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Ecofascism: Lessons from the German Experience

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In this fascinating and compelling book, authors and social critics Peter Staudenmaier and Janet Biehl look at ecofascism in Germany. The book is really a compilation of two essays. In the first essay, Peter Staudenmaier looks at the history of ecofascism in nineteenth and early twentieth century Germany, and shows how integral ecology (or at least a certain version of ecology) was to the Nazi Party. In the second essay, Janet Biehl shows how ecofasism is alive and well in Germany, seeking (sometimes openly) to reestablish Nazi policy even while aligned with left and libertarian ecological groups.

I must say I found this book to be absolutely fascinating. I have read about the Nazi's attachment to certain quasi-religious, quasi-New Age philosophies, but Peter Staudenmaier's essay does an excellent job of showing the interlocking wholeness of the Nazi "Blood and Soil" philosophy. Janet Biehl's essay on the fascism of today's anti-human, anti-technology Green movements is sobering, even terrifying.

Now, Peter Staudenmaier and Janet Biehl are committed leftists and ecologists, so this book is certainly not intended to be any sort of an attack on ecology. But, what it is is a very sobering and informative look at modern ecology, and a call to arms by those who do not wish to see a resurgence of fascism on the world stage...even if it's a green-fascism. I highly recommend this book to all thinking people.

This small book provides a valuable lesson: that ecological concern is no guarantee of progressive, humane politics in other areas. As such, it serves as a warning that some present-day ecological ideologies (notably "deep" ecology and primitivism), despite their ecological camouflage, are fundamentally regressive and authoritarian. This is the reason that so much venom is directed at the authors by some of the others who have reviewed this book -- the authors have called them on their pretentious b.s.

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to trace the roots of ecofascism to Nazi Germany. The authors of this book do an excellent job in researching the material and presenting it in a clear precise manner which even my friend VTECscreamer would understand.

_Ecofascism: Lessons from the German Experience_, published by the anarchist AK Press, is a book consisting of two essays by supposed ecological activists Janet Biehl and Peter Staudenmaier. Unfortunately, I found this book to be a major disappointment. To begin with the book is exceedingly small and while the essays do cover interesting material, they do so in such a limited manner that not much can be really learned. But, even worse are the authors' biases. The authors claim that ecological ideas have been used for "fascist" ends, particularly by the Nazis in Germany. However, they then proceed to promote an ideological leftism and denounce all those who adhere to a different opinion regarding certain matters as "fascist". This sort of behavior is all-too-typical of leftists. Thus, the book amounts to little more than a paean to the worst sort of political correctness and a denunciation of "right wing fascists" within the ecological movement. The authors themselves seem to have little genuine interest in ecological ideas and seem to be more caught up in opposing such things as "anti-immigrant sentiment" and "anti-abortion activism" rather than attempting to genuinely understand the ecological rationale for such ideas. The fact is that the original Volkish movements that sprang up in Germany in the 1920s have much to offer the world, particularly in their emphasis on ecological ideas, organic farming, conservation, radical localism, and spirituality, in spite of the fact that such movements were perverted for Nazi ends. Later generations of hippies of environmentalists, who sprang up in the 1960s, incorporated many of these same ideas into their own movements without full recognition of where they came from. In particular, the works of Anna Bramwell are to be commended for revealing this connection and I highly recommend her solid research over this book. (I should add that the authors' attempts to link Bramwell herself with fascism are indeed truthfully pathetic and represent nothing more than the typical response of leftist radicals when encountering ideas outside their firmly held ideological beliefs.) Another difficulty I have with this book is the author's attempts to attribute any sort of ecological idea that smacks of mysticism to fascism and thus to maintain that only a rationalistic ecology should be tolerated. In fact, the situation is just the opposite, in that an excessive emphasis on rationalism is precisely what has led to the totalitarian ideologies of our age and indeed that infiltrated the Nazi movement and led to its destructive purpose. Nevertheless, despite these criticisms the book does have some redeeming features, in that the essays show some of the ecological ideas that have persisted from their origin during the 1920s in the German Volkish movement to the modern day. Ecological ideas remain difficult to categorize in that they can appear as part of a "soft right" and equally well as part of a "soft left" (as Bramwell explains in her books), and perhaps this is one of the problems that the authors of this book cannot get their head around.

The first essay in this book is by Peter Staundemaier and entitled "Fascist Ecology: The "Green Wing" of the Nazi Party and its Historical Antecedents". In this essay, the author attempts to show how various Volkish ideas merged into a "blood and soil mystique" which eventually entered into the Nazi party. The author notes that Germany remains the central birthplace of ecological ideas and has seen the Green party's rise to prominence. The author traces such ideas from such figures as Ernst Moritz Arndt and Wilhelm Heinrich Reich (who he unfortunately describes as "fanatical nationalists") to Ernst Haeckel founder of the Monist League. The author also repeats the theories of Daniel Gasman concerning the zoologist Haeckel's fundamental significance for Nazism. Following this the author turns to the youth movement or Wandervogel and the Weimar era. The author maintains that such movements arose out of neo-Romanticism and were developed by such individuals as Ludwig Klages. The author also mentions the role of the German philosopher Martin Heidegger on the deep ecology movement. Finally, the author turns his attention to National Socialism, showing the emphasis placed on nature by such figures as Rosenberg and Himmler. The author also devotes a substantial section of this essay to discussing Walther Darre, who served as a minister of agriculture under Hitler. Bramwell's work has similarly focused on Darre; however, instead of making note of her painstaking research, the author simply relies heavily on it and then chooses to denigrate it. The author also notes the German quest for Lebensraum and worship of the peasant. The author ends by maintaining that such quasi-mystical ecological notions must be opposed while a rationalistic ecology must be furthered.

The second essay in this book is by Janet Biehl and is entitled ""Ecology" and the Mobilization of Fascism in the German Ultra-Right". This essay attempts to show that the German ultra-right and fascism generally have made use of ecological ideas and attempts to show how such ideas persist to the modern day. The author begins by railing against the "New" Right which she attempts to link to fascism and Nazi precursors. Then, she turns her attention to neofascist ecology, noting the role of fascist ideologies in such movements as the National Revolutionaries, the Freedom German Worker's Party, the Republicans, the National Democratic Party, and the German People's Union. Unfortunately, she maintains that any sort of anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-abortion activism constitutes "fascist ideology". Following this, the author turns to the Anthroposophy of Rudolph Steiner and the World League for the Protection of Life. The author mentions the educational methods and ecological ideas (including ideas for organic farming) of such figures as Steiner and his protégé Werner Georg Haverbeck. Unfortunately, the author attempts to smear Steiner with the fascist label based on some pretty absurd reasoning and tenuous links to Haverbeck. The author also attempts to link Anthroposophy with the Hitlerjugend. Following this the author turns to the Volkish spirituality of Rudolf Bahro. The rightward turn of Bahro who began as a leftist seems to particularly annoy the author as well as his calls for a future "Green Adolf". The author shows the conflict between the anarchist libertarian Murray Bookchin and Bahro. Following this, the author turns to such Social Darwinist ideas as those of Herbert Gruhl and their role in ecology. The author ends with a call for a "social ecology of freedom".

While this book does include some interesting material, it is indeed truly unfortunate that the authors have let their biases interfere with the presentation of this material and thus label anything that they disagree with as "fascist". Further, many of the authors' claims and their attempts to denigrate such important individuals as Rudolph Steiner and Anna Bramwell are despicable. While many of the movements and ideas presented may have certain unsavory elements within them, the fact is that they cannot all be painted with such a broad brush. But, such contentions are all-too-typical of the radical ideological left.

In short, the authors ascribe negative environmentalist motives to right-wing collectivist ideology, and ignore the negative environmentalist motives of left-wing ideologues like themselves. But over the long haul far more environmental damage has been caused by left-socialist regimes than by others, and "social justice" is, more often than not, a subterfuge for state coercion. This tiny book is a minor skirmish in the perpetual combat between Right and Left for control of the machinery of government power at the expense of both people and nature.

This is a short book that consist of two essays on the "green" elements in Germany, before, during and after the Nazi regime. If you can get beyond the authors warnings of the"dangers" of "right wing" (why do so many morons keep calling Nazis right wing? Do these idiots even know what right wing is?) environmentalists co-opting the ecology movement you actually get some good historical stuff about the Pagan Volkish movement as well as other environmental idealogues who did not toe the line of political correctness over the years in Germany.

The biggest problem in the environmental movement is that more or less all the well known groups toe the politically correct line and refuse to confront the fact that the biggest cause of the environmental crisis is due to human overpopulation, especially in third world countries, and they refuse to deal with the devastating effects that immigration has on the ecology of countries where there is an excess of it going on.

Conservation of forests and nature, eating healthy, animal rights, organic farming, living away from society, not having an uptight attitude about sex, worshipping your own ancestral gods instead of the gods of semites, localized socialism and self sufficency, these were all common themes and practices in the early days and origins of the nazi party. Most of these things were not practiced or even thought about at that time in history until the Volkish movement in Germany popped up. The hippies and environmentalists picked up on a lot of these ideas, although 99% were totally clueless of their origins.