JK Rowling of the Harry Potter fame is currently involved in a very important debate. AP Photo
JK Rowling of the Harry Potter fame is currently involved in a very important debate. AP Photo
JK Rowling of the Harry Potter fame is currently involved in a very important debate. AP Photo
JK Rowling of the Harry Potter fame is currently involved in a very important debate. AP Photo

What is the deal with 'woke' culture and writing letters?


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A battle of letters is under way on the broad and bitterly contested theme of “justice and open debate” and a truce seems unlikely anytime soon. We have been here before many times in previous years, with warriors for and against political correctness and wokeness facing off in prolonged bouts of written and oral sniping.

What makes this new battle slightly different is the moment in which it comes. Calls for racial and systemic justice are ricocheting around the world in the wake of the May 25 death of George Floyd.

The new battle is also significant for the calibre, strength and sheer firepower of the forces ranged against each other. On one side are 150 or so of the world's leading writers, thinkers, academics and activists. They include JK Rowling, Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Noam Chomsky, Kamel Daoud and Fareed Zakaria. Most are on the left or centre-left of the political spectrum. They fired the opening shot and it took the form of a three-paragraph exhortation to anti-racism and social justice activists to eschew "censoriousness", "intolerance of opposing views" and "blinding moral certainty".

Algerian writer Kamel Daoud was among those who warned against censoriousness, intolerance of opposing views and blinding moral certainty on the left. AFP
Algerian writer Kamel Daoud was among those who warned against censoriousness, intolerance of opposing views and blinding moral certainty on the left. AFP

While calling out "illiberalism", US President Donald Trump and the radical right, the letter also criticised left-liberals' right to demand "ideological conformity". The letter went up on the site of one of America's oldest monthly magazines, Harper's Magazine.

Soon enough, platoons of fighters armed with hashtags and memes began to challenge the letter’s content and intentions. Within 72 hours, another letter was issued, this time by more than 150 other, slightly less well-known names in academia, the liberal arts, media and NGOs. That letter assailed the famous signatories, “many of them white, wealthy, and endowed with massive platforms”, and suggested “their words reflect a stubbornness to let go of the elitism that still pervades… an unwillingness to dismantle systems that keep people like them in and the rest of us out”.

The second letter said the first was “at best obtuse and inappropriate, and at worst actively racist” because it was issued at a time of massive protests for justice. The world’s most famous public intellectuals, it said, were trying “to detract from the public conversation about who gets to have a platform”. The second letter appeared on a volunteer-staffed site whose stated mission is “to confront inequities in coverage” and to report on “historically ignored communities”.

The letters war would be laughable if it were not so consequential. It illustrates three dismal realities of our time.

An editor and writer for The New York Times' opinion section has publicly resigned, saying she was harassed for ideas that did not conform with a liberal point of view. AP Photo
An editor and writer for The New York Times' opinion section has publicly resigned, saying she was harassed for ideas that did not conform with a liberal point of view. AP Photo

First, illiberal liberalism can be just as hateful as far-right exclusivism. Contemporary culture on both the far left and the far right seems to suffer from the flaw American critic Lionel Trilling once diagnosed only in conservatism: it does not really express itself in ideas, but in “irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas”.

Where the far right uses racial slurs or justifies discrimination on the grounds of religion, the far left runs a different grading system. By means of a hyper-conscious regulation of semantics, it ceaselessly looks for evidence of racism, sexism and any other distressing “ism” in speech. Perceived infractions are dealt with quickly and often very publicly.

Examples abound. When the novelist Margaret Atwood wrote a thoughtful piece for a Canadian paper two years ago, titled Am I a Bad Feminist?, she was accused of being an apologist for rape as a result of her "white privilege". British university students tried to "no-platform" writer Germaine Greer for allegedly "transphobic" views. In the US, students at a west coast university staged a sit-in when a professor corrected a student's spelling of the word "indigenous". Replacing the upper-case "I" with lower-case was an act of "linguistic micro-aggression", they said.

Novelist Margaret Atwood has previously been accused of being an apologist for rape as a result of her 'white privilege'. Willam Parry
Novelist Margaret Atwood has previously been accused of being an apologist for rape as a result of her 'white privilege'. Willam Parry
The best way to defeat iniquitous ideas is to allow them to be scrutinised

Second, the liberal project for meaningful change comes into question every time its supporters make an illiberal attempt to choke off debate. In 2018, Angela Nagle, author of Kill All the Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-right, noted that "many people are attracted to progressive politics because they see that the world is unequal and unfair… But they quickly find out that this isn't enough". To avoid being "purged", she said, they "have to learn an ever more elaborate and bizarre set of correct positions" on a range of issues.

Indeed, it is deeply divisive to see the whole world only through the prism of power structures. Of course, there is inequality and injustice and, of course, more needs to be done to understand how these structures still stand and what can be done to bring about beneficial change. But a single-focus narrative often does little to build a coalition, or for that matter a fairer system. Instead, it divides and creates space for those who want to sow greater division, using racial and religious difference as tools.

Third, and most important, greater diversity of culture demands more diversity of expression, not less. Refusal to engage with alternative points of view – even if contentious – does not enable greater tolerance of opposing ideas; it merely makes everyone wary of discussing them. American civil rights activist Martin Luther King used relentless argument to push for equality of opportunity and equality before the law. Nearly a century ago, Mahatma Gandhi was writing about the need to convert an opponent by “opening his ears”, which was surely a reference to engaging with different points of view.

The best way to defeat iniquitous ideas is to allow them to be scrutinised. And then to be argued and refuted, point by point. It is interesting to note that a leading American site for professional development and training recently warned against “woke-washing” the workplace. It might create groupthink, it said.

The context of the warning is something that has been dubbed "woke capitalism". It takes a fairly predictable form. Companies try to associate themselves with liberal causes by making lofty claims of a social purpose, indulging in rhetorical repositioning and then using their new activist avatar as a marketing ploy. It could be a T-shirt company's change of its iconic animal logo for different endangered species, a razor firm taking a stand against "toxic masculinity", or a sportswear manufacturer picking a controversial black anti-racism footballer as the face of its marketing campaign.

Just days ago, it was the announcement by the Washington Redskins American football team that it was retiring its name, which has long been criticised as racist.

But the team’s decision is seen to be more about the power of money – with lead sponsors threatening to pull funding – than a sudden attack of conscience. The other examples are also seen to be mainly about the business of positioning brands to appeal to millennial consumers. That said, it is at least worth celebrating the fact that social consciousness is now considered a marketable quantity.

The culture wars have raged for years and the core question has always remained the same: who gets to tell the story of a country, a society, a people, an event? It is a grand and worthy struggle for a more egalitarian society. But if the objective of both sides becomes control of the debate, it doesn’t change the status quo; just who is up.

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At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Lexus LX700h specs

Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor

Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh590,000

The biog

Hometown: Birchgrove, Sydney Australia
Age: 59
Favourite TV series: Outlander Netflix series
Favourite place in the UAE: Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque / desert / Louvre Abu Dhabi
Favourite book: Father of our Nation: Collected Quotes of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Thing you will miss most about the UAE: My friends and family, Formula 1, having Friday's off, desert adventures, and Arabic culture and people
 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
WOMAN AND CHILD

Director: Saeed Roustaee

Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi

Rating: 4/5

Other ways to buy used products in the UAE

UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.

Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.

Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.

For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.

Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.

At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.

'Morbius'

Director: Daniel Espinosa 

Stars: Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona

Rating: 2/5

COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202020%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Khaldoon%20Bushnaq%20and%20Tariq%20Seksek%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abu%20Dhabi%20Global%20Market%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20HealthTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20100%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%20to%20date%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2415%20million%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UK-EU trade at a glance

EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years

Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products

Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries

Smoother border management with use of e-gates

Cutting red tape on import and export of food

How to register as a donor

1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention

2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants

3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register. 

4) The campaign uses the hashtag  #donate_hope

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

if you go

Getting there

Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.

Staying there

On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.

More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

David Haye record

Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4