Women's March not radical enough for UC Berkeley students

While the anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration once again featured several self-proclaimed “Women’s March” events throughout the U.S., one female progressive at the University of California, Berkeley, chose to sit out the protests this year, complaining that the events are not radical enough and are comparable to a “parade.”

In a commentary published in the Daily Californian, UC Berkeley’s official student newspaper, Berkeley student Anna Tseselsky wistfully recalled her experiences at her first Women’s March following the election of Trump, where she became convinced that she herself could stop his presidency.

“Last year, after the nightmarish haze that was Nov. 8, I found myself the next day standing on an overpass that looks over Interstate 280, hanging a “F*CK TRUMP” banner for all to see,” wrote Tseselsky. “I later joined hundreds of other women in the streets of downtown San Jose for the first-ever Women’s March. Posters clenched in my fist, I was convinced that I could dismantle the presidency with my own bare hands.”

Sadly, Tseselsky admits she was forced to boycott this year’s Women’s March in late January, not because she now supports Trump, but because according to her, the event has lost its “revolutionary fervor.”

Among the reasons Tseselsky gives for avoiding the march is the popularity of the pink "pussy hat" among marchers, which she believes alienates trans-women.