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White Skin, Black Fuel: Fossil Fascism and Colonialism's Inky Legacy

Fossil-fueled technologies were born in the soot-covered pits of British colonialism and have held onto their racist legacy to this day. As the burning of carbon makes climate related catastrophe a near weekly occurrence, Fossil capital has of late turned to willing accomplices among the growing far-right to displace blame and defend the status quo. In a world of rising sea levels, scorching temperatures, and crippling droughts, the right-wing in country after country has risen to pin the blame on migrants, Muslims, and other scapegoats as they offer their own solutions to a warming world: close the borders and save the nation from climate break down.

In the first study of the far right’s role in the climate crisis, White Skin, Black Fuel presents an eye-opening sweep of this novel political constellation, drawing out its deep historical roots, and arguing that to confront this crisis requires combating the racist forces of reaction who would enable it.

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Speakers:

Dounia Boukaouit is an Independent researcher, Human Ecology graduate, and ICES Conference Coordinator and Research Assistant at Uppsala University.

Ståle Holgersen is a human geographer at Uppsala University, Sweden. Research interests include political economy and ecology, urban planning and housing, and crises. His forthcoming book Kapitalismens kriser (Daidalos 2021) explores relations between ecological and economic crises.

Andreas Malm is a scholar of human ecology, and the author of The Progress of this Storm and of Fossil Capital, which won the Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize.

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò (moderator) is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. His forthcoming book Reconsidering Reparations (November 2021, Oxford University Press) explores links between reparations and climate justice.

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This event is co-sponsored by Haymarket Books and Verso Books.

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