The FT notes this morning that:
Investors that focus on the interests of wider society rather than pure profits are not “woke”, BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink has said after stinging attacks from US conservatives. The head of the world's largest asset manager, which last week crossed the $10tn mark for the first time, used his annual corporate missive to chief executives to fight back against accusations that BlackRock was using its influence to push a progressive agenda.
I do hope Fink is wrong. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines woke as:
aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)
If an investment manager is not aware of such issues they are not doing their job. I rather hope that BlackRock is very aware of issues relating to racial, gender and other forms of social justice and brings all its considerable influence to bear on such issues.
If BlackRock is not woke it is failing all who invest in it, and the world at large.
Larry Fink might need to be more careful if he is to keep major parts of the investment community in line with his company.
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Does being woke include issues relating to women’s rights?
It is about awareness of injustice, so why not?
Unfortunately, the word “woke” has become a pejorative alongside such gems as “bleeding-heart” and “libtard”. It is depressing, but being “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues” is genuinely seen as a moral by large swathes of the population on both sides of the pond. It’s not cool to care, apparently.
In many contexts, “woke” appears to be used in the same way that “uppity” once was, with the implication that the addressee should be made to shut up and reminded to stay in their place.
You’re right about that. “Woke” is just another FoxNews generated word of the month for Trump’s mob of deppoes (deplorables) and MAGAt’s. Oops, sorry. Sometimes their bad habits can be contagious.
I hate the term ‘woke’.
What’s wrong with saying it as it is.
If you’re ‘woke’ you’re just conscious and well-informed.
‘Woke’ my arse.
If that’s the case then, what are those using the term derogatorily – ‘Asleep’? ‘Ignorant’?
Seems like it to me.
I don’t hate the term, but I don’t like seeing it used, more often than not in parenthesis, as a lazy label.
Its widespread use is recent, the term itself is not. Its recorded use dates to the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War.
Civil War? Now that’s interesting. Have you got a link for that?
The problem is that the dictionary definition is not the definition that is in use among conservatives in the US. Indeed, I don’t think they have a definition other than it being a term of abuse given to far left extremists (whatever that means in the USA).
I am no particular fan of Blackrock or Fink but I see him making the case that transition to a green economy is both essential and a commercial opportunity and that he will only invest in companies that understand this.
From the largest asset manager in the world this is an important step and 2 years after this was first articulated it is having an impact (hence the opposition from Ted Cruz et al.). Of course, we always want more and faster but this is a serious step in the right direction.
We know that ESG is controversial in the US and we should welcome a CEO that is prepared to speak out.
“asset manager… Crossed the $10 trillion mark”!
The UK GDP 2020 was $2.7 trillion.
Words fail me.
Personally Im happy to be seen as ‘woke’, as per Richard’s definition. Those who use it as a pejorative are people I can reliably assume that I profoundly disagree with.
As for Blackrock, I’d have a very limited trust in their intentions as far as sustainability and ESG is concerned.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/mar/30/tariq-fancy-environmentally-friendly-green-investing
What we are witnessing there is an idiotic disconnect between Trump’s deplorable, populist wing of the Republican party and the corporate barons that used to be the GOP’s bread and butter.
We are also seeing the deplorable mouthpieces venting frustration as they finally realise how redundant they have become by welding their identity to an increasingly, inevitably, obsolete fossil fuel industry.
In a perverse way its beautiful to watch. Pass the popcorn.
On the matter of “wokeness” this piece (which is more about race than ecology) is well worth a read:
‘The War On “Wokeness” Is A War Against Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy’
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2022/01/10836343/war-on-wokeness-war-against-mlk-legacy