It was a pleasure – and a worthwhile learning curve – to collaborate with my learned colleagues Stephen Harper and Matthew Alford on an article called ‘How Britain’s most powerful institutions are hijacking social justice rhetoric’.
Here it is:
A BAREFOOT Prince Harry warns about the “terrifying” impact of climate change. A stony-faced general calls for ethnic diversity in the British army. Universities issue “tokenistic” praise for Black Lives Matter.
Welcome to a country where powerful individuals and institutions conceal their conservatism with the language of political correctness, social justice and identity politics.
Welcome to Wokewash Britain.
Today’s wokewashing frenzy was prefigured by US PR pioneers such as Edward Bernays, who notoriously piggybacked on liberal causes such as women’s suffrage to further the interests of state and corporate power.
These days, Bernays’s influence endures in corporate communications and across a range of British institutions, including the monarchy, the military and universities.
By paying lip service to sexual/gender equality, anti-racism, environmentalism and other progressive values, these bodies seek to deflect public attention away from the violence, bigotry, corruption and exploitation they are complicit in.
In a climate where large organisations seem fixated on discourse, representation, virtue signalling and flimsy initiatives around internal “diversity” and “awareness training,” it is harder than ever to mount radical criticisms of institutional power.
To read the full article (for free) please click here.
Tom Sykes 