Milo Comerford - How the far right is adopting the ISIS global model // NICHOLAS VINOCUR - How European ideas motivated Christchurch killer
Terrorism is an
increasingly globalized phenomenon. The 28-year old terror suspect behind the shooting in cold blood of 49 Muslim worshipers at two
mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, is an Australian who identifies as
European, and who cites the leadership of London's Sadiq Khan, Germany's Angela
Merkel and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan as part of his perverse justification
for his violence. His ideology is rooted
in a grand narrative of Western culture in decline, a global picture of
perceived Islamic conquest of Christian lands, and a belief in the genocide of
the "European people" across the world.
The killer's "manifesto," which lays out a
warped rationale for his brutal attack, encapsulates a fundamental irony,
presenting a transnational version of extremist nationalism. It chimes with a
modern far right that is increasingly characterized by growing internationalism
and consolidation, with violent extremists framing their struggle as
transcending national borders, including fighting against a common Muslim enemy
in defense of a Christian West.
Where
ethno-nationalism was previously characterized by petty squabbles between
competing irredentist visions, the suspected Christchurch shooter, who CNN is
currently not naming, calls for international solidarity between extremists in
Poland, Austria, France, Argentina, Australia, Canada or even Venezuela,
brought together through the online space. This has created a new hybrid of
disparate extremist ideologies -- in this case a mixture of eco-fascism,
national socialism and white supremacy -- which sits within a global framing. It is not only the
shooter's ideology that is global, but also his roster of influences.. read more:
How European ideas motivated Christchurch killer
Europe can't turn a
blind eye to the Christchurch
killings. Even though the attack
happened on the other side of the world, the man who carried it out declared
that he started his planning after a trip to France — inspired by ideas that
have filtered into right-wing discourse across the European Union.
The links were on
display in a 73-page manifesto that the white supremacist, who called himself
Brendon Tarrant on Twitter, posted to explain why he had killed 49 Muslim
worshippers during Friday prayers in Christchurch, New Zealand.
While much of the
document is devoted to scoring points with fellow "shitposters" via
racist memes and in-jokes from the 8chan message board, it's also full of
references to European events, figures and ideas — starting with its title. The term “The Great
Replacement" is drawn from a thesis published in 2011 by French right-wing
intellectual Renaud Camus. As explained by its author, an openly gay former
academic, its central idea is simple: "You have a people and almost at
once, in one generation, you have in its place one or several other
peoples," he told Le Nouvel Obs a few years ago. Tarrant was affected
by the French election outcome, with what he called Le Pen's defeat by the
"anti-white" politician Emmanuel Macron.
A book by Camus titled
"Le Grand Remplacement" was a poor seller and remains so. But
its central idea — that France's white population was being replaced by Muslim
immigrants arriving en masse from former colonies in North Africa — quickly
gained prominence in right-wing circles.
Robert
Ménard, a former press freedom activist turned far-right mayor of the
southern town of Béziers, embraced it as an example of what was happening in
his region. So did the right-wing polemicist Eric Zemmour, author of
best-seller "Le Suicide Français," and Alain Finkielkraut, a member
of the Académie Française, the institution that guards the French language... read more:
https://www.politico.eu/article/christchurch-new-zealand-muslim-how-european-ideas-motivated-killer/see also
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