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Astra Taylor launches 'End Times Fascism'

writersSep 14, 202616356

Astra Taylor and Naomi Klein published a book, End Times Fascism and the Fight for the Living World, due Sept 15, arguing a new form of fascism unites nationalists, theocrats and tech billionaires who are actively hastening planetary collapse so a wealthy few can survive and rule. The authors say this strand of authoritarianism treats the end of the world as acceptable and exploits climate change, AI and financial chaos to create a post-democratic, bunkerized future; Klein writes that ‘‘what they’re fighting for is who is going to survive the cataclysm.” The book profiles Christian nationalists and Christian Zionists in the United States preparing for a second coming alongside a “bunkered state” built from disaster management, ICE’s enforcement capacity and misinformation politics. Taylor and Klein warn tech elites have parallel ‘‘apocalypse fantasies’’ and the money and technology to realize escape plans, citing a short film released alongside the launch that quotes billionaire figures. The authors and excerpts have been featured in interviews and coverage by the New York Times, the Guardian and Cultured Magazine, which published an excerpt linking tech elites and JD Vance to getting Donald Trump onboard AI and crypto deregulation at a 2024 tech fundraiser. The book closes with an explicit call to build cross-movement organizing to wrest power and weapons from these forces and defend what the authors call the living world.

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