The man-babies who ‘marched for men’

The delicate snowflakes of the alt-right held their inaugural “March for Men” in Melbourne on 25 August. And they blamed every problem in their lives, from mental illness to the downfall of Western Civilisation, on women.

Some 200 cry babies (of the more than 5,000 who expressed interest online) showed up to hear speakers, such as men’s rights activist Robert Brockway, rage against the use of misandrist gendered language like “man flu” and “man babies”. “It’s time to stop the name calling!”, Brockway cried out.

The event was organised by wannabe alt-right YouTuber Sydney Watson and far right Zionist Avi Yemeni – who at a recent far right rally proclaimed that he was the “proudest Jewish Nazi in the world”.

And while they tried to tell us that the march was simply for equality and open to all, the strong mobilisation of the local far right – from Blair Cottrell’s Lad Society to the racist vigilante True Blue Crew and the misogynist Proud Boys – would suggest otherwise.

What the marchers were demanding is anyone’s guess. Some spoke of higher rates of men dying on the job (as if the women’s movement was responsible for this instead of bosses cutting corners), while others lamented that, in this age of political correctness, they just couldn’t be their authentic masculine selves anymore.

But beneath the thin veneer of concern about “our fathers, grandfathers, uncles” and so on, the violent misogyny that lies at the heart of the men’s rights movement was never too far from the surface.

Interviewed by SBS Viceland, one participant, Rino “Bluebeard” Grgurovic, said he was at the march because “I get in a relationship with a woman, she sucks my dick a couple of times, we get a divorce and she gets half – fuck that! I hate women!”

Thankfully, an anti-fascist counter-protest on the day cut through their faux-concern and exposed the demonstration for what it was, a far right protest.

We chalked up a victory by preventing the misogynists from getting anywhere near the city. And the next time these precious man babies (yes Robert Brockway, I went there!) try for another march, we’ll do it again.