Father Christmas is ‘too white’ says woke museum – and there should not be a naughty checklist | UK | News | EUROtoday

Brighton and Hove Museums has sparked outrage by claiming Father Christmas is “too white” and his conventional naughty and good checklist promotes colonial attitudes, urging dad and mom to “decolonise” the festive determine. The publicly funded establishment argued that the story of a “white, Western Santa” judging kids worldwide reinforces “colonial assumptions of cultural superiority”.

The publish, titled “Decolonising Father Christmas”, said: “The tale of a white, Western Santa who judges all children’s behaviour has problems.” It questioned how Santa might pretty assess “Indigenous children practising their own cultural traditions”, describing him because the “ultimate authority of all societies”.

The museum urged ditching the naughty/good “Western binary” in favour of tales emphasising “cultural exchange rather than assessment”. Recommendations included portraying Santa studying about numerous traditions, together with world employees in his workshop, and having him toil alongside elves as equals.

To fight patriarchy, it proposed introducing “Mother Christmas” or a number of Santas from completely different areas. “Patriarchy and colonialism went hand in hand,” the publish learn. “Show the next generation that men don’t have to be in charge.”

Critics swiftly condemned the intervention as absurd and joy-killing. Toby Young, founding father of the Free Speech Union, branded the museum “po-faced”. He instructed The Telegraph: “I don’t suppose kids in non-Christian nations are going to object when Santa pops down their chimney to provide them a gift.

“Is this museum suggesting they should leave a note saying ‘sorry, but this is a decolonised fireplace and white supremacists dressed in red aren’t welcome’? If so, it should rename itself the Right On and Po-Faced Museum.”

Alka Sehgal Cuthbert, director of Don’t Divide Us, called the idea “laughable”.

She said: “It also shows that there are no limits to what ideologues in cultural institutions will go to in seeking to rupture our sense of belonging to a common past and culture.

“This enjoying at fake radical, anti-West politics by museums is boring, tedious and intellectually vacuous. This isn’t tradition, it’s playpen politics which shouldn’t be getting public funding…The museum might get Grinch of the Year award, although.”

Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin, representing Runcorn and Helsby, additionally slammed the weblog in a social media publish on December 21, linking it to broader “woke” controversies.

She wrote: “There are parts of the establishment in this country whom I genuinely believe are mentally unwell. Father Christmas is too white? Jingle Bells is racist? Do They Know It’s Christmas is accused of pushing African stereotypes? The Wokerati are becoming more deranged and detached from reality by the day.”

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove Museums defended the weblog, saying it was supposed to “prompt reflection rather than prescribe how anyone should celebrate Christmas”. They added: “This blog post was written in 2023 as part of our Culture Change work.

“As museum educators, our role is not to tell people what is right or wrong, but to help audiences look at history and culture from more than one point of view… Encouraging curiosity, critical thinking and conversation is a core part of museum education. People are free to agree or disagree.”

The controversy erupted days earlier than Christmas, with the unique publish relationship again two years however gaining contemporary consideration as this 12 months’s festivities approached.