Edward Goldsmith - Controversies

Controversies

In 1997, after an acrimonious split with his editorial team—most notably with his former friend and colleague Nicholas Hildyard—Goldsmith was left to run The Ecologist on his own. Having been absent for some years, he brought in the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC) to act as the editorial team. His nephew Zac, who was then working for ISEC, eventually took over the editorship on their behalf.

The split with Hildyard led to a period of often bitter criticism from some members of the political left in the environmental movement, which, compounded with failing health, resulted in a period of isolation from the British scene.

Goldsmith was accused of having affiliated himself with the Nouvelle Droite, an intellectual voice of the European "New Right", after addressing a symposium on Green issues organised in Paris by the GRECE (Research and Study Group on European Culture), a school of political thought founded largely on the works of Alain de Benoist. It was the attending of this and another similar event that had led to rising tensions with his colleague Nicholas Hildyard. The title of Goldsmith's contribution in Paris being simply "Une société écologique: la seule alternative" (An ecological society: the only alternative).

Later, in a controversial article for the Guardian newspaper entitled "Black Shirts in Green Trousers", George Monbiot (a co-founder of the left-wing political party Respect) accused Goldsmith of having "advocated the enforced separation of Tutsis and Hutus in Rwanda and Protestants and Catholics in Ulster, on the grounds that they constitute 'distinct ethnic groups' and are thus culturally incapable of co-habitation" (a point rejected by Goldsmith). This, along with other attacks, eventually led Goldsmith to counter his critics with his indepth rebuttal My Answer.

Goldsmith's close association with his brother Sir James Goldsmith, his lifelong friendship with the controversial casino owner and conservationist John Aspinall, along with his anti-modernist stance and support for indigenous peoples, ensured that Goldsmith had many detractors throughout his life. Yet despite this, Goldsmith received affectionate support and respect from across the full spectrum of the environmental movement, as well as from many of the people whose views and preoccupations were the focus of his theoretical and philosophical critique.

Goldsmith’s message continued to be sponsored around the world, in particular through his work with the International Forum on Globalization (IFG), and, regardless of their previous acrimony, Hildyard and Goldsmith went on to restore their former friendship.