White Skin, Black Fuel

Paperback, 576 pages

English language

Published May 18, 2021 by Verso.

ISBN:: 978-1-83976-174-4

(1 review)

Rising temperatures and the rise of the far right. What disasters happen when they meet?

In recent years, the far right has done everything in its power to accelerate the heating: an American president who believes it is a hoax has removed limits on fossil fuel production. The Brazilian president has opened the Amazon and watched it burn. In Europe, parties denying the crisis and insisting on maximum combustion have stormed into office, from Sweden to Spain. On the brink of breakdown, the forces most aggressively promoting business-as-usual have surged - always in defense of white privilege, against supposed threats from non-white others. Where have they come from?

The first study of the far right in the climate crisis, White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism presents an eye-opening sweep of a novel political constellation, and reveals its deep historical roots. Fossil-fueled technologies were born steeped in …

Rising temperatures and the rise of the far right. What disasters happen when they meet?

In recent years, the far right has done everything in its power to accelerate the heating: an American president who believes it is a hoax has removed limits on fossil fuel production. The Brazilian president has opened the Amazon and watched it burn. In Europe, parties denying the crisis and insisting on maximum combustion have stormed into office, from Sweden to Spain. On the brink of breakdown, the forces most aggressively promoting business-as-usual have surged - always in defense of white privilege, against supposed threats from non-white others. Where have they come from?

The first study of the far right in the climate crisis, White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism presents an eye-opening sweep of a novel political constellation, and reveals its deep historical roots. Fossil-fueled technologies were born steeped in racism. None loved them more passionately than the classical fascists. As such forces rise to the surface, some profess to have the solution - closing borders to save the climate. Epic and riveting, White Skin, Black Fuel traces a future of political fronts that can only heat up.

1 edition

pdotb@wyrms.de reviewed White Skin, Black Fuel by Andreas Malm

Comprehensive and, frankly, terrifying

5 stars

Content warning fascism, climate crisis

Essentially two books in one, the first part offers a comprehensive detailing of the relationship between climate denial and far right parties in Europe, the US, and Brazil, while the second offers a more historical and theoretical explanation. It's pretty hard work, both because it deals with some pretty bleak material (in particular, Bolsonaro's burning of the Amazon, and Trump's firing up of the coal, oil, and gas industries in the US), and, to be frank, because there's just so much there. In particular, the second half covers material such as the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany, and the role of Marinetti and Jünger in developing a love of the machine over the natural world, together with an analysis of different forms of denial and the way the right has moved between them.

Well worth the read -- I certainly feel that I've learnt a lot -- but be prepared to put a lot of time and effort into it.

Subjects

Climatic changes--Government policy--Case studies
Fossil fuels--Government policy--Case studies
Right-wing extremists--Case studies
Political ecology--Case studies