Ecofascism, sometimes spelled eco-fascism, is a term used to describe individuals and groups which combine environmentalism with fascism. In older literature, eco-fascism was viewed as a hypothetical form of totalitarianism based on environmentalism. Since the 2010s, a number of individuals and groups have emerged that either self-identify as "ecofascist" or have been labelled as "ecofascist" by academic and journalistic sources. These individuals and groups synthesise radical far-right politics with environmentalism; they will typically argue that overpopulation is the primary threat to the environment and that the only solution is a complete halt to immigration or, at their most extreme, genocide against various groups and ethnicities.; ; ; ; ; Many far-right political parties have added green politics to their platforms. Through the 2010s, ecofascism has also seen increasing support,; ; ; ; ; and subsequently has seen increasing interest from researchers.
Definition Philosopher André Gorz characterised eco-fascism as hypothetical forms of totalitarianism based on an ecological orientation of politics. Similar definitions have been used by others in older academic literature in discussions of "environmental fascism".
In 2005, environmental historian Michael E. Zimmerman defined "ecofascism" as "a totalitarian government that requires individuals to sacrifice their interests to the well-being of the 'land', understood as the splendid web of life, or the organic whole of nature, including peoples and their states". This was supported by philosopher Patrick Hassan's work analysing historical accusations of ecofascism in academic literature. Zimmerman argued that while no ecofascist government has existed so far, "important aspects of it can be found in German National Socialism, one of whose central slogans was "Blood and Soil".: "Instead, this article highlights an emerging strain of "eco-fascism" within sections of the contemporary extreme right that takes "Blood and Soil" as its ideological baseline and fuses it with a particularly virulent form of misanthropic ecological nihilism that views violence and terrorism against the current social, political, and economic order, as the only means of restoring man to a state of pristine pastoral purity." Other political agendas, instead of environmental protection and prevention of climate change, are nationalist approaches to climate such as national economic environmentalism, securitisation of climate change, and ecobordering.; ; ; ; ;
Ecofascists often believe there is a symbiotic relationship between a nation-group and its homeland.; ; ; ; ; They often blame the Global South for ecological problems, with their proposed solutions often entailing extreme population control measures based on racial categorisations,; ; : "They are often radicalized online, as the latest alleged shooter claims to have been, and many believe that white people, along with the environment, are threatened by non-white overpopulation. They often call for a halt to immigration, or the eradication of non-white populations."; ; and advocating for the accelerated collapse of current society to be replaced by fascist societies.; ; ; : "The co-opting of Kaczynski provides eco-fascists with a 'green accelerationist' pathway as the use of violent tactics to increase tensions can easily be applied to his ideas, elevating him as 'an obvious sage of violence.'"; ; This latter belief is often accompanied with vocal support for terrorist actions.
Vice has defined ecofascism as an ideology "which blames the demise of the environment on overpopulation, immigration, and over-industrialization, problems that followers think could be partly remedied through the mass murder of refugees in Western countries." Environmentalist author Naomi Klein has suggested that ecofascists' primary objectives are to close borders to immigrants and, on the more extreme end, to embrace the idea of climate change as a divinely-ordained signal to begin a mass purge of sections of the human race. Ecofascism is "environmentalism through genocide", opined Klein. Political researcher Alex Amend defined ecofascist belief as "The devaluing of human life—particularly of populations seen as inferior—in order to protect the environment viewed as essential to White identity."
Terrorism researcher Kristy Campion defined ecofascism as "a reactionary and revolutionary ideology that champions the regeneration of an imagined community through a return to a romanticised, ethnopluralist vision of the natural order." She further argues that ecofascists can be broadly divided into two groups: "custodians" who are predominantly ecocentric, and consider themselves and their localised ethnic group responsible for maintaining the ecological balance of their native lands, and "conquerors", who are anthropocentric, and are motivated to preserve the environment due to the belief that their "race" will not survive ecological collapse.
The European Commission describes ecofascism as the "weaponization of climate change by far right populist political parties and white supremacist groups". Tactics of this weaponisation include the use of language and equating actors in population and migration discourses to components of the climate crisis. As said in a policy brief for the International Center for Counter-Terrorism, this "linguistic violence" entails that "the invasion of non-native species that threaten the environment becomes synonymous with the invasion of immigrants, the protection of the environment with the protection of borders, trash with people, and environmental cleansing with ethnic cleaning."
Helen Cawood and Xany Jansen Van Vuuren have criticised previous attempts to define ecofascism as focusing too heavily on environmental and ecological conservationism in historical fascist movements, and the subsequent definitions being too broad and encompassing many ontologically different ideologies. In their criticism they summarise the current definition of ecofascism as used in the academic literature as "a movement that uses environmental and ecological conservationist talking points to push an ideology of ethnic or racial separatism". This is supported by Blair Taylor statement that ecofascism refers to "groups and ideologies that offer authoritarian, hierarchical, and racist analyses and solutions to environmental problems". Similarly, extremism researchers Brian Hughes, Dave Jones, and Amarnath Amarasingam argue that ecofascism is less a coherent ideology and more a cultural expression of mystical, anti-humanist romanticism. This is further supported by Maria Darwish in her research into the Nordic Resistance Movement where while there is concern for environmental issues they are "a concern for Neo-Nazis only in so far as it supports and popularizes the backstage mission of the NRM", that is the implementation of a fascist regime, and Jacob Blumenfeld stating "ecofascism names a specific far-right ideology that rationalizes white supremacist violence by invoking imminent ecological collapse and scarce natural resources".
Borrowing from the "watermelon" analogy of eco-socialism, Berggruen Institute scholar Nils Gilman has coined the term "avocado politics" for eco-fascism, being "green on the outside but brown(shirt) at the core".
In his book "", the political scientist Carlos Taibo characterises the phenomenon as a response to crises brought about by climate change. The ecofascist solution is to "[P]reserve increasingly scarce resources for a select minority. And to marginalize – in the mildest version – and exterminate – in the harshest – what are seen as surplus populations, on a planet that has visibly exceeded its limits.": ["preserving visibly scarce resources for a select minority. And marginalizing, in the mildest version, and exterminating, in the harshest version, what are understood to be surplus populations on a planet that has visibly exceeded its limits."] Crucially, Taibo argues that far from being circumscribed to the margins of right-wing extremism, which traditionally has mostly been associated with Climate change denial, ecofascist notions are likely to be pursued by "political forces we usually label as liberal and social-democratic", emerging within major centers of power in the west and among elites in the developing world.: ["The ecofascism I have in mind would be the product of a broad consensus that would bring together liberals and social democrats, Westerners and Chinese, elites from the North and elites from the South."] From this perspective, the antecedents of ecofascism, extending beyond ecological currents in fascist movements of the past, would be ideologies typical of Western colonialism, returning in modernised forms.: ["The second considers the latter's antecedents in scenarios such as those provided by Hitler's Germany and, in another key, by Western colonialism in its various forms."]
Ideological origins Madison Grant
Sometimes dubbed the "founding father" of ecofascism, Madison Grant was a pioneer of conservationism in America in the late 19th and early 20th century. Grant is credited as a founder of modern wildlife management. Grant built the Bronx River Parkway, was a co-founder of the American Bison Society, and helped create Glacier National Park, Olympic National Park, Everglades National Park and Denali National Park. As president of the New York Zoological Society, he founded the Bronx Zoo in 1899.
In addition to his conservationist work, Grant was a trenchant racist; ; ; ; and eugenicist.; ; ; ; In 1906, Grant supported the placement of Ota Benga, a kidnapped member of the Mbuti people, removed from his home in the Congo, and put on display in the Bronx Zoo as an exhibit in the Monkey House. In 1916, Grant wrote The Passing of the Great Race, a work of pseudoscientific literature which claimed to give an account of the anthropological history of Europe. The book divides Europeans into three races: Alpines, Mediterraneans and Nordics. It also claims that the first two races are inferior to the superior Nordic race, which it claims is the only race fit to rule the earth. Adolf Hitler would later describe Grant's book as "his bible" and Grant's "Nordic theory" became the bedrock of Nazi racial theories.; ; ; ; ; Additionally, Grant was a eugenicist: he cofounded and was the director of the American Eugenics Society and also advocated the culling of the unfit from the human population.; ; ; Grant concocted a 100-year plan to perfect the human race, a plan in which one ethnic group after another would be killed off until racial purity would be obtained. Grant campaigned for the passage of the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and he also campaigned for the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, which drastically reduced the number of immigrants from eastern Europe and Asia who were allowed to enter the United States.
In the 21st century, Grant's ideas have been cited by far-right figures such as Richard Spencer and the Norwegian mass shooter Anders Breivik.
Nazism