This article isn’t about woke Asians. This article is about how wokeness is related to Asians, whether in Asia or the West. Since 2020, I have pondered if wokeness is a backlash to the Asian Century. Asian economies have played crucial roles in globalization over the last 40 years, and Asian people and states have become more important in Western economies and cultures, if not politics. Wokeness could be a liberal reaction to Asian presence in Western universities and cities.
Following the death of Elizabeth II last September, immediately British and American liberal websites published articles saying, “Why I don’t mourn for Elizabeth”. The writers were of African, Caribbean, and South Asian backgrounds. They would state that although their ancestors’ homeland achieved independence during her reign and her Britain welcomed the migration of their parents, she still upheld systemic racism and never apologized for British colonialism.
Meanwhile, Anglo-American television networks covering Elizabeth’s funeral also made stories saying, “The Queen left mixed legacies around the world”. They would quote scholars from Jamaica, Kenya, or India saying the points mentioned above.
Interestingly, the good riddance game stopped east of Bengal. There’s no voice from Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. Of course, there’s no condemnation against Elizabeth from Hong Kong – the Asian city that deeply mourned the Boss Lady.
I found some explanations for this phenomenon thanks to two African Europeans, Remi Adekoya and Malcom Kyeyune. Adekoya explained why Asians could be more comfortable with the West compared to other races, while Kyeyune, more mind-blowingly, explained that wokeness is just a symptom than a disease, and even without wokeness, East Asia faces the same troubles as the West.
Not Proud to be British
Remi Adekoya published his article on UnHerd in September 2022, arguing that Elizabeth II isn’t to blame for all of Africa’s problems. This argument is more sensible for Africans who grew up in Africa and then moved to the UK to study or work. When they encounter racism or alienation, they would say “Well, it’s their house, after all. We’re just guests here, and we can put up or we can leave.”
But it could be harder for black Britons who grow up in a low-income area. From television, a bus ride, and Instagram they see how the affluent white Britons live. They get a good postcode, a good job, and a good holiday. Even those who are born to a white parent or from a middle-class household would learn how they look and live differently. In school, they learn how Great Britain took over islands in the Caribbean, small kingdoms in Africa, and finally a whole subcontinent. Their ancestors ruled over my ancestors.
They also refuse to migrate to the Caribbean or Africa, the way some disappointed Asian Americans or Australians migrate to Asia. Queer black women say that Africa and the Caribbean are not safe for them, and I’m yet to hear other reasons from the general population. An affluent white couple may be happy to trade London for Barbados, but not a Barbadian Londoner.
From an Asian perspective, the BAME (Black, Asian, and minority ethnic) Britons are lucky. They have that British passport and home address. That pound sterling saving. That British accent. That chance to hold hands with British heartthrobs. But for BAME Britons, that’s not the case. They still don’t get respect, financial and personal security, and societal acceptance.
Adekoya puts forward one reason why Asians are comfortable with the West. The history of Asia is a history of redemption and renaissance. The royal medieval past was broken by European colonization and a brutal Second World War but then followed by development, industrialization, and then computerization. In the 21st century, affluent Asians are proud of their cultures and homelands. Premier League matches are adorned by Asian sponsors, sometimes exclusively in Asian languages.
Of all minorities in Britain, Indians could be the proudest one. The Prime Minister is a Hindu Punjabi. Indians (and Chinese) are the highest-achieving students in both UK and USA, and these achievements translate to high-paying jobs. Meanwhile, the Caribbean remains a violent region, and Africa is still troubled. Just like Pakistan and Bangladesh are still lagging behind India, Britons from Pakistani and Bangladeshi families are still behind their Indian peers in education and economy.
For such disgruntled people, wokeness offers a way out. Everything can be blamed on white people. Ms. Marvel puts forward an argument blaming the partition of British India on “some old Englishmen”, instead of the consequences of an imperial collapse. Moreover, wokeness tells the white Britons that they are sinners who have to repent, and nothing from their culture is worth being proud of. Not Shakespeare, not Elizabeth and her Commonwealth, and even in these days, not even Harry Potter.
Still Damaged without Wokeness
Meanwhile, Malcom Kyeyune and “Marty MacMarty” (a pseudonym) argued in American Affairs back in 2021 that wokeness isn’t the cause of Western woes. It’s just a symptom. East Asian institutions and people don’t accept BLM and OneLove, and yet East Asia faces the same problem as the West: Burned out young people who don’t want to have babies. Even in a world without COVID, China’s population growth will go down too, since affluent Chinese young adults, especially women, don’t want to have babies.
Japan, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore all face the same patterns. The children need extra edges in acing school and so enroll in cram schools, sometimes added with private tutorials. They aim to get to top universities in Asia or the West. Then they aim to work for top corporations. Yes, their white counterparts can have similar Ivy League or Oxbridge dreams followed by city life in New York or London, but at least they fill their weekends drinking and playing instead of studying and working overtime.
Some East Asian teens cut their lives short. Those who get corporate jobs are unsure about their future. Housing is expensive. Married life is expensive. Raising a kid or two is more expensive, considering their healthcare and education too. And you have to look after your elderly parents too.
Kyeyune and MacMarty don’t want to blame Confucianism for the Asian situation. In fact, they argue that it’s the West that’s turned Confucian. Confucianism teaches that morality is superior to technical knowledge so that a virtuous man who reads Classics will understand carpentry, but a master carpenter will not understand wisdom because he’s not a reader. Now Western universities gradually push commitments to diversity, inclusion, and equity even in science departments.
Instead, East Asian societies use the Prussian approach in education. Technical, spartan, goal-oriented, and nationalist. What Europe had abandoned after 1945 had been picked up and improved by East Asia. East Asian governments don’t need to censor Western media’s promotion of wokeness, as by default East Asian institutions and elites don’t see their benefits.
In the West, these “Prussian” and “Confucian” (of course, black trans activists don’t read Confucius) approaches clash and the wokeness advocates demand the East Asians give way. It’s easy now for black academics and activists to accuse Asian students and parents of dabbling in whiteness, whatever whiteness means. Whether it’s by design or not, Asian parents are right to feel that the education of queerness and black liberation in their children’s schools is not just distracting, but seems to be designed to put the affluent white students ahead.
Everyone Loses, for Now
Whether the students are in Seoul or San Francisco or Southwark, they face the same problem. They are unhappy and throw all their rages and frustration online. They don’t believe that they will have happy and productive adulthood. Their skepticism turns to apathy or nihilism, and so they are more vulnerable to swindlers including the Extinction Rebellion.
For Kyeyune and MacMarty, the basic question remains: How do you provide a decent job with a family wage? Wokeness seems to be a symptom of the Western failure to address this issue, just like the Chinese population contraction is a sign of China’s failure to solve the same question. Everyone’s miserable in their own way, and more so than thirty years ago, when Elizabeth II was fit enough to tour the Commonwealth.