Every January, Australians are reminded by the chattering classes that they should hang their heads in shame about the very foundation and existence of our country.

By no means is this a uniquely Australian affliction, but one universalised across the Anglosphere. The blackening of UK, USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand histories, along with a drive to weaken patriotism, has long been the aim of the progressive networks operational in all these countries.

The rise of Black Lives Matter was simply the latest manifestation of a movement that has been implanted in the West for decades by means of NGOs, academics, and the multicultural and race relations industries established in these countries at taxpayer expense. This was also very much in line with Soviet ‘active measures’ which helped to implant the Neo-Marxist ideology which began its long march through our public life and is found in all sectors of our society.

Disproportionately, the English-speaking world and its achievements in governance, law and economy, guarantees of freedom and prosperity, has been targeted. The undermining inevitably benefits powers whose own histories are littered with atrocities on a far greater scale, only to brazenly deny their wrongdoings.

Russia is unrepentant about its Soviet past and the crimes it inflicted on the many nations that came under its domination through communism. Just look at the Twitter account of the Russian MFA where denial of history is routine regarding aggression against Poland and the Baltic states including numerous Soviet atrocities. (Not to mention how Russia and its satellite Belarus have effectively weaponised migration on the Polish border.) Then there is Turkey’s well-funded effort to deny genocide against Armenians and other communities under Ottoman rule such as Assyrians and Greeks.

The British monarchy and Commonwealth are viewed by the Left as an evil legacy of empire, whose dissolution is desired by them. Their goal has always been to weaken the bonds of the English-speaking nations which underpins the push to turn Commonwealth realms (not least Australia) into republics.

Yet none of their condemnations of Britain’s colonial history, the monarchy, and the Commonwealth has ever applied to Soviet history and the numerous post-Soviet organisations which are very clearly designed to maintain a link to that past – the CIS, Eurasian Economic Union, and CSTO. Neither is there such condemnation of the Ottoman Empire and Erdogan’s Neo-Ottoman policies. Both of these are more heavily rooted in imperialism than the present-day Commonwealth and Anglosphere, but are judged as ‘good’ or (allegedly) ‘less evil’ than Western imperialism.

Similarly, the Islamic Republic regime in Iran has embarked on its own imperial project rooted in its ideology which it aims to export into other nations, once more with the aid of transnational progressive networks that have enmeshed themselves with the regime’s lobby. Here you will find the usual suspects in academia, media, politics, and a seemingly incoherent alliance of movements under their umbrella.

The goal of the Woke movement in the West’s ‘Culture Wars’ is to demoralise the English-speaking world, weaken patriotic attachments, and deliver a propaganda victory to our adversaries who have long sought to exploit our discord. They effectively do this work as well as any lobbying operation by such regimes could have done.

By condemning the legacy of the British Empire, the Commonwealth, and the entirety of Western Civilisation as uniquely evil, they have opened the door for far less benign imperialisms to march without resistance in the ‘Global South’ of the Left’s imagination.

An empire for some, but not for others…

David Votoupal writes at his blog on substack.