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22nd Jun 2020

Why no one wins in Boris Johnson’s culture wars

Oli Dugmore

In this culture war, everybody loses

There is a culture war currently taking place in the United Kingdom. Do you believe statues of slave traders should be torn down? Or do you believe that they are a worthwhile monument to the country’s shameful history of slavery?

As with most things these days, there is very little room for nuance here, you are either for something or you are against it. This is what these culture wars are designed to do: divide. If you divide a population, then the other side becomes the enemy, rather than Boris Johnson and his government presiding over the widespread death of your compatriots.

Afua Hirsch is a writer, broadcaster and professor of journalism. She spoke to JOE about the Black Lives Matter movement, Boris Johnson’s culture war and how it’s designed to distract from what is really going on.