Book: Jonas Follonier denounces “The spread of wokism in Switzerland”

Ooh la la… That smells of sulfur. The cover of the book turns out to be red as hell, even if it remains paved with good intentions. First there is the title, “The spread of Wokism in Switzerland.” A bomb. Jonas Follonier also added the subtitle: “Censorship, quotas, inclusive writing, intimidation…” Quite a program. The author will in reality restrict himself to the French-speaking part of the country, as he immediately explains to the reader. There would be so much to say otherwise… However, the documentation gathered here has, in my opinion, little chance of obtaining a laudatory article in “Le Temps”, which has its bells ringing here (1), or a real broadcast on TSR (Télévision suisse romande), transformed into a “punching bag”. Note that proper dezincification does not only harm it in my opinion. It reminds people under 60 of the existence of the channel, who perhaps never watch it.

Brief history

Journalist, editorialist and incidentally singer, Le Valaisan begins by squaring the circle. He must define wokism, which escapes any rational description. Born shortly after 1960 in American universities, where there was a lot of carpet smoking, the movement initially intended to raise awareness of the sexual and racial injustices of this world. Women, blacks, homosexuals, transsexuals saw themselves as victims of oppression, especially if they combined several “disabilities” through intersectionality. The attacks suffered, even minimal, were systemic in that they resulted from a feeling of superiority among white, heterosexual men. You all know the song. However, it took several decades before it was heard first in the USA, then elsewhere in the West. Everything is based on the theses, which have become mantras, of a certain number of thinkers and especially women thinkers. No need to think after them!

With these reminders, Jonas Follonier lays the basis of his short book, while the very recent one by Mona Chollet on guilt (which I recently spoke to you about) seemed desperately long to me. This time we remain in the dimension of the pamphlet. Its author intends to demonstrate, with supporting evidence, that the phenomenon has not remained outside Switzerland, as many would still like to think. Its diffusion has transformed our universities. It has corrupted official language and encircled cultural circles in its tentacles, culture being essentially in state Switzerland. Only the population can now react. Note that this has sometimes proven possible in the United States. At the end of 2023, the Disney factories, which had been fully committed to political correctness, announced that they were reversing course. They had lost through public refusal “170 billion dollars since 2021, or half of their stock market value.”

We are not yet there between Geneva and Bienne, where the phenomenon remains exponential. Jonas Follonier will therefore unload his ubiquitous file on us. Preaching by this type of example always produces its effect. A few years ago a French political scientist admitted to using “Le Monde Diplomatique” as a joke. Please note that since 2018 the University of Neuchâtel has used the feminine plural regardless of the words used. The directors thus become directors, even if they are men. A peripheral city, Neuchâtel must do a little more than the others. A director from Valais explains to TSR without batting an eyelid how she must today rewrite Molière, “out of the need to reinvent the way of taking on existing roles.” Finally, in Geneva, a poster states without laughing that “climate change particularly impacts LGBTIQ+ people?”

Jonas Follonier talks about books, TV, music (think Nemo) or theater. The fine arts are lacking in his choral portrait. And yet… I never stop seeing competitions where parity is required. It becomes stricter when there are more girls than boys. Exposures to women are increasing, for better and for worse. The new American director of the Kunstmuseum in Basel is particularly proud of “When We See Us”, which was a hit in the French-speaking press. Only black artists, color remaining the only common point between people who left a great London school or remained isolated and without means in Niger! I believe I was the only one to express reservations regarding this racist panorama in the original sense of the term. Here art found itself held hostage by a just cause at the start, but a bit misguided afterwards.

“Marguerite Dellencah demonstrated colonial and Eurocentric prejudices.”

The collective demanding that its Geneva street be renamed

All this is not very serious. Where things go wrong is when there is censorship. And Jonas reminds us of the Claude Inga Barbey affair, dropped by “Le Temps” after ukases launched by the “wokists” against one of his supposedly transphobic columns. Claude Inga stood out in a daily newspaper that wanted to be respectful of everyone. I don’t know anything smoother than “Le Temps”, except the soap in my bathroom. There were also the painful affairs of conferences prevented by activists at the University of Geneva, including that of the controversial Caroline Eliacheff. These intimidations had taken on a violent character, disrespectful of freedom of opinion and assembly, which did not prevent the management from signing peace with the troublemakers. Clearly, the rectorate pulled down her panties, and they must not have smelled good. Still in Geneva, as if by chance, I also remembered the Marguerite Dellenbach affair. Barely the owner of a street that was previously called Bergalonne, the former director of the Museum of Ethnography almost had it taken away. For what reason? In the 1950s, she expressed “colonial and Eurocentric prejudices”. The woke police had a duty to denounce this state of affairs.

Jonas Follonier, 28, ends his work prefaced by Olivier Massin with a conclusion appealing to Swiss common sense. It would be permissible to be more pessimistic. I do not think of the victory of this movement which divides while claiming to reconcile. I’m thinking more of the collateral victims. Except for blacks in the United States, wokism is led by people who do not have to fear any backlash. They are generally, admirable contradiction, white, well-off (2) and heterosexual. These people act on behalf of sometimes fragile minorities. They overexpose them, even if it means putting them in danger. By talking about “trans”, they create rejection instead of necessary integration. The abundance of the words made it unbearable. The hundredth poster against street harassment triggers a furore. Its designer unfortunately thinks more of his beautiful soul than of the possible consequences. In my opinion, Follonier should have spoken about it.

I’ll end on a light note. Wokism does not concern the entire population by far, even if young people, converted by their teachers, are quite sensitive to it. So the other day I had to explain the meaning of all the fashionable words to a friend who was a mother and grandmother, who was a little out of phase. The object lesson was not easy. I kindly repeated myself. At the end, she said to me: “So, if I understand correctly, I am cisgender?” I loved it.

(1) “Le Temps” still gave him an “Opinion”, from which he of course distanced himself.

(2) The word “well-off” remains the least important here. For many observers, Wokism had the advantage for Americans of emphasizing gender or race and not enormous economic disparities. Good bye, Karl Marx!

Practical

“The spread of Wokism in Switzerland” by Jonas Follonier, Editions Slatkine, 115 pages.

“Etienne Dumont’s week”

Every Friday, find the cultural news sketched by the famous journalist.

Other newsletters

Log in

Born in 1948, Etienne Dumont studied in Geneva which were of little use to him. Latin, Greek, law. A failed lawyer, he turned to journalism. Most often in the cultural sections, he worked from March 1974 to May 2013 at the “Tribune de Genève”, starting by talking about cinema. Then came fine arts and books. Other than that, as you can see, nothing to report.More info

Did you find an error? Please report it to us.