Many European countries, particularly places like France, have notoriously been more progressive than the United States, so when French President Emmanuel Macron starts criticizing an American cultural issue that's creeping into his country, you know there's a problem.
Finally, it's not just Republicans sounding the alarm. Sure, Macron, "once a darling of liberals," has been criticized in his country for sliding too far to the right and losing support among some left-leaning voters for his handling of certain sensitive issues – Islamic terror attacks among them. But he is a far cry from being a right-wing politician. So one would hope his concerns may wake American Democrats up.
During an interview with Elle magazine, Macron blasted the woke culture that's now entering France, according to The Daily Mail, which he says is leading to divisions in society.
'I see that our society is becoming progressively racialised,' Macron told Elle magazine in an interview published this week, going on to say that he believed ethnic minorities have been placed 'under house arrest' by left-wing ideology.
He also pointed blame at feminists and black rights activists for seeking to define people according to their gender and their skin colour, arguing that such views cause rifts in French society and limit social mobility among ethnic minorities.
A new generation of younger French activists are increasingly vocal in denouncing the problem of racism in France and the legacy of the country's colonial past in Africa and the Middle East.
But their opponents see the focus on race and the past as opening up unnecessary divisions and encouraging a culture in which minorities and women see themselves as constantly oppressed and discriminated against.
Movements against racism over the last year such as Black Lives Matter, which resonated in France after arriving from the US, have led to fears among some critics that the country is importing American racial and identity politics sometimes labelled as 'woke culture.' (Daily Mail)
Macron, who has previously criticized the toxic philosophies coming out of U.S. universities, took particular issue with the notion of intersectionality, or the idea that an individual's race, class, or gender overlap to explain poverty, discrimination, and privilege.
"The logic of intersectionality fractures everything," he said in the interview. "I stand for universalism. I don't agree with a fight that reduces everyone to their identity or their particularity.
"Social difficulties are not only explained by gender and the color of your skin, but also by social inequalities," he added, pointing to the fact that some young white men in his hometown "also have immense difficulties, for different reasons, in finding a job."
"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," Macron said.
Now, if only American liberals would take note.
