“It’s not about the environment, it’s about changing the system,” Swiss author and journalist, Giuseppe Gracia told NTD in an interview. In his new book “Schwarzer Winter” (Black Winter), Gracia takes a closer look at the global environmental movement—and the extremes it can lead to.
Swiss author Giuseppe Gracia’s latest book focuses on a young girl that fights for climate protection. However, she gets involved with a group of radical climate activists, and ends up becoming an internationally wanted terrorist.
In Europe, where the author lives and works, radical environmental groups such as “Last Generation” or “Extinction Rebellion” are attempting to force change in industry and politics. They spread doomsday climate-change scenarios, and demand action to reduce—or eliminate—carbon emissions.
In an interview with NTD, Gracia says that there are two very different sides when it comes to environmental protests in Europe.
“On one side, we have young people who are concerned about the environment, about climate change, and they demonstrate in a peaceful way,” he said. “There’s a lot of them in Europe—in Germany and Switzerland, as well as in Italy or France. This is one side. But then there’s the other side, and there is some ideology in it. It’s about changing the system. That’s the goal, the main goal they have.”
Gracia said he believes the issue of climate change is being used to promote socialist and communist ideas—and to manifest them in society.
“This idea that capitalism and private property are at the roots of injustice, the roots of fascism, of sexism … this idea that capitalism and private property are the roots of all of these dark sides of human life—this has always been a core element of leftist policy,” Gracia said. “So this is nothing new. And when you read Marx, it’s just a systemic approach to targeting capitalism and free societies.”
The author explained that most environmental damage is actually caused outside of the Western world, in countries like China or Russia. That fact, however, seems to be ignored by the protesters, and has been replaced with the general attitude that the West and its freedoms are the main problem.
When traveling in the Swiss city of Zurich recently, the author saw some graffiti—a slogan painted on the wall of a bank that read: “Capitalist climate protection is suicide.” Gracia said that this view aligns perfectly with climate activists’ demands for systemic change. It corresponds to the message of the World Economic Forum meetings at Davos that discuss “The Great Reset” and the redrawing of social contracts.
“The slogan sounds cool for many young people,” Gracia said. “But if you read it in another way, if you would say: ‘Communism is a better way to protect the climate,’ then nobody would believe it either. So it sounds cool at first, but when you think about it, it’s not cool at all. It’s a lie.”
The Swiss author proposes a number of solutions for how to take the concerns of young people seriously.
“I think that the first step would be that we take the concerns about nature, about providing for animals, providing for the climate, providing for ourselves with a lifestyle that fits with the needs of the earth … that we take them seriously, and bring them into the middle of our society and into the middle of our discussion. But then show that the liberal system, the capitalist system, can offer the best solutions,” he said.
Gracia said he believes it is important to make young people realize that a socialist society, “green socialism,” or big government are the wrong ideas—things that cannot be accomplished without giving up every aspect of our freedom.
Speaking of himself, Gracia explained that he was a Marxist in his youth. Today, however, he has a strong faith in God. He said that recognizing our own inherent weakness is what caused him to turn to God.
“Hatred of rich people does not make you better, nor does it make society better. Envy does not make you or other people better. So at some point, I understood this, and I understood that the problem is not an unjust system—the problem cannot be the system, because there is no just or perfect system in the world,” he said.
“I understood that we are the problem, our heart is the problem. Only love can change your heart and, when you believe in God, God can come into your heart and change you, and then this may change society and make society a good place to be.”
Gracia’s book has only been published in German to date, but he hopes the topic will attract interest elsewhere.
