Forward March
I’m trying to remain calm.
Laura and I are marching in Boston tomorrow with my son’s partner Lisa and her young daughter, Annika. In fact, almost every woman I know will march tomorrow, as will millions of other women and men in the US and around the world. What began as a march for women’s reproductive rights has become a march for human rights, and racial, economic, and reproductive justice. As one announcement stated, “Together, we will send a message to our leaders and the world that the United States of America stands for values of human decency, equal rights and freedom from discrimination.”
Two days ago, when Noam stopped by our office, I told him about my fear of terrorist attacks on any number of the assemblies on Saturday. He said that was unlikely, but “There will be provocateurs. I just hope they (those of us protesting) don’t fall for it. That’s what Trump wants.”
Provocateur: An [undercover] agent who incites suspected persons to partake in or commit criminal acts.
So be prepared, my fellow marchers. Don’t fall for bait set by any provocateurs. Don’t let them incite you into some incriminating action.
I wish us all safety, sanity, well-being, and positive forward movement on all vital issues this year. May this be the year that record numbers of people take to the streets and let the powers-that-be know that we are mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore. Once more, as has increasingly been the case during my 23 years with Prof. Chomsky, I have a mounting respect for him, and for other activists in a multitude of arenas who have spent much of their lives speaking out. May they find themselves with swarming masses of support. More organized outrage would be a welcome outcome of this election.
During Bernie Sanders's run for the presidency, Noam worried that, if Sanders happened to lose, the movement would fizzle out after the campaign. “We need to continue trying to bring about the changes that we think are important. Most importantly, we need to remain organized after the election[s], and continue pushing for these ideas,” said Noam. Hear, hear.
Tomorrow, there will be no fizzling out.
Below is a tiny, representative sampling of announcements that have been posted re the women’s marches.
**
From Facebook:
BOSTON, MA — If a planned "Boston Women's March" on the Common sees even a fraction of its anticipated attendance, it stands to be the city's largest protest yet in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump.
The Boston rally is planned in parallel with a larger women's march already scheduled to hit the streets of Washington, D.C., the day following Trump's inauguration. Several thousand Bay Staters will be traveling to that national event, according to a Massachusetts-specific event page convening women and supporters who will be traveling to Washington, D.C., for the main national march.
Of those staying behind but still hoping to take a stand, some 36,000 have indicated on Facebook they are going to attend the Boston sister rally, while another 41,000 have marked "interested" as of Jan. 19.
Here's how one organizer describes the planned march in Boston:
Mission: On January 21, 2017, we will unite in Boston on Boston Common to march in solidarity with communities most affected by the hate, intolerance and acts of violence being perpetrated throughout the nation -- among many are communities of women, immigrants, people of color, and people who identify as LGBTQIA and people with disabilities. ALL ARE WELCOME. This is a march for all of us.
**
Most human rights groups are sending out their own announcements, like this one from International Labor Rights Forum, and the one below from HRW.
At ILRF we are very excited about the Women’s March on Washington this weekend. Please join me in the streets tomorrow, whether you are in Washington or at one of the over 600 sister marches!
**
Women's Rights are Human Rights
FIND YOUR MARCH - HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
In just a few hours, Donald Trump will become the 45th president of the United States.
As women's basic freedoms are threatened in the US and around the world, we are joining hands with activists to send a loud and clear message to all those in power: women's rights are human rights.
Tomorrow, Human Rights Watch will join thousands of diverse voices from across the country at the Women's March on Washington. Join us as we march for our equality, our health, our inclusion, our families,our dignity, and our future.
**
This simple email from a colleague in Germany says a lot:
“We learn that Millions of Americans will not stay calm, and shall object to what is coming into the White House.”
You said it, Gerhard.
**
Near noon today, as the reality that Trump is to be inaugurated (and in fact, as I prepare to post this, he is now our President), I decided to stave off a panic attack - I’m not prone to them, but recent political events have shaken me - by doing something mindless -- cleaning up and deleting some old personal emails.
I found a few from last November which I had somehow overlooked. Filmmaker Michel Gondry’s note, below, offered a welcome respite from my dark mood. Gondry's many visits over a few years while interviewing Noam for his animated film, “Is the Man Who is Tall Happy” gave us much pleasure. Gondry is all creativity, personality, and playfulness, with a small bit of self-deprecating humor. Through his film-making talent, he brought joy and fun to the sometimes heavy atmosphere of our office. Two years after the release of that film, following the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, I wrote Michel to check on him. In the course of our conversation, I asked him to write about how it was for him to visit us over four years while creating the film. One email described his feelings of anticipation as he prepared to meet Noam for the first time. (I took the liberty of correcting a few minor typos.) He calls me by my full name - Beverly. My mother would approve.
E-mail from Michel Gondry to me:
I started to write about my experience with noam.
This is just the beginning. It should be 3 times this length
let me know what you think
kisses
michel
“April 30 2010 - I was walking towards a giant ball of creased tinfoil [MIT’s Stata Center], wondering how the structured brain (not structuralist) of the most intelligent man of the planet could function in this architectural mess. The foil was frank Gehry and the brain was noam chomsky. Michèle Oshima, director of Student & Artist-in-Residence in MiT, was holding my hand but it was my knees that were shaking. The tinfoil ball looks more friendly from the inside. We swiftly reached the 8th floor. Beverly welcomed us warmly.
Here I have to make a pause to give you the tour of the whole Chomsky operation. Expectations can be misleading. There is Noam, Beverly and Roxy, Beverly's dog. That's it. In addition, few times a day, an enigmatic old man comes out of an invisible office, speaks two words to Noam as if he was asking to go for a beer, then disappears again. (Gondry is referring here to our friend, Noam’s long-time colleague and suite mate, 93-year-old Prof. Morris Halle – my other boss.)
Years after I can make fun of the situation but at the time my knees had gone from shaking to wobbling. Beverly noticed them and nicely said "don't worry, he is very nice. He will be here in a few minutes." Then Noam came out of his office. He walked towards me. Maybe I was walking towards [him], I'm not sure anymore. He looked big and small at once. Not small when he was far and big when he was close but big and small at the same time. I don't know why, but that is the closest image i can find to illustrate my feeling at the time: it's as if the Rushmore mount was moving towards me. This sensation dissipated when we shaked hands.”
**
As MIT Professor Bob Berwick said to me today as he left my office following a discussion about the need for and benefits of humor as President Trump takes office, “Well, I suppose it’s better to die laughing.”
Let’s not let Saturday’s actions fizzle.
Laura and I are marching in Boston tomorrow with my son’s partner Lisa and her young daughter, Annika. In fact, almost every woman I know will march tomorrow, as will millions of other women and men in the US and around the world. What began as a march for women’s reproductive rights has become a march for human rights, and racial, economic, and reproductive justice. As one announcement stated, “Together, we will send a message to our leaders and the world that the United States of America stands for values of human decency, equal rights and freedom from discrimination.”
Two days ago, when Noam stopped by our office, I told him about my fear of terrorist attacks on any number of the assemblies on Saturday. He said that was unlikely, but “There will be provocateurs. I just hope they (those of us protesting) don’t fall for it. That’s what Trump wants.”
Provocateur: An [undercover] agent who incites suspected persons to partake in or commit criminal acts.
So be prepared, my fellow marchers. Don’t fall for bait set by any provocateurs. Don’t let them incite you into some incriminating action.
I wish us all safety, sanity, well-being, and positive forward movement on all vital issues this year. May this be the year that record numbers of people take to the streets and let the powers-that-be know that we are mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore. Once more, as has increasingly been the case during my 23 years with Prof. Chomsky, I have a mounting respect for him, and for other activists in a multitude of arenas who have spent much of their lives speaking out. May they find themselves with swarming masses of support. More organized outrage would be a welcome outcome of this election.
During Bernie Sanders's run for the presidency, Noam worried that, if Sanders happened to lose, the movement would fizzle out after the campaign. “We need to continue trying to bring about the changes that we think are important. Most importantly, we need to remain organized after the election[s], and continue pushing for these ideas,” said Noam. Hear, hear.
Tomorrow, there will be no fizzling out.
Below is a tiny, representative sampling of announcements that have been posted re the women’s marches.
**
From Facebook:
BOSTON, MA — If a planned "Boston Women's March" on the Common sees even a fraction of its anticipated attendance, it stands to be the city's largest protest yet in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump.
The Boston rally is planned in parallel with a larger women's march already scheduled to hit the streets of Washington, D.C., the day following Trump's inauguration. Several thousand Bay Staters will be traveling to that national event, according to a Massachusetts-specific event page convening women and supporters who will be traveling to Washington, D.C., for the main national march.
Of those staying behind but still hoping to take a stand, some 36,000 have indicated on Facebook they are going to attend the Boston sister rally, while another 41,000 have marked "interested" as of Jan. 19.
Here's how one organizer describes the planned march in Boston:
Mission: On January 21, 2017, we will unite in Boston on Boston Common to march in solidarity with communities most affected by the hate, intolerance and acts of violence being perpetrated throughout the nation -- among many are communities of women, immigrants, people of color, and people who identify as LGBTQIA and people with disabilities. ALL ARE WELCOME. This is a march for all of us.
**
Most human rights groups are sending out their own announcements, like this one from International Labor Rights Forum, and the one below from HRW.
At ILRF we are very excited about the Women’s March on Washington this weekend. Please join me in the streets tomorrow, whether you are in Washington or at one of the over 600 sister marches!
**
Women's Rights are Human Rights
FIND YOUR MARCH - HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
In just a few hours, Donald Trump will become the 45th president of the United States.
As women's basic freedoms are threatened in the US and around the world, we are joining hands with activists to send a loud and clear message to all those in power: women's rights are human rights.
Tomorrow, Human Rights Watch will join thousands of diverse voices from across the country at the Women's March on Washington. Join us as we march for our equality, our health, our inclusion, our families,our dignity, and our future.
**
This simple email from a colleague in Germany says a lot:
“We learn that Millions of Americans will not stay calm, and shall object to what is coming into the White House.”
You said it, Gerhard.
**
Near noon today, as the reality that Trump is to be inaugurated (and in fact, as I prepare to post this, he is now our President), I decided to stave off a panic attack - I’m not prone to them, but recent political events have shaken me - by doing something mindless -- cleaning up and deleting some old personal emails.
I found a few from last November which I had somehow overlooked. Filmmaker Michel Gondry’s note, below, offered a welcome respite from my dark mood. Gondry's many visits over a few years while interviewing Noam for his animated film, “Is the Man Who is Tall Happy” gave us much pleasure. Gondry is all creativity, personality, and playfulness, with a small bit of self-deprecating humor. Through his film-making talent, he brought joy and fun to the sometimes heavy atmosphere of our office. Two years after the release of that film, following the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, I wrote Michel to check on him. In the course of our conversation, I asked him to write about how it was for him to visit us over four years while creating the film. One email described his feelings of anticipation as he prepared to meet Noam for the first time. (I took the liberty of correcting a few minor typos.) He calls me by my full name - Beverly. My mother would approve.
E-mail from Michel Gondry to me:
I started to write about my experience with noam.
This is just the beginning. It should be 3 times this length
let me know what you think
kisses
michel
“April 30 2010 - I was walking towards a giant ball of creased tinfoil [MIT’s Stata Center], wondering how the structured brain (not structuralist) of the most intelligent man of the planet could function in this architectural mess. The foil was frank Gehry and the brain was noam chomsky. Michèle Oshima, director of Student & Artist-in-Residence in MiT, was holding my hand but it was my knees that were shaking. The tinfoil ball looks more friendly from the inside. We swiftly reached the 8th floor. Beverly welcomed us warmly.
Here I have to make a pause to give you the tour of the whole Chomsky operation. Expectations can be misleading. There is Noam, Beverly and Roxy, Beverly's dog. That's it. In addition, few times a day, an enigmatic old man comes out of an invisible office, speaks two words to Noam as if he was asking to go for a beer, then disappears again. (Gondry is referring here to our friend, Noam’s long-time colleague and suite mate, 93-year-old Prof. Morris Halle – my other boss.)
Years after I can make fun of the situation but at the time my knees had gone from shaking to wobbling. Beverly noticed them and nicely said "don't worry, he is very nice. He will be here in a few minutes." Then Noam came out of his office. He walked towards me. Maybe I was walking towards [him], I'm not sure anymore. He looked big and small at once. Not small when he was far and big when he was close but big and small at the same time. I don't know why, but that is the closest image i can find to illustrate my feeling at the time: it's as if the Rushmore mount was moving towards me. This sensation dissipated when we shaked hands.”
**
As MIT Professor Bob Berwick said to me today as he left my office following a discussion about the need for and benefits of humor as President Trump takes office, “Well, I suppose it’s better to die laughing.”
Let’s not let Saturday’s actions fizzle.
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