Red Dawn II: Patrick Swayze vs. Al Gore
Aug 17th, 2007 by Will Potter
The title of this site, and the term “Green Scare,” of course refers to the similarities between two eras of government repression: the government witch hunt for suspected communists, during the Red Scare, and the government witch hunt for suspected “eco-terrorists,” during the Green Scare. I think the comparison is useful in talking about these issues, because most people have at least a working understanding of McCarthyism, and how guilt by association, loyalty oaths, Congressional hearings, and naming names ruined the lives of many people. But it’s just an analogy, used to make a bigger point–public fears shouldn’t be exploited to push a political agenda.
For some folks, though, green is the new red in another way. It’s not that the Green Scare is the new Red Scare, it’s that environmentalists and animal rights activists have joined forces with the commies!
As usual, at first I just laughed when I saw this, thinking it was yet another consequence of the any-nutjob-can-set-up-a-blog phenomenon. (I love the technology of blogging, but stuff like this really makes me embarrassed to be called a “blogger”).
From the “Zionist Anti-Communist” blog:
This is an open declaration of treason committed against America and the West by the likes of Gore who is the chief propagandist of the Marxist orientated environmental movement. Now even the radicals want to take a step further and openly engage in acts of terrorism in effort to dismantle Capitalism and industralism…
One thing certainly points that major front groups for ALF/ELF such as PETA, Earth First! and Greenpeace International which is a Soviet front group btw are coordinating an effort to economiclly sabotage the U.S. The finger prints of the propaganda of Gore and that of this pro-ALF/pro-ELF website certainly expose that of the “restored” Communist Party…
I must confess, at first I started researching this just because I wanted an opportunity to use this photo from Red Dawn, the classic anti-communist (or anti-war, depending on who you ask) film from 1984. Ooh, wait. Could there be a “Green Dawn” in the works? Americans wake up and find themselves thrust into World War IV, convoys of “eco-terrorists” in hybrid cars roll across the heartland, meat-eaters are forced into prison camps and fed tofu hot dogs. Greenpeace’s “Rainbow Warrior” (or, even more entertaining, Sea Shepherd’s “Farley Mowat”) take on the Navy. And, in the final fight scene, Patrick Swayze dukes it out with Al Gore. (Truth be told, I may have to side with Pat in that fight; Nobody puts baby in a corner.)
But wait. It’s not so funny when the same rhetoric comes from… the president of the Czech Republic?
From the Colorado Springs Gazette (I love how they tried to spin my phrase in the first line):
Some say green is the new red, by which they mean that environmentalists, in their zeal to “save the world,” are acting like the totalitarian bosses of the former Soviet Union. Count us among those who agree with that sentiment. Another in our camp, and one who might have special credibility making such accusations, since his nation was formerly part of the Soviet empire, is Czech President Vaclav Klaus.
In a letter to members of Congress, Klaus last week made the connection between greens and reds explicit, saying that “Communism has been replaced by the threat of an ambitious environmentalism.” Global warming alarm is a new form of religion, warned Klaus, which threatens to trample individual freedoms and wreak economic havoc in its quest to “save the planet,” just as the communism did in the quest for a worker’s paradise.
It gets even weirder. On GreenIsTheNewRed.com I’ve written about the government and corporations rolling back civil liberties and labeling activists as “terrorists.” They’ve pushed for “terrorism enhancement” penalties, passed new terrorism legislation like the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, paid for full-page scare-mongering ads, and gone on an all-out “eco-terrorist” witch hunt.
But Klaus and The Gazette say it’s actually the environmental movement that’s the threat. Those pesky environmentalists are the ones who really seek to “imperil civil liberties,” they say.
Forget domestic spying scandals. Forget racial-profiling, branding Arab Americans as terrorists and spying on Muslim hangouts. Forget no fly lists.
Let’s get priorities straight. It’s those freedom-hating greens who are the greatest threat to the Constitution. They want to roll back corporations’ basic First Amendment rights to pollute the air, clearcut forests, and sell gas-guzzling SUVs. Fascists.
No related posts.
i always knew you was a commie! knew it knew it! now go to hell, pinko! i gots UNCLE SAM on my side!
but seriously. the co-optation of the green scare rhetoric is interesting.
Great post!
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As our little contribution to make this economics of recycling more appealing, http://LivePaths.com blogs about people and companies that make money selling recycled or reused items, provide green services or help us reduce our dependency on non renewable resources.
Interesting article,
I wanted to note that the Czech Republic recently banned the Czech Communist Youth Union or KSM. This action by the Czech government constitutes an assault to the entire progressive community–it is not surprising to now hear anti-environmentalist rhetoric coming from such a regime. While it is obvious that not every progressive, environmentally-friendly person is a Communist, it is increasingly obvious that capitalism’s priority of profit above-all-else is largely what landed our planet in the Global Warming crisis. From a Communist perspective, it is imperative to shift this priority–there’s no way to liberate the working class, no way to share resources, if the planet is poisoned.
Lastly, reactionaries will brand you with any name fit to discredit you if you oppose their policies. The brand of “eco-terrorist” is definitely a convenient one for them to slap us with.
Two thoughts:
First, red-baiting activists is nothing new. Civil rights organizers in the South were consistently portrayed as Communist agitators. And, of course, early gay rights activists were the pinkest of pinkos.
Second, in a way, green *is* the new red. Worldwide, environmental NGOs are more and more arguing that environmental problems cannot be solved in the context of existing disparities in wealth. The linkage between these NGOs and the social justice NGOs that have been working against trade globalization probably does represent the most significant threat to capitalism yet. This is more evident in, say, Bolivia than it is here in the USA.
They are, of course, right about the need for radical economic reorientation. Capitalism is and always will be bad for ecosystems. But old-school communism wasn’t any better. Like capitalists, Marxists viewed nature as inert matter to be utilized as resources by people. That’s why the former SSRs are pockmarked with environmental disasters.
Unfortunately, the new environmental justice movement has not moved far from the old-school viewpoint. Go to any World Social Forum and you will hear activists from all over the world proclaiming a “power to the people” position that assumes that simply switching which people control the “resources” will solve the problem.
This is one reason that those of us who advocate for ecosytems and animals must do a better job of working with and within the environmental and antiglobalization movements. Otherwise, green might really turn out to be the new red, with “the people” treating animals and ecosystems just as dismissively as the capitalists always have.
Will:
This is a good one! I laughed so hard that I almost pee my pants!
But seriously…. I am sorry to say this but generally speaking;Americans are SUCH a morons!!
I hope next time they also include Cher and The Village People in the conspiracy theory! It can become sooooo campy and a broadway smash!
Two items:
From my experience traveling to Poland each summer, item seems that there is a very high awareness of green issues there, and that country suffered much environmental degradation under the communists. For example, Krakow, which has one of the most beautiful old towns in Poland suffered much from pollution from a nearby steel mill. Also, all who were in Poland in April 1986 remeber the Chernobyl accident.
For these reasons, I could never see anyone associating the ‘green’ movement with communism. It just seems really weird.
My second point is this: if the anti-environmental camp is making this argument, which is so obviously false, they have really gotten very desparate.
[...] s economic ideas have been implemented by so-called communist governments. But, as long as red baiting continues, I’ll probably continue to feel the need to periodically p [...]