THE RADICAL RIGHT AND STAR TREK: IDEAS FOR A BETTER WORLD

The fiction of Guillaume Faye is a classic illustration of how the radical right envisions the change toward what they see as a better society.

Science fiction has a long history of progressive politics. Arguably the most famous example is the Star Trek series, which began in the 1960s with an Asian helmsman, a Russian navigator, and a black woman as a discovery officer. Such politics is not that of the far right, whether through doctrinal texts or (scientific) fictions about a “better world”, the  latter being arguably more compelling due to their emotional nature and a good story’s ability to draw the reader in to reality World of the hero's imaginary journey. 

Archaeofuturism: European Visions of the Post-Catastrophe Era by Guillaume Faye, originally published in French in 1998, is an opportunity for the encounter of these two modalities. A prominent right-wing radical thinker argues concretely against egalitarianism and the philosophy of progress.

After the introduction, Archaeofuturism begins with a review of the  New Right, including a critique of the "ethno-cultural relativism" that has prevented claims of "the superiority of our own civilization." Next comes the chapter on archaeofuturism; "Ideologically deviant statements"; Faye's discussion of a two-speed world economy; a chapter entitled "The European and Ethnic Question"; and finally the sci-fi story which I'll come back to now. 

The Great Catastrophe 

Referring to archaeofuturism, Faye introduces archaism in terms of immutable “purely biological and human values” implying the separation of gender roles, the defense of organic communities, and “clearly and ideologically grounded between welfare states, while futurism is described as "planning for the future", "a constant of  European thought" that rejects "the unchangeable". "Archeofuturism" celebrates the technological achievements of such as genetic engineering, with a radical right-wing philosophy. 

Not quite the Star Trek message, but why bother?While Faye presents "Archaeofuturism" in a classic and intellectual style, she also seeks to increase its appeal by romanticizing its ideas. This means that by the end of the book, the story conveys not only its core points, but an entire alternate future. This final chapter is not simply dystopian, as is the case in many far-right novels, but utopian - it emphasizes not decay and catastrophe, but "the good life" and rebirth. 

in Toulouse either in Rennes, Milan, Prague, Munich, Antwerp or Moscow. In this way, the story allows for an emotional identification with a not-so-distant future that justifies a closer examination of this far-right narrative.

Titled A Day in the Life of Dimitri Leonidovich Oblomov: A Chronicle of Archeofuturist Times, the story takes the reader  through the eyes of the Euro- Siberian Federation, Dimitri Leonidovich Oblomov, in Faye's future in June 2073. He describes what happened after "Great Cataclysm," a confluence of catastrophes at the heart of Faye's theory that supposedly manifests the end of 's "fairy tale ideology" of  egalitarianism and the advances that underpin modernity. 

According to Faye, it is a combination of seven major crises: the demographic colonization of Europe;  economic and demographic crisis;  chaos in the south; global economic crisis; an increase in religious fanaticism, especially Islam; north-south comparison; and  pollution, which interestingly includes the unequivocal acceptance of anthropogenic climate change. Faye speculated that this convergence would have occurred between 2010 and 2020. The story runs from 2014 to 2016 and tells the reader that by 2020 2 billion people will have died.

Readers will also learn that after this great catastrophe, the Euro-Siberian Federation was formed as a result of the union of the European Union and Russia. In fact, the idea of ​​a federal Europe is at the heart of Faye's approach. Unlike most of her far-right companions, Faye sees the modern European Union as an inadequate but necessary step towards that federation. Such an imperial bloc—like India, China, North America, Latin America, the Muslim  world, sub-Saharan Africa, and Peninsular Asia—would be a semi-autonomous actor on the world stage, allowing time itself to strengthen regional identities through federation. . 

Another key element of Faye's theory, her boundless celebration of technoscience, is also present throughout the story.For example, Oblomov speaks of a base on Mars and spends most of the story on the "planetary train" from Brest to Komsomolsk, a journey that only takes  about three hours. 

However, within the Federation, only 19% of the population participates in a tech-scientific economy and a lifestyle that “solves pollution and waste of energy  – the planet can finally breathe again. …However, it was too late to stop the global warming,  greenhouse effect and sea level rise  caused by large-scale toxic emissions in the 20th century. Science has advanced rapidly, but  only  a minority of the population is affected; others returned in to a medieval economy based on agriculture, handicrafts and animal husbandry. 

Not only is this show obviously unequal, Faye  simply assumes that the vast majority, in fiction and in reality, will enjoy a pre-industrial, neo-traditional lifestyle.Faye's technical-scientific vision includes chimeras and the genetic manipulation of children, the benefits of which will only be accessible to a minority.

Non-European 

Moving on to depicting women, the story presents three special and unusual modes: Oblomov's wife, who takes care of the children and who really only appears at the end of the story; a virtual  secretary - not a "dirty fat old hag" but a "perfect size, always curt and occasionally making lewd remarks"; and "a dark-skinned and very beautiful girl". In fact,  through the conversation between this Native American woman and Oblomov during the train ride, the reader learns a lot about Faye's archaeofuturistic vision. 

Finally, Faye's vision of a post-disaster era involves purging Europe of  its “non-European” population. In Faye's writings, Islam is the main enemy, so the story tells of the 2017 invasion of Europe by a confederate Islamic army of "ethnic gangs" before the Reconquista (with the help of Russia) resulted in victory and the deportation of millions of people. descendants of non-European immigrants. Unsurprisingly, the deportation is based on archaic  criteria from since Faye speaks of the "law of blood" and the "collective biological unconscious".In fact, this story is a prime example of how far-right fictional narratives “imagine the unimaginable”—a transformation into what the far-right sees as a “better world.” More prominent because the latter can have real consequences.