National Luddism

a movement against transhumanism

I’ve followed this account since 2018. During that time, he’s drifted around the political spectrum. A few years ago, he began to take a special interest in climate. This is where I first encountered the emergent right-wing environmentalism that characterizes so much of online discourse today.

When I was growing up, it was unthinkable that conservatives would grasp the reality of climate change. Liberals would grumble that, “if we could only get the other side to accept the science, then the political contest would be over!” Today, impending environmental crisis has become the new rationale for halting immigration, closing national borders and limiting industrial development in the global south. Climate change has become the excuse for the Right to finally do what it has always wanted. Political conflicts of the 21st century will no longer be a dispute over the “realities of climate change” but instead what to do about it.

This particular interviewee espouses an unconventional mix of revolutionary primitivism, socialism and ethno-nationalism. He began by posting memes around age 15. Today he is actively involved in local politics with a strong focus on environmentalism.

But surprisingly, his political involvement is now on the progressive left. The views expressed in this interview do not at all reflect his views today. On his public account you can see him organizing alongside immigrants and people of all ethnicities and nationalities. Stories such as these are an important reminder that no person’s worldview is ever set in stone. In a few short years, one’s entire understanding of politics can radically transform.

It makes me wonder, how many other young men might have had a cringey adolescent period as an online counter-cultural extremist? And then grew up to have a meaningful engagement with politics from an entirely different position?

***

As always, the opinions expressed in this interview do not represent my own views. I disavow all forms of political violence and extremism. This is an on-going research project in which I present emergent Gen Z online political developments in their unfiltered, shocking and sometimes distasteful forms.

The subsequent interviews in this series may become increasingly radical. To limit the reach of this material, I’ve chosen to paywall some of the forthcoming installments to prevent further opportunities for context collapse. Sometimes the internet works better in small groups.

Anti-Modern
age 17
Sweden
Instagram, Snapchat

***

How would you describe your politics or ideology?

Luddite

Who are your biggest influences?

Ted Kaczynski, Marx, Mike Enoch, Politigram friends

When did you first learn about or start visiting online political communities?

2014

What was your ideology before entering these spaces?
Or how have your views evolved since you started participating?

Just a liberal or apolitical maybe