Join the Socialist Feminist Resistance!

Seattle DSA Co-leads Feminist March at May 14 Planned Parenthood Rally

On Saturday May 14th, SDSA joined the socialist feminist contingent at the Planned Parenthood Bans off Seattle rally for reproductive rights in response to the Supreme Court leak. We gathered in Cal Anderson park in Capitol Hill and the socialist feminist contingent had a rally just before Planned Parenthoods began, where our comrade Sunny (DSA Labor caucus co-chair) spoke, along with Socialist Alternative and Radical Women’s representatives.

Our message was clear- we can’t just vote for Democrats and share our stories, in hopes that that will be enough to fight back against a structure that is not intended to give women autonomy over our bodies and health.

Planned Parenthood has a large draw and the rally was well-attended with nearly 5,000 people. There were a lot of young people, and many came to our table because they either had recently joined DSA or because they were interested in socialism.  We had very energized discussions with folks who were fed up with the billionaire class and looking for ways to get involved. 

At our SDSA table, 200 people signed our SDSA sign-up sheets to join our email list and get involved! SDSA members also collected over 400 signatures for the House our Neighbors ballot initiative petition! Members also helped collect 1000 signatures for the Whole Washington ballot initiative petition in support of Medicare for All in our state!

We also had buttons and picket signs that comrades made a few days before the rally at a materials making party that raised over $200 in donations! We also used the general SDSA flyers with a short description of our politics that members used to start discussions about our organization and the fecklessness of the Democratic Party to enact real change for working people and women.

After the Planned Parenthood speakers, it was clear that the energy in the crowd was high and yet there were no plans to start a march.  The socialist feminist contingent, with our megaphones, called out to the crowd to come join us in marching into Capitol Hill. Over 1,000 people followed us and our “Join the Socialist Feminist Resistance!” banner onto Broadway where we shut the street down, marched and chanted “Voting blue is not enough- Democrats we call your bluff”!

We led nearly 3 blocks of protesters through the streets in Capitol Hill, shutting down every intersection along the way, returning to Cal Anderson for a second socialist feminist contingent rally. At this, Sunny spoke again, along with a Socialist Alternative member, a Radical Women member, and Kelsey B, a DSA member from the Whole Washington campaign. We promoted ways to keep the momentum going by joining a public DSA meeting on May 21st, to discuss next steps. 

After this second rally, someone came to our table right after Sunny’s speech and he asked “Is Sunny in DSA?”Our comrade replied “Yes”, then he said “Then I want to join DSA!” and he signed the contact sheet!

This rally and march was very successful in promoting DSA and our socialist feminist politics.  The leadership we took on, in the absence of radical movement building on the liberal left, was needed to meet the crowds’ anger and frustration with the very real threat to women’s access to safe, legal abortions. Our fellow DSA member Meg Strader was interviewed by KIRO TV news during the march and has a great quote! check it out here

Join us for our next socialist feminist reproductive rights meeting this Sat. May 21 at 5 pm.  Please RSVP here to get the Zoom link!

Report by Emma Fletcher