2023-10-27 15:17:11
Every week, Fig Mag and JDD tussle at each other: which one will find the most reasons to trash the ultra-politically correct? The least reactive economist in France is leading the investigation.
Photo caption: THE EXPENDABLES_ Samuel Fitoussi (Fig Mag), Éric and Geoffroy (pillars of the new JDD) are as obsessed with wokes as we are with Chicago hip hop.
The term “Woke” is increasingly present in common language. Although relatively few people can actually define it, it is increasingly seen as a threat by the far right, the right, the center and a section of people defining themselves as social democrats, although one has to go look very far for the social part of their commitment (a part of the social democrats having often defended the reform of the labor market and that of pensions). To keep it simple and short, the term “woke” (which means “to wake up” in French) comes from the United States and more particularly from activists against discrimination against the black community and police violence. In its use, it has since expanded to include fights for gender equality and fights against global warming.
The so-called “wokes” are young and rebellious, which necessarily displeases the well-off, often rather old conservatives, who see their demands as a questioning of their privileges. It must be understood that those in a position of power have an interest in the status quo or in purely cosmetic changes. What interest do they have in questioning a system that suits them? However, a large part of young people, including those who had all the cards in their hands to be winners of the system, namely excellent diplomas and a strong cultural heritage, are demanding a profound upheaval of our society. They want a rebalancing in gender relations, better integration and representation of minorities in society, a more equitable distribution between work and leisure time, and, finally, better consideration of the issue of global warming. In fact, in the term “woke”, we can include all those who are against the evils of the status quo and demand radical changes, and thereby, in a single word, disqualify them. Listening to those who are at war against wokism, only people who do not want to change anything or those who want to make changes at the margins (thus qualified as reasonable for the “anti-wokes”) are not designated as woke. We understand better why the right-wing bloc, ranging from the centrists to the far-right, has an interest in raising a Wokist threat. Above all, this allows him to avoid substantive debates. So they wave rags like “the danger to our republican values”. But what are they talking about? We still don’t know… Liberty, equality, fraternity are values inscribed on all town halls. Don’t the so-called “wokes” aspire to a more egalitarian and fraternal society?
DOCILE YOUTH
In the same way as “leftism”, which is said to have invaded the university, wokism has become an evil for the established order to combat. But, like leftism, the contours of this term are vague at best, or even almost non-existent (no one claims to be part of the Wokist movement). It initially seems to be a weapon to discredit those who make a certain number of demands rather than having to respond to them on the merits. But behind this fight, of which some are at the forefront, there are above all the symptoms of a French society which is aging and which refuses to hear what its youth want. “Boomers” who refuse to pass on the baton and dream of a docile youth. In reality, the hunt for “woke” is first and foremost a hunt for young people. A refusal on the part of the elders to take responsibility for the trial made against them by the youth on the world they left them. A necessary trial to move forward.
By Thomas Porcher
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#woke #hunting #called