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The only advantage we gain from the 24 hour news cycle and social media is we can spot asshole opportunistic politicians like him faster. Unfortunately he isn’t the only one.
Yes, the small-minded are everywhere - but so are the good people, never lose sight of that.
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I am not sure if quoting THAT particular poem is the best reaction right now.
I understand the urge not to let terrorist arsehole taint the poetry of Dylan Thomas. But repeating that poem now feels a bit insensitive towards those who suffer and might just have learned about the bullshit this arsehole posted.
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Apparently the killer self-described as an “Eco-Fascist”. No need for the modifier, and I can only imagine the mess of climate change denial added to the turd stew of the rest of it.
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BTW: Fraser Anning got into the Senate in very unusual circumstances.
He was third on the Queensland One Nation ticket, and only got 19 votes. But then the guy who was second turned out to be ineligible due to dual citizenship, so he was thrown out of the Senate and Anning was appointed in his place.
Then, when he finally got to the Senate, he decided that One Nation wasn’t racist enough and set up his own fascist microparty (after first joining and then being thrown out of another far-right party).
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I am actually in favor of creating a white ‘ethno-nationalist’ state, where all these people who believe in white supremacy can live together, untroubled by brown people or other cultures. Maybe Heard Island and its neighbors would be suitable.
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Sigh. and i thought today was going to be a good day. I don’t even know where to start on this… i suppose i’d rather not focus on my rage at the moment so i really hope the community out there steps up to support these families.
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The levels of failures of so many institutions in America that created this horrible incident is frightening. Our white supremecists now are irrefutably as prolific of terrorists as ISIS, radicalizing on an international scale except they can only do so because the apathy of the social media tech companies and their supporters along with more traditional media’s obsession with pandering to the bigots that fund and spread these murderers and thugs around the world.
And that’s even not touching the failures of our government and the excesses of our firearms manufacturers and their lobby.
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I will check in with local arab and muslim activists and see what solidarity they’re expressing, and whether I can help.
I will help the local Antifa folks organize to extend an offer of security to local mosques. I will also donate toward their campaign to monitor and identify fascists operating in our area.
I will redouble my efforts to make radical left direct action the most meaningful and “potent” path for alienated and angry people to connect with, so that fewer become trapped in the death-cult of the far right.
This is all I can think of, I’d like to hear from others too.
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Really in the developed world as a whole, although as you note the poison seeds first germinated in the U.S. and the UK 40 years ago. Ever since Reagan and Thatcher, conservative greedpigs have been busy nibbling away at the core institutions of liberal democracy. Inevitably that opened up enough cracks in the pavement for right-wing populists to ooze out of, and then those “free” market fundamentalists (despite their supposed study of history) responded by making them allies. And here we are.
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Well, but that’s because they used to be able to do this legally, with impunity, with the full backing of the state…
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Make friends, don’t make enemies. I try to engage with those conservatives I know and politely disagree with them, tell them where they’re wrong, even accept if I’ve been wrong. You can get your friends to listen, but your enemies will dismiss anything you say on principle.
Ask your conservative friends/relatives to put the shoe on the other foot. If a Muslim had done this, and cited some radical cleric, would they dismiss that or would they say the cleric has blood on his hands? Words incite violence, Trump and an army of conservative pundits have promoted fear, mistrust and hatred for “the other”, what were they expecting, what did they really want if not this kind of violence?
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Eco-fascists are actually environmentalists as well as anti-globalists. It’s an apparently popular stance among the neo-pagan white supremacist set…
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Might disagree here. Gun violence is rare in NZ, about 0.3% of the population is immigrant Muslim, racism is rare in New Zealand, especially racial violence. The tragedy involved multiple individuals storming the white supremist gunman to disarm him. Kiwi’s are not even generally afraid of guns.
Was it not the only nation whose indigenous population routed european conquest. 25% of the population is naturalised Pacific Islander, why where they not targeted or the 7% Asian immigrant population? Nothing about the attack adds up at ALL. A white supremacist targets the smallest minority in a nation not his own? What?
But there is a method to his madness. If you read his manifesto, he chose to do what he did with one motivating factor (paraphrase) “no one remembers the motives of the bomber / terrorist, they remember the terror event.”
He weaponised one of the most peaceful nations on earth, by attacking the harmony of that foreign nation, inflaming international tensions between Islam and “white” nations and american gun rights (his stated objectives). He did that in a nation that has nothing but love and open discourse (positive and negative) for pretty much any faith or nationality or race. I’m saying this as someone who migrated to NZ.
If you don’t read this guys manifesto and realize that he is an absolutely troubled and disturbed murderer, he wins. If he wins, NZ is a nation open to any terror (not merely a lone deranged boy), Islam this, European nations that, 2nd amendment right that - that was his categorical, published aim. He’s Dylann Roof, not Ned Kelly.
Don’t let this murderer game the news cycle, read his manifesto, see how impotent it is and recognise that what happened in Christchurch was not about racial disharmony, gun rights (he probably owned half of NZs guns, FYI) or european / australian politics - it was one deranged white supremacist. You need to read this crap to realize it’s not some movement (especially in a nation like NZ - he wasn’t even a Kiwi!!!), its one unhinged man. Remember his crime, don’t paint the nation with terror - it doesn’t deserve it - it’s the same nation that stands by it’s fellow man, that rushed the gunman, that fights for each other - if you ignore this mans insanity, NZ loses some of its identity.
Seriously - read it (you won’t be able to get through it all)
I don’t have to read it to know it’s garbage. To encourage it’s reading is kinda sick if you ask me.
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Thank you for sharing, and i for one don’t paint NZ in any particular way because of this incident. But from my U.S. perspective, you’re asking us to treat him as one lone, deranged individual, at the same time that you acknowledge that he’s a white supremacist terrorist. He has an organized group backing him, a network that fomented his attack. We need to go after that kind of networked hate, because it definitely is a “movement.”
It’s no knock against NZ to acknowledge that it too harbors this kind of insidious, subterranean network. All “western” nations harbor it.
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Best way to combat this is prevention. Dont fear. Get out there and befriend as many people as you can. The more we know each other the harder it is to believe all of some demographic is out to get all of another demographic. Say hello to strangers. Tomorrow they will be aquaintances and down the road friends. This is what I can do as an individual.
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Yes, the lone wolf tactics are meant to hide the network. We know that because that’s precisely what David Lane set down as the most effective tactics for white supremacists.
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We really don’t need to read this loser’s warmed-over right-wing and white supremacist talking points and shout-outs to other racists to realise that he’s a troubled and disturbed murderer and a racist – the kind of homegrown right-wing maniac who declares himself in word or action throughout the developed world, including in lovely places like NZ.
This person is not a “lone wolf” or “bad apple”, but another excrescence of a global ideological trend. He had confederates on the ground (as well as ideological comrades supporting his views throughout the globe). The lack of availability of firearms in NZ doesn’t change that fact, but just makes the murder spree more shocking than it would have been in the gun-crazed U.S. (the 2nd Amendment of which he apparently admires, as do many right-wingers).
Don’t lay this primarily at the feet of mental illness, either. It’s understandable that one is shocked that this happened in NZ, but no-one should be surprised that it happened there.
If you need to read a played-out manifesto to realise that this crime emerged from the sewer mix of various inter-related right-wing ideologies (including white birth rates, obsessions with firearms, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric, race-wars, etc., etc.) that are plaguing all Western countries to one degree or another, you haven’t been paying attention for the past eight years.
tldr; no country is safe from the resurgence of right-wing populism. Don’t waste your time trying to convince yourself otherwise, especially by reading a screed filled with garbage any educated and informed person has heard all too many times before.
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