What is more shocking? That during the chancellor of the exchequer’s Mansion House speech in London, at the heart of Britain’s establishment, Mark Field, a middle-aged male Tory minister, slammed a young, female Greenpeace protester against a pillar then forcefully propelled her out, clutching her neck? That no one at this gilded dinner, full of other middle-aged, besuited, bow-tie-wearing members of the British elite, did anything? That some even reportedly applauded when he returned? That multiple rightwing commentators have not only defended this minister but called for him to be awarded a medal? That social media abounds with predominantly men cheering the minister on, offering a disturbing and all too revealing insight into what male behaviour towards women they judge to be acceptable?

The term 'gaslighting' is often abused in political debate, but here surely is a prima facie case

Field’s defence should be treated with derision and contempt. He claims that “many guests understandably felt threatened and when one protester rushed past me towards the top table I instinctively reacted”, and that “there was no security present and I was for a split-second genuinely worried she might have been armed”. The term “gaslighting” – used to describe psychological abuse in which the victim is made to doubt their recollection of events and even sanity – is often abused in political debate, but here surely is a prima facie case. Mr Field, we can see the video. No one appears threatened by a young Greenpeace activist in a red dress, and a friend of the ITV journalist Robert Peston – who was in attendance – vouches that they did not feel so. She does not “rush”, but calmly strides. She doesn’t even acknowledge Field until the moment he pushes her against a pillar. Anyone who believes a climate protester would be armed needs an urgent appointment with reality. Anyone watching the video can see not fear, let alone panic, in Field’s eyes, but rather rage: unsurprising for a man who just two months ago wrote a letter demanding the Metropolitan police adopt “a much firmer grip” on climate protesters.

I can speak from personal experience. I have been repeatedly harassed in the street by far-right protesters, screaming abuse, including overt homophobia, spitting in my face and attempting to punch me. There is no comparison between those fighting the existential threat of the climate emergency and the far-right menace: the latter is a threat to minorities, women and to democracy itself, and its foot soldiers have a long history of using violence. Yet in none of these examples did I lose my temper; instead I ridiculed my aggressors, even when I was surrounded by several of them. I wasn’t at a dinner surrounded by dozens of sympathisers being approached by a peaceful, female climate protester.

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Sometimes, incidents should not be seen in isolation, as one-offs, but rather as flares, lighting up the ugliest features of society. First, misogyny: here is a man using physical force to coerce and intimidate a woman. Second, class privilege: here was a closed elite circle invaded by protesters – in the proud tradition of peaceful direct action that helped win many of our rights and freedoms – attempting to hold our rulers and their powerful friends to account about an existential threat facing our species. Witness the rightwing hysteria over the milkshaking of Nigel Farage – with a man convicted and sentenced to 150 hours of community service. And then imagine if a working-class black man had been filmed behaving like this. Would social media and the airwaves be full of rightwing commentators and Tory MPs defending him? Third, an increasingly authoritarian, Trumpian approach to dissent, in which critics and opponents of the Tories are routinely disparaged as “traitors”, “saboteurs” and, indeed, “enemies of the people”.

Field may have been suspended, but his career is unlikely to end here. A petition demanding his sacking from the government has already attracted thousands of signatures. At the last election, his majority collapsed from 9,961 votes to 3,148: here, surely, is a priority for a righteous unseating.

But this whole incident is a chilling reminder of the intersection of misogyny, Trumpian contempt for dissent and class privilege that blights our society, and which has been exacerbated by a Tory government increasingly under the spell of rightwing populism.

• Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist