The massacre at the mosques reveals the far right is a poison in New Zealand
Monday 18/March/2019 - 01:55 PM
Shaima Hafezy
As he purified himself and prepared to go to the mosque in Christchurch,
the 10-year-old boy could not have imagined that this would be everything he
would from the world and that he would be killed by terrorist bullets.
The armed attack on the Linwood and Al Noor mosques in Christchurch, southern New Zealand on Friday killed about 50 people and injured dozens more.
The attack, described by the New Zealand government as a "terrorist attack", was carried out by right-wing extremists, namely Brenton Tarrant, who livestreamed the incident on his social media page.
The birth of extremism
Tarrant belongs to a working-class Australian family that aims to evict non-white and immigrant communities from the country for protection, as well as for retaliation for terrorist incidents and sexual offenses committed by Muslims and migrants around the world.
Tarrant's ideas coincide with the far right, but oddly the strong presence of those ideas in New Zealand society is not paid attention to. The attack raises the importance of searching for the roots of far right extremist thought in the country, as well as its relationship to that trend spreading to Europe in recent years.
In November 2017, columnist Ben Mack received sharp criticism after writing an article in the Washington Post warning of the rise of the far right in New Zealand, which was titled "How the Far Right Poisons New Zealand".
On the surface, New Zealand’s new government looks like a progressive dream headed by an energetic young prime minister, Mack said, adding, however, that despite all the excitement about Jacinda Ardern and her new government, the real power lies with the far right, which has seized power by exploiting the system.
Although the right-wing party has only 7% of the vote, it has the power to decide who will rule, according to Mack, and the impact of the far right’s influence has already begun. The government has pledged to reduce immigration by tens of thousands by making visas more stringent and demanding employers to prove they cannot find a qualified New Zealand citizen before hiring a non-citizen.
Mack also outlined the pressures exerted by the far right, which resulted in the introduction of legislation prohibiting non-citizens from owning property. The new immigration minister equated immigration with increased unemployment, suggesting a plan that would require people who receive social welfare to work.
Like American white supremacists in the Trump era, clashes broke out when white hardliners rallied in front of parliament, while threatening leaflets appeared in public places calling on white people to unite to preserve their identity, according to Mack’s article.
What happened in New Zealand is not only frightening because of the long-term effects of the promoters of hate who dominate the country, but also because it lays down a blueprint for the far right to take power elsewhere if its fanaticism is not confronted early.
Asylum crisis
The rise of the far right in New Zealand is in part linked to the rejection of refugees and the defense of nationalism, causing Amnesty International to hold many reservations about the country's treatment of asylum seekers and the services it provides them.
In February, journalist Marc Daalder raised the question of whether angry young people demanding the rise of nationalism in New Zealand is a warning of a bigger problem with the right-wing political movement in the country.
Paul Spoonley, the pro vice-chancellor of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Massey University, views the far right as being made up of two groups: those who are disgruntled and conspiracy theorists. While the far right in the United States is driven by economic discontent, New Zealand’s far right is largely driven by social concerns about multiculturalism and the loss of traditional white male dominance, feeling that they are being deprived of their rights and enslaved under the pressure of the new liberal cultural pluralism.
Many emerging right-wing groups in New Zealand exploit the fear of terrorism linked to Islam and immigrants, Daalder explained, even though the total number those participating in terrorism is minute. They gather on social networking sites, sharing news articles from marginal sources and worrying about the next Islamic invasion. They also tend to exhibit anti-state behavior and do not recognize traditional authority or established facts.