– To Fight Right Wing Climate Fascism Follow Sefton Delmer

 (trigger warning – profanity ahead)

In America, we now live in a full blown world of climate disinformation, propaganda, and political obstruction. The climate issue and politics are inextricably linked. One side has formed a coalition of fossil fuel resources and the politicians captured by their money.

From a communications standpoint, lecturing people on the facts and reasons for climate change hasn’t worked. Neither has preaching climate disaster to the choir of the already converted in the climate movement. Waiting for the political tides to turn and believing either major party will pick up the climate gauntlet will take more time than we have. If we are going to succeed in our efforts to slow the climate crisis we are going to need to change tactics and be smarter about how we communicate and fight for a safe secure future.

There is no single magic bullet in combating disinformation and propaganda. I have warned about the Renewed American Climate and Environmental Fascism during the Trump first term. It’s back and it’s bad. But we can look to history to see what worked against the Nazis in World War II.

Enter Denis Sefton Delmer, OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire). Delmer was a journalist and propagandist for the British government during the war. Born in Berlin, he was the first British journalist to interview Hitler during his rise in 1931, studied his oratory, and was present in 1933 when Hitler inspected the Reichstag fire. During the war he returned to Britain and worked as an announcer for the German Service of the BBC. Famously, after Hitler broadcast a speech offering peace terms, Delmer responded on air; the British hurl the terms “right back at you, in your evil smelling teeth.” This earned him a spot on Goebbel’s special search list for arrest (and death) when the Germans presumed a successful invasion of Britain.

Delmer was recruited in 1940 by the British Political Warfare Executive to organize black propaganda broadcasts into Nazi Germany as part of a psychological warfare campaign.[i] From his observations of Hitler and the German people, he developed 3 core principles that entrenched authoritarian rule.

  1. Identification with their leader(s)
  2. Sublimation of the people’s agency through these leaders, and
  3. The creation of a sense of community through propaganda

German authoritarian leaders were popular because they allowed their followers to imagine themselves to be the powerful, narcissistic, sadistic, and cruel people that, at some level, many desired. The leaders normalized vile feelings in much the same way Trump has normalized misogyny, racism, and persecution of anyone non-white or heterosexual. From a climate standpoint, this can be seen in actions as diverse as rolling coal (creating black diesel exhaust) or blocking EV charging stations, dismantling the EPA, or as simple as killing wolves. The attractiveness to followers is in the nastiness of the actions. They imagine their own power in these actions.

When people are suffering or in a time of chaos, they are willing to give up their own agency and freedom to their leaders. They do this in exchange for the promise by leaders to solve their problems, real or mot, and a vicarious assumption of personal power by following authoritarians. Having made enemies of “others,” the German leaders promised retribution against them. You can hear this today with respect to the climate and energy transition, for example, “We’ll reverse any EV mandates, or we’ll stop job killing environmental regulations.” From the perspective of fossil fuel companies, it is greenwashing, and creating fear that society will collapse if fossil fuels are phased out.

Finally, the lies and propaganda by leaders allow them to create an identity and sense of community. “We know who you are. You’re not like these “others.” You are true Germans (or Americans.) You are better than them. We are one. We are together.” From a fossil fuel company perspective, you can see it in this advertisement. From the standpoint of the political party, you can see it in the “good people on both sides,” comment (Nazis are good people?), or simply the uniform red caps or red ties of politicians. From a party position on climate, you can see it in the ‘wink-wink’ comments like “wind mills cause cancer,” or “we’re not sure about the science.”

Delmer had three matching tactics to counter these principles for his radio broadcasts into Germany.

First, he realized that he needed to break the monopoly that authoritarian propaganda had on strong emotions. This is the root of the power for authoritarians. False patriotism in the US is an example of a strong emotion by the right. So is the pride we derive by honoring the working men who help us drill for oil, or “harvest” natural resources. One way Delmer sought to break the power of strong emotions was to create content that tapped into resentments against the German leaders. During the bombing of Germany, he would blame the Nazis for not providing enough air defenses. Or blame the SS for living a corrupt life while ordinary soldiers were dying on the Russian front. Their leaders were corrupt. Posing as a German himself, he blamed them not with facts alone, but with anger, profanity, and pornographic descriptions of the depravity of their leaders.

Second, once the bond of strong emotion had been disrupted, then he delivered facts and information that helped people’s lives and gave them agency over their own destinies. For example, how to fake illness to get out of the fighting.

Then he also fostered communities and alternative identities. While the Nazis gave a sense of identity as being the “Volk,” Delmer tried to create alternative bonds of family, the church, or any self-sufficient group as a substitute.

So how does this apply to our political situation in America with respect to climate? Is there a lesson here for our communications? I think there is.

Of course a new tactic requires an in depth assessment of our situation and then testing, but forgive me a simplification. Fossil fuel companies have no interest in phasing out their planet destroying products. They are dinosaurs mining dinosaurs. But they have a lot of money. Our money. They use their influence and the Citizen’s United decision to funnel this money into our political system to get subsidies, policies and deregulation of pollution from the use of their products. Every year they spend over $2B in this effort and they are succeeding wildly in getting what they want, a 10X return. They have known about the harm of their products for over 40 years and lied about it. They fund think tanks and PR firms to greenwash their dirty hands.

At the same time, over 70% of Americans would like the government to do more to curb fossil fuel pollution and speed the transition to clean energy. The chief obstacle for policy shifts is the republican party. Some have argued that we will need everyone to help make this transition, even Republicans. So we should reach out to them? Unfortunately, a basic lack of trust is now the barrier to this approach. Cajoling them and being nice hasn’t worked as I’ve pointed out in The Role of Anger in the Climate Activism. And moving right hasn’t worked as Harris did on the subject of fracking.

But we do need to bring some republicans with us or, like the abortion issue, we might face a 40 year battle that hangs on a razor thin margin.

So I’m going to suggest trying a Delmer. Setting up a separate communications effort to test the Delmer tactics on two specific audiences: 1) One district of rural America using fossil fuel and finance execs and leaders as a foil, and 2) voters in a district where state and federal legislators are captured by fossil fuel money.

Today, most climate organizations preach to the choir of the converted by either sending blanket emails or posting to followers on social media. It’s a mistake to believe that mass messages to mass audiences have much effect. Rather, using a database and targeting, then tracking your results is required. I’ve written about this briefly in 2018 New Years Resolutions for Climate Messaging and Myth of the Funnel

What would a Delmer campaign sound like? Here are a few examples of what messages into this audience might sound like using the Delmer tactics.

  1. Rural Americans in Midwest District:
    Identification:
    “I’ve lived my whole life in _____, grew up on my father’s farm, his father’s farm, the one I’m trying to keep in my family. I’ve voted conservatively my whole life.
    Strong Emotions:
    But I’m sick of this crap! These rich MAGAnuts we got voted into Washington. They’re just laughing at us. Putting tariffs on our products, while raising the prices of fuel and fertilizer. Yeah, they’re happy to screw us over. The fat bastards at the top of five oil companies make over $100M a year combined. They’re laughing at us all the way to their new fucking yachts while they jack up our cost of fuel. They got 1700 lobbyists getting $23B in subsidies. But they don’t see our land drying up. Our aquifers going dry. It’s gotten so bad here, the only thing I can farm is the wind and the sun. But they don’t want that either. Because they keep pumping pollution into our air. Then they walk away from over 2 million wells still spewing methane and pollution into our communities. It’s makin’ us sick. I say, fuck them.
    Facts and Agency:
    I heard of this guy in North Dakota, Gabe Brown, who’s trying a new way to farm. You can listen to him here. I’m taking a look at what he’s doing and talking with my kids. And I’m looking at a new cash crop. Wind and solar. Here’s an example. Here’s how it can help you personally.
    Repatriation to Other Supporting Identities:
    I don’t care whether you’re an immigrant, my grandfather was an immigrant. The only one’s taking my living away are those bought and paid for by big oil. We are stewards of the land. My pastor reminds me of this. Call me if you want to connect on what to do next. We have to have each other’s backs. They sure don’t.
  2. Georgia Public Services Commission
    Identification:
    I moved to Georgia 10 years ago to live close to my grandkids. It’s a great state, with one exception. Georgia Power and our Public Services Commission.
    Strong Emotions:
    Our Public Services Commission is chartered to regulate our power companies in return for a guaranteed return of 11.9% and a monopoly. But all five republican commissioners wind up taking donations from attorneys that work for Georgia Power. How do you regulate a company when they’re paying you money? What does Georgia Power get in return? How about the $17B cost overruns at Plant Votgle? Yep, we’re paying for that. In addition, my rates just got raised $540 a year! These commissioners should all resign, but instead they’re just driving to the bank laughing. It’s not so funny to the thousands of customers whose power got turned off during COVID.
    Facts and Agency:
    As long as we have these assholes running the PSC, we’re gonna have to help each other. The best way I’ve found to cut my bills is to seal and insulate my residence. There’s federal and local programs to help with this. You can check them out at GEFA (Georgia Environmental Finance Authority)
    Repatriation to Other Supporting Identities:
    The people that put me on to saving energy are at GIPL, Georgia Interfaith Power and Light, a faith-based organization. They don’t care whether I’m Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or whatever, just so I’m in need. They’ll help. And there’s other’s too.

These are climate examples only, yet the technique applies to other issues where our freedoms are under attack by  the far right. It is not a blanket message for general broadcast but only works with the right messenger for the right audience. That’s actually the easy part. Without a database to test, measure, and evaluate results we’re just shooting in the dark. And it is getting darker.

Thanks for all you do.

We are all connected. Savor the Earth!’™
Hobie,

L. Hobart Stocking
SkyWaterEarth.com
hobart@skywaterearth.com
Substack: SkyWaterEarth – Hobie Stocking

[i] Twigge, Stephen & Edward Hampshire, & Graham Macklin. British Intelligence, (National Archives, 2008), pp. 72–73.