Hidden forces: Geopolitical ecology, climate apartheid, and the military-industrial complex in Massachusetts

Militaries are increasingly recognized as significant climate actors. As military operations and warfare are climatically destructive, and militarized responses to climate crisis perpetuate the violence of global racial capitalism, elements of the climate movement are calling for demilitarization as a central pillar of climate justice. I ground calls for demilitarization in an examination of the military-industrial complex in specific place – Massachusetts, USA – by drawing together the frameworks of geopolitical ecology and climate apartheid. Climate apartheid names the intensified coproduction of security and precarity under capitalism on a warming planet. Geopolitical ecology examines the role of large-scale geopolitical actors driving environmental change across scales. Through these approaches I situate the Massachusetts military-industrial complex (MA-MIC) in the current geopolitical-ecological conjuncture defined by US “domination without hegemony,” wherein the US is increasingly reliant on fossil fueled, militarized imperialism to maintain dominance. I then briefly detail the history of the MA-MIC – from war research at universities to defense-tech start-ups – and turn to specific MA military installations producing militarized climate apartheid: air bases aiding Israel's genocidal bombardment of Gaza, new F-35 jet procurements, heat training for the US Army, climate monitoring at Raytheon (RTX), and construction firms building climate resilience for the US Navy and the infrastructure of the carceral state. I conclude by drawing material and conceptual connections with abolition geography. Thinking with Ruth Wilson Gilmore's framework of military and prison abolition, the exploration of everyday, often hidden processes of militarization can reveal new connections and strategies for centering demilitarization in abolitionist climate justice.