Why ‘woke’ became toxic

The term ‘woke’ has become so divisive that it is harming support for the issues it is meant to be highlighting.

In the West, the term “woke” has become a lightning rod on both the left and the right – a symbol of a modern culture war. But its origins are far from modern. It first emerged in the US in the 1940s from the word “awake” and was used to describe someone who is well-informed on issues of social injustice – particularly racism. In its original use, it meant being alert to the specific discrimination and systemic harm suffered by African Americans. Thus, being “woke” implies one has “awakened” from a slumber, rather like the protagonist, Neo, after being unplugged from the Matrix in the movie of the same name. More recently, it has been adopted as a ubiquitous watchword for a wide variety of social movements, including LGBTQ issues, feminism, immigration, climate change and marginalised communities. But this broad use of the term has caused it to become heavily weaponised by both the left and the right, turning what was once a welcoming creed into a toxic and divisive word, particularly in Western countries including the US, Canada, the UK and other European nations. This toxicity is in large part due to activists failing to develop the necessary coalitions to instil the change campaigners are advocating for.