Did the rejection of the woke ideology bring Trump to power? Many analysts and commentators believe so, and it is only logical that some European politicians will seek to jump on the bandwagon.
According to statistical data quoted by The Economist, America has become less ‘woke’ since a peak in 2020, when Joe Biden was elected, and ‘woke’ opinions and practices are on the decline.
While Merriam-Webster defines ‘woke’ as being “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)”, there is no bipartisan definition.
Democrats describe it as a personal view that expresses empathy and awareness of systemic injustices, while Republicans are more likely to describe wokeness as an agenda promoting far-left priorities and gender ideology.
In the meantime, for many, the term ‘woke’ came to designate the politically correct going too far. In fact, Merriam-Webster notes that “woke” can imply political liberalism or progressivism perceived as extreme or unreasonable.
In terms of wokerism going astray, a high point was reached in 2021, when Nancy Pelosi, the then-speaker of the United States House of Representatives, proposed changes to the house rules that would “honour all gender identities” by eliminating such terms as mother and father, son and daughter, and aunt and uncle.
Instead, only gender-neutral terms such as “parent,” “child,” “sibling”, and “parent’s sibling” would be allowed in the text of the house rules, according to the proposed changes.
Pelosi also enthusiastically supported Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential candidate, stressing her strong values as “a woman in politics”.
But not all Democrats were so supportive. In the eyes of many US voters, Vice President Kamala Harris symbolised woke-feminist progressivism, which had alienated core segments of the Democratic voter base.
“We have to stay woke. Like everybody needs to be woke. And you can talk about if you are the wokest or woker, but just stay more woke than less woke,” then-senator Harris said in 2017.
Conversely, Trump was perceived as the epitome of anti-woke. Many American citizens who voted for Trump may not have endorsed him personally. Instead, their votes perhaps rejected “woke” ideology and the ultra-liberal values associated with Harris.
But could it be as simple as doom and gloom winning over hopefulness? ‘Woke’ ideology is criticised for tending to make its adepts ashamed of their country for the historical injustices perpetrated over the centuries.
Conversely, Trump bolsters the American Dream—the belief that anyone can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone.
While Harris projected herself as a progressive, patriotic fighter for freedom, her opponents framed her as a radical-left fundamentalist. She also left the impression that she expected women to vote for her because she is a woman, and people of colour because she is black.
In October, a Reuters/Ipsos poll suggested that 15% of those surveyed would not vote for a female president. Trump, who doubled down on masculinity in this election, may have played a part in exploiting that.
In any case, Trump ended up defeating women in the two presidential elections he won.
But Europe is not innocent when it comes to woke ideology. Some trace woke culture’s origins to France, with philosopher Jacques Derrida, author of the term “deconstruction. ”
Deconstruction consists of critiquing the writings of past authors, especially male ones, “deconstructing” them by exposing the submerged ideology of power, racism, misogyny, and repression hidden in the novel’s subtext.
This French cultural product began to occupy a prominent place in American university literature departments in the 1970s.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s stance on wokeism is rather difficult to pin down.
In 2021, Macron regretted that a new wave of “woke culture” coming from the US was “racialising” his country, adding he disagrees with any ideology that attributes value to people based on their gender or skin colour.
“The logic of intersectionality fractures everything,” he said. “I stand for universalism. I do not agree with a fight that reduces everyone to their identity or their particularity.”
In 2022, however, his decision to appoint Pap Ndiaye, decried as “a true woke” as education minister, reignited a bitter cultural clash.
Today, the National Rally raises the banner of “the danger of wokeism”, and in 2023, it created an association of parliamentarians across party lines to fight against the “woke ideology”.
In particular, the party’s second-in-command, Jordan Bardella, is banking on broadening his party’s appeal to centrist voters thanks to the anti-woke ticket. This was perceived as a major shift from Marine Le Pen’s strategy of avoiding taking a clear position on societal issues for fear of being seen as too conservative or intolerant.
Anti-wokerism has a future in some societies in Eastern Europe, which tends to be more conservative than richer communities in the Western part of our continent. Even centre-left parties in Eastern Europe put anti-gender at the centre of their discourse and treat liberalism and climate policies as dirty words.
Arguably, the anti-woke pendulum is reaching its highest point.
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