[Energy Politics of the Far Right

The far right is increasingly targeting energy politics as a focus of political agitation. As the decarbonization of energy consumption becomes ever more urgent, global alliances between the far right and sections of fossil capital appear to be mounting a counteroffensive. In this session, we will explore how energy conflicts are being harnessed for far-right mobilization, what they reveal about competing visions of societal metabolism, and how these activities may shape energy geographies in lasting ways. In a guest lecture, Jacob McLean will discuss the Alberta separatist movement in this context, situating it within the broader landscape of global protest tactics aimed at protecting carbon-intensive economic and social arrangements. These include, for example, the farmers' protests that had a lasting impact on German federal politics in 2023. Jacob McLean is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology at the University of Victoria and a Research Fellow at the University of Alberta, Canada. His research examines the politics of decarbonization, populism, and the far right. He is also a member of the Zetkin Collective, a group of scholars and activists working on the political ecology of the far right. The collective’s book, The Great Driving Right Show: Cars, Crisis, and the Rise of Fossil Fascism, was published by Verso in 2026. The event is part of the course “Verdichtungsräume” and will be open to external participants as part of the thematic week “Wissenschaft gegen Faschismus”. Participation is possible either in person on campus Berlin-Adlershof or online via Zoom.

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