Cancelled: The Left Way Back from Woke

by Umut Ozkirimli

Overview

Right now, someone, somewhere is being cancelled. Off-the-cuff tweets or “harmless” office banter have the potential to wreck lives. The Left condemns the Right, and the bigotry of the old elites. The Right complains about brain-dead political correctness, and the erosion of liberal values. In reality, both sides are colluding in a reactionary, exclusionary politics that is as self-defeating as it is divisive. Can the Left escape this extremism and stay true to the progressive ideals it once professed?

In this provocative book, Umut Özkırımlı reveals how the Left has been sucked into a spiral of toxic hatred and outrage-mongering, retreating from the democratic ideals of freedom, tolerance and pluralism that it purports to represent. Exploring the similarities between right-wing populism and radical identity politics, he sets out an alternative vision. It is only by focusing on our common humanity and working across differences that the Left will successfully find a constructive and consensual way back from “woke”.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509550937
Publisher:	Polity Press
Publication date:	03/09/2023
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	291 KB

About the Author

Umut Özkırımlı is a Senior Research Fellow at IBEI (Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals), a professor at Blanquerna, Ramon Llull University, and a Senior Research Associate at CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs). He is the author of the acclaimed Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction, currently in its third edition. His writings appear frequently in The Guardian, openDemocracy, Times Higher Education, Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, among others. Find him online at umutozkirimli.com and @UOzkirimli.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Prologue

1. A Rude Awakening

2. Identity Politics on the Right

3. Identity Politics on the Left

4. The Left Meets the Right

5. Towards a New Progressive Left

Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

In this forceful intervention, Umut Özkırımlı challenges assumptions and pieties of both Right and Left and - remaining true to the democratic socialist tradition - alerts readers to occasions when a pseudo Left sounds all too much like the reactionary Right.”
Craig Calhoun, Arizona State University

“This book will make you think, which is probably what makes it so scary. Özkırımlı’s accessible style helps navigate contentious areas that have, increasingly, been seen as too dangerous to debate. Whatever Side you are on in this increasingly vicious culture war, you would benefit from reading this book. I don't agree with all of it, but I am sure as hell glad it made it to the shelves.”
Julie Bindel, feminist and writer, author of Feminism for Women

“Umut Özkırımlı takes no hostages in this forensic dissection of the woke Left’s dismal collusion in the exclusionary politics and toxic cancel culture of our times. This is the must-read book of a generation.”
Jo Phoenix, University of Reading

“Bold and brilliant, taking on both right-wing authoritarian populism and regressive woke Left identity politics, this book represents a watershed in twenty-first century political thought."
Jean Wyllys, Brazilian writer, journalist, and human rights activist

From the Publisher