Where are you, Kamala? After your rousing, defiant speech to your people to keep fighting for freedom and truth and democracy after losing the election to Trump, why have you disappeared? The Democratic Party needs strong leadership right now and while a few (male) voices are rising to the top, like Chris Murphy, where are you when your party needs you the most? You may be thinking of running for Governor of California, as some media sources suggest, but your voice is still needed to rouse and encourage action by the federal Democrats. Your voice still has power.
Where are you, AOC? Outspoken for years, a thorn in the side of the stuffy Democratic elite, a refreshing breeze that carried the voices of the young, the marginalized and the underdogs, where are you when your people need you the most? Your voice, once so strong, is almost silent. Your Party needs strong leadership right now. This is your hour to shine.
On this International Women’s Day in 2025, we need the women leaders all over the world, but particularly the US, to come out of hiding. Regular women know you’ve taken a beating in an increasingly misogynistic world, but that’s why we need your voices more than ever. The women of the US, increasingly beaten-down by gleefully misogynistic policies, need you. Women all over the world need your strong voices calling for freedom, dignity and respect. The silenced women of the Taliban ‘s Afghanistan, no longer allowed to go to public parks with their families, no longer allowed to attend secondary school or university, no longer allowed to work or get a manicure, no longer allowed to even speak in public while trying to shop, they need your strong voices. The women of Iran, locked up in mental hospitals for daring to refuse the draconian dress codes imposed by their government, they need your strong voices.
Granted, Elizabeth Warren has spoken out against Trump’s worst policies and moves several times in the last month. But she doesn’t carry the strength of your voices, Kamala, AOC and other younger women in politics, especially with young women and people of colour. We need you, and other younger women in politics, to speak for the people, to help the Democratic Party to rise from the ashes. The mid-terms will be too late. The next federal election, if there is one, will be much too late. Come out of the shadows and speak for those who, increasingly, have no voice until, if Vance has his way, all women’s voices in the US will be completely silenced.
(International Women’s Day, 8 March 2025)
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