“Yesterday was an amazing day for Los Angeles, the whole USA, and the world!”, in the interview with Aravot.am said Armenian American Documentary Film Director Robert Davidian referring to Women’s march which took place all over the United States on 21 January.
Aravot.am asked Davidian to tell details of the march which happened in Los Angeles, California: “Since 2011, I’ve felt a strong drive to build diaspora awareness by filming and participating in protests in Armenia along side of my dear friends in Armenia who are just asking for their guaranteed rights that have been stolen. It continues to be a fulfilling, satisfying pleasure to see civil society grow and often succeed is forcing change resulting from these protests and acts of civil disobedience. It’s also so gratifying to see diaspora awareness, interest and participation greatly grow over the past 6 years!
What I did not realize is that this was training for me to fight for the rights being stolen from my own country mates. Training that tells me to stand up, name and shame oppressors, and share via social media and documentary films. Other Americans have the protest instinct and saw Donald Trump’s inauguration as the exact time to exercise their rights to protest and show everyone how important and effective protest is preserved and strengthen any democracy. To most US citizens, Donald Trump represents a horrible danger to the rights and the way of life that these Americans have come to expect and enjoy over the past hundred years. Spontaneously, millions in the US and millions elsewhere in the world chose yesterday, the first day of Trump’s power, to stand up and shout slogans and march in the street”.
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“Black lives matter”, “Hate is never great”, “We stand together”, “Immigrant rights are human rights”, “We fight for all”, “What a weird way to lose the Cold War”, “Education not deportation” could be seen some of the posters during the Women’s March in LA. Robert Davidian added that at first it was announced that it would be a single march on Washington DC on 21 January and his many friends who live in California and elsewhere have bought Washington plane tickets and hotel room to be at the big march: ‘Of course, not everyone could fly away to Washington, so there was great demand in so many cities – big and small – across this great country, to have their own marches! LA, my hometown, announced our march and I immediately planned to go! And, I invited all LA Facebook friends to join me. A good Armenian and global activist friend, Nanor walked with me to the Santa Monica train station at 07:45. As we approached, we saw hundreds of people in lines to buy tickets and board the trains to downtown LA to attend the march.
We got in line and the person behind me was also, coincidentally, a friend of mine! The line to buy tickets was very slow and many of us thought we would miss the march. Just then, the police opened the gates and let everyone onto the trains for free! The trains were so crowded, but everyone was so happy and friendly! When we exited the train an hour later, we found ourselves in a sea of people all going in one direction – towards Pershing Square – the location of speakers and the start of the march. But, there were so many people that we could not even get close to the entrance to the park. So, we all just stopped walking in the middle of the street and stood there for an hour. There were people everywhere! But the best thing was all the creative signs everyone was holding! Everyone was taking selfies with the signs! Also, everyone was smiling and so nice. We saw many helicopters seem to fly by while counting the huge crowd. Everyone cheered as they went by. Then, we all began to move towards LA City Hall to hear celebrity speakers there. Again, there were too many people and were unable to walk further and stopped blocks before city hall. But again, the interesting creative signs held our interest! We heard no speakers. Another hour later, the crowd loosened”.
Some American Armenian organizations welcome the opportunity to work with Donald Trump. Aravot.am asked Robert Davidian to present the position of American Armenians who live in Los Angeles, he replied: “Like any ethnic group in the USA, Armenians have differing opinions about Trump. Only 25.5% of Americans voted for Trump. More Americans voted for Hillary. A technicality in the American voting system allowed Trump to become president. Most Californians are progressives, plus, a large portion of the remainder of the country are disgusted by Trump on so many levels: honesty, morality, authoritarianism, bullying, financial connections to Russia and Putin, and a lot more. But, some Armenian Americans don’t care about any of that or even admire some of it. They voted for Trump. However, we all must remember, Trump has not proclaimed any official stance on genocide recognition or Nagorno Karabakh. All we can judge him on is his admiration for the criminal dictator, Putin.”
Referring to the upcoming steps and campaign to impeach US President Donald Trump, Davidian said: “I agree with the same reasons most Americans say that they are against Donald Trump. As my Aunt Ann said: “He’s disgusting!” She right! But in addition to being morally disgusting, offensive and non-compassionate, he is trying to destroy the very government offices created to protect Americans! These include protections from: deadly pollution, losing health insurance, crumbling public education, a further widening of the huge gap in wealth from the top 1% to the remaining 99% of us, minority rights, increased poverty, and a stunning increase of bullying and disrespect for society due to his similar actions in those areas. 
There are much more things that cause huge outrage towards Trump by most Americans. So, the next step for the US is to continue pressuring this childish President with mega protests worldwide and let him know that most Americans dislike him and will work to force him to leave via impeachment. This can be aided by several civil organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union which has an army of legal professionals ready to sue Trump in our independent courts the minute he breaks the law – something many say he is already doing with his continuous violation of the US Constitution emoluments clause since the minute he became President. One thing all Americans know is that protest is the first step towards change”.
Photo credits: Na Nor Shahin
