Over the past few years, we have all seen the appearance of a new so-called left wokeat first mainly active on university campuses, and whose ideas have gradually germinated in the media, journalism, the business world and in certain institutions.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
This new current of thought has somehow split the traditional left which, today, like a fragmented opposition, finds itself dislocated and ineffective in its struggles. As a progressive, I believe that a rallying is necessary.
For me, being progressive has always meant proudly carrying universalism, rationalism and humanism to the highest rank of our collective values. It is these principles inherited from the Enlightenment that have enabled our societies to reach the standard of living that we know today, by placing the human race and its diversity at the center of its action. It is here that the schism between progressives and woke appeared.
This movement moved from promoting universal diversity to falling back on differentialism by segmenting the population into different groups based on the historical level of oppression suffered.
To be progressive means to be extraordinarily sensitive to the suffering of the oppressed, but the path to social justice certainly does not pass through the resurgence of identity politics and communitarianism. On the contrary, progress is based on the union of citizens, not on the exacerbation of their differences. Yet it is the path that the left woke decided to borrow. Through the new Diversity, Inclusion and Equity programs that are multiplying everywhere, we are witnessing, in the name of inclusion, an extreme categorization of individuals. Some of these programs even go so far as to grant funding based on the sexual attraction of applicants. Voltaire must have turned in his grave.
Common objective
However, the left woke and progressive essentially share the same fundamental goal: to build a society in which all individuals can aspire to any office and live their lives without their personal characteristics such as sex, gender or race having the slightest impact on their destiny. . In short, a world free of racism and discrimination. One of the many ways to fail in this quest is to consider any form of statistical disparity between a group and the population in general as being the effect of discrimination, whereas it is rather numerous socio-economic factors that very often explain these disparities. I underline here that I am not against the idea of attenuating these disparities, but to apply the good treatment, still it is necessary to have made the good diagnosis.
I would add that the left woke contributes to the erosion of the quality of democratic debate by accusing anyone who criticizes Islam of being Islamophobic, anyone who points to certain negative effects of immigration as racist, and anyone who biologically differentiates the sexes as transphobic.
I understand activists’ desire for more justice, but there is a difference between trying to correct the situation and over-correcting it with excesses, censorship and witch hunts.
It is in this context that, very humbly, I note a moral confusion which prevails within the progressive left. She feels dispossessed and no longer knows how to put her values first. Real well-known progressive activists walk on eggshells for fear of offending the other left, screaming and vengeful. It is high time to reaffirm how we want to articulate Quebec progressivism. And for that, I invite all progressives to speak up again and not be afraid to criticize the left woke when necessary. Because let’s be lucid: during this time, the right is getting organized and will be ready to lead the next battles.