The Founders want to wish everyone a very Happy Holiday. We hope all of our supporters and volunteers have been taking a much needed rest after the election and enjoying the holiday season with their loved ones.
Our congratulations go out to President-Elect Obama and, of course, to Senator Hillary Clinton on her nomination as Secretary of State. We look forward to the coming years and the new administration taking office.
Here, we are working mostly offline on a variety of women's rights advocacy projects.
We want to again thank those who volunteered with us to celebrate and honor Senator Clinton this past summer. We hope everyone will continue to support Senator Clinton in her upcoming role as Secretary of State.
We hope you all have a wonderful holiday and we wish everyone the best in the coming New Year.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Less than two weeks to go, some thoughts from the Founders
As many of you know, 18 Million Voices is a candidate neutral group advocating for women's rights. We organized a march in August 2008 to celebrate Women's Equality Day and honor Senator Hillary Clinton's milestone achievement for women. We held an amazing march advocating for women's rights and celebrating Hillary. Since Denver, we have been working offline in the bricks and mortar world continuing our advocacy of women's rights and planning for the future.
As we mentioned in the below post, many people have tried to co-opt the 18 Million Voices name for their own purposes since our great success this summer. We have been engaged here in an ongoing battle with these people, all of whom are seeking to use the 18 Million Voices name to drum up support for their candidate centered, pro-McCain efforts.
18 Million Voices REMAINS candidate neutral in this general election. It is our position that focusing on women's rights is indeed the MOST important endeavor for us. It is also our position that each and every person's vote IS THEIR OWN-- voting is a personal and private choice. No one should be bullied or harassed into voting any way, and no one need disclose how they will vote to anyone else if they choose not to do so.
The Founders of this group have faced attacks and accusations of being "frauds" and "not true Hillary supporters" because they have chosen to keep the official platform of this group candidate neutral in this general election and because they chose not to share how they will personally vote in the upcoming election.
The Founders of 18 Million Voices have always been and will remain loyal, lifelong Democrats and strong supporters of the Clintons--Senator Hillary Clinton is STILL our Senator here in our home of New York.
The organization 18 Million Voices and the Founders of 18 Million Voices personally DO NOT SUPPORT OR ENDORSE THE MCCAIN/PALIN TICKET IN ANY MANNER, regardless of what many blogs and websites who are FRAUDULENTLY CLAIMING to be 18 Million Voices may say.
The 18 Million Voices organization takes NO OFFICIAL POSITION ON ANY CANDIDATE IN THE GENERAL ELECTION.
The Founders of 18 Million Voices support the right of all of the supporters and members of 18 Million Voices to vote as they please in the upcoming election without any pressure or interference from ANYONE.
These other groups' attempts to characterize the position of 18 Million Voices as pro-Republican are fraudulent, false, and despicable.
As we mentioned in the below post, many people have tried to co-opt the 18 Million Voices name for their own purposes since our great success this summer. We have been engaged here in an ongoing battle with these people, all of whom are seeking to use the 18 Million Voices name to drum up support for their candidate centered, pro-McCain efforts.
18 Million Voices REMAINS candidate neutral in this general election. It is our position that focusing on women's rights is indeed the MOST important endeavor for us. It is also our position that each and every person's vote IS THEIR OWN-- voting is a personal and private choice. No one should be bullied or harassed into voting any way, and no one need disclose how they will vote to anyone else if they choose not to do so.
The Founders of this group have faced attacks and accusations of being "frauds" and "not true Hillary supporters" because they have chosen to keep the official platform of this group candidate neutral in this general election and because they chose not to share how they will personally vote in the upcoming election.
The Founders of 18 Million Voices have always been and will remain loyal, lifelong Democrats and strong supporters of the Clintons--Senator Hillary Clinton is STILL our Senator here in our home of New York.
The organization 18 Million Voices and the Founders of 18 Million Voices personally DO NOT SUPPORT OR ENDORSE THE MCCAIN/PALIN TICKET IN ANY MANNER, regardless of what many blogs and websites who are FRAUDULENTLY CLAIMING to be 18 Million Voices may say.
The 18 Million Voices organization takes NO OFFICIAL POSITION ON ANY CANDIDATE IN THE GENERAL ELECTION.
The Founders of 18 Million Voices support the right of all of the supporters and members of 18 Million Voices to vote as they please in the upcoming election without any pressure or interference from ANYONE.
These other groups' attempts to characterize the position of 18 Million Voices as pro-Republican are fraudulent, false, and despicable.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Thoughts on Denver, and going forward
We rarely post here in a blog format, as this site was originally created as an organizing tool for our efforts that took place in Denver. We will now be blogging here more often as the efforts of 18 Million Voices move forward. For details about our Denver efforts, please visit our one and only sister page at http://rhrdenver.blogspot.com
Going forward, the Founders of 18 Million Voices will be continuing to advocate for women's rights, but will be working mostly offline for now. The journey we all took together this past summer was an immense effort for many who were involved, and our successes exceeded all of our expectations. We again want to thank all those that got involved, supported the stated mission, and worked cooperatively and tirelessly to achieve it.
It is to our great dismay that there were some individuals involved in these efforts that clearly had less than noble intentions, and that joined us in order to change our mission to their purposes. Through the deep commitment of many core members and Organizers, those individuals' efforts failed.
It is now with great disgust that we find another individual attempting to maliciously, willfully, and knowingly exploit the 18 Million Voices name and the reputation that we have built around it, knowing full well that the name is in use, and was created by us. This individual has co-opted the name 18 Million Voices to promote her own efforts which have NOTHING whatsoever to do with the mission or purpose of 18 Million Voices, and she continues in this endeavor despite our repeated demands that she stop doing so.
The Founders of 18 Million Voices, who are the creators of this website and the 18 Million Voices name, feel this individual's behavior is a sad and pathetic commentary on humanity. It clearly would be quite simple for this person to use their own creative resources and think up a unique name for their efforts, but they choose instead to co-opt and exploit the 18 Million Voices name without our authorization or approval, despite our repeated demands that they not do so.
While some may say imitation is the best form of flattery, this individual's efforts do not constitute imitation but are simply a pathetic and sad act of blatant plagiarism and exploitation. As many of you know, we indeed changed our name at the beginning of these efforts immediately upon discovering the name we originally chose was in use by another group--which is what any decent, law abiding citizen WOULD DO. We post about this here only to share our great disappointment that any grown adult would behave in such a sad, childish, malicious, and ugly manner, and to assure all of our members and supporters that we are indeed aware of this individual's behavior and are taking the necessary steps to address it.
18 Million Voices continues in its advocacy for women's rights, and will remain candidate neutral as we move forward in our new activities. We will continue to bring the same level of professionalism and attention to detail to our efforts that we always have, and we will continue to welcome those who are committed to the cause of women's rights to join us in this journey.
Please stay tuned...we will be blogging about our activities and our thoughts more frequently in the future.
Going forward, the Founders of 18 Million Voices will be continuing to advocate for women's rights, but will be working mostly offline for now. The journey we all took together this past summer was an immense effort for many who were involved, and our successes exceeded all of our expectations. We again want to thank all those that got involved, supported the stated mission, and worked cooperatively and tirelessly to achieve it.
It is to our great dismay that there were some individuals involved in these efforts that clearly had less than noble intentions, and that joined us in order to change our mission to their purposes. Through the deep commitment of many core members and Organizers, those individuals' efforts failed.
It is now with great disgust that we find another individual attempting to maliciously, willfully, and knowingly exploit the 18 Million Voices name and the reputation that we have built around it, knowing full well that the name is in use, and was created by us. This individual has co-opted the name 18 Million Voices to promote her own efforts which have NOTHING whatsoever to do with the mission or purpose of 18 Million Voices, and she continues in this endeavor despite our repeated demands that she stop doing so.
The Founders of 18 Million Voices, who are the creators of this website and the 18 Million Voices name, feel this individual's behavior is a sad and pathetic commentary on humanity. It clearly would be quite simple for this person to use their own creative resources and think up a unique name for their efforts, but they choose instead to co-opt and exploit the 18 Million Voices name without our authorization or approval, despite our repeated demands that they not do so.
While some may say imitation is the best form of flattery, this individual's efforts do not constitute imitation but are simply a pathetic and sad act of blatant plagiarism and exploitation. As many of you know, we indeed changed our name at the beginning of these efforts immediately upon discovering the name we originally chose was in use by another group--which is what any decent, law abiding citizen WOULD DO. We post about this here only to share our great disappointment that any grown adult would behave in such a sad, childish, malicious, and ugly manner, and to assure all of our members and supporters that we are indeed aware of this individual's behavior and are taking the necessary steps to address it.
18 Million Voices continues in its advocacy for women's rights, and will remain candidate neutral as we move forward in our new activities. We will continue to bring the same level of professionalism and attention to detail to our efforts that we always have, and we will continue to welcome those who are committed to the cause of women's rights to join us in this journey.
Please stay tuned...we will be blogging about our activities and our thoughts more frequently in the future.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
DENVER UPDATE and STATE ORGANIZERS STILL NEEDED
We are still seeking volunteers to organize groups locally as State Organizers. If you do not see a meeting scheduled in your state under the State Meetings and would like to become an organizer locally in your state, please email us at RiseHillaryRise@gmail.com with the subject heading STATE ORGANIZER INTEREST and we will get back to you within 48 hours (at the latest) with the State Organizer First Steps .
Many have asked us the specific dates that they should plan to be in Denver. We are boiling down specifics related to permitting (an issue which we have mostly now solved, thanks to all who emailed information), and coordinating around other unrelated groups' various actions on the ground. Many groups planning to be in Denver have very different messages than we do, and plan to protest or have resistance demonstrations for a variety of causes, and we are coordinating our specific action efforts with this in mind.
We are asking our supporters to plan to be in Denver on August 25th and August 26th for our actions, but, we of course welcome everyone to stay for the entire convention if time and resources allow them to do so. If you are not already a member of a meetup group in your state, please do join (see the State Meetings post for specific meetings) or, if there is no meeting in your area, please consider starting a group of your own locally.
In the coming weeks, we will post more Denver specifics for those wishing to attend the actions, but who are unable to be involved in the planning of the actions leading up to August. Please keep checking back to this site often.
Many have asked us the specific dates that they should plan to be in Denver. We are boiling down specifics related to permitting (an issue which we have mostly now solved, thanks to all who emailed information), and coordinating around other unrelated groups' various actions on the ground. Many groups planning to be in Denver have very different messages than we do, and plan to protest or have resistance demonstrations for a variety of causes, and we are coordinating our specific action efforts with this in mind.
We are asking our supporters to plan to be in Denver on August 25th and August 26th for our actions, but, we of course welcome everyone to stay for the entire convention if time and resources allow them to do so. If you are not already a member of a meetup group in your state, please do join (see the State Meetings post for specific meetings) or, if there is no meeting in your area, please consider starting a group of your own locally.
In the coming weeks, we will post more Denver specifics for those wishing to attend the actions, but who are unable to be involved in the planning of the actions leading up to August. Please keep checking back to this site often.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
NAME CHANGE: WE HAVE HEARD YOUR VOICES
We have changed our name in response to the feedback we received from so many of you asking that the name be more inclusive. Thanks for all your responses and your great input. As it is our goal to include everyone, we have changed our name to 18 Million Voices and redirected our original Website to this page. Nothing else has changed, we are just that much stronger by including everyone's voice. We hope this change causes no confusion or inconvenience. In the future, please link directly to this site. Our email is the same RiseHillaryRise@gmail.com
Thanks,
RiseHillaryRise
Thanks,
RiseHillaryRise
Friday, June 13, 2008
Denver And Beyond: NATIONWIDE ACTIONS
We have had many responses suggesting the idea of holding coordinated rallies and marches in cities throught the nation at the same time as we march in Denver. We think this is a phenomenal idea, it will allow the voices of those people who cannot make it to Denver to be heard, without them having to travel too far away or take off time from work. It will also bring attention to the Denver action, and, allow us to distinguish ourselves from the many other protest groups who will be in Denver.
At present, we are coordinating State Organizers (thank you to all who have responded and volunteered!) who will be scheduling organizing meetings in their respective states. We will be posting state meeting information on the site as we receive it. The overall goal is to have groups of people on the ground in every state who can help get the word out about the march, coordinate travel to Denver from their states for those who want to go, as well as coordinate concurrent state actions for those who cannot travel.
If we can all come together and give just a little time and effort to this movement, we can stand united Nationwide during the convention, and we will not be easy to ignore!!
At present, we are coordinating State Organizers (thank you to all who have responded and volunteered!) who will be scheduling organizing meetings in their respective states. We will be posting state meeting information on the site as we receive it. The overall goal is to have groups of people on the ground in every state who can help get the word out about the march, coordinate travel to Denver from their states for those who want to go, as well as coordinate concurrent state actions for those who cannot travel.
If we can all come together and give just a little time and effort to this movement, we can stand united Nationwide during the convention, and we will not be easy to ignore!!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
UPDATE ON PERMIT INFO
Thank you to everyone who has emailed information regarding the very complex and seemingly illusive process of obtaining a permit to rally or march in Denver.
We have now devoted a significant amount of time researching this issue, reading the applicable statutes, and attempting to contact Denver officials. We think we have begun to understand the process, but, are keeping at our research and information gathering, so, may update this information at a later date. We are, however, relatively confident that at this point we have not missed any deadline to apply for a permit. Here's what we have ascertained thus far:
The Mayor of Denver has declared the time frame surrounding the convention dates an "Extraordinary Event" requiring an Extraordinary Event Permit. A special process has been established to apply for this Permit. The Permit application indicates that we have until August 11, 2008 to submit an Extraordinary Event Request Form--NOTE, this appears to be NOTHING MORE than a REQUEST to eventually be able to apply for specific rally or parade permits (what we will call, the "sub-permits"), but, here's where it gets REALLY fun in our opinion...
Once we have submitted an Extraordinary Event Request, we will supposedly be notified within 5 business days of the acceptance or denial of the Request. If accepted, we get to apply for the specific rally or parade sub-permits. If these sub-permit applications are approved-- again, supposedly we will be notified of acceptance or denial within 5 business days--then it appears our Extraordinary Event Permit will actually be issued. We are not completely sure this is the entire process as the application forms and the website contain a variety of seemingly conflicting and thoroughly confusing information.
Please fell free to check out the site here, maybe you'll have more luck unraveling this mysterious and convoluted process:
http://www.denvergov.org/Default.aspx?alias=www.denvergov.org/dnc2008permits
Once you have become thoroughly frustrated, as we are, with the information provided regarding the Permit process, you may want to check out the myriad of lawsuits filed by the ACLU in relation to these issues, here the link:
http://www.aclu-co.org/dnc/dnc.htm
The Permit issue is on the agenda for our New York City meeting this Sunday, and as we get more information and a better understanding of how best to proceed, we will post an update.
We hope this information is helpful in some way.
We have now devoted a significant amount of time researching this issue, reading the applicable statutes, and attempting to contact Denver officials. We think we have begun to understand the process, but, are keeping at our research and information gathering, so, may update this information at a later date. We are, however, relatively confident that at this point we have not missed any deadline to apply for a permit. Here's what we have ascertained thus far:
The Mayor of Denver has declared the time frame surrounding the convention dates an "Extraordinary Event" requiring an Extraordinary Event Permit. A special process has been established to apply for this Permit. The Permit application indicates that we have until August 11, 2008 to submit an Extraordinary Event Request Form--NOTE, this appears to be NOTHING MORE than a REQUEST to eventually be able to apply for specific rally or parade permits (what we will call, the "sub-permits"), but, here's where it gets REALLY fun in our opinion...
Once we have submitted an Extraordinary Event Request, we will supposedly be notified within 5 business days of the acceptance or denial of the Request. If accepted, we get to apply for the specific rally or parade sub-permits. If these sub-permit applications are approved-- again, supposedly we will be notified of acceptance or denial within 5 business days--then it appears our Extraordinary Event Permit will actually be issued. We are not completely sure this is the entire process as the application forms and the website contain a variety of seemingly conflicting and thoroughly confusing information.
Please fell free to check out the site here, maybe you'll have more luck unraveling this mysterious and convoluted process:
http://www.denvergov.org/Default.aspx?alias=www.denvergov.org/dnc2008permits
Once you have become thoroughly frustrated, as we are, with the information provided regarding the Permit process, you may want to check out the myriad of lawsuits filed by the ACLU in relation to these issues, here the link:
http://www.aclu-co.org/dnc/dnc.htm
The Permit issue is on the agenda for our New York City meeting this Sunday, and as we get more information and a better understanding of how best to proceed, we will post an update.
We hope this information is helpful in some way.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Another Update and A Request to Other Groups
The email volunteer interest responses are fast reaching into the hundreds in just the past 48 hours!! Thanks everyone for all the support, and the great effort to link to us from other sites! We are trying to respond to everyone's emails as quickly as possible, and to begin compiling a database and email list of interested volunteers, but we also have day jobs to worry about too, so please bear with us if we don't respond immediately!
By Sunday, June 15, 2008 we hope to be up and running as far as 1) information networks database 2) lists of state organizers 3) volunteer email lists 4) meetup locations/links posted for states where we have volunteer organizers and 5) a posted list of states where we need organizers.
We have set up a meet up in New York City (where we are blogging) so those in the New York City area, and anyone else who wishes to attend, can begin meeting in person, please see the above post for the meetup page link.
We will be contacting the ACLU and others in Denver to determine what must happen to obtain a permit. In the event that we cannot obtain a permit, we will brainstorm ideas for a soft action, possibly wearing t-shirts, taping mouths, and walking the streets of Denver in silence, but in vast numbers. As we get more information on the permits, we will post it here. We also have a lawyer helping us out on this issue, but could use all the help we can get on this one. If you want to help with the permit issue please email and include PERMIT ISSUE in the subject line.
We would like to form a core organizing committee, and welcome anyone to join. Please email us with your information and CORE ORGANIZER in the subject line if you are interested in joining the committee.
Also, we are requesting that if you are another organization/group that is also working to organize the march, please contact us so we can all coordinate efforts as oppposed to duplicating efforts and wasting valuable resources all around. Please include COLLABORATION GROUP in the subject line. We would love to set up a collaboration between a variety of like minded groups.
We have received emails from many of you wishing to create graphic designs, artwork, t-shirts, signs, posters, videos and the like. Once we have our grassroots network of organizers in place, we will reach out to all of you to start getting things moving on all the great ideas you have provided.
By Sunday, June 15, 2008 we hope to be up and running as far as 1) information networks database 2) lists of state organizers 3) volunteer email lists 4) meetup locations/links posted for states where we have volunteer organizers and 5) a posted list of states where we need organizers.
We have set up a meet up in New York City (where we are blogging) so those in the New York City area, and anyone else who wishes to attend, can begin meeting in person, please see the above post for the meetup page link.
We will be contacting the ACLU and others in Denver to determine what must happen to obtain a permit. In the event that we cannot obtain a permit, we will brainstorm ideas for a soft action, possibly wearing t-shirts, taping mouths, and walking the streets of Denver in silence, but in vast numbers. As we get more information on the permits, we will post it here. We also have a lawyer helping us out on this issue, but could use all the help we can get on this one. If you want to help with the permit issue please email and include PERMIT ISSUE in the subject line.
We would like to form a core organizing committee, and welcome anyone to join. Please email us with your information and CORE ORGANIZER in the subject line if you are interested in joining the committee.
Also, we are requesting that if you are another organization/group that is also working to organize the march, please contact us so we can all coordinate efforts as oppposed to duplicating efforts and wasting valuable resources all around. Please include COLLABORATION GROUP in the subject line. We would love to set up a collaboration between a variety of like minded groups.
We have received emails from many of you wishing to create graphic designs, artwork, t-shirts, signs, posters, videos and the like. Once we have our grassroots network of organizers in place, we will reach out to all of you to start getting things moving on all the great ideas you have provided.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Update for all re: response so far...
Thank you for all of the input so far. We are trying to be responsive to all suggestions about content and even style of the site, but, have only so much time to devote, so, please bear with us as we try to address everyone's suggestions.
As far as permits go, it seems our best bet will be to find a co-sponsoring group that is already involved in the permit battle, as it appears the ACLU has already filed a lawsuit on behalf of groups seeking to hold events. We will try to reach out to groups in the coming week, and will post updates here.
In response to all who think Million Women's March is not an inclusive enough name, we are open to all ideas, but it will be difficult to re-name the blog, which is already millionwomenmarch, and our hope was that men would not be too put off to march for their wives', daughters' or mothers' rights. Suggestions are welcome for more inclusive names.
Thus far, we have received only a handful of interest emails, so, as the list grows we will try to put people in touch with one another. Please all be aware, we are not an organized group, but 2 concerned citizens and loyal Clinton supporters, who put up this blog to serve as an organizing mechanism for anyone who would like to see this event happen, as when we searched for information last week a lot of blogs were talking about this idea, but there was no central website for people to start doing anything about making it happen.
Please keep the ideas coming, and we will keep everyone posted about progress.
As far as permits go, it seems our best bet will be to find a co-sponsoring group that is already involved in the permit battle, as it appears the ACLU has already filed a lawsuit on behalf of groups seeking to hold events. We will try to reach out to groups in the coming week, and will post updates here.
In response to all who think Million Women's March is not an inclusive enough name, we are open to all ideas, but it will be difficult to re-name the blog, which is already millionwomenmarch, and our hope was that men would not be too put off to march for their wives', daughters' or mothers' rights. Suggestions are welcome for more inclusive names.
Thus far, we have received only a handful of interest emails, so, as the list grows we will try to put people in touch with one another. Please all be aware, we are not an organized group, but 2 concerned citizens and loyal Clinton supporters, who put up this blog to serve as an organizing mechanism for anyone who would like to see this event happen, as when we searched for information last week a lot of blogs were talking about this idea, but there was no central website for people to start doing anything about making it happen.
Please keep the ideas coming, and we will keep everyone posted about progress.
Friday, June 06, 2008
First on the list: A PERMIT
We are looking into ways we might secure a permit for August so we can march. Any ideas or offers of assistance will be greatly welcomed, so, post if you might be able to help out!!
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