“Save the bees, not refugees” – Far-right environmentalism meets the Internet

This thesis seeks to examine a concept of far-right environmentalism called ecofascism. The term is most notably used to describe Nazi Germany’s environmental politics in the nineteenth century. In recent years, however, several media outlets have claimed that online, far-right communities are reviving several traits of Nazi ecology by blaming the demise of the natural environment on increased globalization, industrialization, and overpopulation. Building on these claims, this thesis sets out to examine four self-proclaimed ecofascist channels on Telegram. A platform said to house most of the present-day, far-right communication. By applying a combined methodology of online ethnography and qualitative content analysis, this thesis asks, “To what extent is the content in self-proclaimed ecofascist channels on Telegram a revival of classical ecofascism?”. Through online observation and a comparative content analysis between classical ecofascism and present-day content collected from Telegram, I argue that a broader understanding of far-right environmentalism is necessary. The study suggests that while ecofascist channels on Telegram are reviving some aspects of classical ecofascism, they reject important features of fascism such as authoritarianism, collectivism, and expansionism. As such, I propose an additional understanding of far-right environmentalism as libertarian anarchism. Building on previous research, the aim of this thesis is thus to contribute to scholarly discussions on online, far-right environmentalism