logo
I no longer care about microaggressions: Ash Sarkar

I no longer care about microaggressions: Ash Sarkar

Gulf Today02-03-2025
The Independent
Ash Sarkar is the face of woke. Up against the Goliaths of the right wing, the 32-year-old journalist from north London counts tech billionaires like Elon Musk and US president Donald Trump among her adversaries — of which she has many. Another to cross her path was Piers Morgan before his unceremonious exit from Good Morning Britain in 2021, when during a heated TV debate about Trump and Obama, she quipped: 'I'm literally a communist, you idiot.' A video of the moment has since clocked up nearly eight million views on YouTube. In 2023, Sarkar was ranked No 45 on the New Statesman's Left Power List, and through appearances on shows like Question Time and in her role as senior editor of Novara Media, she has become one of the left's most ubiquitous commentators. Thus it will come as a surprise to many that Sarkar is now sounding the death knell for the culture wars on which she made her name, declaring: 'Woke is dead.'
By that, she means all this uproar about unisex bathrooms and the debate over whether there should be a Black James Bond or a gay James Bond is simply not the priority. Such a statement might seem counterintuitive to everything Sarkar stands for, but 'diversity, equity, and inclusion', she says, is a distraction from the real issues. And so goes Sarkar's argument in her debut book Minority Rule: Adventures in the Culture War. 'Identity has become the dominant preoccupation for both the left and the right,' she tells me in The Independent offices. 'I no longer care about microaggressions — pronounce my name however you want.'
Sarkar knows that this view is controversial, and as ever, she's prepared for the backlash. 'People are gonna be like, she's moved to the right,' she jokes, drily. She's correct. A quick scan of recent comments on Novara Media, the platform she helped get off the ground over the last decade, reveals a rift in the left-wing ranks over her apparent conversion. 'Pathetic,' writes one person. 'A fundamentalist identity politician slating an ideology she built an entire career around as the Western public massively rejected it.' One headline in The Daily Telegraph reads: 'The Queen of Woke just exposed the hypocrisy of the virtue-signalling Left.' Still, online jibes are nothing compared to the death threats she's received in the past. 'I'm not worried about anyone from the left killing me,' she laughs. 'They've all got iron deficiencies anyway.'
Sarkar is self-assured when it comes to politics, offering analysis with the certainty of scientific fact. And for someone who is about as famous as a journalist can get, she doesn't find talking about herself all that interesting. Unlike other media personas who make a meal of just about any X post — ahem, Piers Morgan — she shrugs off any insults, attacks, and controversies, often with a smirk or a funny remark. Sometimes a literal shrug. She has not once thought about quitting her job ('I made my bed') and tells me she doesn't feel any sense of pressure despite her still-rising profile. Sarkar doesn't get upset or angry about the vitriol she faces and credits a lack of media training for her ability to speak with wit and candour compared to the fusty politicians she often shares mics with. A testament to that candour, she calls such MPs 'degraded, atrophied figures'. Sarkar attributes her penchant for insults to her time at an all-girls school. 'It was an Olympic sport,' she says of the name-calling. 'And everyone else was much better (at it than me).'
Perhaps most surprising of all, Sarkar doesn't enjoy fighting. 'I hate conflict in my personal life,' she says. 'I'm a scared little dog. If my husband is like, 'Look, let's have this difficult conversation, tell me what you really think.' I cannot do it. Whereas, if you put me in a news studio and say, 'Talk to this pro-privatisation lobbyist, they're going to take your head off and you've got to stop him from doing that,' I'm like, 'Great. Fine, light work.''
She's since come to the realisation that compartmentalising like this isn't exactly healthy. The death of her stepfather last year heralded the end of what Sarkar calls her 'avoidance and 'inshallah' strategy'. At the age of 31, she entered therapy for the first time where she learnt that being unmoved and removed is a survival technique. 'But you can't just freeze things out,' she says. 'Being frozen is not the same thing as being resilient.' Sarkar has been trying to tap more into her emotions. 'You have to accept that your brain is the dumbest part of you,' she says. 'You have to drop down into this intuition and work out what it is that it's telling you.' So far, it's a technique that has served her well, guiding her through some of the biggest decisions in her life, like getting married in 2023. For Vogue, she wrote a piece on how marriage and Marxism can, in fact, co-exist.
Outside of TV and radio, you can find Sarkar hungover on the sofa with her husband (also an activist) and their cat Mousa Dembélé (named after the PSG footballer) watching Sharpe, the Nineties series about the Napoleonic Wars, starring Sean Bean. She falls asleep to woodworking videos. Her social media algorithm is wholesome, made up of 'cats, comedy, and recipes'. She's also an Aries. All this to say, she does, in fact, lead a very normal life.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Why a far-right party in Japan made big gains
Why a far-right party in Japan made big gains

Gulf Today

time12 hours ago

  • Gulf Today

Why a far-right party in Japan made big gains

Japan's far-right populist Sanseito party was one of the biggest winners in the weekend's upper house election, attracting many voters with its "Japanese First" platform that included calling for tougher restrictions on foreigners and the curtailment of gender equality and diversity policies. Sanseito added 14 seats in Sunday's vote to the one seat already held by its leader in the 248-member upper house, the less powerful of Japan's two-chamber parliament. The surge in the party's popularity came amid the backdrop of a historic loss by the long-governing conservative coalition of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, with Sanseito attracting frustrated voters struggling with economic woes. Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya said on Tuesday that he has no interest in forming an alliance with conventional parties like Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP. Kamiya said he is open to cooperating with other emerging parties, but he's expected to wait in the hopes of gaining more seats in the more powerful lower house. His ambition is to have more influence to possibly form a multiparty coalition like those in Europe. Sanseito, which translates to "Participate in Politics," started in 2020 when Kamiya gathered people on YouTube and social media to create a political group to attract voters discontent with conventional parties. The group began to grow as its members started winning seats in local assemblies, stepping up its presence and grassroots support base. After the start of the coronavirus pandemic, his online approach quickly got traction, fueled partly by an anti-vaccine stance. Sanseito achieved a foothold in national politics in 2022 when Kamiya won a six-year term in the upper house. The party won three seats in the October election in the lower house. The party holds 15 seats in the upper house, compared with the 122 held by Ishiba's governing coalition, but Kamiya has been steadily reaching a much larger audience. Sanseito has gained more than 100,000 YouTube subscribers over the past few weeks to nearly 500,000, compared to the the LDP's 140,000. Sanseito party stood out from Japan's other parties, with a tough anti-foreigner stance as part of its "Japanese First" platform, apparently inspired by US President Donald Trump's "America First" policy. Under his slogan, Kamiya proposes a new agency to handle regulations on foreigners. During the election, the party campaigned for stricter screening for allowing Japanese citizenship and to exclude non-Japanese from welfare benefits. Critics say that the party's stance has encouraged the spread of xenophobic rhetoric in the election campaign and on social media, prompting other ultraconservative candidates to be outspoken. A typical claim is that a rapid increase in foreign workers has hurt Japanese workers' wages and that foreigners use a large share of welfare benefits and have made Japanese society unsafe. That resonated with many Japanese, even though most foreign residents pay taxes and social security as required, and only account for about 3% of both Japan's total population and of welfare benefit recipients. His xenophobic views, antisemitic remarks and emphasis on Japan's ethnic purity have alarmed human rights activists and many experts, prompting protests. Kamiya's party, and another big winner, the Democratic Party for the People, which pushed for an increase of "take home wages," attracted workers who feel frustrated and ignored by conventional parties. Their advance is also part of a new move led by younger people connecting on social media with hopes of changing Japan's political landscape, Izuru Makihara, a politics professor at the University of Tokyo, toldJap a NHK television talk show. Sanseito is still inexperienced and its future success depends on whether its elected members can achieve policies, he said. Kamiya, a former Self-Defense Force reservist and an assembly member in the western town of Suita, promotes an anti-vaccine and anti-globalism platform, while backpedaling on gender equality and sexual diversity. He has repeatedly talked favorably about Trump for taking bold measures. During his campaign, he said that Trump's leadership is part of a growing anti-globalism movement in the West, and that "we share the same concern." He also told a party leaders' debate that Trump policies are for protecting U.S. national interest and are good examples that Japan should follow. Kamiya is supportive of Trump's move to repeal decarbonization and diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Kamiya, a fiery speaker, is also known for stirring controversy and has become a target of scrutiny as his party gained attention. He has blamed the government's gender equality policies for triggering Japan's declining birth rate and population. Kamiya, who opposes allowing a female-line emperor, was also criticized for suggesting that the imperial family would have to turn to concubines if the government was too slow in taking measures to ensure a stable succession. Associated Press

Japan's Upper House poll spells trouble for PM
Japan's Upper House poll spells trouble for PM

Gulf Today

time21 hours ago

  • Gulf Today

Japan's Upper House poll spells trouble for PM

The Sunday poll to the Upper House of the Japanese Diet is projected to end as a rebuff to the ruling coalition of Liberal Democratic Party-Komeiti coalition led by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. The ruling coalition is set to lose its majority in the Upper House according to media projections. The television channel NHK is predicting that the LDP coalition could win between 32 and 53 seats. Though the government of Ishiba does not have to quit, the prime minister will be under greater pressure than ever to resign, and the LDP will be forced to choose a new leader. Ishiba has acknowledged the setback but he has told a television news channel that the country is facing a crucial trade dialogue with the United States, and that the responsibility of his government is to focus on the bilateral talks, with the US under President Donald Trump, threatening to impose reciprocal tariffs between 10 per cent and 25 per cent. Like many other trading partners of the US, Japan too is worried because the American tariffs would hit the export-based economy harshly. Political commentators say that Ishiba referring to the trade talks is an indirect way of saying that he would not be stepping down. But it seems most likely that after a trade agreement is finalized with the US, Ishiba might be forced to step down. His public ratings have been very low because of rampant inflation and the decision of the government to impose a consumer tax. This has been vigorously opposed by all the opposition parties though any other party in office would face the same policy dilemma about inflation. Ishiba is proposing cash handouts to all, including foreigners residing in Japan. It is the far-right Sanseito which is billed to gain the most in these elections. It is projected to win 10 to 15 seats. It holds a single seat in the upper chamber now. The party with the slogan of 'Japanese First' was born on the YouTube in 2020 during the Covid pandemic. It has won three seats in the Lower House. Party leader Sohei Kamiya has tried to explain what is meant by 'Japanese First'. He told Nippon Television, 'The phrase Japanese First was meant to express rebuilding Japanese people's livelihoods by resisting globalism. I am not saying that we should completely ban foreigners or that every foreigner should get out of Japan.' But the anti-immigrant plank is part of the party's political doctrine. The foreigners in Japan form just 3 per cent of the population but their presence has become prominent because of the increase in tourism. The tourist arrivals in Japan this year had crossed the 20-million mark. Political experts feel that the opposition parties are only taking advantage of the stressful economic condition and that they have nothing different to offer to address the existing challenge. Political science professor Yu Uchiyama of the University of Tokyo said, 'The Ishiba administration has received a harsh verdict. It seems the public believed that the government and ruling parties failed to respond effectively to various issues, including rising prices. The opposition's call for a consumption tax cut appears to have appealed to voters more than the ruling party's proposed cash handouts.' And he pointed out, 'Moves to oust Ishiba may emerge. However, under these difficult circumstances, it will be hard for anyone – regardless of who becomes prime minister – to turn the situation around.' Japan has been experiencing trouble since the 1990s, starting with stagnation despite the Bank of Japan reducing interest rates to zero and below. It is only last year that the central bank has pushed the interest rate into positive territory.

Hunter curses out Clooney for pushing dad out of race
Hunter curses out Clooney for pushing dad out of race

Gulf Today

timea day ago

  • Gulf Today

Hunter curses out Clooney for pushing dad out of race

John Bowden, The Independent Scandal-plagued former first son Hunter Biden ripped into actor George Clooney in a foul-mouthed tirade aired Monday. The 55-year-old son of former President Joe Biden went on an expletive-filled rant against the Hollywood megastar in an interview with Andrew Callaghan, an independent journalist and former host of the podcast, All Gas No Brakes. He railed against the Goodnight, and Good Luck auteur's demand that Joe Biden drop out of the 2024 presidential race, which the younger Biden and others in the family's inner circle have made clear they believe is to blame for the Democratic Party's loss to Donald Trump. But he also took aim at Clooney's acting chops, suggesting hurt feelings were at play. "What do you have to do with anything? Hunter Biden seethed about the ER star. "Why do I have to listen to you? What right do you have to step on a man who's given 52 years of his life to the service of this country and decide that you, George Clooney, are going to take out basically a full page ad in the New York Times to undermine the president at a time in which, by the way, what do people care about the most?" Biden claimed that the division within the Democratic Party led to Republicans having an insurmountable advantage ahead of November. He also claimed that the disastrous performance of his father at his one and only debate with Trump was due to his father taking Ambien in order to sleep on foreign trips. "I know exactly what happened in that debate. He flew around the world, basically mileage that he could have flown around the world three times, he's 81 years old, he's tired as s---, they give him Ambien to be able to sleep, he's gets up on the stage and he looks like he's a deer in the headlights," Hunter told Callaghan, adding: "(I)t feeds into every story that anybody wants to tell." Of Clooney's acting, he said of the From Dusk Till Dawn star: "I agree with Quentin Tarantino. George Clooney is not a actor. He is like... I don't know what he is. He's a brand." Biden's rant was nearly duplicated in a second podcast appearance — this time, a conversation with Jaime Harrison, former chair of the Democratic Party. Even here, Biden told the At Our Table host he didn't give a "s***" about Clooney's political opinions. "We lost the last election because we did not remain loyal to the leader of the party," he said during that appearance. "That's my position. We had the advantage of incumbency, we had the advantage of an incredibly successful administration, and the Democratic Party literally melted down." His father's performance at a June presidential debate with Donald Trump alarmed voters on all sides of the political spectrum and drew immediate fears from Democrats that the party was preparing to hand the election over to Republicans. Clooney was a prominent part of that avalanche, penning an op-ed for the New York Times titled, "I Love Joe Biden, But We Need a New Nominee". Pod Save America co-host Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for Barack Obama, said that internal polling conducted by the Biden campaign showed the former president losing by a landslide were he to remain in the race. The elder Biden dropped out of the race a month later, after an agonizing few weeks of calls for him to step down by backbencher Democrats and the less-than-delicate hinting from the likes of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others seemingly urging the same. Kamala Harris, his vice president and running mate, ascended to the top of the ticked after party officials shot down the idea of a last-minute primary election playing out at the Democratic National Convention. Democrats had already blown their own chance to hold a real primary earlier in the year. Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, was drafted as her running mate after a short candidate search.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store