Terrorism

Roots of Mass Murder in New Zealand

Mirza A. Beg

March 20, 2019

The lethal attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand during congregational Friday prayers on March 15th, massacred 50 people. The shock of this monstrosity, half a world away, became even more alarming because the Killer took pride in broadcasting the act on social media. He also wrote a rambling White Supremacist manifesto.

Unfortunately, within a few weeks, most people would forget it; until the next mass shooting.

Some may feel easy, as president Trump dismisses it as an aberration, a crime committed by a deranged lone wolf. The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern has called it the darkest day. She has called for a "global fight to root out racist right-wing ideology, and make sure that we never create an environment where it can flourish".

The lone wolf theory becomes untenable in the face of statistical data. In a 2017 intelligence bulletin, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security warned that "White Supremacist Groups had carried out more attacks in the U.S. than any other domestic extremist group over the past 16 years", and “they are likely to carry out more.”

Since 2016 - In Charlottesville, Virginia a female protestor was struck and killed by a car driven by an avowed white nationalist; eleven people were killed in a synagogue in Pittsburgh by a white nationalist. And the FBI  arrested a coast guard officer white nationalist beliefs and an elaborate plan to murder liberal civilians and government officials.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the vast majority of extremist groups adhere to some form of white supremacist ideology.

The horrors of World War II, almost 75 years ago, awoke the world to establish a liberal idea, that all nations in the world have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as enshrined in the US constitution. No nation should subjugate another nation. This brought a new dawn; old empires crumbled giving life to new fledgling democracies. Understanding the norms of democracy was difficult and many new countries deteriorated into dictatorships. It took more than half a century for many countries to throw away the yoke of dictatorship to gradually return to the fold of democracy.

Within the old democracies such as the US, the people who were denied equality based on color or religion gradually gained equality through the power of elections. With civil rights laws and better education, the oppressed, mostly blacks and ladinos gradually got more educated. with better jobs, they rose from the poor to the middle class with a steep rise in income because they started with almost nothing.

In the same period, the incomes of the while middle class also rose, but not by as much percentage, because they were reasonably better off to start with. Thus a perception took root that the liberal government favored others and neglected the whites and their incomes have declined.

All societies have fringe elements with grievances based on class, color, religion or ethnicity. They consider themselves superior and others, especially the emigrants or plebeians. With the advent of instant communication through the internet, social media affords like-minded people to connect across the continents. It has become easy for prejudiced people to bond in hate, against whatever their definition of "the other" is.

As the world is becoming more egalitarian, irrespective of old class divisions, people can rise based on education and merit. Misplaced grievances have contributed to the rise of white supremacists in the western world.

In the last few years peddling of fear and hate of others, have brought populist, narrow-minded governments in many countries. The good news is that fear-mongering does not sustain commerce and growth. They cannot last more than an election cycle or two. The expanding supremacist fringe will be checked by better understanding and sanity will return.

Mirza can be contacted at mirza.a.beg@gmail.com