‘Forest passages’: Narratives of withdrawal and ecological thought

In this essay, I explore how a potential ‘politics of withdrawal’ resonates with current concerns in ecological thought. In particular, I propose that a possible genealogy for such politics of withdrawal may contain authors from across the political spectrum, from revolutionairies to conservatives. In constructing such a genealogy, I pay close attention to parallels between the work of Pier Paolo Pasolini, Ernst Jünger, Guy Debord, and Giorgio Agamben: four writers from seemingly opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. All, however, express their criticism of (political) modernity, understood as governed by the logic of technocracy, extractivism, and capitalism. I argue that their common political project constitutes a ‘politics of withdrawal’ which is relevant for today’s environmental politics and thought, as it attempts to move beyond (political) modernity and its topoi of the polis , antagonism and conflict, toward an anti-modern politics of the shelter and the forest.