Wokeism

France

The phenomenon le wokisme (sometimes translated 'wokeism') has also been used in French politics to criticize anti-racist movements and leftist scholarship, particularly since the 2022 French presidential election. Much of the opposition to le wokisme sees it as an American import, incompatible with French values. Mohamed Amer Meziane reported that then-education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer, organized a conference at which he argued "woke" ideology "plots against the greatness of a white European civilization" and is therefore an "anti-Republican political religion". Blanquer established an "anti-woke think tank" in opposition to what is perceived as an export from the English-speaking world. This view also includes a conspiracy theory connecting "wokism" with pre-existing right-wing conspiracy theories of "Islamo-leftism", suggesting that leftists are manipulated by Islamists to replace European white-Christian civilization with Islam. In this context, "woke" is used pejoratively to describe progressive, anti-colonial, and anti-racist positions that are seen as incompatible with traditional French values.