Women’s March SLO to call for solidarity with Ukraine at Saturday rally
The fifth annual Women’s March rally in San Luis Obispo will take place Saturday, and will include a call for solidarity with Ukraine, Women’s March SLO announced in a news release.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last week, causing major Ukrainian cities to shut down. The attacks have killed several civilians, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called the attack “a brutal act of war.”
Saturday’s “Engage for Equity” rally commemorates five years since thousands of people gathered in downtown San Luis Obispo for the inaugural march following Donald Trump’s presidential election in 2016.
A portion of the funds raised will go to People in Need, a Slovakia-based organization that is helping those escaping the war cross the Slovakia-Ukraine border, the release said.
“Going into organizing this rally, we already knew we were facing a number of critical issues — from reproductive freedom, to racial injustice, to voter suppression, to climate crisis and more,” Andrea Chmelik, Women’s March SLO’s co-executive director who was born and raised in Czechoslovakia while it was occupied by Soviet forces, said in the release. “Ukraine made it clear that the danger to democracy is very real. The rally is a perfect place to come together in unity, and get involved with organizations who have been on the front lines of the advocacy for social justice.”
The rally will take place in Mitchell Park in San Luis Obispo. Local nonprofits will be in the Call to Action Alley from noon to 4 p.m., and speakers, performers and community leaders will address the public between 1 and 3 p.m.
Organizers encourage participants to bring signs that “illustrate the issues that they care about” and to follow COVID-19 safety protocols including masking and social distancing. An after-party will be held on the patio of Bliss Cafe from 5 to 10 p.m.
For more details visit womensmarchslo.com/engage-for-equity, or follow @womensmarchslo on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
