The murder of 51 people in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March 2019 has led to a gun reform bill in New Zealand and renewed interest in the notion of ‘the great replacement’. Gun reform seems unlikely to happen following the mass shooting in El Paso, US, in August 2019, which resulted in 22 deaths. However, the idea of ‘the great replacement’ did play a role in this shooting too. Both terrorists also feature in their manifestos the nexus between the extreme right and the natural environment, sometimes referred to as ecofascism. Even prior to the Christchurch mosque shooting, media commentary occasionally mentioned ecofascism (for example here, here and here), but it was after this attack that the concept received particular attention (for example here, here and here). It is this dimension of the two manifestos that I explore here.
At time of writing, on social media shortly after the El Paso shooting, ecofascism has already been connected to the attack in the US city. And the ‘ecological component’ of the Christchurch mosque shooting manifesto was perhaps most famously noted by counsellor to US president Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway, who, however, referred to the shooter as an ‘eco-terrorist’ – trying to put some distance between the administration and him. Against this background, a brief definition of ecofascism may be useful.
Peter Staudenmaier speaks of ‘actually existing ecofascism’ as the ‘preoccupation of authentically fascist movements with environmentalist concerns’. Staudenmaier focuses on the so-called ‘green wing’ of German National Socialism, pointing to (the antecedents of) National Socialism’s blood and soil mystique, support for organic agriculture and the Reichsnaturschutzgesetz 1935 (Reich Nature Protection Law) of 1935. Indeed, Thomas M. Lekan has characterized this law as the ‘most stringent and comprehensive environmental protection law in the world’.
