Geoff Russ: Woke 1 was crazy. Woke 2 is worse and has already conquered Canada

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks to reporters on the House steps after a series of votes at the U.S. Capitol on July 22, 2026 in Washington, DC. Photo by Anna Moneymaker /Getty Images

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United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently declared that “Woke 1 was crazy.” That was supposed to represent a retreat from the extremes reached during the alleged first wave of “woke,” conjuring up memories of compulsory struggle sessions, left-wing racialization in universities and the workplace, and pronoun creep.

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Woke 1 was rather ridiculous and provided great fuel for laughs and cheap entertainment across North America. However, Woke 1 implies Woke 2 is coming, and it will be far worse when it does. In fact, in Canada, at least, Woke 2 is already here, and the fact it is quieter is not a sign of weakness. Not only is Woke 2 turning the accommodation of Woke 1 into durable power, it is cycling in fresh causes post-pandemic.

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The second wave is being driven by the same people who insisted on gender-neutral washrooms, the relitigation of history, and the eradication of basic standards concerning appearance and hygiene. Now they are graduating from law schools and entering government. If Woke 1 was able to bludgeon the establishment into partial compliance, Woke 2 will complete the transformation as more and more inmates start to run the asylum.

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Woke 1 started in the mid-2010s, when the mediocre NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick was considered important for taking a knee during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Alongside that came the rise of land acknowledgements and activist students ripping the gender signs off campus washrooms.

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The high-water mark of Woke 1 was the George Floyd riots and unrest of 2020, capped off by the first defeat of Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election. There is no question that Trump’s victory in 2016 and the ascendancy of right-wing populism in western politics saw a parallel eruption on the left.

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People learned to roll their eyes as institutional panic gave way to corporate sermons, renamed universities, and plans to spend billions on “anti-racism” strategies. However, this was still accommodation rather than full-scale transformation.

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Woke 2 will have different ideological pillars on the surface, but the same agenda of deconstruction. New bosses and department heads who will swap out rants about “privilege” for removing “barriers,” which, in effect, means curtailing the career advancement for straight, white men to the benefit of everyone else. This is already happening, but Woke 2 will cement it with more professional, less politicized language, rather than leave it as a short-term circus.

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Persuading the public is no longer the goal of Woke 2. Rather, it will be about controlling money and sinecures and deciding who and what receives grants, contracts, and licences.

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Canada is uniquely exposed because, unlike almost every other western country that experienced a non-left interlude, it has not had a federal Conservative government since 2015. For almost 11 years now, the Liberals have happily incorporated Woke 1 into the “big tent” and twisted government policy to suit it.

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Whatever changes Mark Carney has nominally brought to the Liberals, the imprint of Justin Trudeau’s zeal for Woke 1 is found in the qualifications for Canada Research Chairs, academic advancement, and grant-making. In fact, Canada exited Woke 1 ages ago and is already deep into the quieter, more effective and insidious Woke 2.