(This is another article on ‘Wokeism’ on Kafila, you must be familiar with earlier discussions on this theme here and here)
Ram Madhav and Mohan Bhagwat, Stylised by Jaseem ( Photo Courtesy : The News Minute)
The shrill voices of those who give orders Are full of fear like the squeakings of Piglets awaiting the butcher’s knife, as their fat arses Sweat with anxiety in their office chairs…. Fear rules not only those who are ruled, but The rulers too.
—Bertolt Brecht
The global right is ’terrified’ (at least that’s what it wants us to believe)
We are being increasingly told that it has finally discovered what could prove to be its nemesis.
Right from the likes of Donald Trump to the Indian origin American Vivek Ramaswamy – who has even written few tomes on this ’menace’ to the controversial hard right Florida governor De Santis, there are claims that the spectre of woke or wokeism haunts them. One can recall how De Santis had famously declared in his re-election victory speech that ’Florida is where Woke ideology goes to die’. [1]
What needs to be noted that this ’menace’ felt by the right is not limited to the Western World only.
There are newer converts to this movement.
Mohan Bhagwat, the Supremo of RSS ( Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) – a Hindutva Supremacist Organisation – happens to be the newest entrant. Sometime back he joined this chorus by the global right, similarly expressing his anger against ’Wokeism’ and ’Woke People’ in no uncertain terms. For him these were ’forces’ who were ’spoiling Indian ethos’.
कहीं ऐसा तो नहीं कि ‘सांस्कृतिक मार्क्सवादी’ और ‘वोक पीपल’ (Woke People) को लेकर संघ सुप्रीमो की ललकार एक तरह से उत्पीड़ितों की दावेदारी और स्वतंत्र चिंतन के प्रति हिंदुत्व वर्चस्ववाद की बढ़ती बेचैनियों को ही बेपर्द करती है.
मुल्क की दारूल हुकूमत अर्थात राजधानी दिल्ली- आए दिन कुछ न कुछ सेमिनार, संगोष्ठियां, विचारोें के अनौपचारिक आदान-प्रदान की मौन गवाह बनी रहती है. आम तौर पर वह ख़बर भी नहीं बन पाते, अलबत्ता कुछ तबादले खयालात कभी-कभी सुर्खियां बन जाते हैं.
पिछले दिनों यहां के भव्य ताज एम्बेसेडर होटल में एक विचार-विमर्श चला, जो अलग कारणों से सुर्खियां बना. आयोजक के चलते और जिस मसले पर वहां गुफ्तगू चली उसे लेकर. दरअसल इसका आयोजन भारतीय जनता युवा मोर्चा ने किया था, जो आम तौर पर ऐसी बौद्धिक गतिविधियों के लिए जाना नहीं जाता है.
दूसरी अहम बात थी कि इस विचार-विमर्श में अमेरिका, जर्मनी और चंद अन्य पश्चिमी मुल्कों के कई अनुदारवादी, रूढ़िवादी विचारक, अकादमिशियन जुटे थे और भारत के शिक्षा संस्थानों से जुड़े कई अकादमिशियन भी थे. बातचीत किन मसलों पर चली इसके आधिकारिक विवरण उपलब्ध नहीं है, लेकिन इतना तो समाचार में सुनने को मिला है कि वहां ‘वोकवाद’ (Wokeism-वोक़िज़्म) पर भी बातचीत चली थी. ( Read the rest of the article here)
How Mohan Bhagwat’s exhortation that ‘cultural marxism’ and ‘woke people’ are spoiling India’s ethos betrays Hindutva Supremacism’s real agenda vis-a-vis assertion of the subalterns and independent thinking
‘A spectre is haunting the Conservative world – the spectre of Wokeism’
The brainstorming by conservatives from US, Germany and other Western countries along with academics from India is over. The host was Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) the youth front of the ruling dispensation here namely BJP – which loves to call itself ‘the biggest organisation of youth in the world.’
One does not know whether the organisers had put any such banner regarding the ‘spectre’ or not but few of the available details of meeting tell us that the gathering did discuss ‘wokeism’ apart from other issues.
BJYM’s sudden waking up on the challenge of ‘wokeism’ is not difficult to understand.
It could be easily traced to Sangh Supremo Mohan Bhagwat’s exhortation in his Vijayadashmi Speech – few months back – wherein he had castigated ‘cultural marxists’ and ‘woke people’. in no uncertain terms, who according to him were ‘spoiling Indian ethos’. He even accused them of undermining education and culture, promoting conflicts and disrupting social cohesion. ( Read the full article here)
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