Cover not available
Article published In:
Culture of Sustainability and Discourses of Social Change
Edited by Franzisca Weder
[Journal of Language and Politics 22:5] 2023
► pp. 687–706

“Hope dies – Action begins”

Examining the postnatural futurities and green nationalism of Extinction Rebellion

ORCID logo | University of Toronto
Drawing upon motifs of death, mass extinction, and predictions of chaos and collapse, the UK-based Extinction Rebellion (XR) demarcates itself as a different kind of environmental movement precisely because it “tells the truth” (in XR’s own words) about the climate crisis during a time of supposed false hope, denial, and delusion. In this paper, I analyze – through a critical discourse analysis (CDA) – how XR’s postnatural visions shape (and limit) the movement’s demands and proposals for change. My analysis reveals how XR’s calls for action are guided by a sense of loss and mourning for a future after nature’s end that are embedded with nostalgic undercurrents of a very particular mode of green nationalism. The potential exclusions and limitations of XR’s green nationalism are explored in this paper.
Keywords: Extinction Rebellion, green nationalism, futurities, climate change politics, climate change discourse, critical discourse analysis, postnaturalism, climate activism
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.XR: Exclusionary environmentalism?
  • 3.Research design
  • 4.Problem-definition: An inevitable end for life as “we” know it
  • 5.Problem-response: Green nationalism
  • 6.Discussion: A schism of futurities
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 4 July 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.22126.mor
References (59)
References
Anson, April, and Anindita Banerjee, A. 2023. “Green walls: Everyday ecofascism and the politics of proximity.” boundary 2 , 50 (1): 137–164. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bell, Karen, and Gnisha Bevan. 2021. “Beyond inclusion? Perceptions of the extent to which Extinction Rebellion speaks to, and for, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and working-class communities.” Local Environment, 26 (10): 1205–1220. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boykoff, Matt, and Olivia Pearman. 2019. “Now or Never: How Media Coverage of the IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C Shaped Climate-Action Deadlines.” One Earth. 1 (3): 285–288. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cammaerts, Bart. 2022. “The abnormalisation of social justice: The ‘anti-woke culture war’ discourse in the UK.” Discourse & Society, 33 (6): 730–743. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carvalho, Anabela. 2020. “Discourses for transformation? Climate change, power and pathways.” In Discourses in Action: What Language Enables Us to Do edited by Klaus Krippendorff and Nour Halabi, 104–119. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2010. “Media(ted) discourses and climate change: A focus on political subjectivity and (dis)engagement.” WIREs Climate Change, (1): 172–179. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Stanley. 2002 [1973]. Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers, 3rd edn. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Demos, T. J. 2020. Beyond the World’s End: Arts of Living at The Crossing. Durham: Duke University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Escobar, Arturo. 2018. Designs for the pluriverse: Radical interdependence, autonomy, and the making of worlds. Durham: Duke University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1997 [1995]. “The making and unmaking of the Third World through development.” In The Post-Development Reader edited by Majid Rahnema and Victoria Bawtree, 85–93. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
. 1995. Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Estes, Nick, and Melanie K. Yazzie. 2021. “Beyond the end of the world lecture series: Nick Estes and Melanie Yazzie of The Red Nation.” Video. [URL]
Extinction Rebellion. n.d. "Act Now." Accessed April 1, 2023. [URL]
. n.d. "CA FAQs." Accessed April 1, 2023. [URL]
. n.d. “Citizens’ Assembly.” Accessed April 1, 2023. [URL]
. n.d. “Climate and Ecology Bill.” Accessed April 1, 2023. [URL]
. n.d. "Decide Together." Accessed April 1, 2023. [URL]
. n.d. “FAQs.” Accessed April 1, 2023. [URL]
. n.d. "Our Demands." Accessed April 1, 2023. [URL]
. n.d. “Tell the Truth.” Accessed April 1, 2023. [URL]
Extinction Rebellion UK. 2023. “What is a Citizens’ Assembly?” Video. [URL]
Extinction Rebellion. 2019. This is Not A Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Extinction Rebellion Hanover. 2019. Hope dies – Action begins. Berlin: Transcript Verlag.Google Scholar
Extinction Rebellion UK. 2019. “Act Now.” Video. [URL]
. 2019. “The Truth.” Video. [URL]
Extinction Symbol Info. n.d. “XR Extinction Symbol.” Accessed April 1, 2023. [URL]
Forchtner, Bernhard, and Özgür Özvatan. 2022. “De/legitimising EUrope through the performance of crises: The far-right Alternative for Germany on “climate hysteria” and “corona hysteria.” Journal of Language and Politics, 21 (2): 208 – 232. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Forchtner, Bernhard. 2019. “Climate change and the far right.” WIREs Climate Change, 10 (5): 1–11. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Friberg, Anna. 2022. “On the need for (con) temporary utopias: Temporal reflections on the climate rhetoric of environmental youth movements.” Time & Society, 31 (1): 48–68. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Garforth, Lisa. 2018. Green Utopias: Environmental Hope Before and After Nature. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Gellner, Ernest, and John Breuilly. 2013 [1983]. Nations and Nationalism, 2nd edn. Hoboken: Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Hall, Stuart (Ed.) 1997. Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
. 1991. “Old and New Identities, Old and New Ethnicities.” In Culture, Globalization and the World-System edited by Anthony D. King. London: Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hartmann, Betsy. 2019. The America Syndrome: Apocalypse, War, and Our Call to Greatness. New York: Seven Stories Press.Google Scholar
Lilley, Sasha, David McNally, Eddie Yuen, and James Davis. 2012. Catastrophism: The Apocalyptic Politics of Collapse and Rebirth. Binghamton: PM Press.Google Scholar
Lipson, Molly. 2023. “Is Extinction Rebellion right to move beyond disruptive tactics?” Atmos, January 12, 2023. [URL]
Luna, Elsie, and Andrew Mearman. 2020. “Learning to Rebel.” Sustainable Earth, 3 (4): 2–10. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Malm, Andreas and The Zetkin Collective. 2021. White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Margulies, Morgan. 2021. “Eco-Nationalism: A Historical Evaluation of Nationalist Praxes in Environmentalist and Ecologist Movements.” Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development, (23): 22–20. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Merchant, Carolyn (Ed). 2008. Ecology: Key Concepts in Critical Theory, 2nd edn. New York: Humanity Books.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Audra, and Aadita Chaudhury. 2020. “Worlding beyond ‘the’ ‘end’ of ‘the world’: white apocalyptic visions and BIPOC futurisms.” International Relations, 34 (3): 309–332. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, Timothy. 2011. Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Moore, Jason W. 2017a. “The Capitalocene, part I: On The nature and origins of our ecological crisis.” The Journal of Peasant Studies, 44 (3): 594–630. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2017b. “The Capitalocene, part II: Accumulation by appropriation and the centrality of unpaid work/energy.” The Journal of Peasant Studies, 45 (2): 237–279. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moore, Sam, and Alex Roberts. 2022. The Rise of Ecofascism: Climate Change and the Far Right. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Mouffe, Chantal. 2022. Towards a Green Democratic Revolution: Left Populism and the Power of Affects. London: Verso.Google Scholar
. 2002. “Politics and Passions: Introduction.” Philosophy & Social Criticism, 28 (6): 615–616. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Open University. 2020. “The Language of Protest: Extinction Rebellion UK.” Video. [URL]
Pellow, David N. 2018. What is Critical Environmental Justice? Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Sarkar, Ash. 2019. “Conversations with Stuart Hall: What do migrants represent?” Soundings: A journal of politics and culture, 711: 131–139. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Seaton, Lola. 2020. “The two faces of Extinction Rebellion.” New Statesman, September 11, 2020. [URL]
Stuart, Diana. 2020. “Radical Hope: Truth, Virtue, and Hope for What Is Left in Extinction Rebellion.” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 331: 487–504. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Matthew. 2020. “The Evolution of Extinction Rebellion.” The Guardian, August 4, 2020. [URL]
Walia, Harsha. 2021. Border & Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism. Chicago: Haymarket Books.Google Scholar
Walters, John L. 2020. “Extinction Rebellion Truth works: Extinction Rebellion has grabbed the world’s attention with its imaginative, disciplined and urgent approach to graphic activism.” The International Review of Graphic Design, 25 (100): 116.Google Scholar
Westwell, Emily, and Josh Bunting. 2020. “The regenerative culture of Extinction Rebellion: self-care, people care, planet care.” Environmental Politics, 29 (3): 546–551. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wodak, Ruth. 2020. “The trajectory of far-right populism – a discourse analytical approach.” In The Far Right and the Environment: Politics, Discourse and Communication edited by Bernhard Forchtner, 21–37. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wodak, Ruth, and Michael Meyer (Eds.) 2016. Methods of Critical Discourse Studies, 3rd edn. London: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
Wodak, Ruth. 2009. The Discourse of Politics in Action: Politics as Usual. London: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Hayes, Graeme, Steven Cammiss, Brian Doherty & Clare Saunders
2024. Extinction Rebellion’s disobedient environmental citizenism. Environmental Politics ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Scheuch, Eric G., Mark Ortiz, Ganga Shreedhar & Laura Thomas-Walters
2024. The power of protest in the media: examining portrayals of climate activism in UK news. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 11:1 DOI logo
Aarya, Amarendra Kumar
2023. Global Eco-Politics: Media Discourse and Conflicting Climate Change Frameworks. In Eco-Politics and Global Climate Change [Environment & Policy, 65], ► pp. 189 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 20 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.