Belgian university professors Pascal Delwit and Vincent Laborderie have criticised the Jean Gol Centre's recent study on "wokism", La Dernière Heure reports. Released on Tuesday, the liberal think-tank's findings lacked scientific legitimacy, according to Delwit.
Linked to the French-speaking political party MR, the Jean Gol Centre conducted a study on the woke ideology and resulting movement. The Oxford Dictionary defines "woke" as those aware of social and political issues, especially racism, which the centre did acknowledge in its findings.
According to the centre though, the "woke" ideology is now being sued to attack liberal and humanist values. Indeed, the study concluded that "wokism" is "segmenting our society on the basis of gender and skin colour" by overestimating the importance of one's identity.
Related News
- Despite previous racism controversies, Aalst Carnival participants don blackface
- The City of Brussels reaffirms its position against racism in schools
- Ethnic discrimination among Airbnb owners, Brussels University study finds
When asked to by La Dernière Heure to react to these findings, two academics Pascal Delwit and Vincent Laborderie were highly critical of the centre's approach. "If this was the work of students, it would have been thrown out," stated Delwit, who accused the study of being "disconnected from reality."
Indeed, the issue for the professor is that there is no large-scale political movement currently defending the "woke" ideology in Belgium. Rather, Delwit explained that there are a large number of politicians "of different sensibilities" who are attempting to "raise awareness about colonisation as well as inequalities in the public space."
Vincent Laborderie, a professor at UCLouvain, stated that "it is now a catch-all term" used to scare people, which results in "people being opposed to the ideology without really knowing what it is."
