Thanos and the Rise of Ecofascism

COLOR Thanos and the Rise of Ecofascism

By Elizabeth Yee Illustrations by Catherine Liu and Angella Ma Layout by Natalie So

What does a fctional villain have to do with the two most devastating mass shootings this year?

The battle between ‘good and evil’ in ‘Avengers: Infnity War’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame’ is not as black and white as it presents itself to be. Thanos, the antagonist in the flm, seeks to attain 5 infnity stones - but instead of taking a traditional world domination path, Thanos makes it his mission to gain the power to solve overpopulation and resource scarcity by ridding the half the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s population with his infamous ‘Snap’- in turn becoming the ‘neo-Malthusian’ savior from complete annihilation.

Thanos’s rhetoric is not the only trace of the extreme form of neo-Malthusianism that has made its way into public conscience. Inferno, 2013 mystery thriller and subsequent 2016 flm adaptation by Dan Brown portrays fctional villain Bertrand Zobrist, who sacrifces his life to wipe out half the planet’s population. Zobrist likens the end of the world as we know it to a clock striking the monumental hour of 12:00. He states that if the 12:00 represents the time the Earth will reach its maximum carrying capacity for human life, the clock is currently at 11:59. A bioengineer with millions of dollars on his hands, Zobrist creates supervirus that would wipe out half of the earth’s population.

There is a reason why in both narratives, the seemingly noble ‘saviours of the earth’ have been portrayed as villians. And while a purple god-like being travelling from planet to planet, or the intentional release of deadly viruses to kill half the population seems implausible, the relevance of their extremist neoMalthusian ideologies is one that should be followed closely in this day and age.

Thanos’ rhetoric and ecofascism both fnd their roots in Garrett Hardin’s Lifeboat Ethics published in a 1974 edition of Psychology Today. In his article, Hardin discusses a metaphorical lifeboat that is at capacity, with 100 swimmers surrounding the boat. He writes that the ‘moral’ thing to do would be to let more swimmers aboard, but that doing so would result in “the boat swamp[ing],” and “everyone drown[ing]”.

Now, if we take that example and apply it our worlds population, we might realise that fctional villain Bertrand Zobrist’s notion of the clock being at 11:59 is not as much of an exaggeration as we may think. Population growth over the last few decades has slowed since that of the 20th century. Even so, by 2050, the world is projected to hit 9.7 billion - a number which challenges the resources and lifestyles that we live out today. Inspired by the Malthusian theory stating that fnite resources on earth will reach a point where they cannot sustain human life, the manifestos of the El Paso and Christ church mass shooters state that the earth is close to it’s tipping point and has exceeded its capacity for people to continue living in the way that they do. They, much like Thanos and Zobrist, propose that, instead of ‘sinking the lifeboat’, by throwing people off, the people onboard can live out their lives comfortably. label these characters as villains to know that their actions, even if genuinely inspired by a noble cause, are incredibly extremist and lack consideration. However, what makes the notion of ecofascism in today’s world even more dangerous than the portrayal of it in apocalyptic movies like Infnity War, is the bonding of the idea to white supremacism and subjectivism. Unlike the fctional villains Thanos and Zobrist, the perpetrators of these real life eco-fascist inspired shootings chose to target certain ethnicities over others.

There is no doubt that the Christchurch and El Paso mass shootings earlier this year wreaked havoc upon the world. The Christchurch shooting occurred between 1:40-1:55 p.m on the 15 March 2019. Livestreamed on Facebook, the suspect - Brenton Tarrant targeted the New Zealand Muslim population and began his attack at Al Noor Mosque, moving to Linwood Islamic Centre later in the day. He brutally murdered 51 innocent civilians during their Friday Prayer, on what is now known as, “one of New Zealand’s darkest days”. Fast forward 5 months to August 3rd, Patrick Wood Crusius, a 21-year-old from Allen Texas, opens fre with a WASR-10 rife in El Paso, a Hispanic and Latino dominated community, killing 22 and further injuring 26.

The devastating premeditated attacks were followed by manifestos (titled ‘The Great Replacement’ and ‘The Inconvenient Truth’ respectively), crediting their violence to fulflling the fascist agendas of the alt-right. Less reported, however, was how their acts of violence were masked under the facade of ‘environmental activism’.

Before the article continues, it must be made known that this article in no way ignores the blatantly white supremacist narratives present, but aims to highlight a strange and disturbing trope buried in both manifestos. Very possibly, their motivations are not as multifaceted as their manifestos suggest, and while their environmentalism could be artifcial, simply dismissing the existence of ecofascism is a dangerous road to go down. The Christchurch suspect identifed as an ‘Ethno-nationalist Eco-fascist - with a focus on the preservation of nature’, while the El Paso Walmart shooter rails against American consumerism, the ‘decimation of the environment’ and cites, oddly enough, The Lorax.

Not to be lumped with ‘Ecoterrorism’, Eco-fascism is an ideology that connects environmentalism with far-right principles. It is best described by Tarrant, who claims that the ‘issues’ of immigrant birth rates and climate change are one and the same. In ‘The Great Replacement’ he writes, “there is no nationalism without environmentalism,” going on to say that the earth is being crippled by birth rates, and that, “the invaders are the ones overpopulating the world.”. He concludes with the harrowing message, “Kill the invaders, kill the overpopulation and by doing so save the environment.”.

The El Paso perpetrator takes a similar turn but instead discusses consumerism and overconsumption. Using the classic tale of The Lorax, he discusses the environmental detriment of corporations “overharvesting” resources, lack of government regulation, and the “stubborn” American lifestyle on the natural world and generations to come. Yet again, he reconciles this stating, “If we can get rid of enough people, then our way of life can become more sustainable.” As the earth’s

population continues to grow, the issue of preserving the environment and controlling overpopulation grows more and more pressing. But is ridding the earth of so-called ‘invaders’ the way to save humanity? To any reasonable person, the clear answer is no.

The key word here is invaders. Both shootings have targeted selective groups of people. Who is anyone to say that ‘Muslims’ and ‘Hispanics’ should take the brunt of the earth’s issues? This is where the ‘facist’ aspect steps in. As quoted in The Guardian, Michelle Chan, the vice president for Friends of the Earth (A Washington based environmental NGO), states that “ecofascism is more an expression of white supremacy than it is an expression of environmentalism.” The environmental aspect is no more than a cover-up for the racism that lies underneath.

And while these two perpetrators represent extreme examples of ecofascism, the ‘greening of hate’ (coined by Hampshire College professor Betsy Hartmann) is a growing phenomenon. Mainstream far-right politicians such as Marie Le Pen and parties such as The Danish People’s Party Program (nativists) blame overpopulation on nonwhite immigrants, state that they don’t have the same appreciation for another country’s nature, and, against all scientifc data, make ludicrous claims that environmental degradation is directly linked with immigrants. In the US, Anti-immigrant groups have adopted environmental sustainability in their policies. A report by the notoriously conservative Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) writes, “The United States will not be able to achieve any meaningful reductions in CO2 emissions without serious economic and social consequences for American citizens unless immigration is sharply curtailed.” Similarly, Numbers USA (an NPO against immigration), warns that immigration “means more stress on the environment. More roads, more cars, [and] more oil.” Both groups have claimed to be invited to testify before congressional committees, and have played key roles in blocking legislation in favour of giving legal status to undocumented workers. And the man behind both organisations? John Tanton. A key ‘puppeteer’ of sorts who drove the American Nativist movement (he once said that maintaining American culture required a ‘EuropeanAmerican majority’) and had close ties with both neo-nazis and Ku Klux Klan members.

And yet, just a few years ago, environmentalism in the conservative party was unheard of (indeed, President Trump still denies the existence of Climate Change). Graham Lawton, a writer for ‘The New Scientist’, states that the two reasons ecofascism in the right: The frst - to further demonise immigrants of sullying the environment, and the second - to “absolve the “native population” – for which read those of white European ancestry – from blame.” According to the Washington Post’s article, it is important to stop people from their “apocalyptic discourse”. Let’s stop pretending - ecofascism is simply put, facism. Blaming other races for environmental destruction, restricting immigration, and killing minorities, will not save the environment, but push a white nationalist agenda. Provided the facts, ecofascism doesn’t check out. Take out the ‘Eco’, and the acts mentioned above fall right under the category of ‘facist’. A director in the Union of Concerned Scientists states that, “Under no circumstances (should the environmental community) buy into this kind of philosophy.” With the wrong mindset however, ecofascism’s arguments can seem dangerously rational.

So how does one go about stopping people from falling into the trap of ecofascism? Followers of ecofascism’s ideology are multiplying at chilling rates. And as we have seen, it’s growth is certain to result in devastation and threaten the wellbeing of vulnerable communities and individuals.

But the El Paso and Christchurch shooters didn’t just pull their ideas from thin air. To stop ecofascism from spiralling out of control, power hungry corporations have to assume responsibility and stop prioritising their greed over our futures, and far-right leaders need to stop capitalising on the distress felt by many and stop masking their policies with eco-activism and smearing environmentalism’s name.

Until then, let’s stop using the term ‘ecofascism’, and start calling it what it actually is: Facism.