Opinion: Maybe I Am a Fascist B*tch

By Tara Roos

In my life, I have been assigned many labels, but the one that seems to stick most—at least among my peers at the University of Cape Town (UCT) is “fascist bitch”. I have long accepted that writing about politics invites criticism. As a political analyst engaging in public discourse, I understand that opposition, and even vitriol, come with the territory. I can handle the online hate. My favourite comment remains one from user740069, who boldly declared that I had written, and I quote, “the worst article ever written in the history of News24.”

A note handed to me in the library. Photo by Tara Roos.

What I cannot so easily dismiss, however, is the harassment I face in person on my own university campus. The insults, the hostility, the passive-aggressive remarks whispered just loud enough for me to hear—none of it is about debate. It is about intimidation. The most troubling aspect of it all? There is rarely any attempt at intellectual engagement, no counterarguments, no substantive critique, just blanket disdain. It has become clear to me that UCT, like many other universities, has fostered an environment where only one political ideology is acceptable. Dissent is not merely discouraged, it is punished. This is not just my experience it's a symptom of a larger cultural shift.

The intolerance of differing political opinions on university campuses is indicative of a deeper societal problem. Our generation is being conditioned to believe that disagreement is equivalent to harm, that words are violence, and that anyone who thinks differently is not just wrong but evil. We have abandoned nuance in favour of ideological purity. Instead of engaging with ideas, we attack individuals. The irony, of course, is that universities are supposed to be bastions of free thought, spaces where intellectual diversity is not only welcomed but essential to academic growth. Yet, increasingly, they resemble echo chambers where deviation from the dominant narrative is met with hostility.

I have often considered leaving, transferring to another institution where my presence would not be met with such vitriol. But why should I? I have earned my place at this university just as much as anyone else. My ability to think critically and analyse political landscapes should have no bearing on my access to education. The fact that I even have to consider leaving because of ideological bullying speaks volumes about the state of academic freedom today.

More concerning still is what this means for the future. If the next generation of leaders, thinkers, and policymakers cannot tolerate ideological opposition, what kind of society are we building? One in which people are too afraid to speak, where disagreement is equated with oppression, and where critical thinking is replaced with knee-jerk outrage? The real world is not black and white; it exists in shades of grey. Politics is not about moral absolutes—it is about navigating complexity. Yet, many young people are being raised on a diet of social media soundbites that reduce everything to heroes and villains, right and wrong, good and evil.

Fellow students have booed me while I was simply walking to a lecture, yelling that I was “the voice of the liberal capitalist establishment.” Another handed me a handwritten note in the library that simply said, “You are a fraud.” These are some of the minor incidents I have faced, and I will live. But I write this not to seek vengeance, nor even sympathy, but out of deep concern for the direction in which we are heading as a nation. We are sleepwalking into a culture where political disagreement is treated as treason, where ideological silos replace intellectual curiosity, and where students believe the world thinks exactly like them, until they step outside and realise it does not.

Universities must do better. They must actively foster environments where students of all political persuasions can engage in debate without fear of harassment. If they fail, we will have lost something far more valuable than our ability to tolerate each other—we will have lost our ability to think.