After Munira Mirza the Tories ‘woke psychodrama’ Culture War drones on
Munira Mirza the former ‘Living Marxist’ who was a key advisor to Johnson was largely responsible for the Tories ‘war on woke’. It was designed to distract the focus from Johnson but that doesn’t mean it’s a war the left can entirely ignore.
The Guardian has reported that former Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has made a speech to a right-wing ‘foundation’ in the US where he criticised the ‘woke psychodrama’ apparently dominant in the West. The speech was clearly designed to appeal to fans of ex-President Trump although why he’d do that at the precise moment that Johnson is trying to convince Biden that what the Tories think about Ukraine is worth paying attention to, is questionable.
In a war tactics and strategies can vary. The Government’s aim is to invent a layer of people it calls ‘woke’ and in reality promote Tory history over ours. Hence statues of slave traders must stay at all costs.
Oliver Dowden had pursued a slightly different strategy along the lines of ‘retain and explain’. He oversaw a policy that no statue or monument should be moved or taken down. He claimed he preferred new statues to be erected but in fact during his tenure as Culture Minister none were.
It’s something that seeks to establish and dictate exactly what British history is or is not. That is reflected not just in statue wars but in terms of persistent interventions by Tory politicians into what history is taught in schools and Universities.
Labour has had very little to say on this, not least because it’s clear that the current leader Starmer is not a history man. The fact that Dowden claims that like rock if one cuts a section of Labour ‘woke’ runs through it suggests he pays little attention to Starmer who for much of the time appears to be the reverse of the traditional meaning of woke.
Even so its worth taking note. Mirza may have resigned but the Tories Culture War rolls on
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