The US is hardly on the threshold of fascism since Trump is only in office thanks to the largesse of the Electoral College & the ruling elite that controls it. There is no mass popular fascist movement to sustain him & in fact the massive mobilizations of the past year which have involved hundreds of thousands just in the US have been against Trump’s policies. But we can watch how fascism develops as the leadership of organized labor sit on their asses & do nothing while working people come under sustained attack. The most consistent activists to defend Obamacare & oppose the tax reform benefitting billionaires & corporations have been disabled people–as they also played a role in the Arab uprisings & anti-austerity protests in Europe. The working poor, children, disabled, elderly will be the most immediately affected by these attacks but in the long-run they’re going for the jugular of all working people. It’s time for organized labor to get off its knees, dump the old hacks, & forge a new leadership that will fight for all.

Since “Western feminism” is the target of so much criticism, let me just say that it is not just white rich women & it never was. Feminism in Europe & North America from its inception included Black & Latino women, working women, & because of immigration, women of many nationalities who brought their own traditions of feminism with them. Islam alone has a long, rich tradition of feminism & substantial histories that document that. Muslims (& all other religious traditions) are part of “Western feminism.” So when you portray “Western feminism” as a movement of white socialites & debutantes, SWERFs & TERFs, xenophobes & racists, all caught up in “commodities & sex”, you merely join the chorus of misogynists attempting to destroy feminism by dividing women.

There are all sorts of goofy currents in feminism–as there are in any social movement. But what defines & unites all feminism is a commitment to stand together to end the systematic oppression & violence against women. The Women’s March of January 2017, where up to four million women marched on every continent, is a sign of that international solidarity.

This time last year was the height of Duterte’s vigilante executions of the poor at the rate of 1,000 every month & including teens & little kids. It’s long since time to revisit that as, well as his war against Muslims. I will try to do so very soon & would welcome any links from my Filipino friends & others who have been following this monster inflicted on working people.