Trump’s first week in office has been terrifying

Trump Grump

President Trump… There’s a phrase I didn’t honestly believe I’d ever have to say and yet, a full Presidential campaign later here we are, with a business man leading the USA from the White House. But you can’t change the past, only shape the future said a great student once upon a time and with that in mind lets review the President’s first week in office and see how we can stand together to make a difference:

Women’s rights

Those marches didn’t happen for no reason, huge swathes of young people across the globe marched on the weekend of the 21st and 22nd January 2017 to protect the rights of women across the globe. It seems crazy to alienate half of the global population via your policies and yet he’s still gone and done it.

A ban on funding for women’s contraception is one such example. What exactly happened some of you may ask. Well here’s a quick run down. The new President has signed (along side seven noted other white males) an order banning American aid contributions to be given to family planning clinics outside the US that offer abortion, even if it is proven that the money is not being used for abortions. However, Trump has gone a step further than his predecessors such as Reagan and Bush, who had similar policies, by threatening the funding for HIV/Aids prevention and treatment, some domestic violence programmes, maternal and child health to name but a few.

So what can we do? I doubt the marches witnessed at the weekend will be the last of their kind so the best we can do for now is support our fellow sisters! If there’s a march here’s some ideas of how you can help:

Attend and march- numbers equals power! The stronger the turn out the clearer the message.

Marching not your thing? No problem, try helping out your friends to create funny or imaginative signs, be supportive in whatever way you feel comfortable.

Look out for those around you; as ever it seems the first steps in finding a simple answer to a complex problem is to be thoughtful. Just because Trump has shown himself to be misogynistic, crude, and downright dismissive towards women doesn’t mean anyone else has to lower themselves to his level.

Students stand together!

Alternative facts

So now apparently we can define a fact as a lie? Maybe we can retaliate; how about college is now free #alternatefacts, see how that one goes down…

The key here seems to be to not let Trump convince you to close your eyes and ears to the evidence around you. In the wise words of George Orwell to do so would be to obey ‘their final, most essential command’.

Dismissing environmental concerns

From denial to what can only be assumed to be ignorance at best, the new president has already taken action to ignore the issues of global warming and to try and force other to do the same. The news came to light following the fact that The Trump administration is forcing the Environmental Protection Agency to delete all of its pages on climate change. Many other organisations, such as the National Parks Service, have been issued bans from talking to the public about global warming by the US government.

Following on from the above point our best hope is to not ignore the evidence set before us. Ignorance is not bliss. The fact that Trump has forced environmental agency into silence shows how we cannot depend on him to make the right choices for our generation or future generations with regards to protecting the environment.

Looking to OUR future

As dismal as it may all seem, its important to keep in mind that not all hope is lost. The next four years may seem dark but we are the future leaders of the world and we have more power and influence than we know.

In the end, we are not students and politicians, or men and women, who deserve to be treated differently; we are humans who deserve to be treated equally.

So whether you’re living in Britain, America, France, Australia, or anywhere else in the world, remember that remaining united makes us stronger. It is our future and we have to be the ones to shape it.

#BuildBridgesNotWalls