Longing for a fifth wave of feminism, humanism, peace

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/05/2025 (458 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Calling myself “the tiniest cog in the wheel of misfortune” spawned by U.S. President Donald Trump and his Trumpians, I’d written an April Free Press column about the phone calls I was making to offices, agencies and agents condemning fascist White House policies and practices.

I continue to do so, but having attended the April 7 Winnipeg performance given by Pussy Riot, a feminist Russian band whose original members were incarcerated by Putin for protesting his insidious regime, I reconsider my use of the term cog.

Pussy Riot advises protesters are not cogs, but human beings.

As a human being, then, I record with alarm that Trump intends to hold a military parade on June 14 to celebrate his 79th birthday, a date that coincides with the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. I call VoteVets in support of their opposition to that scheme, thinking a national and international day of lament more appropriate.

I call the office of the mayor of Washington, D.C., asking her to refuse Trump’s hoped-for triumph-of-the-will “long-held dream.” The last time Trump imagined such a celebration in his honour, the price tag was more than US$92 million, a tag too stiff perhaps for his own party.

Denied the earlier spectacle, he plots this 2025 “leader of the world” display in terms as fierce and menacing as those conceived by Putin, Stalin and Hitler.

What company this president courts and keeps.

I call the Republican National Party to “commend” them on their dehumanizing accomplishments: detaining, disenfranchising, deporting and otherwise denying the rights of those who — wait for it — express different opinions, orientations, ideas, interests and histories.

I note that children, unaccompanied by adults or legal representation, as young as four are set before court judges chosen to decide whether or not these children can stay in the country in which they live. I caution that this Republican list of intolerances will grow as easily to include the wide range of eugenics techniques devised, for example, within Nazi Germany.

I imagine members of American Homeland Security scurrying about with calipers, measuring the circumference of human heads, the disposition of facial features, the “quality” of bodies and brains to define who and who does not belong, who is worthy of life in this “great” America, this “new” world order,“ this oligarchic “master race,” and — as some have suggested — its “Turd” Reich.

I call the National Democratic Party, renewing my hope it more effectively support the millions who did not vote for Trump, the millions now reconsidering their former Trump allegiances — these combined voices raised, advocating for the human, civil and constitutional rights consistently threatened and dismantled by the White House’s agenda.

In the midst of celebrating protester courage, I call Democrat Al Green once more, to thank him for standing up for Medicaid even as he was evicted from Congress during Trump’s joint address.

I call activist Bernie Sanders, who has never flinched from his condemnation of bullies such as Trump and those who fawn, eager to protect and enlarge their part of the accursed pie Trump serves up, a pie customized by ignorance, bigotry, regression and tantrum.

In the calls I make, I envision myself at any 49th-parallel border crossing being asked by a customs agent if I “like” Trump. I respond openly with “No,” not only aware of my rights, my interest in justice-making and truth-telling, but also aware of consequences — those who oppose Trump’s dark age are humans at risk, enemies of the state, sometimes refused entry, sometimes detained, sometimes consigned to cages crafted by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE), their case, cause and/or complexion inadmissible.

I wonder what impact future Days of Action in the United States and around the world will have, whether protests can dislodge the “efficiencies” of this Republican regime, drive at least some of its ardent MAGA and buccaneer billionaire enthusiasts back into the dark corners from which they have emerged.

I know the dark corners and their contents do not disappear. History teaches us that every day. But Trumpian me-first surveillance tyrannies may be held back, challenged and/or eroded by those who defend multiple points of view and identities, who consider the welfare of the planet and the galaxy in every decision they make.

I — who have lived through a range of freedom movements, including four waves of feminism — define my calls as relevant to those protesting and who also believe in potential fifth waves: of feminism, humanism, environmentalism, pluralism and peace.

As a human being, an old one at that, I am required to advocate for present and future generations and their right to care for and live within a world that honours the miracle of life itself, its diversity and its sanctity.

arts@freepress.mb.ca