ALLYSHIP
Allyship (in German: Komplizenschaft) is the commitment, as a privileged person, to advocate for the interests of the marginalised. On the University of Cologne’s website, allyship is defined as: “an active, consistent, and challenging practice of unlearning and re-evaluating, in which a person in a position of privilege and power seeks to act in solidarity…
Read more → BIPOC
The acronym BIPOC stands as a collective term for Black, Indigenous, Person of Colour. According to IDA e.V., the term BIPOC denotes “a community for activism, protection, and empowerment for people with experiences of racism”. In the woke perspective, BIPOCs are disadvantaged in many ways by systemic racism. BIPOCs are regarded as the primary victims of…
Read more → CANCEL CULTURE
Cancel culture can be translated into German as exclusion culture. Cancel culture primarily targets individuals who publicly express problematic positions: through boycotts, mobbing, dismissal, and censorship, their alleged misconduct is to be punished. As a rule, cancel culture aims to displace non-woke individuals from influential positions. The website…
Read more → COMMUNITY
In woke thinking, individuals are often assigned to specific communities. Instead of groups, the term communities is used: “A community, in the context of diversity development, denotes a (political) interest group in which people come together who share experiences of discrimination. The community is bound by a positive sense of we, or reference to a…
Read more → DISCOURSE
Discourse is a term coined by the postmodern thinkers Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida. The term discourse is intended to describe the meaning of language in all its dimensions. It is very broad; it also includes myths, narratives, explanations, concepts, and ideologies. Allegedly, dominant discourses determine how a particular topic should be discussed…
Read more → EXPERTS
From a woke perspective, “expert” is a status for selected individuals one can trust. These are often representatives from science, media, or civil society. Since woke activists have already infiltrated many universities, woke discourses are often dominant there, also because critics remain silent out of fear of social, media, or professional disadvantages…
Read more → JUSTICE
Woke activists frequently demand (more) justice. Whether language, climate, economy, society, or politics—everything is to become fairer. There is nothing wrong with this in itself, as long as the sought-after justice is also a goal that people should strive for. In the woke conception, the correct understanding of justice presupposes sufficient critical…
Read more → HATE SPEECH
For the so-called “Competence Centre Hate on the Net”, hate speech is: “linguistic actions or actions in image form (e.g. memes) against individuals and/or groups with the aim of injuring, devaluing, intimidating, or threatening on the basis of their belonging to a marginalised group in society or, increasingly, also on the basis of their political…
Read more → IDENTITY
In liberal conceptions, in which people are primarily regarded as individuals and not as representatives of collectives, one’s own identity is based above all on individual preferences, relationships, and goals. Personal identity is developed individually but also in relation to so-called peer groups. In the woke perspective, identity does not mean…
Read more → CAPITALISM
“Capitalism” is a contested term whose meaning is often dictated by so-called “capitalism critics”. From a classical liberal perspective, the term “capitalism” often serves as a straw man with which ideas of a market economy are to be combated. From a classical Marxist perspective, capitalism stands for unjust “social, political, legal, and cultural…
Read more → POWER STRUCTURES
Power structures or power systems play a central role in the woke perspective. Woke theories examine the effects of systemic power structures on multiple levels using critical theories (including social, institutional, discursive, and epistemic). In particular, processes of socialisation are considered, through which societal expectations and behaviours are…
Read more → OTHERING
From the glossary of the Information and Documentation Centre for Anti-Racism Work (IDA e.V.) on othering: “Based on ‘we’-‘you’ constructions, the ‘you’ becomes the allegedly entirely other, who is thought of as less emancipated, enlightened, tolerant, democratic, educated, etc., in contrast to the ‘we’. Elementary differences are constructed that are…
Read more → PROBLEMATISING
Woke activists deal intensively with “problematiques”, as anything and everything can be problematised (texts, behaviours, discourses, curricula, etc.). Problematising means identifying something as part of an oppressive power structure in order to make this power structure more visible (e.g. as part of racism, sexism, transphobia, coloniality, climate…
Read more → PROTECTION
Woke activists frequently use fear-inducing terms such as protection, help, danger, and safety. Protection and safety are essential needs for all people. The more neurotic people are, the more important safety is to them. In the USA, the term “safetyism” has become established for the phenomenon of extreme protection and need for help. Safetyism is…
Read more → SYSTEM
The system (sometimes also the structures) is portrayed by woke activists as a societal system based on power structures; in particular racism, colonialism, cis-heteronormativity, environmental destruction, social inequality, patriarchal masculinity, and queerphobia. The existing system is considered incapable of reform, as it is ultimately based on the…
Read more → MULTIPLICITY
From the IDA e.V. glossary on diversity: “Diversity means the coexistence of different lines of difference, for example in the form of origin or gender. In a diverse society, people from different groups, identities, life plans, habits, interests, opinions, worldviews, and behaviours live together. However, attributions that exclude people in their alleged…
Read more → FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge is often understood to mean that knowledge describes the truth behind a phenomenon on the basis of justified cognition. What constitutes solid, justified cognition is an important question in philosophical epistemology. In realistic conceptions, knowledge and solid cognition are independent of subjective belief, feelings, or myths, even if these…
Read more → CIVIL SOCIETY
Civil society is a term that sometimes has contradictory meanings. In Western states, the so-called civil society is regarded as an influential third sector (alongside private companies and the state sector). As a rule, associations, foundations, trade unions, churches, and powerful NGOs are seen as influential actors of civil society. Actors from civil…
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