A Year After the Christchurch Mosque Shootings: What Has Changed?
Author: Dr. Ayça Arkılıç, Lecturer in Political Science and International Relations/Te Tari Tōrangapū, Victoria University of Wellington/Te Herenga Waka, Wellington/Te Whanganui-a-Tara, New Zealand/Aotearoa, ayca.arkilic@vuw.ac.nz
On 15 March 2019, a 28-year-old white supremacist from Australia arrived at the Al-Noor Mosque in central Christchurch during Friday Prayer. A Muslim man who greeted the terrorist with the words ‘Hello, Brother’ at the mosque entrance was one of the first to be shot. After killing his victim, the terrorist walked in and opened fire on some 190 innocent worshippers while live-streaming the massacre on social media. He then drove to the Linwood Islamic Center, another mosque five kilometers east of the Al-Noor Mosque, to continue his deadly shooting. The consecutive attacks cost 51 lives and injured 40, including women and children, and were the deadliest to take place in Aotearoa New Zealand, one of the most peaceful countries in the world.[i] Prior to the slaughter, the terrorist had published a 74-page manifesto entitled ‘The Great Replacement,’ citing the growing Muslim population and ‘white genocide’ as his main motivations.[ii] The twin attacks sent shock waves across the country and the rest of the world, given the scale of the bloodshed and the clear targeting of Muslim worshippers.
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s Prime Minister and leader of the Labor Party, immediately called out the killings as an act of terrorism and refused to use the terrorist’s name. ‘Many of those who will have been directly affected by this shooting may be migrants to New Zealand; they may even be refugees here. They have chosen to make New Zealand their home, and it is their home. They are us,’ she said. ‘The person who has perpetuated this violence against us is not. They have no place in New Zealand. There is no place in New Zealand for such acts of extreme and unprecedented violence, which it is clear this act was,’ she continued.[iii] More importantly, Ardern was quick to prohibit the sale of all military-style semi-automatic and assault rifles and to tighten gun laws. The Arms Legislation Bill, which received royal assent in June 2020, includes a firearms registry, heavy penalties, and a warning system to prove that a license holder is a fit and proper person.[iv] The terrorist has also been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
New Zealanders have responded to the violent attacks with love and compassion. In the wake of the atrocity, a Baptist church in Auckland opened its doors to Muslims, and Catholic bishops published a statement, emphasizing the positive relationships they have with the Muslim community. A day after the attacks, synagogues in the country closed on Shabbat for the first time in their history.[v] The New Zealand Māori Council also expressed their solidarity by calling for a nation-wide haka on 22 March.[vi] Finally, a week after the killings, another campaign was set up to encourage women across New Zealand to wear a headscarf. ‘We are with you, we want you to feel at home on your own streets, we love, support, and respect you,’ the initiator of the campaign concluded.[vii]
Despite such a strong response from the incumbent government and society, white supremacy is still present in the country. Islam is one of the fastest-growing religions in New Zealand, particularly among Māori,[viii] which is a source of concern for some groups. Muslim representatives claim that the threat of white supremacist violence has, in fact, risen after the 15 March terrorist attacks. For example, Ikhlaq Kashkari, the head of the New Zealand Muslim Association, reported shortly after the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks that: ‘We’re constantly getting messages of hate ... There was a pause, obviously, after 15 March ... Lately it’s got quite bad. I assume it’s because of the anniversary.’ In a similar vein, Anjum Rahman, the national coordinator of the Islamic Women’s Council, pointed out that the attacks have empowered some extremist people. Rahman’s messages need to be taken seriously, given that Rahman and her colleagues had met with state officials prior to the Christchurch massacre to voice their concerns over discrimination, increasing levels of hate, and a more organized far-right in New Zealand. Security Intelligence Service officials have confirmed that, in recent months, several young men affiliated with white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and identitarian movements, such as the ‘Dominion Movement’ and ‘Action Zealandia,’ have been investigated or arrested and that the threat continues.[ix]
As Dr. Rawiri Taonui explains, while Muslim immigrants appear to be the main target of these groups today, white supremacy dates back to the slave trade and European colonization, which marginalized Māori. Suppression of Māori culture and language, coupled with war and land confiscations, culminated in an inter-generational cycle of poverty; poor housing, education, and health; and incarceration for the Māori community that persists today. Taonui explains that during the 19th and early 20th centuries, white racism attacked Chinese, Indian, and Jewish immigrants. Chinese immigrants had to pay a poll tax to enter the country based on their ethnicity via the Chinese Immigrants Act. Chinese and Indian individuals also lacked citizenship rights until 1952. Christchurch, in particular, has been a hotbed for racism. Since the 1960s, New Zealand’s second most-populous city has generated more street-level white racist groups than elsewhere in New Zealand. Although it is hard to measure the full extent of white racist violence as New Zealand does not record hate crime data, media stories and various reports indicate that Christchurch is still home to the highest number of racist violence and harassment incidents.[x] Yet other scholars, such as Professor Paul Spoonley, warn that racism is a problem not just in Christchurch but in all New Zealand communities and provincial towns and that even small white supremacist groups need to be monitored closely.[xi] Spoonley suggests that there are approximately 60 to 70 groups and 150 to 300 core right-wing activists in New Zealand. Given the small population of New Zealand, these are not trivial numbers.[xii]
Jacinda Ardern’s landslide victory in the 2020 New Zealand general elections is a positive development for the protection of Muslim rights and New Zealand’s fight against white supremacist terrorism. The defeat of New Zealand First, a nationalist and populist party that has previously campaigned on reducing emigration is another milestone in the 2020 elections. However, the rise of far-right movements and parties across the world continues to be a serious threat for the country because New Zealand’s white supremacist community is closely linked to far-right networks in other countries, facilitated by internet chat rooms and social media platforms.[xiii] In other words, while we should not underestimate New Zealand’s anti-terrorism efforts, it is important to remember that white supremacist violence can only be eradicated with closer surveillance and strong global commitment and collaboration.
i.T. Brown, ‘Christchurch mosque attack victims address gunman: “We did not deserve your actions”,’ Radio New Zealand, 24 August 2020, https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/424297/christchurch-mosque-attack-victims-address-gunman-we-did-not-deserve-your-actions
ii. I. Bogost, ‘Social Media Are a Mass Shooter’s Best Friend,’ The Atlantic, 15 March 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/how-terrorism-new-zealand-spread-social-media/585040/
iii. Jacinda Ardern on the Christchurch shooting: “One of New Zealand’s darkest days”,’ The Guardian, 15 March 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/15/one-of-new-zealands-darkest-days-jacinda-ardern-responds-to-christchurch-shooting
iv. C. Devlin, ‘Second tranche of gun laws following March 15 shootings, Stuff, 18 June 2020, https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/121878182/second-tranche-of-gun-laws-following-march-15-shootings
v. J. Rohrlich, ‘People of all faiths are visiting mosques in solidarity after the Christchurch shootings,’ Quartz, 16 March 2019, https://qz.com/1574592/people-are-supporting-mosques-after-new-zealand-shootings/
vi. K. Fitzgerald, ‘Christchurch terror attack: National haka planned in support of Muslim community,’ Newshub, 20 March 2019, https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/03/christchurch-terror-attack-national-haka-planned-in-support-of-muslim-community.html
vii. ‘New Zealand women don headscarves to support Muslims after shootings,’ Reuters, 22 March 2019, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-newzealand-shootout-headscarves-idUSKCN1R304O
viii. A. Arkilic, ‘What is Islam’s appeal to Māori?, Newsroom, 19 August 2020,
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/what-is-islams-appeal-to-maori
ix.T. Manch, ‘White supremacy rises in New Zealand after March 15 terror attack,’ Stuff, 17 March 2020, https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/120275537/white-supremacy-rises-in-new-zealand-after-march-15-terror-attack
x.R. Taonui, ‘Is Christchurch the capital of white racism in New Zealand?,’ Waatea News, 20 June 2019, https://www.waateanews.com/waateanews/x_news/MjE5ODk/Opinion/-Is-Christchurch-the-capital-of-white-racism-in-New-Zealand
xi. L. Keith, ‘Small town New Zealand not exempt from white supremacists,’ Stuff, 21 March 2019, https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-shooting/111417426/small-town-new-zealand-not-exempt-from-white-supremacists
xii. P. Spoonley, ‘Far-right extremism still threatens New Zealand, a year on from the Christchurch attacks,’ The Conversation, 11 March 2020, https://theconversation.com/far-right-extremists-still-threaten-new-zealand-a-year-on-from-the-christchurch-attacks-133050
xiii.R. Cohen, ‘New Zealand attack shows white supremacy is global terrorist movement, Southern Poverty Law Center, 15 March 2019, https://www.splcenter.org/news/2019/03/15/new-zealand-attack-shows-white-supremacy-global-terrorist-movement