#WORLD #WORLDWIDE #FRANCE #ANARCHISM #News #Journal #Update - (en) France, UCL AL #329 - Libertarian Imaginaries, SF jostled by diversity: The Hugo prize at bay (ca, de, it, fr, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 From 2013 to 2017, the Hugo Prize, the oldest and most prestigious literary

prize in the field of science fiction, was the victim of a coordinated attack
from conservative and supremacist groups in order to reward authors producing SF.
or conservative fantasy consistent with their worldview. Back to the Puppygate
that shook the world of science fiction. ---- Making exist in the story (before
making it happen for real?) alternative forms of life, making minorities visible,
deconstructing social norms, is a political act (read the interview with Lizzie
Crowdagger page 22) . In this, SF and everything related to it - we will speak
here of the literatures of the imaginary - have a significant social and
political function. The reactionaries understood this well.

In 2013, a conservative and "anti-diversity" group, the Sad Puppies, attempted to
elect novels or short stories promoting stories with conservative and libertarian
overtones, demanding an end to overvaluation, their eyes, of progressive and
inclusive narratives.

Initiated by Larry Correia - an author best known for his Monster Hunter
International series, in which hunters of vampires and other monsters act in
order to "protect society and the public interest" - who sought to put one of his
books, Monster Hunter Legion, the fourth installment in his vampire slayer series.

The voluntary and salutary promotion by the World Science Fiction Convention,
which awards the Hugo Prize, of authors from minorities was not accepted by some
conservative authors and their public.

Replaying the opposition between the elites and the people - the reactionaries
like to take advantage of the "people" to legitimize their segregationism - they
sought to favor the promotion of popular works - implying works favoring a white,
Christian and heterosexual vision. of the society.

The Puppies are nostalgic for good old SF with good patriotic laser-gun-loving
heroes.
 From 2013 to 2017, the Sad Puppies, then the Rabid Puppies (rabid puppies), a
radicalized version of the first, led by Theodore Beale, alias Vox Day, far-right
activist, supremacist and notoriously misogynist (he is also director of the
collection of 'a publishing house), try to impose their vision of SF/Fantasy by
voting massively for conservative or even reactionary authors.

In 2014 Vox Day managed to place eleven novels in the list of final selections.
The following year, the Rabid Puppies imposed their candidates on the lists of
nominees.

Conservatives defeated
The voting process, which takes place over several days during a convention,
nevertheless ensures a minimum of democratic control over the awarding of prizes.
That year voter turnout skyrocketed and all but one of the prizes were not awarded.

The reactionaries did not pick up any prizes and united the community of
progressive fans who pledged to make minorities more visible. After that, World
Science Fiction embarked on an alternative voting process to protect itself from
attacks by constituted groups.

Since then, SF has become even more open to alternative cultures and expressions.
Culture is an ideological battlefield, including in the wrong genres.

David (UCL Chambery)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?La-SF-bousculee-par-les-diversites-Le-prix-Hugo-aux-abois
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