Many of us have been stunned into silence the first part of this year, as Trump’s new administration rolls toward implementing the authoritarian U.S. government that had been predicted. We’re warned almost daily not to be complacent, not to be the frog in the pot of boiling water. Yet the majority of us continue to go about our daily lives, trying to suppress the great unease we now feel.
Nor is America the only place witnessing the ascendancy of the far right. It is a worldwide phenomenon now, and it frequently seems there is no stopping it from growing even more pronounced.
Why is this happening?
The Northern Irish writer Richard Seymour provides the best set of answers we’ve yet seen in his book Disaster Nationalism.
And what is disaster nationalism? According to our search engine’s AI assistant, “Disaster nationalism refers to a political phenomenon where far-right movements exploit crises, such as environmental disasters or economic turmoil, to promote nationalist agendas and rally support. This concept highlights how these movements thrive on societal fears and insecurities, often offering a sense of identity and belonging in times of chaos.”
That is a high-level view, and also something of an understatement. Disaster Nationalism is an adroit manipulation of the resentment and anger that everyone feels from time to time—it can harness the latent fascist tendencies lurking within many citizens, and it is doing so at an alarming rate today.
Seymour is a strong writer and his exegesis is compelling. If you’re concerned about what’s happening today, in America and around the world, you should read this book.
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