Disaster Nationalism

1. Disaster Nationalism: A New Form of Apocalyptic Politics

Disaster nationalism, the apocalyptic nationalism that has swept several far-right leaders to power and is even now readying more breakthroughs, has mounted a spectacular critique of political orthodoxy.

A new political force. Disaster nationalism is a burgeoning global phenomenon, characterized by its embrace of apocalyptic narratives and its rejection of traditional political norms. It thrives on images of impending doom—from "white genocide" and "great replacement" to "Islamisation" and "civil war"—which it then uses to justify violent exhortation and pseudo-insurrections, as seen in events like the January 6th Capitol attack or the Brazilian government building storming. This movement is not merely a fringe phenomenon; it represents a profound shift in political discourse, challenging the long-held belief that economic self-interest is the primary driver of voter behavior.

Beyond economic logic. Unlike previous political movements, disaster nationalism often sees millions willingly sacrifice their economic well-being for the chance to destroy a perceived enemy. This defies the "It's the economy, stupid" axiom, revealing a deeper, more emotional undercurrent. The movement's rise since the mid-1990s, accelerating after the 2008 financial crash, is marked by a surge in lone wolf attacks, mass shootings, and the emergence of right-wing paramilitaries, all fueled by a pervasive sense of social fear and distrust.

A "molecular" fascism. This isn't classical fascism, which arose from specific historical conditions like class civil war and colonialism. Instead, it's a "molecular" uprising, spreading like a "simple contagion" through online networks rather than traditional communities. It taps into a widespread ambivalence about civilization, a submerged desire for its collapse, and a need for violent restoration. This "curative decivilization" offers a psychological surplus of collective hate and confidence, transforming anxiety into a potent political force, even as it leads to increasingly dangerous escalations.

2. Beyond Economics: The Power of Resentment and Scapegoating

To understand what’s happening today, we must return to the passions.

Resentment as fuel. The driving force behind disaster nationalism is not rational economic interest, but intense passions, particularly resentment. This isn't just personal pathology; it's a coherent moral response to perceived unfairness, often felt on behalf of a group. When the sources of societal problems are obscure and impersonal, this resentment can easily be directed towards scapegoats, much like the witch hunts of early modern Europe that blamed misfortunes on unpopular neighbors.

The "white working class" myth. While pundits often attribute the rise of the far-right to the "white working class," evidence suggests this is largely a mischaracterization. Support for these movements often originates in the middle and upper-middle classes, later building cross-class coalitions. Disaster nationalists are typically hostile to organized labor and policies that would genuinely improve workers' lives. Their appeal to "whiteness" is a claim to a traditional moral status, framing incremental anti-racist victories as a threat to their own standing.

Neoliberalism's toxic legacy. Decades of neoliberal policies have intensified social comparisons and made economic failure a deeply toxic, shameful experience. This "sociophobic" system, which promotes universal competition and distrust, has eroded social bonds and left many feeling like "literally nothing." Disaster nationalism harnesses this insecurity and humiliation, offering a "muscular national capitalism" that promises vengeance, national self-love, and a return to a "harmoniously hierarchical state" through violence, rather than genuine economic uplift.

3. The Digital Delusion: How Conspiracy Theories Become Reality

Conspiracy theory is, from one angle, rumour metastasized.

The allure of hidden truths. Conspiracy theories, far from being mere falsehoods, are rumors that have metastasized into powerful, wish-fulfilling dreams. They offer pseudo-explanations for complex misfortunes, transforming abstract problems like climate change or economic decline into concrete, identifiable enemies. This provides a sense of meaning and control in an otherwise chaotic world, averting the need for radical social change by suggesting that only "personnel" need to be destroyed, not the system itself.

From local rumors to global myths. The spread of these theories is often spontaneous, emerging from local anxieties and amplified by social media. For example, the Oregon wildfires were blamed on "Antifa" rather than climate change, because an abstract threat cannot be fought. Figures like George Soros become global scapegoats, embodying a "diabolical" force behind societal ills. These narratives function as modern myths, circling around existential enigmas and often culminating in a "splitting" mechanism that projects societal dysfunctions onto an intrusive outsider.

Participatory disinfotainment. In the age of the "simulacrum," where digital images often feel more real than physical reality, disaster nationalism leverages "participatory disinfotainment." QAnon, for instance, is a "conversion-machine" that turns thrill-seekers into devotees by gamifying the search for "uncanny connections" (apophenia) between vague "drops" and real events. This process, driven by a "contradictory desire for totalitarianism" as a solution to the crisis of authority, transforms individual anxieties into a collective, often violent, fantasy.

4. Pornonationalism: Weaponizing Sex and Anti-Communism

Wherever disaster nationalism erupts, it produces a pornography of sexual evil: ‘porno-nationalism’, as Dibyesh Anand calls it.

Eroticizing social control. Disaster nationalism weaponizes sexuality, creating a "porno-nationalism" that fantasizes about sexual evil to justify repression and violence. This isn't just about restoring traditional gender roles; it's about liberating sexual violence and bringing death into the mix. Narratives like India's "love jihad"—where Muslim men are accused of luring Hindu women to increase Muslim birth rates—draw directly from fascist visual idioms, leading to vigilante murders and communal violence.

The incel fantasy. The "involuntarily celibate" (incel) ideology exemplifies this sexualized despair, portraying a "sexual market" where women are "commodities" and men are trapped in a brutal caste system. This dystopian fantasy, which naturalizes zero-sum competition and sadism, binds incels to their misery, often leading to suicidal self-loathing and calls for violence against women. Figures like Andrew Tate, who boasts of being "Top G" and "free" to do what he wants, embody an anomic freedom fantasy that resonates with this desire for transgressive power.

The specter of "globohomo." Sex becomes a geopolitical battleground, with the far-right blaming "globohomo"—a supposed "Globalist-Homosexual Agenda"—for national decline and military defeats. "Gender ideology" is framed as a Marxist attack on traditional sex roles, uniting diverse right-wing factions against LGBT rights and feminism. This obsession with "white extinction," fueled by fears of low birth rates and Muslim immigration, culminates in a "black-hole anti-communism" that compresses all perceived threats into a single, amorphous, sexually deviant enemy, justifying extreme violence.

5. Cyberwar and Lone Wolves: The Gamification of Violence

The lone wolf is an entrepreneurial barbarian, a one-man-pogromist, who wants to be copied.

Digital revenge. Disaster nationalism has perfected cyberwar strategies that weaponize online resentment and encourage "participatory sadism." Leaders like Bolsonaro and Modi use "reward follows" tactics and troll armies to intimidate opponents, spread disinformation, and incite violence. This "networked witch hunt" leverages rhetorical aggression into real-world harm, blurring the lines between official incitement and unofficial vigilantism, as seen in the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh in India.

The lone wolf contagion. The "lone wolf" phenomenon, where individuals commit acts of terror, has surged dramatically. These killers are "self-consciously memetic," studying and emulating each other, often livestreaming their atrocities and posting manifestos that serve as "marketing plans" for further violence. This contagion, which spreads through online gaming forums and anti-communities of "anons," defies traditional sociological models, behaving like an "anti-social social movement" that gamifies racist and sexist massacres.

Colonialism's afterlife. The lone wolf's "personal ideology of grievances" often blends personal misery with broader political resentments, creating a self-cure for a crisis of meaning. The case of Thomas Mair, who murdered British MP Jo Cox, illustrates how individual pathology can be "wired through" historical situations. Mair's obsession with "white race" purity and fear of "mishmash" echoed colonial anxieties, demonstrating how the "ghost of the former colonial subject" continues to haunt contemporary white nationalism, culminating in acts of "erotic overkill" fueled by political incitement.

6. Murderous Nationalism: When State and Mob Collide

The paradox of death-squad populism was that, while the guns were turned on poor communities, it was to a large extent the guns that won the support of the poor.

The strategic use of violence. Disaster nationalism is invigorated when its violent fantasies are enacted, transforming collective violence into a strategic tool for political gain. The Gujarat pogrom in India, where Hindu nationalist mobs, with state support, massacred Muslims, demonstrated how "murderous nationalism" could consolidate electoral support and enable unpopular autocratic neoliberal policies. This "institutionalized riot system" creates a "psychological surplus" for participants, offering a momentary sense of omnipotence and a "macabresque" enjoyment in punitive moralism.

Death-squad populism. Leaders like Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines exemplify "death-squad populism," where overt encouragement of popular violence wins broad support. Duterte's "Davao model" of economic growth relied on extrajudicial killings and incitement to vigilantism, blurring the lines between state and unofficial violence. By eliminating "criminal elements" like drug addicts, he promised to improve the moral quality of life for the "deserving poor," offering material and spiritual uplift paid for in blood.

The armed shitstorm. In the US, Trumpism in 2020 saw a "mutually radicalizing relationship" between leadership and base, as militias protested lockdowns and patrolled Black Lives Matter demonstrations. Trump openly supported these groups, deploying federal paramilitaries and defending figures like Kyle Rittenhouse, who became a folk hero for redemptive violence. This "armed shitstorm" culminated in the January 6th "insurrection," a "Q-d'état" that, despite its failure, inflicted significant damage on democratic norms and demonstrated the strategic viability of murderous nationalism in modern democracies.

7. Genocide in the Age of Disaster Nationalism

These annihilatory aspirations were then manifested in the battlefield.

Annihilation in Gaza. The Israeli assault on Gaza in late 2023, characterized by the systematic destruction of homes, hospitals, universities, and essential infrastructure, along with an unprecedented civilian death toll (two-thirds women and children), revealed "annihilatory aspirations" from Israeli leaders. Statements calling Palestinians "human animals" and advocating for Gaza to be "wiped out" or "turned to Dresden" reflected a clear "intent to destroy," leading to charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The "Dahiya doctrine" and digital Douhetism. Israel's military strategy, guided by an AI system called "Habsora," deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure to "create a shock" in Palestinian society. This "digital Douhetism," rooted in the "Dahiya doctrine," abstracts killers from the killing, fostering a "Playstation mentality" among soldiers who exulted in the destruction on social media. This, combined with a siege causing widespread famine and disease, amounted to a "famine crime" and a "permanent state of biological emergency."

A historical inversion. While Israel claimed self-defense against an "unprovoked" Hamas attack on October 7th, the assault was rooted in decades of occupation, blockade, and ethnic cleansing since the 1948 Nakba. The ICJ's preliminary ruling, rejecting Israel's defense and ordering provisional measures to prevent genocide, marked a historic moment, stripping Israel of its long-held impunity. This event, and the subsequent doubling down by Israel and its Western allies (e.g., withdrawing UNRWA funding), highlights how the "victims of the victims" dynamic, fueled by settler-colonialism and a hypertrophic sense of victimhood, can lead to genocidal violence.

8. The Dark Climate: Fascism's New Frontier

If ecological ruin redounds to the benefit of fascism one way or another, this raises serious questions about democracy.

Climate as a force multiplier. The climate crisis acts as a powerful catalyst for disaster nationalism, exacerbating existing conflicts and vulnerabilities. Climate-induced migration, for instance, fuels "murderous nationalism" against refugees, as seen in Assam, India, where Bengali Muslims are violently targeted. This isn't a direct cause-and-effect; rather, ecological despoliation creates structural conditions that are then exploited by pre-existing bellogenic tendencies within parliamentary regimes.

Denialism and eco-fascism. Disaster nationalism currently embraces climate denialism, framing it as a "globalist" or "communist" scam designed to transfer wealth. However, nascent "green-nationalist" and "eco-fascist" tendencies are emerging, linking environmental concerns to fears of "the Great Replacement" and "white genocide," echoing 19th-century social Darwinist ecology. This suggests that ecological ruin will benefit fascism regardless, either through denial or by providing new justifications for exclusionary violence.

Democracy's precarious state. The inherent contradictions of capitalist democracy, which promised limitless growth but now faces ecological limits, are being exposed. As democratic institutions "hollow out" and faith in democracy recedes, disaster nationalism claims the mantle of "true" democracy, exploiting the center's collapsing legitimacy. The danger is that as these systems buckle under climate stress, a pessimistic fascist metaphysics—offering supremacy as a solution to the melancholia of loss—will gain traction. Disrupting this requires reinvigorating democracy through collective action and addressing the "fascism in us all," the latent desire for domination and revenge that can be perverted into its opposite.

Last updated: October 7, 2025