Against Green Reactionaries Writings on eco-fascists and exterminationists Confronting the Rise of Eco-Fascism Means Grappling with Complex Systems Emmi Bevensee and Alexander Reid Ross There s nothing anarchist a!out Eco-Fascism Scott Campbell #n $o %latform and &'S William Gillis &'S( or the rhetoric of decay Joint statement of insurrectional groups in Mexican territory Confronting the Rise of Eco-Fascism Means Grappling with Complex Systems Emmi Bevensee and Alexander Reid Ross “If you don't believe climate change is caused by the Chinese and Indians and "e should cull them to prevent furt!er environmental damage you're a cuc#old f$$$$t%& - Comment from a user in Iron March neo-nazi forum leaks “My pledge 'real(onaldTrump is that if you become a pit bull for planet Eart!* you "on't need Russia to hac# my polling place% I will vote for you%& - Bill Maher What is Eco-Fascism) When the El Paso shooter committed his ersonal ideolo!" to a manifesto# he sa$ %t to include anti-imperialism and environmental politics# &ust like the shooter in Christchurch' (undamentall" subscribing to a biolo!icall" racist $orldvie$ that abhors inter-racial couples# his manifesto# if real# spoke of an overpo ulated# polluted $orld in $hich corporations use racial underclasses to undermine $orkers and tip demo!raphic scales in favor of liberalism' That conservatives largel" re&ect environmental le!islation did not phase the author of the manifesto# $ho concludes )" insisting that corporations be brou!ht to heel under a confederated s"stem of ethno-states in $hat is no$ the +nited ,tates' Importantl"# the El Paso shooter confessed to )eing motivated# in part, )" the manifesto of the Christchurch mass shooter, who also em)raced green fascism' Exceptin! the ultimatum of ethno-states# Western -entucky +niversit" instructor William Black remarked# .*e manifesto is not the ravings of a madman or a )rainwashed kid' It's $hat millions of Americans believe'0 In the +',' alone# 1onald 2rum 3s outbursts and 2ucker Carlson3s pro!ram on (45 6e$s promote a popular far-right ima!e of immi!rants and refu!ees as dirty# disease-bearin! rapists and potential criminals' Indeed# the 2rum administration %!ure most clearl" connected to immigration policy# ,tephen Miller# promoted propa!anda )" $hite nationalists producing a similar icture of an overpopulated $orld in which white men are under attack. ,hortl" after the El Paso shootin!# a man opened %re in a popular district of 1a"ton, 4hio# killin! his sister and a number of )"standers' Investigations into his social media revealed left-$in!# ecolo!ical# and antifascist commitments, but a deeper look turned u extreme miso!"ny# chauvinistic attitudes# and fascination $ith an ecoterrorist !rou and a death cult. A spate of articles came out at once cautioning a!ainst the rising tide of eco-fascism' 7ahoo 6e$s ran a pro%le of eco-fascism in their lifestyle section, the Washin!ton Post dre$ an eco-fascist connection )etween El Paso and 1a"ton, niche ecolo!"-focused ma!azines like 8i!h Countr" 6e$s published in-de th articles about it, left-$ing sites like 4pen 1emocracy and 8u9ngtonPost contextualized it $ithin the rise of !reen thou!ht across the board# and *e 6ation !ave a choice: !reen socialism or eco-fascism' Articles have continued to ;o$# including most recentl" from 8arpers Bazaar cautioning a!ainst the rise of eco-fascism and 8u9ngtonPost a!ain re!ardin! the Austrian coalition )etween Greens and Conservatives as .somethin! that looks increasingl" like eco- fascism'0 ,o ho$ apt are these pro!ressive $arnings of the emergence of a far-ri!ht adaptation to the risin! anxiety over climate change< We returned to the histor" of ecolo!ical thou!ht $ithin fascism# and vice-versa# to tease out different tendencies $ithin so-called .left-fascism0 or the .*ird Position0 and identif" strains as the" have developed' We further searched throu!h archived data from the leaked Iron March forum# comparing the sentiments and narratives expressed therein to the overall trends of green thou!hts $ithin fascism and fascist ideolo!" $ithin the !reen movement. >astl"# $e anal"zed the often-competing strate!ic approaches $ithin fascism—vanguardism and populism?$ithin this broader context to !ain an understanding of the d"namics of fascist approaches to political parties and paramilitar" movements as the" pertain to green ideolo!"' We found# erhaps most importantl"# that radical !reen and anti- im erialist politics exist in complex relation to other tendencies# including racism# miso!"ny# ableism# and a desire for extreme violence' We contend that ideolo!" is no lon!er su9cient for the left to understand the rise of fascism and the Anthropocene' >ike climate change# fascism manifests a complex problem and re@uires complex approaches to combat it. While environmentalism and anti-imperialism are rightl" associated with the left, the" can and have )een $ielded )" anyone $ho seeks radical change# including fascists' *us# leftist efforts to clearl" differentiate their political a!endaAsB from the far ri!ht in order to avoid fascist appropriation of left-$ing movements and a Cfascist cree C of leftists to the far-right often fall short of their loft" !oals. Put simpl", political a9liation is not enou!h. *is pa er $ill describe the histor" of ecolo!ical tendencies $ithin fascist ideolo!" as the" informed current networks of far- right !roups that have influenced toda"3s mass shooters' It $ill ultimatel" argue that fascism exists not onl" $ith an ultranationalist core ideolo!" but a limited adaptive capacity that enables it to absorb different political tendencies to take s"ncretic and oft-contradictor" sha es' *at means that issues like ecolo!"# $hich the left )elieves itself to .o$n,0 increasingl" )ecome sites of political contest over $ho can produce the most attractive political pro!ram' Althou!h fascist movements traditionall" favored industrial futurism# their modernism t"picall" involves a re&ection of the modern $orld and a reactionar" appeal to somethin! !reater' As climate change )ecomes more apparent, fascists adopt and fore!round !reen politics to advance their !oals' In our research of available historical and contemporar" texts and data from the Iron March forum# as $ell as 2ele!ram channels# $e found three critical points that bear further elaboration: • *ere is a long-standing environmentalist tendenc" within fascism that !ro$ing as hazards posed )" climate change manifest an existential threat to the sustainability of structures under!irding a perceived white identity. • As the need to confront the catastrophic conse@uences of climate change )ecomes more immediate# fascists have increasin!l" sent signals that the" $ill shift further to$ard eco-fascist violence' • Given that some leftists have proven susceptible to the false promises offered )" !reen fascism# there is a chance that a si!nificant authoritarian turn in the !reen movement could take lace# $ith terrible conse@uences for poor and marginalized populations' Put simpl"# the international far-right $ill not be able to ignore climate change forever' ,hould the" actuall" abandon lar!e-scale skepticism and accept the realit" of climate change# fascists ma" actuall" dra$ in many $ho reco!nize climate change as a ressing crisis throu!h the !loss" appeals of !reen authoritarianism# onl" to purge true believers on the $a" to po$er' ,trangel"# $ith the impacts of climate change increasing ecolo!ical crises# the acce tance of anthropogenic climate change is not an absolutel" necessar" component to the kind of !eneral shift to$ard ecolo!ical politics based on people3s lived experiences' Indeed# climate skepticism that re&ects anthropo!enic forcin! but accepts climate change ma" )e the ace up the fascists3 proverbial sleeve. At the same time, it is important to note that a turn of Conservatives to$ard ecolo!" does not necessaril" indicate a fascist turn, althou!h it certainl" reveals the ;exibility of !reen politics and adaptive ca acity of right-$in! politics# $hich ma" eventuall" produce ne$ strains of eco-fascism given extreme conditions' *is paper tracks the histor" of ri!ht-$ing thou!ht $ithin the !reen movement, from the earl" da"s of ecolo!" and the v+l#isc! movement to the post-$ar Greens and parts of Earth (irst! to modern networks' We sho$ ho$ fascist networks extended into the left to develo a modern eco-fascist tendency seeking to in%ltrate and !ain he!emony $ithin the modern !reen movement. We conclude that fascism# !reen or other$ise# can never resent a viable alternative to the existential threat of climate change' (ascism is not onl" !reening# it is also part of a lar!er transformation of the right-$ing in !eneral# $hich should )e studied, understood# and confronted $ith clear strate!ies based on localized conditions in the context of a !eneral movement to$ard climate justice' *ölkisch and $a-i Ecology It is often observed that the historical basis of 6azism la" in multiple hostile reactions to the Enlightenment, inclusive of both reactionar" and Romantic tendencies' *e formulation of ecolo!" in the mid-EFth Centur" centered around the notion of an ,m"elt# a $orld unto each species produced )" disinhibitions to$ard instinctive sources of reproduction, food# and shelter' Poorl" translated throu!h the fashionable sociolo!ical ideas of the da"# ecolo!" )ecame a conduit for ,ocial 1ar$inism under the !uidance of its nationalist pro!enitor# Ernst 8aeckel' Increasingl" throu!h the 19th Centur"# pseudo-scientific notions of race# ethnicity# and -ol# proliferated in a manner that came to use .eimat A8omelandB as a kind of racial or ethnic +m$elt. *is section outlines ho$ vGlkisch ecolo!" $as combined $ith .!eopolitics0 )" the 6azis to$ard erpetrating the uns eakable crimes of the Holocaust.