Our protest against Donald Trump is about far more than a crass, bigoted US president

The blimp, the robot on the toilet and the photoshopped state visit pictures might make it seem like the protest which will greet the US president today is all about him. But it’s about something far more important than that.

Donald Trump would be enough of a reason to take to the streets of course, given his many personal failings – his misogyny, the demonisation of migrants, whether Muslim or Mexican, and his utter failure to understand the basics of respectful engagement with others.

But I am marching today alongside thousands of others for reasons more worrying than an angry orange man who spends too much time on Twitter, probably on a golden toilet seat, raging at the world.

Recent years have witnessed a global culture war blow up around us. Its roots lie somewhere in between the economic crises of capitalism and the democratic deficit in a world cruelly divided and unequal. Now, the issues that define our age – climate change, migration, identity – go way beyond these initial causes.

Trump is simply this era’s most obvious embodiment, but Jair Bolsonaro runs him close. The Brazilian president is greedily carving up the Amazon rainforest, while Narendra Modi in India has just won a new term off the back of a nakedly Islamophobic campaign. Closer to home, witness Viktor Orban’s antisemitic regime in Hungary and Matteo Salvini’s disgraceful migrant-scapegoating campaign in Italy.

And it is right here in the UK. The far right is in the ascendance, hate crime is on the increase and our battered government has left a legacy of cuts to public services and brutality towards our immigrant communities, never mind a Brexit mess at least partly driven by xenophobia.

All of these forces of division and hatred are connected, not just ideologically, but practically too. They are organised, well-funded and coordinated – it’s no surprise that Trump has hinted he may meet with his “friends” Farage and Johnson as part of his visit. This has turned into a network of the wealthy, powerful and bigoted. It’s time to fight back.

It’s interesting how criticisms of the Trump protests so quickly turn to whataboutery. Why Trump, they ask. Why don’t thousands take to the streets to protest the visits of other human rights abusing demagogues?

This argument is utterly flawed. Trump is clearly the most vivid symbol of this rightward shift to so many people. It is a twisted logic that says we should not protest against him just because there are other dangerous people we could rally against too.

These arguments also point to some people’s unwillingness to engage with the real issues that are bringing people out onto the streets in the first place.

Trump’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents has seen six children die in immigration detention centers, while thousands have claimed to have been sexually abused. The Trump administration is denying US citizenship to adopted children of LGBT+ couples and supports the erosion of women’s autonomy over their own bodies through safe access to sexual healthcare and abortion.

None of those who disparage our demonstration want to talk much about that, because they know our country is against the reality of a Trump administration

Standing up to Trump today is about celebrating our diversity, creativity and hope. It’s a considerably less well-funded movement by comparison to the far-right; this is a collection of grassroots organisations who work day-in and day-out to support friends, families and neighbours who are facing the sharp end of the policies of Trumpism.

There’s hope in a protest that not only pokes fun at the tyrant figure of Trump but stands up to our own government for its weakness in front of him. We don’t want his toxic trade deals bringing chlorinated chicken into our food markets and yet more threat of privatisation to our NHS.

We want a world where everybody is treated equally and where our precious natural environment is protected from the interests of big business to save the whole of humanity from climate destruction. “Strongman” world leaders like Trump have got so far down their path to divide us, but we will be raising our voices to say: no further.