Saying that “humans” are
responsible for ecological devastation is a continuation of colonial
racism, and it is an insult to the peoples who have fought against
obliteration to preserve their way of life and their relationship with
their territory. It is also an insult to the many people who, despite
growing up in a culture totally infused with the values of capitalism,
have risked their lives and freedom to defend the land and halt
destructive development projects. And it is an insult to the hundreds of
millions who are subjected to extreme poverty or absolute precarity by
the very same economic order that profits from ecocide, who have to
worry about their personal survival and that of their family and
community, and do not have the luxury of choosing between different
job opportunities and consumer products based on how “ecological”
they might be.
As Kathryn Yusoff argues in A Billion Black Anthropocenes, the
framework of the Anthropocene is racist, and it also serves to obscure
our view, to hide the actual system at the heart of the problem.95
People in the Global South—people dehumanized by Western slavery,
colonialism, and racism—finally get included in the category
“human,” just in time to share the blame for the devastation caused by
a social system that has ravaged them far more than they have profited
from it.
-- Peter Gelderloos
Calling humans the parasite is literally eco fascist rhetoric
Keep seeing people say this, but no one who would be warned off of the ideology know or care what that means. I was just talking to someone who was using this kind of speak, theyre using big blunt abstractions about climate catastrophe and human nature, and aren't convinced that capitalism is the problem. They don't think they're wrong, because they don't know the difference between being kinda right and concretely correct. They don't know that there are real risks to being so fucking wrong about a political position.
They're just looking at the evidence they see and reacting to it, I don't think calling them eco-fascists moves the people in any direction
I think it's more useful for us to identify those talking points than it is to accuse others of holding those positions. If we can identify that it's fascist rhetoric, then that gives us room to properly deprogram. Deprogramming ignorant people from this way of thinking takes work, and happens across several conversations. It requires patience. If we're prepared to counter these points when they appear, it helps them find the answer on their own.
Can you recommend any articles or videos on the topic? I have a theory about what it means but I don't think I've ever looked at anything deep on the subject.
I agree that one of the primary tasks of our movements is to name the actual problems in society, I'm just asking if we don't sometimes need to take a beat. But when I wrote my comment I hadn't recognized this is an anarchist instance, so admittedly I might just be a little behind on the lingo.
How well known and well understood is the idea of "ecofascism" would you estimate?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecofascism
Thanks there's some good sources in here. I don't even think to check Wikipedia lol.
You are welcome :>