Season 2: Ep 14 - Identity Politics, Intersectionality and Freedom of Speech

Journalist and former Brexit Party parliamentary candidate Inaya Folarin Iman and I sit down over Zoom and ponder over the UK’s current political climate and public accountability during COVID-19. We start off discussing our fixation with identity politics and how to overcome it. I also ask Inaya why she believes in Brexit and whether her experience with the Brexit Party felt any different as a woman of colour. 

We reflect on Conservatism and Feminism and ask whether they are mutually exclusive. We talk through the objectives of Intersectional Feminism and examine the tacit hierarchies of morality and ‘victimhood’. We then look at the significance of freedom of speech and its compatibility with truth and lasting peace. In doing so, we recognise that as individuals, we only hold part of the truth and that exchanging contrasting views enables original thinking beyond the political binaries of good vs evil, conservatives vs socialists or oppressor vs oppressed. In the midst of this pandemic, we see how dissent, scrutiny and even partisanship help us to hold our leaders accountable.