The last thing we need is patronising saviours telling us we don’t have to fight the fascists if we don’t feel up to it. It’s true, we don’t. But for me, it’s not a question of choice. It’s through my very lack of choices and my very lack of privilege that I take risks to defend myself from state violence and fascism. For those who have actively blocked practical solidarity and support to anti­fascist organisations in the name of standing up for women and people of colour you believe are undermined in the movement, you’ve actually made it more dangerous for us to organise. I feel safer on the streets standing with my comrades who I know will risk the imminent threat of state and fascist violence to defend me ­ as I would them ­ than when I’m at a broad Left A­B march walking no more than 10 yards away from a known abuser and sex offender in the movement, surrounded by their mates, enabling their behaviour and subsequently the behaviour of perpetrators of abuse and sexual violence to continue unopposed. Also knowing that, if I were to confront them there and then, the people around me would shout “this is not the time and place!” or demand proof that this person is an abuser. This experience is not unique to me, but akin to the many brilliant women anti­fascists who have echoed similar sentiments.

There is indeed a rich history of women playing an integral part in militant anti­fascism, but you probably won’t read much about it in accounts or history books. Male antifascists are either recognised above all others within the movement (because, guess what?Sexism and gender­bias is endemic!) or our very existences are utterly erased by the more liberal elements in the wider Left who dismiss anti­fascism as a macho mess of white boys who just want a fight. Let me make one thing clear: violence is notmacho ­ it’s necessary.It’s not reserved just for big, tough looking men. Many women, minority genders, and people of colour are not strangers to defending ourselves against patriarchal violence. This is in no way an attempt to glorify or over­romanticise militant tactics above the sheer level of organising, intelligence gathering, and political campaigning that defends anti­fascism from the state and the far­right. But the very fact is, women and minority genders do a lot of the militant work. We are on the frontlines. We stand with our comrades and break police lines, often putting our bodies at risk of physical violence and at risk of being snatched and arrested. We stand with our comrades when confronting fascists and racists, putting our bodies at risk of imminent threat of physical violence, but successfully driving them back. Whether we fight with our fists or stand strong and shout “NO PASARAN!” we never back down. I’m a revolutionary. I’m a feminist. I’m an anti­fascist. And I’m a woman. My parents are immigrants part of a diaspora of peoples forced to leave their country of origin because of conflict and poverty. If we were under a fascist government, history shows us my family would be deported and I would be killed because of my political commitment to communism. Fascism needs to be opposed, and working class women and minorities will continue to be at the frontlines of this struggle. –Redsmiths