Extreme right, fascism and other reactionary ideologies: what about ecology?

Extreme right, fascism and other reactionary ideologies: what about ecology?

Everywhere in the world, we're seeing rise of far-right parties. Also here in Luxembourg, according to the latest Politmonitor1this development is theone of the main concerns of Luxembourg residents. And it goes hand in hand with the liberation of hateful and discriminatory speech, the expansion of reactionary and authoritarian ideas, the trivialization of the climate crisis, and so on. This worries us, because to face polycrisis, we need unity, strength and connection between living beings. What is the impact of the extreme right on ecology and climate action? Can the ecological transition take place without being fair, without taking marginalized populations into account?

What are we talking about?

There is a profusion of terms for the extreme right identitarians, populists, fascists, post-fascists, neo-conservatives, radical right-wingers, etc. In 1966, Dutch political scientist Cas Mudde identified 58 different ways of defining the extreme right. They all come down to authoritarianism and "nativism", a mixture of nationalism and xenophobia. The distinction that can be made is between those who place themselves outside the institutional framework and those who break with democratic values but play the parliamentary game. The entire content of their programs- women's rights, ecology, social rights - is the prism of national preference, which is also "cultural".2

The far right in Luxembourg

Luxembourg has long prided itself on not having a far-right party represented in parliament, but the inclusion of the Wee 20503 in ADR4 changed the game. It put the party "in the waters of the extreme right", according to the authors of an article in the magazine Forumat 2023. They cite a series of examples demonstrating that the party has exceeded the limits of right-wing populism and should be classified as extreme right-wing.5

Following the elections, in another issue of ForumMichel Pauly offers the following analysis of the Luxembourg context:

"Rather, the shift to the right has occurred within the parties: at the ADR, a candidate has been elected from the center, who makes no secret of his sympathy for National Socialism, and the president of his party believes that he is "indifferent" to the use of such symbols. "6

Certain politicien-nes deny Luxembourg's right-wing political culture. In an interview with the newspaper l'Essential following the legislative elections, theformer prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker responds to the question the European right-wing movement by

"I don't see how the Luxembourg landscape has shifted from left to right. The Christian Social Party is not a right-wing party, just as the Liberals are not a right-wing grouping. So all these pre-accusations of a hard-right government being installed are just an unhealthy fantasy."7

Michel Pauly also refers to the risk for young people of the liberation of the word of the political parties.extreme right:

" If the [ADR] party can now proclaim from the gallery of the House, in prime TV time, its increasingly close friendship with the far right in the manner of the AfD [Germany], Fratelli d'Italia, PiS [Poland], Sweden Democrats, Vox [Spain] et al, and advertise individual self-defense with a firearm, the risk certainly grows that even more voters, including a frightening number of young people who apparently don't know how the Nazis came to power democratically, will fall for their lies and false promises. "8

So Luxembourg is not an island, and the rise of the far right concerns it. well and truly. Pretending and she shift of right-wing parties to the center shifts the cursor and hides theThe erosive effect of ADR to the far right. The risks of these ideologies for ecology and climate change movements are consequent. The ADR campaigned in defense of the combustion engine, and one of their MPs wrote in a tirade on social network X about all things far-right: "If you're in favour of the combustion engine: far right". (Wanns de fir de Verbrennermotor bass: rietsextrem). This quote reflects what many researchers, including Andreas Malm, call the "fossil fascism". In Germany, Italy and many other countries, far-right forces are positioning themselves as the shock troops of the fossil capital and are the ones who fight most aggressively for it. maintaining the status quo economic and political. E In their book, the Zetkin Collective researchers envisage two scenarios that would allow the emergence of a "fossil fascism": 1. economic elites would conflate a sort of A "pact" with the far right to protect the interests of the fossil fuel industry or 2. The proliferation of "crises of adaptation": increasingly frequent catastrophes are said to lead to "a catalysis of the fascist desire to barricade oneself in", allowing the extreme right to come to power. 9

Conservative temptations

Ecological thinking is not immune to conservative tendencies. En Germany, the most extreme fringe of the AfD is increasingly using the "ecological" explanation to justify certain proposals it advocates on the social front, such as closing borders. L'ecofascismThe ecofascist movement, structured by racist thinking, considers that a people's identity is the fruit of its roots in the land, and that this ecosystem must be protected from the dangers of resource depletion, immigration and overpopulation. Ecofascists advocate turning in on oneself by building alternative communities. eco-patriots. The aim is to entrench ourselves among white heterosexuals to build self-sufficient lifestyles and reclaim territory.

France, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, the United States, Argentina, Romania... there are countless countries where far-right parties are courting power or whose leaders are winning elections. But there are questions to be asked about voters: Is the far-right vote an ideological endorsement of a fascist project? Is it an anti-system vote in the face of an increasingly illusory political alternation where social-democrats, liberals and conservatives all broadly apply the same orientations? The point here is not to accuse voters, but to denounce these parties, which offer no real alternative to the populations they leave behind. We must fight against growing inequalities, the undermining of democracy, the decadence of debate by corrupt media, the lack of mass information via networks, and the impoverishment that is the current breeding ground for the far-right vote. Social issues must be at the heart of ecological projects, and neglected populations and minorities must be able to identify with them. The notions of social justice and climate justice must be translated into concrete action.

Decolonizing and queering ecology

" Mainstream left-wing ecology itself has not yet deconstructed its ideas, nor its practices". points out Camille Fourinier, an ecofeminist, queer and anticolonial activist. Sometimes too focused on the environment, it neglects the material conditions of human beings, be they victims of colonial crimes [...], inhabitants of working-class neighborhoods overexposed to pollution, or women and LGBT+ people whose emancipation depends on the development of contraceptive, reproductive or hormonal techniques. Ecological movements need to be self-critical, identify their blind spots and put the struggles of minorities at the heart of their demands [the journalist uses the term minority in a perspective of access to power, because women and people living in working-class neighborhoods are the most vulnerable.-he people of working-class neighbourhoods are not minorities in number]while guaranteeing their political autonomy.

This means mobilizing thinkers from queer, feminist and decolonial ecologies to clearly define the terms of the struggle: what kind of nature are we talking about? Where is it in danger? How can we protect it from its oppressors? "Political ecology absolutely must open up dialogue and change on these issues".says Cy Leclerf Maulpoix10. [...] from now on, we need to be able to join forces with all the causes that were initially excluded from the field of political ecology, to make it truly emancipatory and to fight against all the dominations at the root of human and ecological destruction".11

That's what CELL is trying to do by inviting thinkers such as Asmae Ourkiya12 who, in his talk at Transition Days, challenged the traditional notions of biological determinism and essentialism that have been used to justify social inequalities. Using various examples, he demonstrated the natural diversity of living things (human and non-human) and the need to embrace this diversity to achieve ecological balance and social justice. Another inspiring thinker is Fatima Ouassak13 which expresses the need to organize and create the necessary spaces: "Autonomous spaces where the most vulnerable people can take refuge. (...) To provide the financial means for self-organization, particularly in marginalized areas."14

Sources

https://lessoulevementsdelaterre.org/blog/pour-un-soulevement-antifasciste

https://www.forum.lu/article/plaedoyer-fuer-ein-cordon-sanitaire-gegenueber-der-adr/

https://www.emancipation.lu/post/un-front-populaire-peut-il-germer-au-luxembourg

https://www.forum.lu/article/mir-welle-bleiwe-wat-mer-waren/

https://reporterre.net/Enquete-sur-l-ecofascisme-comment-l-extreme-droite-veut-recuperer-l-ecologie

Extreme right, feminist resistance, the fight goes on, La Déferlante n. 15, August 2024

Zetkin Collective, Fossil fascism: the far right, energy, climateLa Fabrique, 2020

Umberto Eco, Recognizing fascismGrasset, 2017

To find out more, qfourteen characteristic points of whatUmberto Eco appointed the eternal fascism or Ur-Fascism:

In Eco's mind, these attributes can't be organized into a system, many are contradictory to each other and are also typical of other forms of despotism or fanaticism. But it only takes one to make fascism a reality from this attribute.

1) The first characteristic of eternal fascism is the the cult of tradition. There can be no progress in knowledge. The truth has been laid down once and for all, and we limit ourselves to interpreting its obscure message more and more.

2) Conservatism implies rejection of modernism. The rejection of the modern world is disguised as a rejection of the capitalist way of life, but it has mainly consisted of a rejection of the spirit of 1789 (and 1776, of course [U.S. Declaration of Independence]). The Renaissance, the Age of Reason, was the beginning of modern depravity.

3) Eternal fascism keeps the a cult of action for action's sake. Thinking is a form of emasculation. Consequently, culture is suspect in that it is synonymous with critical thinking. Official fascist thinkers have devoted much energy to attacking modern culture and the liberal intelligentsia for betraying these traditional values.

4) Eternal fascism cannot withstand analytical criticism. The critical mind makes distinctions, and this is a sign of modernity. In modern culture, it is on disagreement that the scientific community bases the progress of knowledge. For eternal fascism, disagreement is treason.

5) And disagreement is synonymous with diversity. Eternal fascism unfolds and seeks consensus by exploiting fear of difference and exacerbating it. Eternal fascism is racist by definition.

6) Eternal fascism draws on individual or social frustration. This is why one of the most typical criteria of historical fascism was the mobilization of a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from economic crisis or a sense of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure that would be exerted by inferior social groups.

7) To people deprived of a clear social identity, eternal fascism replies that their only, rather common privilege is to have been born in the same country. This is the origin of nationalism. What's more, the very people who are going to give substance to the nation's identity are its enemies. At the root of the psychology of eternal fascism lies an obsession with a potentially international conspiracy. And its perpetrators must be prosecuted. The best way to counter the conspiracy is to appeal to xenophobia. But conspiracy must also come from within.

8) Visit supporters of fascism must feel humiliated by ostentatious wealth and power of their enemies. Fascist governments are doomed to lose wars because they are fundamentally incapable of objectively assessing enemy forces.

9) For eternal fascism, there is no struggle for life but rather a a life dedicated to fighting. Pacifism is a compromise with the enemy, and it's a bad thing when life is a constant struggle.

10) L'elitism is a characteristic feature of all reactionary ideologies. Eternal fascism can only promote popular elitism. Every citizen belongs to the best people in the world; party members are among the best citizens; every citizen can or must become a party member.

11) From this perspective, everyone is invited to become a heroes. The hero of eternal fascism dreams of a heroic death, sold to him as the ultimate reward for a heroic life.

12) The eternal fascist carries his will to power in the sexual arena. It is macho (which implies both contempt for women and intolerance and condemnation of non-standard sexual mores: chastity as well as homosexuality).

13) Eternal fascism is based on a selective populismor qualitative populism, as it were. The People is perceived as a quality, a monolithic entity expressing the Common Will. Since large numbers of human beings cannot carry a Common Will, it is the Leader who can then claim to be their interpreter. Having lost their delegated powers, citizens do not act; they are called upon to play the role of the People.

14) Eternal fascism speaks Novlangue. Novlangue, invented by Orwell in 1984, is the official language of Angsoc, or English socialism. It is characterized by a poor vocabulary and rudimentary syntax, so as to limit the instruments of critical reason and complex thought.

1Sond survey carried out by ILRES for RTL and Wort in November on a sample of 1,060 people https://www.rtl.lu/radio/newsbreak/s/5021319.html, https://infos.rtl.lu/actu/luxembourg/a/2258371.html

2Benichou Sarah, "The question of gender plays a key role in racist discourse", in Extreme right, feminist resistance, the fight goes on, La Déferlante n. 15, August 2024

3 a movement that emerged from the referendum on the right of residents and young people to vote and the accumulation of mandates, and which campaigned for the NO vote

4Alternativ Demokratesch Reformpartei

5https://www.forum.lu/article/plaedoyer-fuer-ein-cordon-sanitaire-gegenueber-der-adr/

6 https://www.forum.lu/article/mir-welle-bleiwe-wat-mer-waren/

7https://www.lessentiel.lu/fr/story/legislatives-au-luxembourg-juncker-je-conseillerais-a-luc-frieden-de-negocier-avec-le-dp-880607053042

8https://www.forum.lu/article/mir-welle-bleiwe-wat-mer-waren/

9Zetkin Collective, Fossil fascism: the far right, energy, climateLa Fabrique, 2020

10  Activist and independent journalist, author of Ecologies déviantes

11Gilabert Christelle, Ecologie: les idéologies réactionnaires en ambuscade, in Extreme right, feminist resistance, the fight goes on, La Déferlante n. 15, August 2024

12 ecofeminist researcher

13 Essayist and activist, author of For a pirate ecology