Under the guise of concern for the planet, far-right parties are using green issues to legitimise and promote their extreme ideologies. Luke Michael highlights their tactics

This article originally appeared in the Winter 2023/24 issue of Searchlight magazine

As the climate and ecological crisis starts to devastate communities worldwide, more people will consider green issues and how to deal with them. According to the Office for National Statistics, 74% of the adult population is worried about climate change. But there are also concerns that this will be used by the far right to build support for its organisations and dangerous ideologies. An analysis of the web pages of Patriotic Alternative (PA) and its new splinter group the Homeland Party shows themes of nativism and romanticisation of the British countryside, as well as racist and anti-immigration rhetoric.

This is reminiscent of “Blood and Soil” ideology, described by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a nazi slogan used to convey the idea of the “Aryan” race and its territory. The “blood” is “Aryan” people, while the “soil” connects the “Aryan” people to the land by a special relationship. Groups such as PA and Homeland, while not directly employing the term, push similar ideas, in that allowing those without British ancestry into the country will have a “negative effect” on the soil. Homeland’s responses to the environment are nativist and can be closely connected to blood and soil ideology. It constantly refers to “our people”, who should be protected by those who have “put down roots”. This blood and soil ideology and anti-refugee rhetoric have also been evident in news posts on the Homeland website. These were posted last summer, for example, “Our people should come first in their homeland, not profits for ‘green’ energy firms and not climate refugees”, [and] “new houses, which will be for people who have migrated here from the third world and in doing so will exponentially increase their CO2 output”.

Furthermore, according to Homeland’s immigration policy, it would “put a moratorium on mass immigration to protect our people and our land”. It suggests that the people are connected to the land and any new people coming in is detrimental, an idea linked to blood and soil ideological thinking. The romanticisation of the countryside is also prevalent in Homeland ideology. This can be seen in an article that promotes working on organic countryside farms. It is also evident in a leaflet (pictured above) that has the tag line “Concrete the country? Or choose the right path […] Homeland Party The REAL green solution”. A darkened city skyline is juxtaposed with a countryside scene of a path bordered by traditional dry stone walls disappearing into the distance between green fields.

However, the Homeland ranks include those who are sceptical about the media and climate change. Some Homeland news posts, such as “The floor is lava” by a David Gardner, argue that some of the mainstream media are scaremongering on climate change to control the population. Another post by Gardner objects to a wind farm in Scotland, as this would “ravage” the countryside. This suggests Homeland’s main priority is the countryside and that its main solution to the climate and ecological emergency is to end migration. Green issues thus legitimise their extreme beliefs. Patriotic Alternative PA is a fascist, anti-Semitic, white nationalist organisation that also links the countryside to blood and soil ideas. This is made clear in the “our plan” page of its website. First, it states that only the British “indigenous” people can lay claim to the UK, and they should never become a “minority or second-class citizens in their ancestral homeland”. Second, they claim that the environment and British countryside are part of their “ancestral inheritance”. Like Homeland, PA claims that halting immigration will protect the countryside from house-building projects. Their claim that “a healthy and vibrant people needs space” connects with blood and soil ideology used by Nazi Germany as a justification for the seizure of land and the expulsion of local populations.

In another web article, PA criticises Survival International, an organisation that fights for the tribal people’s land rights, for not campaigning to save the British countryside from construction projects, which PA claims will make way for “outsider tribes to occupy and replace the native inhabitants”. This suggests that PA thinks it has a special connection to the British countryside, which is linked to blood and soil ideology, but it also reveals its white nationalist framework and belief in the “great replacement” theory. Imagery PA regularly uses nature and countryside imagery on its website. A post about the far right’s “2023 international day of pro-white Action” listed several PA events for the day. One was in Yorkshire at Captain Cook’s Monument, featuring banners with slogans “White Lives Matter” and “Anti-Whites rule over us” against a backdrop of fields. The post also featured a picture of a stone with the words, “we will not be replaced”, painted on it.

Another image used by PA is a picture of a sky lantern with “White Lives Matter” painted on it. Ironically, according to animal charity RSPCA, these lanterns are themselves a danger to nature and wildlife. In March 2022, PA delivered leaflets through doors in the town of Springwell, depicting a red squirrel and entitled “Love your country – Love the countryside”. The tag lines spoke of protecting native species, stopping building on the green belt and banning kosher/halal meat. The use of the red squirrel, displaced by the grey in Victorian times, is not only a symbol of nature but an echo of the great replacement theory. Britain First used this symbolism on Facebook back in 2016. The countryside is also used for more internal events.

In July 2023, PA organised a weekend summer camp and hike, which reportedly had 148 in attendance. This event was also badged with a sign of a red squirrel. During the hike, PA members posed for a banner drop, again with a countryside background, with banners stating, “We will not be replaced [and] white lives matter”. One of the main guests was Michèle Renouf, who as Searchlight previously reported, was arrested in Germany for hate speech, and regularly attends Holocaust denial meetings. It is clear that some in the far right will use the climate crisis to spread fascism. Environmental movements must be alert that it could be a prime target for eco fascists.