From Donald Trump’s “locker-room banter” about grabbing women by the pussy, to the instructions of the Philippines president to shoot female guerrilla fighters in the genitals, a clear target of contemporary fascistic and “alt-right” politics seems to be vaginas. This isn’t a case of hidden patriarchal structures supporting gender inequality. It’s explicit and unashamed references that identify women either as the enemy or the subhuman other, subordinate to the pleasure of macho men. And it’s a trend that’s spanning the globe.

In Britain, the victim of this emerging culture was the MP Jo Cox. Some will argue that Thomas Mair, her murderer, was an isolated case, a disturbed Nazi sympathiser from whom we cannot generalise. But before we dismiss his crime as a one-off we should remember that gender identity, specifically masculine identity, is at the centre of fascistic discourse. Crime – against women or ethnic minorities – is often a resource for those who feel their masculinity is threatened. It is a way to be “male” again.

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Above all, those who reject identity politics fail to recognise two important processes. First, how different demands on disadvantaged and excluded groups can come together to form a universal struggle. And second, how identity – class included – is not something fixed from birth. It is rather shaped and reshaped as we engage in common struggles. Nothing demonstrated this more clearly than the 2014 film Pride, about LGBT activists supporting the miner’s strike, contributing to the incorporation of gay rights in the Labour party programme in 1986.

For the progressive forces in society, the struggle of any marginalised people must extend beyond that group. When my vagina is the target of far-right hate, the progressive left better stand by my side.

The White House was under siege.

Domestic abuse allegations against a senior aide were ignored, pointing to a potential high-level coverup. Two Cabinet secretaries were caught charging taxpayers for luxury travel. A Playboy centerfold alleged an extramarital affair with the president. And the special counsel’s Russia investigation was intensifying. The tumult was so intense that there was fervent speculation that President Trump might even fire his chief of staff.

But a gun massacre at a Florida high school last Wednesday, which left 17 dead, seemed to shift the media glare away from the Trump scandals and gave embattled aides an opportunity to refocus on handling a rare crisis not of their own making. While the White House mourned the loss of life in Parkland, Fla., some aides privately acknowledged that the tragedy offered a breather from the political storm.
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“For everyone, it was a distraction or a reprieve,” said one White House official, speaking anonymously to reflect internal conversations. “A lot of people here felt like it was a reprieve from seven or eight days of just getting pummeled.”

A group of fake news sites, white nationalists and far-right fake Twitter accounts were reportedly behind the campaign against Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), and Democrats fell for it.

According a report from Unhack the Vote, while everyone was focused on the Russian meddling of the 2016 election, another campaign was being run out of Japan. Leeann Tweeden’s initial allegation against Franken was quickly turned into propaganda after being hinted at by Trump ally Roger Stone.

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Just days prior to Democrats calling for Franken to step down, the fake news sites republished a article from a smaller site by Ijeoma Oluo, urging women and activists to stop their defenses from Franken. “Dear Al Franken, I’ll Miss You But You Can’t Matter Anymore,” was its title. Thousands of fake Twitter accounts then ensured the article spread.

From there, Senate Democrats, lead by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) went on the attack and demanded Franken resign.