tree hugging nazis, and a quick note on Peter Singer

Michael Hoover hoov at freenet.tlh.fl.us
Wed Mar 8 15:41:36 PST 2000



> frances bolton:
> there's quite a bit of stuff out there on Nazis as Greens and the
> Nazis and homeopathy/natural healing/midwifery.

Anna Bramwell traces origins of right-wing political ecology in _Ecology in the 20th Century_.

Principle exponent of eco-fascism was Walter Darre, Hitler's agricultural minister from 1933-42. Darre's ideas were mixture of Nordic racialism & idealization of rural life: 'Blood & Soil' philosophy that helped Nazis gain support in German countryside. Darre held that Germany's well- being was tied to recreation of peasant society, living close to nature, organic farming.

Darre's view also resonated with those who had been part of 1920s 'back to land' movement of students & youth: alienated from urban life associated with German's rapid industrialization in late 19th/early 20th centuries, they took to forests, mountains, farms.

Hitler's fondness for 'B&S' was contradicted - and relegated to lesser status - by military expansion that intensified intensified industrialization in 1930s.

Contemporary British eco-reactionary Edward Goldsmith echoes Darre in romantic & nostalgic attachment for pre-industrial society in which conservation of nature is linked to defense of traditional values & institutions. Goldsmith's 'ecological society' would be return to feudal past with land in hands of small minority and authoritarian restoration of traditional family & community.

Related question: I recall Thatcher making 'green' speech, doesn't British Conservative Party consider itself to be 'guardian & trustee' of natural environment? Michael Hoover



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