Emmanuel Macron, the French President, has claimed that a new trend of “woke culture” from the United States is “racializing” his country and causing a suppression of free speech.
Macron, along with other prominent French figures, has denounced the “woke” culture, according to Elle Magazine.
“The logic of intersectionality fractures everything,” he said. “I stand for universalism. I don’t agree with a fight that reduces everyone to their identity or their particularity.”
“We had freed ourselves from this approach, and now, we are once more categorizing people according to their race, and by doing that, we are totally placing them under house arrest,” he added. “Social difficulties are not only explained by gender and the color of your skin, but also by social inequalities.”
Elisabeth Moreno, the French delegate minister for gender equality and diversity, is one of the members of the government who shares the president’s ideas, stating that “the ‘woke’ culture is something very dangerous, and we shouldn’t bring it to France.”
The French president said that any ideology that assigns value to people based on their gender or color of skin is unacceptable to him. He claims in his interview that the “woke” mindset is further dividing minorities in his country.
Jean-Guillaume de Tocqueville, the descendant of philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville, was also vocal about the issue.
“Our mantra is that we should talk even if we strongly disagree. Nothing prevents you from talking and exchanging and dialoguing,” Tocqueville said.
Despite the protestations, President Macron has himself been a challenger of free speech in the country.
