A coalition of French public intellectuals and lawmakers are warning that the uncontrolled woke leftism and identity politics of American universities poses an existential threat to French society.
The French intellectual are saying that the ideas on race, gender, post-colonialism, particularly those emanating from US universities are undermining the French identity. Even, French President Emmanuel Macron had sided with those raising concerns over American Leftism contaminating France.
In October last year, while delivering a speech on the ‘Fight against Separatism’, Macron warned against leaving ‘the intellectual debate to others’ as he cautioned of the ‘certain social science theories entirely imported from the United States’.
The fierce French debate over a handful of academic disciplines on U.S. campuses may surprise those who have witnessed the gradual decline of American influence in many corners of the world. In some ways, it is a proxy fight over some of the most combustible issues in French society, including national identity and the sharing of power.
In a nation where intellectuals still hold sway, the stakes are high. With its echoes of the American culture wars, the battle began inside French universities but is being played out increasingly in the media. Politicians have been weighing in more and more, especially following a turbulent year during which a series of events called into question tenets of French society.
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