Disaster Nationalism: The Downfall of Liberal Civilization

by Richard Seymour Narrated by John Keating

Overview

The rise of the new far right has left the world grappling with a profound misunderstanding. While the spotlight often shines on the actions of charismatic leaders, the true peril lies elsewhere. Defeating these people will not stem the tide driving them forward. They are merely the embodiment of profound forces that are rarely understood. Propelled through the vast networks of social media and fueled by far-right influencers, enthralled by images of disaster and fantasies of doom, they have emerged from a reservoir of societal despair, fear, and isolation. Within this seething cauldron, we witness not only the surge of far-right political movements but also the sparks of individual and collective violence against perceived enemies, from 'lone wolf' killers to terrifying pogroms. Should a new fascism emerge, it will coalesce from these very elements. This is disaster nationalism.



Richard Seymour delves deep into this alarming development in world politics, dissecting its roots, its influencers, and the threats it poses. With meticulous analysis and compelling storytelling, Seymour offers a stark warning. The battle against disaster nationalism is not just political; it is a struggle for our collective soul and the future of civilization itself. Unless we understand the deeper forces propelling the far-right resurgence, we have little chance of stopping it.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"What thinker would you bring to an earth on fire? You would not want to leave Richard Seymour at home: he is essential company for an age of compound catastrophes."
—Andreas Malm

"One of the most consistently brilliant and lyrical thinkers writing today"
—China Miéville

"Richard Seymour has a brilliant mind and a compelling style. Everything he writes is worth reading."
—Gary Younge, author of Another Day in the Death of America

"Thrilling, clinical, and profound-a necessary account of the stupefying rise, and grotesque fantasies, of the new apocalyptic right. There is no better guide to this hellish ideological landscape or the social dysfunction which gave rise to it."
—Joya Chatterji, author of Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century

"The book we all needed. Disaster Nationalism is nothing less than the definitive reckoning with the globally ascendant vitality of today's nationalisms, where Seymour recognises these rejuvenated nationalisms as an explosive web of destructive and futile passions. This is a nationalism spanning so many different global contexts that resolves precious little but animates collective desire in dangerously seductive ways. For the Left to recover a 21st century thesis requires accordingly a resolute confrontation with this cacophonous nationalism, a nationalism that Seymour has mapped with such vivid and audacious verve."
—Sivamohan Valluvan, author of The Clamour of Nationalism

"Richard Seymour is one of the finest thinkers working today. In Disaster Nationalism he helps us re-see the psychosocial hallmarks of our contemporary political moment, offering the analysis we need now of new global fantasies of "violent restoration.""
—Hannah Zeavin, Founding Editor, Parapraxis

"With astonishing global reach, and attention to simultaneous, interrelated degradations of information and climate ecologies and liberal-capitalist governance, Disaster Nationalism is the most comprehensive and insightful examination of the ascendancy of far-right politics across the contemporary world to date. A civically 'thick', politically capable fascist project may as yet be on hold, Seymour tells us, but its dark tribunes increasingly thrive in the interstices of our fragmented mediascape and apocalyptic social and planetary horizons. 'Incipient, or inchoate fascism,' Seymour writes, is here. Even when the center holds, the drab, unkept promise of the electoral cycle is unlikely to defuse its convulsive appeal."
—Nikhil Pal Singh, author of Race and America’s Long War

"Thrilling, clinical, and profound—a necessary account of the stupefying rise, and grotesque fantasies, of the new apocalyptic right. There is no better guide to this hellish ideological landscape or the social dysfunction which gave rise to it."
—David Wallace-Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth

"Disaster Nationalism describes with exemplary intellectual resourcefulness and precision the explosions of demonic energies around the world. Though rigorously political in its diagnosis of a global psychic disorder, it refuses to sacrifice lucidity to feel-good hope. Rather, it invites its readers to a deeper reckoning with the self than any account of our volatile era."
—Pankaj Mishra, author of Age of Anger

"Frighteningly timely. Seymour pushes us to see how the authoritarians of our time play not only on our fears but also on our passions. Urgent reading for everyone dreaming of a world beyond fascism."
—Gargi Bhattacharya, author of We, the Heartbroken

"Richly psychoanalytic and rigorous, Richard Seymour's Disaster Nationalism is a crucial intervention into discourse on contemporary forces of reaction. Seymour forces us to think beyond tired narratives accounting for the far right's appeal. Disaster Nationalism is dazzling, if devastating, further proof that Seymour is an intellectual force invaluable to leftist thought."
—Natasha Lennard, author Being Numerous: Essays on Non-Fascist Life

"Disaster Nationalism is a compelling, terrifying and extremely thorough account of the global rise of the far-right. With characteristic acuity, Seymour explores the psychological appeal of the messages of chaos, violence and destruction conveyed by far-right political movements, and how these visions both draw on and break with traditional fascist narratives, without ever posing a threat to capital accumulation. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand - and combat - the rise of the far-right."
—Grace Blakeley, author of Vulture Capitalism

Product Details

BN ID:	2940190968095
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	11/12/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged