Analysis: The racist theory that links terrorism in New Zealand to the Trump presidency
By Ishaan Tharoor Ishaan Tharoor Reporter covering foreign affairs, geopolitics and history Email Bio Follow March 18 at 12:59 AM Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday, along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know? Sign up for the Today’s WorldView newsletter.
When Trump asked New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern how he could help, she reportedly suggested he offer his “sympathy and love for all Muslim communities.” But the U.S. president spent the weekend on Twitter once more decrying immigrant “invaders” and defending a Fox News host who had just been suspended for Islamophobic remarks. At no point did he communicate any wider empathy for Muslims around the world or explicitly condemn white supremacy.
Not for nothing did Tarrant hail Trump in his bigoted manifesto “as a symbol of white identity and renewed purpose.” Trump built his political career in part by weaponizing anti-Muslim sentiment in the West, promising sweeping bans against Muslims, grandstanding against Syrian refugees, and winking encouragement toward domestic extremists on the far right.
“As I sat there in the parking lot, in my rental car, I watched a stream of the invaders walk through the shopping centre’s front doors,” Tarrant wrote. “For every French man or woman there was double the number of invaders. I had seen enough, and in anger, drove out of the town, refusing to stay any longer in the cursed place and headed on to the next town.”
Renaud Camus, the polemicist whose thesis in his 2012 book “The Great Replacement” almost certainly influenced Tarrant, decried the gunman’s actions in an interview with The Washington Post. But he felt little concern over how his ideas were being interpreted by far-right politicians and proliferated in the online echo chambers where Tarrant stewed in his hatred.
Raspail is more blunt about what he thinks should be the necessary response to migration."There is going to be a resistance movement, and it has begun,” Raspail told journalist Sasha Polakow-Suransky in 2016. “If the situation becomes the one I predict — catastrophic — there will certainly be resistance that is both tough and armed. … Without the use of force, we will never stop the invasion.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Trump Impeachment campaigner says 'racist murderers' see president as a 'hero' after New Zealand mosque shooting“This president has given license to white supremacy in America that has spread across the world,' said Tom Steyer, founder of the Need to Impeach campaign.
Read more »
Mulvaney says it’s ‘absurd’ to link New Zealand mosque attacks to Trump’s rhetoricThe suspected gunman has called Trump, whose rhetoric on immigrants has been widely criticized, “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.”
Read more »
Three terrorism trends converged in sickening New Zealand attacksPeter Bergen writes, 'The atrocities in New Zealand highlight three emerging trends in the West: Attacks against Muslim targets, the use of social media as a platform for terrorists to share livestream videos, and the violent targeting of houses of worship.'
Read more »
VERBATIM: New Zealand PM 'We condemn terrorism' - Reuters TVAt least one gunman killed at least 49 people and wounded more than 20 during Friday prayers at two New Zealand mosques in the country's worst ever mass shooting, which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described as terrorism.
Read more »
Trump makes no mention of terrorism or bigotry in tweet on New Zealand mosque shootings, as other world leaders decry an act of 'racist hatred'New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the incident was a 'terrorist act.'
Read more »
In Congress and from Trump, horror over New Zealand mosque massacreTwo of the three Muslim members of Congress respond to the horrific attack in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Read more »
New Zealand mosque shooting manifesto: Trump, Breivik among those apparently mentioned by alleged shooterNew Zealand mosque shooting manifesto: Trump, Breivik among those apparently mentioned by alleged shooter NewZealandShooting
Read more »