Right-wingers/populists and the climate
From neo-liberal shitheads like the CDU up to fascists from the AfD, right-wingers don’t take climate change seriously or even deny it completely. Therefore, the fight against climate change is and always will be a fight against the right.
In the following, we will address the different approaches to climate change from the different groups and circles.
In the biggest part of right-wing populism, in particular CDU and AfD, there is a clear difference in the approach on how to deal with climate change:
While the AfD is denying climate change even though there is an overwhelming amount of evidence of its existence and effects, the CDU is at best playing it down. They degrade facts as “opinions” and talk about “technical solutions of the future” even though structural change is urgently needed instead.
They even claim that they want to do something against climate change, but when they do anything, it’s far away from the necessary measures, instead it’s half-hearted mini steps, at most. And simultaneously, they assiduously build new highways, expand coal mines and clear more forests.
So this is the common ground of CDU and AfD: both put economic interests before the fight against climate change and therefore stand for the interests of capital. Their biggest goal is to strengthen the “german economy” and to maximalize profits.
It the AfD with their consistent denial of the facts in the view of extreme weather events, that are becoming more and more intense, is going to be successful or if they will change their strategy, remains to be seen.
CDU and AfD perfectly fit into the political constellation of all partys on the right of “Die Linke”, they all favour economy over consistent climate protection. Even parties like “Die Grünen” prove over and over again that they don’t give a shit about climate protection, such as recently with the destruction of Lützerath. With that they just prove the point again: There cannot be real climate justice within capitalism, an economic system, that depends on infinitely increasing profits and growing companies on a planet with finite resources.
Therefore, it is an absolute necessity to fight for climate justice and against capitalism at once!
Even though some nationalist small parties like “Der Dritte Weg” or “Die Heimat” (previously NPD) have environmental protection measures in their program, their goals are not enough. Besides you can observe right-wing parties only talking about environmental protection instead of a fight against climate change – probably to not scare their own electorate away.
Therefore, you can assume, that the reason why they add the theme to their program, is not a serious interest for climate- and environmental protection, but more an attempt to get votes from the esoteric-nationalist scene and has nothing to do with climate justice.
Climate change disproportionately affects countries in the global south and poverty-affected people. This aspect of climate change can’t be found in right-winged parties‚ programs, they rather opt for the isolation of “their homeland”, that they want to protect. While doing so, they completely forget, that emissions from individual countries affect the climate worldwide and don’t stop at borders. The few right-winged people, that accept climate change as a fact, sometimes can be counted towards the “prepper-scene” and join the isolation strategy.
Generally speaking, it needs to be identified that huge parts of the right-wing circles deal with the climate crisis similar to the Covid19 pandemic: the scientific consensus gets denied, and they react with defiance, hate and outrage on all measures for climate protection. They call these a “cover-up” for the “Great Reset” or other conspiracy-ideological ideas.
Because the CDU is getting closer to the AfD, not only in their racist refugee policy, but also with their reaction to climate change, they shift the social discourse to the right, so that scientifically proven statements over the catastrophic state of our planet can get demoted to “opinions” and relativized.
There can be only one answer on the climate crisis: A radical change away from capitalism and isolation. The fight for climate justice is always a fight against the right.
Climate justice means Antifa!
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