"Resistance" lecture

RESISTANCE: A JOURNAL OF

RADICAL ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES LECTURES

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17/09/2024, 18h (CET), Youtube/Facebook
"White Nationalism and GOP Climate Obstruction”,
by Laura Pulido.

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This lecture is the first in a series on Radical Environmental Humanities, promoted by Resistance in collaboration with the Institute for the History of Science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Once a month, from September 2024 to June 2025, Resistance will bring together a community of radical scholars to share ideas, stories, and dreams for the world we so desperately need.

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In this talk I consider the relationship between U.S. white nationalism and the Republican Party’s (GOP) record of climate obstruction. Though the fossil fuel industry’s campaign of disinformation has been well-documented, less understood are the politicians who do its bidding. While many assume the state is simply implementing the desires of the fossil fuel industry, what is called, regulatory capture, this assumes a nonracial state. I argue that regulatory capture does not fully explain the current GOP’s climate obstruction. Instead, I suggest that white nationalism has contributed to this process. White nationalism generates such profound energy that GOP politicians actively cultivate it to support multiple agendas.

Consequently, it has transformed the political landscape. It contributes to climate obstruction in various ways, including through elections, serving as a distraction, and producing new discourses and strategies that are deployed against climate action. By focusing on three historical moments: the Tea Party movement (2009-15), the Trump Presidency (2015-19), and the War on Wokeness (2021-present), I show how white nationalism supports climate obstruction.

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Links of connection: Youtube / Facebook
For further information, please write: marco.armiero@uab.cat

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