash funding for education.
    •I will not “work together” to take basic assistance from people who are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
    •I will not “work together” to allow torture and “black op” prison sites.
    •I will not “work together” to “take their oil.”
    •I will not “work together” to get rid of common sense regulations on guns.
    •I will not “work together” to eliminate the minimum wage.
    •I will not “work together” to support so-called “Right To Work” laws, or undermine, weaken or destroy Unions in any way.
    •I will not “work together” to suppress scientific research, be it on climate change, fracking, or any other issue where a majority of scientists agree that Trump and his supporters are wrong on the facts.
    •I will not “work together” to criminalize abortion or restrict health care for women.
    •I will not “work together” to increase the number of nations that have nuclear weapons.
    •I will not “work together” to put even more “big money” into politics.
    •I will not “work together” to violate the Geneva Convention.
    •I will not “work together” to give the Ku Klux Klan, the Nazi Party and white supremacists a seat at the table, or to normalize their hatred.
    •I will not “work together” to deny health care to people who need it.
    •I will not “work together” to increase the profits of the insurance companies.
    •I will not “work together” to deny medical coverage to people on the basis of an alleged or actual “pre-existing condition.”
    •I will not “work together” to increase voter suppression.
    •I will not “work together” to normalize tyranny.
    •I will not “work together” with anyone who is, or admires, tyrants and dictators.
    •I will not “work together” with Donald Trump or anyone who supports him, because I will not allow one man to feed upon the fears of the populace, blaming minorities for their condition or their inability to thrive.
    This is the line, and I am drawing it.
    •I will stand for honesty, love, respect for all living beings, and for the beating heart that is the center of Life itself.
    •I will use my voice and my hands, to reach out to the uninformed, and to anyone who will LISTEN for what’s really so dangerous about Donald Trump, his friends and the Big Lie they spin to the world:
    That “winning”, “being great again”, “rich” or even “beautiful” is anything more than nothing… When others are sacrificed to glorify its existence. Author unknown #RESIST

  6. Season 4 the best Valentines day gift

  7. I wanted to let you know tha you were a real inspiration to me. As a young girl coming of age in the 70’s, I truly appreciated that you not only embraced people who were considered different, but also that you were different from most people. Standing up for what is right takes a lot of courage and you’ve done that for so many years and you keep doing it. I sat next to you and Ted Turner at a baseball game a long time ago and I wanted to tell you all that then, but I did not want to bother you. Thanks for all that you do and know that you have inspired so many of us to be active and to change the world. 🙂

  8. Jane, I read you are selling your ranch and home in Beverly Hills. Are you downsizing and buying smaller properties?

    • My ranch sold last year and, yes, I am downsizing. xx

  9. Always loved what you stood for. I remember when your face was all over the news, and how I heard your father must be humiliated. I did not understand. I lost a cousin in Nam, and my brothers served during that time, tho we were very lucky neither of them were sent there. I was still in grade school, but I knew war was wrong! I believed in you and what you were doing! I don’t know how I understood at that time. I just did!
    I’m so glad to still have you to lead us! Proud to be on the same side!
    I just want to say “Thank You!”

  10. I’m so in love with James Franco I was so pleased to see the pic of you and James at the march You two are my favorite people

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