Let‘s be WOKE! Yes. Let‘s be awake and stay that way! Thank you to African–Americans for introducing this word into our field of reflection and action. With the awakening of the societies of the South, let us seize it without restraint and broaden its critical field.
Cet article est la traduction de Soyons WOKE ! Oui, publié sur ce site ==> ICI
Let‘s be and stay awake…
… on the massacres in Gaza, in Lebanon… Russian aggression in Ukraine. On climate inaction, on the social inequalities that are rising all over the world. And also on gender contempt and violence against women. The degradation of rights and the regression of democracy that are sweeping over societies… In the North as well as in the South. Let us be awake to get out of the long post–colonial period that maintains the bonds of domination, in new forms, that the North imposes on the societies of the South.
Recovery from the right and confusion from the left
We burst out with rage (or laughter) when we see how this word has tried to be turned around by the right and the far right! Has being awake become an insult? On the right, the fight is clear. In the United States, for example, Governor De Santis, a loyal ally of Trump, said: « Florida is the place where the woke will die« [1]. Ministers in France have made virulent and ridiculous attacks against « wokism« , mainly in the academic field.
What about the left?
Most left–wing intellectuals have allowed themselves to be trapped in the reversal of the word. A hodgepodge [2] stirred up progressive circles in the North. We get lost in the meanders of opposition between academics. Overlaps with positions in other areas… Anathemas between intellectual chapels… We get lost in the reversals of positions over the years… In the end, nothing interesting emerges from these pseudo debates..
Meanwhile, the right seeks to impose its vision with lies, insults and anathemas.
Examples of possible confusion on the left that come from Donald Trump‘s speeches or the recuperation of the far right
A great deal of confusion has indeed set in in left–wing thought, which often manifests itself in the dilution of borders with right–wing and far–right ideas. Thus, Donald Trump proclaims that he is against free trade. Should we therefore support this commercial instrument of liberal globalization? The same Trump said that the United States should never have gone to war in Iraq, that it caused American citizens to lose billions of dollars. Should we therefore support this devastating war for the populations of the region and which has destabilized the world in the long term?
In France, other words have been the subject of (more or less successful) attempts to turn things around. Thus anti–racism, secularism, anti–Semitism. In its crusade against Islam and against migrants, the far right brandishes secularism. With its support for Israeli politicians who have imposed colonial rule on the Palestinians for 70 years and massacred its population, it claims to denounce anti–Semitism. In her defense of « white men, » she denounces « anti–white racism« [3].
What is this decline in progressive thought the symptom of?
Even if other causes can be invoked, I would like to insist on a major point [4]. This decline stems first and foremost from an immense embarrassment in the relationship of intellectuals (especially French) with the South. The spirit of domination that carried and supported the colonial approach, with which progressives were unconsciously associated, has not dissipated. With some exceptions.
Even among those who sincerely supported national causes during the independence struggles. And who have since taken a benevolent look at cooperation with « developing« countries. We have dealt with this point at length in: « The blind spot of thinkers from the North on the South. Castoriadis, Baudrillard, North et al. » see ==> HERE
Disappointment, spite
The disappointments felt about the evolution of the regimes in the countries that had gained independence are also largely the cause of the confusion that remains in the minds of many progressives. The case of Algeria, which mobilized many of them in the 1950s and 60s in support of the struggle for national liberation, is emblematic of this point of view. Sincere support in action. But a naïve vision of the evolution of societies. The « repression of evil« that progressive thought widely practices can be invoked here to explain this blindness and, ultimately, this spite. See ==> HERE
While in the North the left was entangled in Jesuit quarrels, the societies of the South participated in this awakening
The gigantic mass of young adults now with a « modern« education in the societies of the South, added to the massive access to digital means, is beginning to change the world [5]. This change requires a growing awakening to the deep meaning of the colonial fact and its current extensions. On its foundations, made of dehumanization, of imposing the supremacy of the white man as evidence… With the extreme violence that results from it, in the destruction of societies, of human beings.
We recognize here the fundamental, irreplaceable contribution of Franz Fanon! (*) For better or for worse, this change takes the form of distancing oneself from, or violent rejection of, the West. Distance and/or rejection of domination in its countless forms that the Western powers have maintained in the post–colonial era. After the one they had previously succeeded in imposing in the times of slavery and colonies.
The South once again forgotten in the confusion of the North
The great awakening movement, the powerful emergence of this state of consciousness, is happening and will happen for the most part in the societies of the South. This is what the ratiocinations of the intellectuals in the North do not see. Turned in on themselves, drowning in futile oppositions, they leave the door open to the ridiculous assaults of the right and the far right.
The best and the worst
The rejection of the West can take extreme forms. Where the rejection of the other, racism, violence, dubious or even disastrous alliances… take precedence, by replacing a reflection on the issues of the autonomy of thought. The precedence over the necessary critical spirit, including oneself, which must animate any movement of emancipation.
This is the unmistakable law of massive social movements. Movements that carry in the force of their momentum the best (emancipation) and the worst (rejection of the other, supremacism…). The important thing is to see what constitutes the essential, the driving force, of this movement. And the overall meaning they take
Massacres in Gaza accelerate the phenomenon
For the stubborn maintenance of Western countries in supporting the mass massacres perpetrated in Gaza by Israel, by its leaders with the support of a majority of its population and a significant fraction of its diasporas, accelerates this movement of awakening in growing parts of the societies of the South. But also in those of the North, which for the moment remain powerless to change the policies of their leaders.
In the contemporary period, the mass massacres of the two world wars, the Shoa, Hiroshima and Nagasaki had seen, in extreme horror, the societies of the North tear each other apart. The genocide in Rwanda had opposed, in terror, fractions of society in the South [6]. With the mass murders perpetrated in Gaza, it is almost all the states of the North that give the genocidal power of Israel its support for the massacres of the populations of the South. We find ourselves here in a disastrous North/South pattern, in the exacerbation of a colonial situation.
So yes, let‘s stay awake with the societies of the South that are lifting up their heads
An awakening that sometimes takes place in confusion, sometimes in disorder. Sometimes in the heartbreak and drama within the societies of the South. But let us keep a clear awareness of the inexorable retreat of the domination of the former absolute masters of the world. And the salutary awakening of other voices.
& & &
[1] « In Florida, religious obscurantism is devastating the freedom to teach« When he was re–elected in 2022, Governor DeSantis said: Florida is the place where the woke will die! Two years later, he has multiplied laws to restrict freedom of expression on campuses. And brought to heel one of the few public universities renowned for its openness. Source: Mediapart, 2024–11–03.
[2] See in particular « Wokism, deconstruction of a French obsession« by Nicolas Truong
[3] See the remarkable work by Sylvie Laurent Pauvre petit–blanc, of which we have made an accessible reading note ==>ICI
[4] Voir sur un plan plus général : « Nous avons perdu ! » ==>HERE
[4] See on a more general level: « We lost! » ==> ICI
[5] Voir SUD ! Un tout autre regard sur la marche des socétés du Sud de l’auteur de ce texte. Editions l’Harmattan, 2018. ==> ICI
[5] See SUD! A completely different look at the march of the Southern Societes from the author of this text. Editions l‘Harmattan, 2018. => ICI
[6] See the reading note « Iyenzi or the cockroaches« ==> ICI
(*) Franz Fanon: The Wretched of the Earth.
The Wretched of the Earth is Frantz Fanon‘s last book, published a few days before his death by Maspero Editions in 1961 and translated into 15 languages. This analytical essay looks at colonialism, the alienation of the colonized and the wars of liberation. He studies the role that violence plays between colonizer and colonized. He advocated the anti–colonialist struggle, including through violence and the emancipation of the Third World. The book also exposes with some prescition the contradictions inherent in the exercise of power in the post–colonial era in Africa.
This is why Fanon is also known for his prospective view of the post–colonial African nation–state. Written in the middle of the Algerian War, banned when it was released in France, it served as a reference for anti–colonial liberation and self–determination movements. This book is also famous for its preface written by Jean–Paul Sartre. (Wikipedia)
To learn more about Franz Fanon and his work, see ==> HERE
