In simple words, fascism is a political system in which only one person or a certain group has the entire power and authorized to control every aspect, from the government to personal beliefs to media and even daily behaviors.
In extreme nationalism, fascism finds its roots and lives from showing an ideal vision of the nation. There are often in need of protection in need of protection such as minorities, women or outsiders responsible for their perceived problems. Those who dare to speak, ask, demand rights or to raise their voice in such systems are regarded as threats, since disagreements are treated as infidelity. The fact is, however, that fascism is not just about dictatorships.
Thinking, behavior, education, clothing, etc. Determine complete control and fascism concerns total control.
While the fascism of dominance and hierarchy lives, feminism demands equality, justice and freedom for everyone – the crazy view of gender, caste, religion or class. The two are generally rejected.
Women and their autonomy are one of the most immediate goals of fascist regime. Traditional values are often glorified and narrow women into roles such as obedient women, sacrifices mothers and symbols of the honor of the nation.
Fascist ideologies often grow out of deep patriarchal systems. In fact, fascism is almost always built PatriarchyWhere men of the upper class have the greatest power, and other women, queer people and marginalized municipalities expect them to follow and silence the orders.
Women and their autonomy are one of the most immediate goals of fascist regime. Traditional values are often glorified and narrow women into roles such as obedient women, sacrifices mothers and symbols of the honor of the nation.
Often women who dare to work outside of their houses will demand rights or to oppose these traditional roles in any way as immoral or as “anti-national”. Such regimes not only put women in roles, but also try to control their bodies, but rather their choice of clothing and their right to expulsion and contraception and the punishment of the strange love, all in the name “protection culture” or “protection of the nation”.
The silent circuit and the forcing of resistance are both physically and psychological. It is particularly well known that fascist regimes enforce sexual violence against women from subjected societies.
This inflammation of violence is not accidental. In addition to violent journalists, activists and even students, they are incorrectly pursued online, and even ashamed of the public, which is a form of violence in order to silence them.
Feminism and fascism have koexisted hand in hand for a long time. Nazis in Germany Let feminism bound to the stove by forcing women as mere producers of Aryans into the domestic sphere. Women from Jewish, Roma, the disabled and strange backgrounds were exposed to severe misogyny.
Women in Mussolinis Italy It was also difficult to free yourself from the bonds of daily discrimination that systematically drowned women in oppression, such as: B. Children’s marriage and a variety of children.
Likewise in Francos SpainWomen stood under the church and sovereignty who carried out the right to birth control and divorce, and many non-supporting women were imprisoned. Instead of being treated as people with rights, the citizenship of women was withdrawn as part of these regimes.
India is not immune to these patterns, even if the rhetoric is shaped differently. Today women are often asked to “preserve Indian culture”, and those who question dominant stories – especially those Muslim women, Dalit womenand feminist Journalists and activists– Face online abuse, state surveillance and even legal persecution.
These are not isolated incidents. They are part of a wider pattern that suppresses the dissent and maintains control.
Fascism is oppressive for everyone, but it damages the already marginalized persons who are already excluded. Dalit women navigate, for example, through the combined loads of caste, gender and state violence.
Source: Ritesh Shuckla/Nurphoto/Pa Pictures
Muslim women are twice attacked – both through Islamophobia and patriarchy. Queer and trans individuals are further pushed into invisibility. And women of the working class bear the main load when social services, education and health care are determined.
However, feminist resistance has always increased against these chances of winning. In India of the 19th century, India, Savitribai coil And Fatima Sheikh Fighted Kaste and Patriarchate by opening schools for girls and dalits.
Activists like Medha Patkar have questioned large development projects that the poor are suppressed-especially women.
All over the world, from Iran to Latin America, feminist movements have required justice, overthrown oppressive laws and reinterpreted more integrative companies.
Feminism not only challenges fascism with protest, but also with values. It insists on dignity, security and selection for everyone. It believes in common power – no concentrated control.
It sees strength in diversity and demands that those of the edges – Muslims, adivasis and queer people – give space to lead. Where fascism is looking for equality, feminism celebrates freedom. That is the real collision.
Why feminism always has to stand against fascism
Fascism not only threatens political freedom – it threatens the idea of equality. For women, queer people and the margin tries to roll back for decades of progress. While it can dress up in nationalism or tradition, its core is about control. And this control begins to say women what to do, what to wear and where they belong.
Source: ABC News
Through a feminist lens we can see how these power structures work – and why the breakdown of them is essential for every just and equal society.
Feminism reminds us that resistance does not always look like loud slogans or viral hashtags. Sometimes it is in everyday courage to ask yourself to protect each other and keep stories alive. In view of the increasing authoritarianism all over the world and in India, feminist politics not only offers criticism – but hope, solidarity and alternatives that are rooted in care and justice.
So how do we recognize when fascism is on the rise? The signs are often subtle at first: managers discredit the press, attacked students or dishes or normalize hate speeches against minorities.
If the story is rewritten, artists censored or demonstrators are detained, we have to ask ourselves: are we moving towards fascism? Are we silent when we should oppose?
Feminism offers us a way forward. It teaches us to ask difficult questions: who is held responsible?
Who will be silenced? It reminds us to support basic movements, protect safe spaces and call hatred – no matter where it comes from. It asks us to learn from history, to coordinate with careful and to show each other in a large and small way.
Because fascism does not always arrive with tanks and uniforms. Sometimes it occurs quietly – through the fear, through silence, through law.
Therefore, feminist resistance is important. It’s not just about women – it’s about justice, voice and humanity. In a world that tries to close us, feminism is a loud, loving and powerful “yes” – for freedom, dignity and life.
Anushka Bharadwaj is a graduate of journalism at SCMC Pune. She is an intersectional feminist with deep interest in gender, caste, politics and mental health. If she does not write or reads, she is usually lost in poetry, dances to her favorite songs or discovers new music – always thinking about the world after stories.
