The rise of ecofascism: climate change and the far right

Lubarda, Balša

doi:10.1080/09644016.2022.2087333

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…The most numerous category of people is 'environmentalist'; and although far-right publications have often celebrated 'their' predecessors in the field of environmental protection, this is hardly happening in the context of this corpus, probably due to the focus on climate change towards which significant parts of the far right, in a variety of ways, have been sceptical (e.g. Moore & Roberts, 2022;Malm & the Zetkin Collective, 2021;Forchtner, 2019; for book-length analyses with a focus on Germany, see Quent et al, 2022;Sommer et al, 2022). Indeed, only one out of the 47 images containing environmentalists is valorized positively.…”

Section: Thunberg Not Icebergmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thunberg, not iceberg

Forchtner

2024

Political Ecologies of the Far Right

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Icebergs and icescapes have long been iconic in climate imagery (O'Neill, 2020) -imagery which has recently been complemented by representations of the climate activist Greta Thunberg. Such imagery is of particular relevance in our increasingly mediatized world in which the persuasive nature of visuals is often taken for granted. Indeed, this persuasiveness is pointedly summarized by Joffe (2008: 86), who argues that a visual 'is emotive, absorbed in an unmediated fashion, vivid and memorable, and "proves" the authenticity of the event depicted'. It is due to these characteristics that scholars in the fields of environmental/climate change communication have increasingly analysed the uses of imagery (for reviews, see Hansen, 2018;O'Neill & Smith, 2014).Yet, while substantial research on environmental/climate change-related imagery exists, and while there has long been research on visual analysis of far-right communication (for recent examples, see Doerr, 2021;Hokka & Nelimarkka, 2020;Freistein & Gadinger, 2020), the emerging field of study on environmental/climate change communication by the contemporary far right (Mudde, 2019) is only now beginning to take a 'visual turn' (see Forchtner, 2023). Such analysis is, however, crucial as visuals play a leading role in propagating, maintaining and bolstering far-right ideologies (their problem definitions, interpretations and solutions) in society at large, including anti-progressive environmentalist attitudes and worldviews. Indeed, images not only convey knowledge and articulate (far-right) subjectivities, but construct 'appropriate' emotions too as Joffe, in the above quote, makes clear. And, as we shall see, images of Greta Thunberg, rather than icebergs, appear to play a crucial role.Against this background, this chapter proposes a pathway forward into analysis of environmental imagery to deepen our understanding of how visuals operate in furthering far-right agendas at this crucial moment in time. More specifically, the chapter does so by providing a case study of the German far right. This case promises relevant insights in light of Germany's

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Section: Thunberg Not Icebergmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thunberg, not iceberg

Forchtner

2024

Political Ecologies of the Far Right

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“…Achieving climate justice as a superordinate concern, or suffer the fascist alternatives Protecting our ecosystem from climate catastrophe should be an obvious social good. But the past decade has seen revanchist political movements burgeoning the threat of ecofascist policies which protect the elite few at the cost of the marginalized (Moore and Roberts, 2022). Integrating broader environmental concerns like climate change into the curriculum has been of mixed success and uptake has been variegated and uneven depending on the political dynamics at work in the United States' federated educational policy landscape that gives curricular powers to states and local school boards (Plutzer et al, 2016).…”

Section: Settler Colonialism and Racial Capitalism As Climate Superst...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change as superordinate curriculum?

Long

Henderson

2023

Research in Education

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Despite being one of the largest carbon emitters in the world, the United States has little direct emphasis on climate change in its schools. Even where there is desire to teach climate change, the politicization of climate change sees school leaders steering teachers away from the topic. This piece examines what we know about climate change education in the U.S., what types of curriculum we have had, what historical conditions saw the U.S. curriculum change, and asks whether and how climate change can and should be a superordinate concern of U.S. schooling. As U.S. schools on whole have never been a site of equity concerning matters of race, class, gender, and many other issues, we ask whether climate change will be subsumed or taken up as a concern. We pose two alternate futures: one in which the scale of climate change as a problem sees changes in how we educate our young and affect the future, or another where the potential for a healthy climate becomes a prime concern of burgeoning revanchist, fascistic leaning governments worldwide and ecofascist social movements within them.

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“…9 Turner and Bailey ( 2022) refer to such practices of blaming immigration for national environmental degradation as "ecobordering," which is evident in the political manifestos and platforms of the 22 European far-right parties that they researched. These discourses are often entangled in ecofascist narratives that bring together racist tropes of overpopulation, eugenics, environmentalist misanthropy, and securitization of the environment itself (Moore & Roberts, 2022; see also, Dyett & Thomas, 2019).…”

Section: Political Populismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Climate nationalismthe idea that climate change poses a serious threat to national interestshas attracted the attention of both conservative and progressive groups. Drawing on evidence from the polarization of politics in highly industrialized countries, scholars often portray climate nationalism in either of the two polar opposite avatars: Climate nationalism, in the hands of reactionary right-wing actors, is associated with eco-fascism (Fishel, 2021;Forchtner, 2019;Moore & Roberts, 2022), while climate nationalism in the hands of progressive actors evokes civic virtues toward a socially-inclusive climate secure future (Conversi & Hau, 2021;Fishel, 2021;Lieven, 2020a). The opposing sides in the debates on climate nationalism often play along a storyline of "good nationalism" or "bad nationalism"-a "positive civic nationalism" versus a "destructive ethnic nationalism" (Braun, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate nationalisms: Beyond the binaries of good and bad nationalism

Kashwan

Liu

Das

2022

WIREs Climate Change

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Climate nationalism has attracted renewed interest among scholars and analysts of international climate politics, security studies, and international relations more broadly. However, the most prominent arguments about climate nationalism follow a storyline of “good nationalism” or “bad nationalism”—a “positive civic nationalism” versus a “destructive ethnic nationalism.” In this article, we review these debates by drawing on prominent strands of scholarship on climate nationalism, mapped onto three key aspects: climate securitization, political populism, and Civic nationalism. To further ground our review in real‐world politics outside of the United States and Western Europe, we offer a snapshot of climate nationalism narratives deployed by political elites in three large countries in the Asia‐Pacific: Australia, India, and China. Our review shows that considering the multiscalar, multisectoral, and global scope of climate action, it may be futile to look for a conclusive answer to the question of whether nationalism is good or bad for fostering effective and enduring transformations suitable for a climate‐changed world. Instead, we recommend a research agenda focused on investigating the myriad ways in which political and economic elites fuse discourses of nationalism with various aspects of climate politics and climate action. A proper understanding of elite interests, discourses, and strategies, in ways that account for varied national and regional political and economic contexts, we argue is crucial for a fuller understanding of how narratives of nationalism may affect climate action. This article is categorized under: The Carbon Economy and Climate Mitigation > Policies, Instruments, Lifestyles, Behavior Policy and Governance > Multilevel and Transnational Climate Change Governance Climate and Development > Knowledge and Action in Development Policy and Governance > National Climate Change Policy

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The rise of ecofascism: climate change and the far right

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Thunberg, not iceberg

Thunberg, not iceberg

Climate change as superordinate curriculum?

Climate nationalisms: Beyond the binaries of good and bad nationalism

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