The culture war against wokism has been Boris Johnson's creation.
He made it clear he has no time for those who are woke, which the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as meaning a state of being "aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)."
Johnson, aided and heavily abetted by Priti Patel and many in his party, have sought to inflame racial tension in this country for their own political advantage. When it still remains the case that no identifiable gain from Brexit can be identified excepting attempts to break international law to deny asylum seekers their rights, racism is at the very core of their political messaging.
But they have lost that message. People are genuinely shocked at the racist response to members of the English football team with which they now identify.
People support a manager who has defied criticism to take a knee with his team, where each person counts, as they do in society - which is their message. They have refused to bow to pressure. They have been anti-racist. People can see that the policy has worked. The English football performances were very good. It was obvious their solidarity was key to that.
And now the country is with them. It will not tolerate the intolerance being shown to England players. And the message is being amplified. Social media is doing that. It can be a force for good, as well as for what is negative. The message is getting out there.
That message will not reach everyone of course. Damien Green MP last night argued on Channel 4 News that only 7% of the country was racist and so there was no issue to worry about. But he ignored that the percentage anti-racist is growing, and that is what matters. The passive toleration of racism on which his party has relied is declining. Active hostility to racism, also seen as an embrace for our diversity, is rising. And that is a big change.
The behaviour of Johnson and Patel, both furiously trying to claim sporting success for themselves whilst condemning with hollow words the racism they themselves fuelled, is so obviously that of panicked people that even the most politically indifferent can smell their fear.
That fear is real. Johnson does not know how to govern. He only knows how to divide to create the chaos that permits his minority to win majorities in a society permeated by the fear he himself seeks to create. What he knows is that if his attempt at creating division fails because there is significant agreement on the key issues he uses to divide people - of which race has been the greatest - then his access to power is denied.
Johnson is desperate in that case to neuter woke sentiment now. His aim is to dissipate it by attempting to normalise it, without having any intention to change his approach to any issue. As a result he evidences that he is the very opposite of an anti-racist. What he is seeking to maintain is the power racism delivers to him. Anyone pushing forward current legislation on asylum, policing, universities and other issues of the type he is promoting at present can only be described as such: the mechanisms for control by racists are being reinforced. And he is aware that is putting him in conflict with many very powerful voices belonging to what might be called ordinary people from right across society in this country.
No wonder Johnson is frightened. If woke wins - and it must, and might (I am aware if the contradiction in that statement: it is deliberate) - then his power seeps away. But appreciating that we see the essence of the man who has used race as his weapon to get where he is, and can also see the essence of the party that has supported him.
There are many more than 7% racists in the UK. To vote Tory is to be tolerant of racism. It is that straightforward. But as people become aware of this - and maybe they are - then that power base might slip from Johnson.
It would be about time. A party of deliberate prejudice has no place in governing any part of the UK.
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Richard,
You seem to be unaware that the definition of ‘woke’ has moved on considerably, and the current usage is nothing like the definition you provided?
Wrong
I think I used it exactly as it is
Go on then Paul: what is the current usage, in your view?
So if as Damien Green argued, 7% of the country is racist, then I would conjecture that we can say 7% of the Brexit Yes vote was by racists. More than enough to swing the vote.
Hi Richard Kirby. Technically if 7% of the country are racists and they all voted for brexit then 14% of the brexit voters were racists. Just being pedantic…
While it may be difficult to pin down the definition of “woke” its majority use seems to be as a term of abuse which the right-wing press and politicians apply to ordinary people who thought they were just displaying common decency.
Which as Richard remarks, is part of a deliberate Johnson government ploy to use an “us and them” mentality to keep its support tribal.
“Damien Green MP last night argued on Channel 4 News that only 7% of the country was racist and so there was no issue to worry about.”
Actually, he didn’t quite say that, but the effect of his comment easily left the impression that you understandably drew. In fact he said (if I recall correctly), the research he relied on was that 7% “admitted” they were racist. The implications of that remark are much more disturbing than ‘only’ 7% being racist; because it reminds us that it is quite probable that a much larger number of people have racists opinions, but do not care to admit it. Why would people who are not politically very commited to the far-right, make such a crude confession? Self-interested people understand that it is scarcely acceptable, not least for their career or reputation.
This conclusion also perhaps hints that it is likely that a larger proportion than 7% of people in Britain may be racist, without admitting it. I do not know how many – but perhaps significantly higher. Remember that in order to control Parliament with an 80 seat majority, with general election turnouts now typically 60-70%, a political party only needs the votes of around 35% (or below) of the total electorate to possess unassailable political power. From this framework it also follows that this creates a new ground for politcs; the appalling margins, crannies and crevices in which the prejudices of the electorate may be exploited by modern technology and sophisticated algorithims, in the hands of those with the resources, determination and indifference to human suffering, to seek power; no longer merely reacting to ‘focus groups’, but creating the focus that produces power: British politics is being ‘played’, and people can thus now be manipulated by right-wing neoliberals, without anyone noticing.
It also implied that he did not care that many more were racist
My concerns about the lack of a long term “humanist” following were confirmed by a discussion with a political scientist recently. She was of the view that:
The Leavers would continue to vote Tory in fear that Brexit would be snatched away;
The bigots (far more than the easily identified 7 per cent) would vote Tory because they like “someone standing up for their values”;
The elderly would continue to vote mainly Tory because of property values, pensions and taxation rates.
So, we can hope, but…