Emma S.
AuthorThere is a deep, although seldom discussed, connection between anti-environmentalism, the belief that there should be no effort made to preserve the environment or even that environmental destruction is acceptable, and various forms of fascism and authoritarianism throughout history.
During the first Trump administration, we had already seen cuts to environmental regulations and departments. Not long after the election of Trump in 2016, Jair Bolsonaro was elected president of Brazil, and the country immediately began a massive campaign to strip away the already devastated Amazon rainforest.
We can see now under the second Trump regime that not only is there a complete lack of concern for mitigating climate change and environmental degradation, but there is in fact an almost gleeful willingness to accelerate its deterioration. From privatizing and selling off natural parks to land developers, to cutting all funding for environmental protections and demolishing or hijacking the departments tasked with overseeing everything from emissions to natural disasters like EPA, FEMA and NOAA, it seems baffling to those who have not been keeping track of the Christo-fascist movement within the modern Republican Party and many other far-right parties around the world.
This is precisely because this modern fundamentalist Christian variation of fascism is, like others before it, not based on any rational or scientific perception of the world. It is built on domination, dogma, hatred, fear, and a belief in an imminent rapture that will consume the Earth and bring the faithful to heaven while others perish. It is, like other forms of fascism, a kind of death cult, not meant to create an enduring foundation to build a future on, but a tool for consolidating power by taking advantage of existing demographics already predisposed to believing in it.
Environmental fascism reveals its values through the fundamentalist religious movements that it draws its base from. These religious movements are also anthropocentric and hierarchical structures that glorify industry, militarism, and oil and coal extraction. They reject global interdependence in favor of isolation and imperialism. They reject science, too.
We can also see that in this modern form of American fascism, there is a specific emphasis on self-destruction as a means of punishment that harms everyone, even those who are doing it, as it disproportionately hurts people most vulnerable. Observe the way the regime devastates federal funding for medical research and scientific advancement, uses mass deportations and tariffs to completely destabilize the economy, and emboldens far-right groups to spread terror in the public.
The point of all this is that fascism seeks power at all costs and is not concerned with what happens later. It is better for a fascist leader to completely reign over a broken, impoverished nation than to simply hold relative wealth and prestige in a thriving, successful one. What this means in effect is that destruction, of the economy, of the environment, of the welfare safety-net, of the fabric of society, is used as a tool for destabilizing society and making it easier to manipulate, while also sparking fear and despair.
Fascism and capitalism have historically walked in lock step with each other when convenient. We saw this in Nazi Germany when wealthy business owners sided with Hitler and the early Nazi Party, seeing it as a means to eradicate the leftist movements that were threatening them and further enrich themselves at the same time.
Capitalism and modern fascist movements see environmental regulations as a threat to national sovereignty and economic power, the primary motivation for wanting to eliminate them. However, as the movement becomes more radicalized, they may see this exploitation and misuse of the planet and its resources as part of God’s plan. Resources were put here specifically for human consumption. They often believe that scientific evidence describing the actual consequences of this overuse of fossil fuels and degradations are either completely made up, over-exaggerated, or that these consequences are acceptable because they fulfill God’s will.
It also can’t be underemphasized how much fascist movements are often detached from reality. Historically, this often leads to their eventual downfall. Myths of chosen races and divine will are useful for acquiring power in the first place, yet are not necessarily useful for running a successful nation-state in the long term. This is a critical tool for us to build a massive movement capable of taking back control from oligarchs and fascists and giving it to the people. Fascist movements often underestimate their enemies, seeing them as too weak to build an effective resistance.
We are now quite far from the days of the Green New Deal when it seemed that there was a path forward, albeit one that was shaky and difficult, towards some kind of effective action. Unfortunately, our country, after generations of neoliberalism and immersion in a culture of consumerism, has been completely incapable of handling the existential threat of climate crisis and all its horrific consequences; rather than make electoral and collective choices that would lead us in the right direction, it has, at a pivotal time, often made the absolute worst choices.
We are now in a situation where there is no longer a choice to be silent and passive. The fight for the future of the planet as a habitable place and the fight against fascism are one in the same. Under a fundamentalist Christian, authoritarian regime, there will be no possibility for the climate crisis to be mitigated in any way, and so in this critical moment, it is necessary that fascism be defeated.
