Far Right Fascism: Fringe, or Mainstream?

An interview with "Bodies Under Siege" author Sian Norris on the deeply disturbing anti-immigrant ideology of the anti-abortion movement

I will never forget what it was like to watch Roe v. Wade crumble from overseas.

“I guess you are going to stay here then,” my well-meaning British friends told me, while I obsessively scoured the Internet for information, intellectualizing it as much as I could in order to avoid feeling it deep in my body, the alternating tides of anger that far more people than I had previously thought wanted people like me to be barefoot and pregnant, the sense of helplessness that there was nothing that could be done.

“Intellectualizing” it looked like going deep into Gab message boards to see what the truest scum of the earth had to say about my right to sexual freedom and bodily autonomy—and that is where I found the hashtag #WhiteBoySummer, among many others that put down not only women, but LGBTQ people, people of color and pretty much anyone else that wouldn’t fit into the Neo-Aryan vision of a “White Boy Summer.”

As well-meaning as my friends were, their words made me uncomfortable. Putting aside the fact that the United States was suddenly being “exoticized” as the kind of place where “bad things happen, the fact of the matter was—and is—that I didn’t feel safe in the United Kingdom either. Aside from the basic empathy of caring for other women and people will inevitably need to access abortion, I didn’t feel particularly protected from the kind of politicized misogyny that got us to this place, no matter where I was, even if some laws were (for now) better than others, though I couldn’t quite put my finger on why.

For this reason, reading Sian Norris’s book, Bodies Under Siege: How The Far Right Attack on Reproductive Rights Went Global, has been as validating as it is infuriating. Rather than treating abortion access and the “pro-life” movement trying to limit it as a uniquely American phenomenon, she cracks open how the most staunch anti-abortion advocates are networking with other far right political influences around the world, and argues (and evidences) how it is not only an anti-abortion movement: it is also an anti-immigrant white supremacy movement that uses a fear of “replacement” to motivate white women to make more babies to resist “white genocide.”

While I have written about the historical roots of the underlying racism of the anti-abortion movement for New Lines Magazine in the past, I have not seen anyone explore this as thoroughly—and recently—as Norris has, and for this reason and many others, this book is crucial to understanding the crackdown on bodily autonomy today. I sat down with Sian Norris on Instagram LIVE on Wednesday

“If it was just a bunch of horrible fringe, people saying horrible things on Telegram and the dark web. I would still be interested, because I want to know what's going on in these spaces. But we could all just be like, ‘Yeah, okay, people are weird, and it's horrible, and they need to be challenged. But it doesn't really have an impact on how we live our lives in the world.” Unfortunately, I just don't think we can make that argument anymore. I really wish we could. And this is partly because of the way that we've seen mainstreaming of these fascistic ideas and far right conspiracies throughout politics.” - Sian Norris

Our interview covers everything from the book, to the journalistic tendency to mine the darkest corners of the Internet for the truth, to the ethics of reporting on—and potentially platforming—the Far Right, so I hope that you will listen to it, and most importantly get a copy of Norris’s book (yes, it is available in the United States), if you are interested in exploring this topic further.

Please enjoy the full interview here.

---

Next Interview: Journalists and Translators, A Conversation With Alejandra Oliva and Anna Lekas Miller

As you might have picked up on, these Instagram LIVES are now a repeat performance—and I have so many interviews wonderful authors and advocates lined up, that I can’t wait to share with you. Next week, in particularly, is one that is not to be missed—I will be interviewing Alejandra Oliva about her beautiful, lyrical book Rivermouth that explores the crumbling of the US asylum system under Trump, through her own observations as a translator. Reading her book feels like finding a kindred soul who has also felt the emotional weight of being connected, but not connected to the topics explored in her book. I am honored to be her contemporary and cannot wait to have what is certain to be an intimate and emotional conversation about the journeys that created both of our books.

Please join us, Wednesday 23 August at 7 PM BST//2 PM EST//11 AM PST on Instagram. We will be taking a break for two weeks at the end of the month, as I am going to a dear friend’s wedding and a self-created writing retreat, but when I come back in September there will be original essays on love and relationships for paid subscribers and many more of these Q & As for everyone.

Until next time,

Anna