“The Crime of Innocence”: Baldwin, Bataille, and the Political Theology of Far-Right Climate Politics

Recent work on the global far right has highlighted its coordination with fossil capital, what Clara Daggett calls “fossil fascism.” The far right has embraced climate denial as part of its fantasy of a conspiracy against the white race, while fossil capital has embraced the far right as its most en...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Loftin, Mac (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group 2023
Dans: Political theology
Année: 2023, Volume: 24, Numéro: 6, Pages: 589-605
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Baldwin, James 1924-1987 / Bataille, Georges 1897-1962 / USA / Changement climatique / Dénégation / Droite / Racisme
RelBib Classification:FD Théologie contextuelle
KAJ Époque contemporaine
KBQ Amérique du Nord
ZC Politique en général
Sujets non-standardisés:B Theology
B Climate
B Fascism
B Innocence
B Baldwin
B Bataille
B Whiteness
Accès en ligne: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Résumé:Recent work on the global far right has highlighted its coordination with fossil capital, what Clara Daggett calls “fossil fascism.” The far right has embraced climate denial as part of its fantasy of a conspiracy against the white race, while fossil capital has embraced the far right as its most enthusiastic defender in the face of calls for decarbonization. This paper analyzes the political theology of fossil fascism, arguing climate denial is of a piece with the far right’s broader denial of historical and contemporary violence. The paper draws on James Baldwin and Georges Bataille to understand climate denial as the will to innocence in face of the scientific fact that combustion of fossil fuels in past acts of racial domination has ongoing climatic effects in the present. The will to innocence intensifies the very violence it disavows, and resisting fossil fascism may require retrieving the theological concept of guilt.
ISSN:1743-1719
Contient:Enthalten in: Political theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/1462317X.2023.2185990