Christchurch Aftermath: Talk of Crown Troopers, White Supremacists and Internet Imbibing Torrents of Hate

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Christchurch is New Zealand's second "official" terrorism act

(the first was the Rainbow Warrior bombing) but it is not the first act of terrorism.

Maori remind us of Parihaka in Taranaki in 1881 where innocent men were imprisoned without trial, and a community destroyed, for peacefully protesting the alienation of their land, and of Rangiaowhia in the Waikato in 1864 where Crown troopers burnt Maori alive during a church service. Our schools need to teach our real History, and we need to address racially-linked inequalities in our society if we really believe, as the Prime Minister has said, "They are us. We are one."

Christchurch is being portrayed as a one-man act but  Elizabeth Shirley, Prof of Criminology, VUW, says "narratives invoking racialised fears and myths of Pakeha superiority run deep" in our society."  She urges us to  "reflect on the structural and societal underpinnings of this terror. Because despite their significant differences in nature and impact, these forms of violence are bound together through their ultimate expressions of supremacy." And goes on to say, "We conveniently minimise histories of colonisation and imperialism. In New Zealand, we argue that our lands were peacefully settled, or that colonisation is over. We often assert that we are the ones who are victimised, and we are the ones under threat."

Alex Braae in The Spinoff provides a useful list of the things being done such as gun control (see also Gordon Campbell), and that could be done such as eased visa entries  for relatives of the Christchurch victims.    See also my earlier posting "Four Positives in the Christchurch Killings" pn305.

"Troll Hunting" author Ginger Gorman and others explain how the internet and predator trolling groom future terrorists:

"The social posts, manifesto, and video were likely meticulously planned to incite media attention and trick journalists into providing a mainstream platform for the gunman's propaganda.  It's difficult to separate the issues of radicalisation, terrorism, and predator trolling, Gorman says. Many of the world's most notorious predator trolls are white supremacists. Often, they spent their childhood online, "from a very young age imbibing torrents of hate and they get radicalised into these behaviours and ideologies".

If we are to learn from the Christchurch killings our leaders need to seriously address these messages —and we all need to make sure that they do.

See also Jacinda Ardern's address to Parliament.

--ACW