Amanda and Zoe
On July 26th, WSI member Jeanne met Amanda and Zoe, organizers of the Women’s Rights rally “Under his Eye, We all Die” held in conjunction with Defund Musk.
The rally at University Village began with a procession of twenty women dressed in Handmaids costumes, duct tape covering their mouths, and they held signs about consequences from the loss of reproductive rights. Over 300 people attended the event at which Alexis Mercedes Rinck gave a passionate speech. Afterwards Jeanne interviewed Amanda and Zoe.
by Jeanne Moore
About the Co-Leaders of Defund Musk Women’s Group:
Amanda is a 24-year-old biochemist and activist currently working in biotech on in vitro diagnostics. In addition to her scientific education, she also pursued a minor in sociology and is particularly passionate about public health and human rights issues.
Zoe comes from a family of activists, with training in the medical field. She is passionate about equal rights, accessible healthcare and women’s rights.
Within the Defund Musk Women’s Group they are excited to foster sisterhood, community, and joyful resistance in light of the dire situation we find our nation in.
WSI: As a member of the Reproductive Rights group of Seattle Indivisible, (all of us well past our reproductive age,) we were thrilled to see two women in their 20’s, lead the extraordinary event at U-Village. Do you think younger women are as concerned about this issue as older women?
Zoe: I wouldn't say it's a lack of concern. We’ve had 14-year-olds marching with us. But our age does skew older, younger folks don’t always understand the importance of protest. In our lifetime, protest has not proven to be successful.
Amanda: There’s a lack of young people in the overall resistance movement right now. A lot of us are disillusioned when we see how much money influences and corrupts politics. We’ve also grown up with a lot of violence in schools, so people are scared and fearful in general. And we've had this looming threat of the climate crisis. Many have gotten nihilistic and think, “Why should I bother to protest if we're all gonna be dead in 20 years or if my voice will never matter?” We have to fight this urge to collectively sigh and resign and inspire young people to fight for their futures, even if it is hard and the cards we are being handed are terrible.
WSI: I'm curious, what gave you the courage and motivation to take charge and lead these protests?
Zoe: I'm a protest baby. I was taken to protests on a backpack by my parents. During Trump's first administration and during BLM, I was out there. When somebody gave me a new opportunity to get involved, I took it and ran with it.
Amanda: I knew from a young age that I was an activist. I grew up in the most conservatively voting county in Texas and saw extreme examples of what all of this looks like in terms of women's reproductive rights. When I was a freshman in high school while walking to school, there were some anti-abortion protesters who decided to demonstrate along the entrance gates of our school. They were all middle-aged men, holding large horrific misleading photos of fetuses. They were heckling students, telling us we were going to burn in hell as we walked towards our freshman biology classes... They were even calling us S-word slurs, and I was like, “Dude, I'm 15 years old!” I had just gotten my period at 14. It was wild. So, I showed up the next day with some friends, and we counter-protested them. That was my first actual protest and ignited a passion in me to continue to advocate for women in a world that still is very deeply ingrained with misogyny. It was not long before my activism spanned into many other pertinent issues as well.
WSI: That’s impressive! What gave you the idea of partnering with Defund Musk?
Zoe: Our group is actually a sub-group of Defund Musk!
The Women's group started because Devin, the Defund Musk founder, wanted to expand beyond Tesla takedowns. Billionaires have impacted every aspect of our life. They impact climate change, women's rights, and immigration. Now that Musk has taken a bit of a step back, he wanted to expand Defund Musk and form coalitions. It will take every single one of us to fight this dictatorship. We were presented an opportunity to lead this group and we hit the ground running and came up with a great rally idea.
At our first group chat, we had four people, in under two weeks we were able to come together and hold that first rally. Since that rally, it's been a few weeks, we now have almost 70 members.
WSI: Wow! Can you tell me about the signs Handmaids hold at rallies?
Amanda: They're facts, they're numbers that you cannot argue with. Two-thirds of all states still allow child marriage. Black mothers are 3.3 times more likely to die than white mothers in abortion-restrictive states. Texas maternal mortality has raised 56% since Roe v. Wade was overturned. You cannot argue with these facts and figures. I’ve seen lots of people (predominantly women) stop and ponder, sometimes even starting to cry reading our signs. They are clearly quite impactful and speak to some of the (very much silenced) crises happening in the U.S regarding maternal health/mortality and violence against women/girls.
WSI: Is there anything that gives you hope?
Amanda: For me it is mostly the knowledge that we've done this before. We've faced thousands of years of discrimination, but women are badass and we’re not backing down. And we know that the world still has much room to move the needle in terms of equality. For example, women of color and trans women (even before the Trump administration) are still experiencing serious disenfranchisement, harm, and discrimination that we simply cannot accept. I am motivated by the idea of a world where we truly have liberty and justice for ALL of us.
Zoe: Our members give me hope. We had a 14-year-old girl march with us twice, and after the second march, she felt comfortable enough to start speaking around the adults. She is strong and opinionated, and she cares about her future, and listening to her speak gave me hope.
I also love watching the group of women who sew our costumes, and the women who can't sew, they cut. I watch them put their all into these projects. That gives me hope.
WSI: It sounds like it's a great community-building experience. Have you made new friends from this group?
Zoe: Amanda and I only met a month or two ago.
WSI: Really! I thought you were long-time friends.
Amanda: A lot of people think that. We’ve put a lot of thought into doing community-building activities because I think that's one of the most important things, to build solidarity, community, to feel less isolated and alone.
We are going to continue to build and grow our membership. We also have subgroups within our women's group, tackling things like civil disobedience, sewing and crafting projects, our photo series/social media projects. And, we have a long-term goal with this group that doesn't end with Trump. We know that these are ongoing issues. We plan to stay and offer community and actively push for change as a women's group in Seattle, no matter what.
WSI: What’s next?
Amanda: We have some really big things coming up. There’ll be a rally at Pike Place Market and the Waterfront Park on Sept 7 at noon. We’re expecting 300-500 people and will have several great speakers, including Katie Wilson (Seattle mayoral candidate). It’ll be exciting! More info here.
WSI: Thanks so much for speaking with me. The two of you give me hope!
