Australia’s home-grown terrorist a threat to all of us
“We were not chosen for this act of violence because we condone racism, because we are an enclave for extremism,” Jacinda Ardern told New Zealanders in the confused hours following the attacks.
“We were chosen for the very fact that we are none of these things. Because we represent diversity, kindness, compassion, a home for those who share our values, refuge for those who need it. And those values, I can assure you, will not and cannot be shaken by this attack.”
Fifty unsuspecting men, women and children attending Friday prayer at 1:00 pm in the leafy, peaceful, central Christchurch Al-Noor mosque and in the nearby mosque at Linwood, New Zealand, are suddenly brutally, cold-bloodedly shot at point-blank range by Brenton Harrison Tarrant, a 29 year-old Australian alt-right terrorist using an AR-15 semi-automatic, the weapon of choice in US mass shootings from Sandy Hook to San Bernardino.
Surgeons, who have treated wounds caused by AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, call the weapons perfect killing machines that can tear a body apart and create massive haemorrhaging. Many medicos call for it to be banned.
The assault is a callous, calculated hate-crime which leaves fifty Islamic worshippers dead and wounds fifty others, thirty-six of whom remain hospitalised, twelve in critical condition and a community utterly traumatised. Broken. Police arrest Tarrant, an Otago rifle-club member; charge him with one count of murder. Other charges will follow on 5 April. Despite earlier reports of a group of terrorists, police say Tarrant is the lone gun-man.
If only he were. Not for a moment, does Tarrant behave as if he is on his own. It’s in his demeanour in court, where he smirks at reporters and flashes an inverted white power symbol- it’s in his “manifesto”; the in-jokes and ironic references to fellow “shit-posters” on white supremacists’ websites; his prior posts to social media; his decision to film his pathological odyssey of destruction. He is living proof of the myth of the lone wolf terrorist.
In his own, narcissistic, bubble-head, Tarrant’s gone from “zero to hero” appeasing the savage god of alt-right celebrity social media notoriety in thirty-six minutes. But he’s not got anywhere on his own. “Lazy talk of lone wolves obscures the nature of the real threat and makes us all less safe”, writes The Guardian’s Jason Burke.
“The truth is much more disturbing. Terrorism is not something you do by yourself, it is highly social. People become interested in ideas, ideologies and activities, even appalling ones, because other people are interested in them.” Increasingly, however, links are tenuous. Networks, autonomous cells and “in rare cases” individuals have replaced groups with chains of command. Sadly, our AFP and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s other anti-terror forces appear still to be busting down doors in Grafton, Monday, looking for a mythic Tarrant terror cell.
Tarrant exudes complicity; a sense of co-conspiracy; a psychotic, anti-heroic triumphalism of “us” against “them”.
Has the tolerance given the alt-right by governments and mainstream media in Australia, misled him to believe he is starring in his own movie? That he’s untouchable? Or does he simply have the psychopath’s empathy by-pass? Yet rather than seek out a terror cell as his mentors, we need look no further than the federal government.
“Some politicians in Australia have for years been whipping up anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment,” Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi tells ABC Television’s News Breakfast, Monday, “and for years, Muslims have also been warning; we’ve been speaking out and saying this is damaging and hurting the community, and that this does have consequences – this doesn’t happen in a vacuum. And when I talk about politicians, I have to say I’m not only talking about the usual suspects like One Nation’s Pauline Hanson, or Fraser Anning.”
Faruqi spells it out, later on Radio National “… politicians like Peter Dutton have actually contributed to creating an atmosphere where hate is allowed to incubate in our society. They can’t shrug off their responsibility.
What they’ve been doing does come with a cost, it does come with consequences, because really they’ve been playing games with our lives.”
Peter Dutton takes this gentle rebuke with typical good humour. He quickly accuses Faruqi of making political capital out of the NZ shootings. Dutts says it’s “a disgrace” that people “on the far left or far right [are] trying to extract advantage” while families are “burying the bodies of those who have been massacred in Christchurch”.
“He still refuses to take responsibility for his role in demonising Muslims, migrants and refugees,” Faruqi tells Guardian Australia.“ Trying to claim that my response to the horrific massacre and Senator Anning’s disgraceful comments that harm our community are in any way equivalent is just vile.”
Anning blames the New Zealand victims in a bizarre tweet which asks “Does anyone still dispute the link between Muslim immigration and violence?” His asinine comment causes the Indonesian Foreign Ministry to summon the Australian Ambassador in Jakarta where foreign ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir has some helpful advice,
“Acts of terrorism, he says, are not associated with any religion.”
“The thought conveyed by the Australian senator is inappropriate and does not have a place in the modern world, whether in Australia, Indonesia, or elsewhere,” he says. Anning, meantime has over a million votes on a GetUp petition in favour of his standing down from parliament. His attention-seeking stunt is working marvellously.
As for acts of terrorism, if we look, as we do to the US, violent extremism driven by right-wing, racially motivated ideologies is growing at an alarming pace – ahead of the capacity of public understanding nor government action to keep up or to combat it. Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, calls upon leaders to wake up and to mobilise the necessary resources to deal with right wing terror. In Australia, we lag further behind.
Marvy Morrison is mugged by reality. Yet when it comes to “Muslim extremism” he has the answers all off pat. ScoMo echoes Abbott and most of his other MPs when he says the Muslim community in Australia must be more “proactive” in tackling the threat of terror attacks. Why? Because “in many cases” imams and community leaders will know who is infiltrating and radicalising members of their flock. It’s reductive, patronising nonsense.
But Brenton Tarrant’s radicalisation is difficult to blame on anyone else but himself and his anti-Muslim, Islamophobic government. Not that ScoMo doesn’t give the hand-pass a try. He’s surprised, he says, that NZ authorities didn’t have Tarrant on their radar.
Jacinda Ardern replies that she’s surprised that Australian authorities, so much more advanced at this anti-terror stuff, weren’t on to Tarrant way back. Why weren’t his community leaders more proactive?
Proactive? Given our first major terrorist turns out to be a white supremacist, Neo-Nazi, why is ScoMo now not calling Anglo-Celtic community leaders to account? Because it’s nonsense? If there’s any good to come out of the tragic horror of Friday’s shootings, it’s the way that it exposes the Coalition’s preposterous supposition that Muslim “communities” are run by imams as some sort of theocratic state.
It also exposes a chilling truth. Paranoid nonsense about white genocide to one side, Tarrant’s intolerant ranting manifesto has many parallels with Coalition anti-immigration and anti-Muslim polemic. Tarrant’s immigration phobia; his scapegoating of Muslims, echoes ScoMo’s government’s own Islamophobic prejudices.
When a clearly deluded and paranoid Hassan Khalif Shire Ali killed one person and injured two others in Bourke Street, the PM identified the “vile presence” of radical Islam as the cause of the attack, dismissing the suggestion that mental health issues negated that primary cause as a “lame excuse”.
Tony Abbott insinuates Muslim leaders do not condemn terrorism: “I’ve often heard Western leaders describe Islam as a ‘religion of peace’. I wish more Muslim leaders would say that more often, and mean it.”
What messages did Abbott think he was sending when he allowed his government to send National MP “gorgeous” George Christensen to address an anti-Islam rally – Reclaim Australia? Perhaps Tarrant was even in attendance? The title of the address is remarkably similar to the theme of Tarrant’s cracked manifesto.
If it takes a whole village to raise a child, how many does it take to raise a genocidal, white supremacist gun-man? At the family level, Tarrant’s devastated relatives offer their profuse apologies to the families who have lost brothers, sisters, uncles, nephews, nieces, husbands and wives who until last Friday were teachers, engineers, accountants and scientists.
And children. Two young children are among those gunned down in cold blood. Mucad Ibrahim, aged three, dies in his father’s arms. Abdullah Durie, aged four, is caught in the cross-fire and later dies in hospital, explains Abdulrahman Hashi, his uncle. Nothing anyone can ever say will ease their parents’ grief.
Suddenly, we are exporting terrorism. ScoMo’s government has the wrong script. Scott Morrison has said the Muslim community in Australia must be more “proactive” in tackling the threat of terror attacks because “in many cases” imams and community leaders will know who is infiltrating and radicalising members of their flock.
No Australian politician, however, steps forward to take responsibility for his or her role in contributing to the toxic miasma of Islamophobia; the anti-Muslim hate-speech that they nurture as part of Australia’s contemporary political discourse with its blaming, its scapegoating, its fear of the other. No-one in government apologises for raising terrorist Tarrant, let alone allowing him out of the country to commit his hideous act of carnage.
Scott Morrison offers his condolences but his words ring hollow given how, in December 2010, ScoMo allegedly encouraged the shadow cabinet to exploit populist Islamophobia; growing concerns about “Muslim immigration”, “Muslims in Australia”, how “Muslims” were not assimilating – suppressing their culture, subjugating custom, thought and belief much as Australia’s aboriginal peoples are in many ways still expected to behave.
Julie Bishop and Philip Rudd allegedly remonstrated, but in 2011, Morrison asked why the Australian government should pay the fares of twenty-two mourners to come to the Sydney funeral of family drowned when an asylum-seeker vessel, SIEV 222, (Suspected illegal entry vessel) in our Orwellian terminology, evoking anonymity, illegality and illegitimacy, broke up and sank off Christmas Island’s Rocky Point, with the loss of over fifty lives.
Tony Abbott was censured by Wayne Swan for “parroting Pauline Hanson” in Abbott’s backing of Morrison.
ScoMo was persuaded to apologise or at least he made a contrived statement of contrition,
“I made the suggestion (the funeral) should have been held on Christmas Island. That wasn’t the right time to make that comment. I accept that. I have to show a little more compassion than I showed yesterday.”
Luckily, former accountant-cum-ethicist, Barnaby Joyce is on hand in 2011 to protect the borders of our humanity. The price of compassion is “not limitless’‘, he says. “You can’t do it with a completely open cheque book.”
Making his atrocity even more horrifying is that Tarrant live-streams his killings on the internet and posts an online manifesto, “The Great Replacement”, a deranged treatise on white supremacy: the high volume of immigration now seen in the West is bringing about a “replacement” of host populations by immigrant – and of course, inferior – cultures. The influx of newcomers is causing a “white genocide.”
Kiwi politicians get a copy of the treatise minutes before his attacks. Both his email and his Go-Pro live-streamed film convey not only his bizarre deliberations but suggest that the “entire attack seemed orchestrated for the social media age” suggest CNN reporters, Jenni Marsh and Tara Mulholland. It’s an ISIS-like recruitment tactic.
Before Tarrant’s attacks, a post on the anonymous message board 8chan — a forum featuring racist and extremist posts –previews the horror. It links to his 87-page grab-bag of anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim slurs, and directs users to a Facebook page hosting the live stream. He also uses a new Twitter account to herald the attack. Yet no-one in any anti-terror police unit either in Australia or New Zealand notices his declaration of intent to murder.
Facebook claims that within 24 hours of Friday’s shooting the company had removed 1.5 million videos of the attack from its platform globally. Naturally, Scott Morrison has this contingency all under control.
“We will be seeking to get assurances from the social media companies about their capabilities to ensure that this tool cannot be used by terrorists,” ScoMo says, keen to be seen to impose “a tough on Facebook borders” solution. However, he reveals an astonishing ignorance of how social media works. As Mark Zuckerberg explains, his company could not have stopped Russia manipulating the outcome of the last US presidential election,
“We don’t check what people say before they say it, and frankly, I don’t think society should want us to. Freedom means you don’t have to ask for permission first, and by default, you can say what you want.”
The slaughter is quickly labelled “one of New Zealand’s darkest days” and “an act of terrorism” by Kiwi PM, Jacinda Ardern. Other world leaders offer sympathy. Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan goes further; arguing that Muslims worldwide have found themselves targeted and “demonised” since the 9/11 attacks on the US.
“I blame these increasing terror attacks on the current Islamophobia post-9/11 where Islam and 1.3 bn Muslims have collectively been blamed for any act of terror by a Muslim,” he tweets. “This has been done deliberately to also demonise legitimate Muslim political struggles.”
It is the largest massacre in New Zealand history since 1943, when forty-eight recently-arrived Japanese prisoners of war staged a sit-down strike at a POW camp in Featherston, a Wairarapa town in the Wellington region of the North Island. Guards fired a warning shot wounding Lieutenant Adachi Toshio. The prisoners rose. Forty-eight were shot by guards. A guard was killed, possibly by the warning shot. A further 63 prisoners were wounded.
Acting out his warped fantasy, Brenton Harrison Tarrant straps on his Go-Pro helmet camera, packs three semi-automatic rifles, two pump action shotguns and a bolt-action rifle in his Subaru before driving four and a half hours north from his home in Dunedin to Christchurch where he opens fire on unsuspecting innocents.
As Waleed Ali has written, it is “slaughter by appointment”. The true threat posed to us by this new form of terror; the true obscenity of the killings lie less in any alt-right madness about white genocide or Islamophobia but in the abuse of human trust and instinctive hospitality. The killer would have known how profoundly defenceless, how vulnerable, his targets would have been as they gathered in peace to begin their prayers. How vulnerable in their humanity and the innocent rituals of their faith.
“Hello Brother,” one greets Tarrant before the Australian terrorist shoots him dead.
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Alcibiades
Return to home pageThe Libs are already at it, with Reynolds on Q&A tonight laying the entire blame at the feet of Anning. What he said was an abomination, but he couldn’t have said it without the preceding years of vilification of Muslims, kicked off by the Lying Rodent.
Liberal senator Linda Reynolds continues the Medevac hysteria while talking about Christchurch on Q&A. She even drags the Bali Bombing into it for good measure.
https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/q-and-a-recap-after-christchurch-liberal-senator-had-one-thing-to-say-stop-the-boats-20190318-p515ao.html
Excellent recap and summation.
Again, one of his clearly stated objectives was, as a result of his deliberate massacre, to trigger a similar reaction in response, so the ‘authorities’ can ‘react’ and ‘finish the job’.
He clearly states he respects the State and lawful authority.
The terrorist is a 28 years old Australian. Since 10 years of age he has been formed by the political discourse in Australia since 2001. Tampa, 9/11, Children overboard, the War on Terra, the invasions of Afghanistan & Iraq … and all the anti-Islam government policies & ‘narrative’ since.
The terrorist is a product of Australian society during a crucial period of development towards his majority, over that time.
Indeed, the terrorist is not some lone wolf.
He demonstrably sought advice, recognition & approval of other right wing extremists. Including a ‘blessing’ of from Norways Anders Behring Breivik, who massacred children and adults using similar neo-nazi/anti-immigration/anti-muslim rationales, on 22 July 2011.
In fact, his operational planning & preparation, methodology and actual tactics used (Diversionary/complementary IEDs, multiple sequential targets) is almost identical, in tribute, to that of Breivik. Including publication, intending to ideally be captured alive, displaying white power hand signals at his hearing/in court. He has plead not guilty, declaring he will run his own court defence,with the obvious intent to attempt to use his trial as a soapbox.
Something few may be aware of, but one suggests is relevant re the public debate today re political hate speech/incitement/policies/permissiveness from 2001thru to Friday 15 March 2019 … Brievak explicitly praised four conservative Australian politicians, their actions, policies and public views, in his ‘manifesto’.
One shits you not.
Norway killer praised Australian conservatives ABC News, Jeremy Thompson, 26 Jul 2011, 8:35pm
All of these factors are purely coincidental to how the terrorist came to be?
One would suggest critical to the current debate of how we got here.
Re “Hello Brother”:
Almost immediately thereafter Naeem Rashid, completely unarmed, selflessly attempted to rush/tackle the heavily armed terrorist. Mortally wounded, he subsequently died. Through his sacrifice, Rashid briefly delayed the terrorist & clearly saved many lives.
At Linwood mosque, dozens were almost certainly saved by Abdul Aziz. He grabbed a credit card reader and charged the terrorist whilst reloading(?), who backed off, then evaded return fire, dodging in and out of parked cars. When the terrorist discarded his empty weapon and returned to his car for another, Abdul picked up the discarded weapon and charged at the terrorist using it as a club to smash a window, resulting in the terrorist driving away firing.
These acts, selfless acts of courage & self-sacrifice in order to protect or save the lives of others, are what the majority of medals for valour are awarded for in War, ie the VC.
The equivalent of charging a manned machine gun … unarmed.
NZ intends to make awards of the civilian equivalent, the George Cross.
Would consider it an honour & priveledge to share a dinner with Abdul, in his honour, with a place set & an empty chair for Naeem any day.
As for the likes of Murdoch, paedophile apologist Howard, Costello, paedophile Pell, Morrison, Dutton, Abbott, Christensen et al … wouldn’t piss on ’em if they were on fire.
thank you David. Yes, Australia must take some responsibility for what occurred and steps to minimise risks going forward.
Yes, Patagonia, I do believe he was in the US when 9/11 happened?
Would the voters in Warringah please take note :
Do politicians honestly believe that people cannot see through their dog whistling?
I believe that politicians need to develop a code of ethics. Lying, dog whistling, cheating, and misrepresenting the opinion of the opposition need to have some kind of consequence. Pushing for so called “free speech” has done inordinate damage.
Before a sitting commences maybe parliamentarians need to state an oath that they will uphold standards/code of ethics.
It has reached the stage where if the question is asked … whom do you believe a politician; or journalist, medical practitioner, or any person in some other vocation; the answer is the non-politician is believed. The point being politicians need some device to win back the confidence of citizens.
It is almost as though the lies and dog whistling are used as a strategy to disengage people from having an interest in politics.
The dog whistling does set a climate where extreme groups are able to flourish.
Anders Breivik, the Norwegian terrorist, was diagnosed with a narcissistic personality disorder. Brenton Tarrant, who is accused of killing 50 worshipers in New Zealand, displays similar traits.
https://nyti.ms/2TI6w32
A gutless coward – ran away when confronted by one brave unarmed soul ? They are all gutless cowards, hiding behind words in “manifestos”. None of these creatures ever have the balls to actually debate their point of view with anyone, they simply spout their bs to anyone stupid enough to follow along on a blog.
We have the ways and means to stop this cancer in our society – it’s education. Right from the start our children need to learn that human beings are one of the world’s mammals, we are all identical under the outer layer of skin, but we have many different characteristics.
Religion MUST be separated from the state, it has no place in parliament, in government. Unless ALL faiths are included at the start of Question Time, none should.
We have a chance at the next election to make a point, to show that we care, that we want to do the right thing. All the fascists need to be rooted out.
David
There are many people diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorders, though they do not manifest extreme violence.
I think the climate needs to be set for those narcissistic characteristics to be developed further through radicalisation.
Abbott has admitted to stating in 2017 “Islamophobia hasn’t killed anyone”, per Terence, a profound statement. It indicates that there was a strategy being used against Muslims providing a climate where Muslims are fair game.
Keith
Yes those dog whistle Politicians do believe they are fooling people and yes it would seem, from the polls, that at least 48% of the Australians, questioned in those polls, are sympathetic to the current LNP, leadership who have freely contributed to the politics of division and demonisation, as well as islamphobia over the past 22 years.
This alt-right murderous attack in NZ is just an inevitable result of that dog whistling by those leaders of the LNP.
Kietha: “Religion MUST be separated from the state, it has no place in parliament, in government.”…
My opinion is that no person of religious conviction should be permitted to hold any position of public administration nor of legislative influence.
DrakeN
Absolutely agree with you freedom of religion is guaranteed in this country but freedom from religion is just as important and should not colour decisions made in the Parliament
DrakeN, I have had some kind of sentimental waning attachment to my pared down Lutheran Church with its teaching of honesty, truthfulness and modesty…. I never felt obliged to attend the Church and I would have made an even worse Catholic as I had no need for its confessions ( I had nothing to confess LOL)….
I respected my good mum’s beliefs, now that she is long gone and no doubt in her Lutheran Heaven , keeping eye on me….no need Mum…I’m openly a non-believer now that you are not here anymore….
Of course, our home-grown terrorist, Brenton Tarrant had a number of godfathers:
The world leader in Muslim hate speech has been Donald Trump, supported by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News which is really the public relations arm for the hatred spewing out from the White House, writes John Menadue.
Throughout the last Presidential campaign Donald Trump made a feature of demonising Muslims as a means to attract white ‘Christian’ working class voters. He continued after he became president. One of his first steps as President was to attempt to ban admission of citizens from seven majority Muslim countries. It was known as the ‘Muslim ban’. He floated the idea of a ‘Muslim registry’. He said that ‘Islam hates us’ and referred to ‘people coming out of mosques with hatred and death in their eyes and on their minds’.
Looking at the Australian Listed terrorist organizations page and not a single white supremacist group there , even though ASIO has several groups under surveillance and stated these groups hold a present and immediate danger to national safety . Several times during rallies , on social media and pamphlets they have breached the Terrorism Act and Crimes Act Amendment (Incitement to Violence) Bill 2005 and even though there were a charge here and a charge there for lower crimes that only had fines they were and still are allowed to operate without fear of incarceration .Members of Parliament that have openly supported these groups have been notably Pauline Hanson, George Christensen and Fraser Anning , all of which have attended some of their rallies and were also guess speakers . One has to wonder just how deep our politicians are on the far right , well it’s no surprise that the Liberals , the Nationals and One Nation have been spouting anti immigration of Muslims for well over a decade but it does surprise me that to date that Labor and the Greens have done nothing to being these groups to the courts to enforce our laws . Once again I am seeing a pattern emerge that clearly shows that if you are a far right politician or a far right terrorist group that is endorsed by a far right politician then the laws just simply dont apply until some one dies
Far right protection? No white supremacist group listed? For once I agree with an ASIO assessment. Interesting research, thank you, Greg.
Below is a list of the politicians who shook hands / hugged / kissed Senator Fraser Anning after his maiden speech calling for an end to Muslim immigration.
Minister Mathias CormannMinister Bridget McKenzie
Minister Nigel Scullion
Minister Conchetta Fierravanti-Wells
Minister Matt Canavan
Assistant minister James McGrath
Assistant minister Anne Ruston
Steve Martin
Amanda Stoker
Jonathan Duniam
James Paterson
Dean Smith
David Bushby
Wacka Williams
Barry O'Sullivan
Cory Bernardi
Derryn Hinch
David Leyonhjelm
One Nation's Peter Georgiou
Centre Alliance's Stirling Griff & Rex Patrick.
No Labor or Greens senators congratulated him.
The more I learn about this callous act, the more I am reminded of Martin Bryant at Port Arthur.
Some quarters are now pushing the story that Tarrant acted alone! I don’t believe that and I look to see who will benefit! The early reports indicated there were 4 shooters (similar to Port Arthur). Explosive devices were also found under vehicle(s) used by the offender(s). The logistics alone would have required support from others.
The AR-15 is not the root cause of the weapon of choice, it is the HOLLOW POINT bullets it fires. These bullets were banned under the Geneva Convention for use in warfare. The are also called Dum Dum bullets after the location they were first used. These bullets make a small entry wound then expand inside the body as they hit muscle and bone. There are many online image examples of their effectiveness when used by Israeli snipers against the Palestinians.
If you look closely, you will see our SWAT teams, Special Forces, Tactical Response and other military and police forces (er services) use the same bullets.
The benefit identified is the fact that it drops the target and only the target. With Ball ammunition, the bullet can pass through one person and hit another. Collateral damage?
Now the New Zealand Government will be pressured to bring in weapons control and confiscation legislation to appease the angry community and the hysterical media.
In April 2017 there was a meeting of the 5 Eyes intelligence agency chieftains at the Millbrook Resort at Arrowtown, near Queenstown on the south island. As Bill English, the New Zealand Prime Minister at that time said “One of the regular conferences that they have, we work with the other four countries, combating terrorism, protecting our citizens around the world. So it’s an arrangement that works well for New Zealand.”
Seems it didn’t work so well for the Kiwi’s this year, or perhaps that is where the planning for the event took place?
David Bruce
There was only one Shooter, one terrorist. The ‘early reports’ re four arrests referred to a female who was released, two others were not involved but arrested on unrelated firerarms charges having been caught up in the sweeps.
Early reports are just that, early uncorroborated/unverified reports.
You claim to have researched, yet appear to cherry pick now disproven earlier media coverage and knowingly run with it. Why ? This speaks to issues of intent …
The reliability & credibility of your claimed ‘research’ is belied by the consistently false content & assertions in your post from start to finish.
So in essence this is a variation of guns dont kill, people do. Now your beloved assault rifles don’t kill, the ammunition does. Bollocks. As for ‘dum-dum’ & logistics rubbish, & the rest, double bollocks.
An ill informed reactionary gun nut, NRA or equivalent, probably US ?
A reasonable opening sentence, as a hook, that midway goes of into la-la land.
Why do you repeatedly post this inflammatory conspiracy rubbish, in defence of your precious assault rifles, on AIMN ? Trollin’ ?
A common thread between Breivik, Tarrant and ISIS would be the age old Tsarist times inspired anti-semitic hoax ‘The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion’.
Further, Tarrant also while influenced by various European extremists and/or historical figures of ‘western civilisation’, he’s managed to share some love for Hungarian folk heroes too with Viktor Orban (which is an issue with the EU):
‘The more we learn about Brenton Tarrant, the 28-year-old Australian accused of a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, the more we come to understand that these horrific acts are not being committed by a small, random group of psychologically disturbed people, as Donald Trump would like us to believe. They are inspired by the growing hate-mongering of far-right politicians like Donald Trump himself. Of course, he is not alone. Europe also has its own firebrands, and it looks as if Tarrant’s ideas came mostly from Europe.’
http://hungarianspectrum.org/2019/03/16/viktor-orban-and-the-great-replacement-theory/
The author Balogh may not be aware of how similar Australian politics has become compared with Hungary etc.
Breivik & our Oz terrorist copycat/clone of the former = ISIS ?
All common hoaxes inspired by the anti-semitic propaganda developed by the Tsars secret police ?
Wow. Just wow. So much FUD in but a single sentence.
Apart from propaganda methods being common to all, for widely divergent aims & objectives, what is this common thread ?
As for the link, it appears to be a derivative hit piece on a blog, on Hungary, Victor Orban, and tellingly the ‘regime’, as opposed to the government. Sponsored by ?
Alcibiades,
Welcome to the AIMN’s resident cabal of conspiracy theories.
David Bruce simultaneously reckons that global warming is (a) mainly caused by volcanoes, (b) being deliberately geo-engineered through chemical seeding and projection of Doppler waves,(c) a globalist conspiracy designed to undermine national sovereignty and (d) a fait d’acomplit already beyond the means of human remediation.
To find him fabricating a loopy conspiracy theory spuriously linking the Christchurch atrocity to the Port Arthur massacre as some false-flag op perpetrated in order to implement Kiwi gun control measures is hardly surprising.
As for Andrew Smith, he reckons that all environmental concerns regarding the pressures of increasing human overpopulation (aka ‘sustainability’) are merely the artificial constructs of a racist agenda initially perpetrated by the Rockefellers and perpetuated by the Club of Rome.
Green anti-immigration a cover for right wing populism. ….’In recent months Dick Smith has run an advertising blitz with the title ‘overpopulation will destroy Australia’ that compares population growth to cancer …. Dick Smith’s intervention comes as members of the far right continue to focus on immigration as a major issue. For example, the newly minted Katter’s Australian Party senator, Fraser Anning, praised the White Australia Policy in his inaugural speech and echoed Nazi rhetoric saying “the final solution to the immigration problem of course is a popular vote”. The Prime Minister Scott Morrison has also recently spoken about reducing Australia’s immigration intake. ..
..The two views, although, coming from different perspectives, one nominally in the name of “sustainability” and the other a throwback to colonialism steeped in racism and xenophobia, arrive at the same destination, a hermetical view of the world projecting fear onto an outsider. In Dick Smith’s view the outsider is coming to destroy the environment and it Anning’s version they threaten the “European-Christian” ethno-white state. ‘
Andrew Smith,
Since you choose to tarnish anyone (including David Attenborough) who makes the obvious links between increasing human population and resource depletion / environmental degradation / climate destabilisation, as either pawns or agents of a racist construct rather than environmentalists genuinely concerned with seeking a sustainable future, there is little point in articulating my ‘nativist’ concerns about the observable impacts of ever-expanding human populations upon Australian native biodiversity (or environmental sustainability).
If you choose to believe that my applied environmentalism is merely a masquerade for base racism, more fool you.
@corvus boreus
Hm, okay … the doppler waves element certainly shows … imagination. Rockefellers, Club of Rome, yet, yet no Illuminati ?! Cheers 🙂
The last two quarters were a per capita recession, only saved from an actual recession by the economic benefits of population growth(IIRC). Since we don’t have a positive population growth, our positive growth came from …immigration.
Only 3 days since the NZ massacre, and morrisons brief ‘Love, & tolerance’ message, today he’s announced a ~30,000pa cut to intake.
Our OZ anti-immigration terrorist cooling his heels on remand will be very pleased, fer sure. 🙁
Alcibiates,
As stated, my main concerns with rampant population increase are medium term ecology, not short-term economics.
Personally, I favour a reduction in the voluntary immigration quota concurrent with an increase in humanitarian intake (particularly women and children), since this would balance humanitarian and environmental values.
However, like yourself, I am concerned with the timing of the PM’s announcement of decreased immigration quotas, mainly for the reason than it looks like a direct policy capitulation to the tactics of terrorism.
corvus boreus
A balanced view. Yet, what possibility of success unless our neoliberal economic system first undergoes substantive change? Our oppressive, dominant foreign owned rent-seekers don’t give a rats arse about Oz ecology, or us collectively, only what they can extract in terms of resources & $s.
Indeed, re Morrison, his real message IMV is to signal clearly via todays announcement to the right wing extremists he, and Howard & co before him have courted for two decades. All his party members appearing in public have done the same since friday. Free Speech – Without Limits, for so called conservatives, STFU for all ‘others’. Eight letter word, plural of, starts with F——s.
https://mobile.twitter.com/AngryGranny1/status/1107628451211534336?p=v
“A lot of people have been asking why I don’t join Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party,” Anning tweeted six days ago.
“This is an example of why it won’t work, in this case Pauline has chosen to run a Muslim candidate Emma Eros in the NSW election. I stand totally against any Muslims in our Parliament.”
https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/the-few-remaining-friends-that-fraser-anning-has-left/news-story/6c6d0580c2a39e38c931cd02396da85c
Personally, I stand totally against effing morons in our Parliament.
Anning, 1921 is calling, time to go now, they want you back. Murdochs Dad too …
https://mobile.twitter.com/TomDCRoberts/status/1107967874570899457?p=v
Or you can listen to Gina Rinehart’s father 63 years later in 1984 calling for Aboriginals to be sterilised by putting something in the water.
Andrew Smith, you are such a dork.
How on earth could you have written such a contemptible and inaccurate comment?
How do you expect people to cope with rapid population increase when the environment and social infrastructure is trashed for tax cuts and tax avoidance for the rich and TNC’s?
How can you sustain the sort of population you advocate when the economic and environmental basis for it is trashed?
Have you not seen the Darling river or the consequences for political, environmental and economic planning that derives of neoliberal labor smashing, FTA’s, social infrastructure dismantling, dumbing down, secrecy etc?
I take it you are a millennial and I am glad you will have to inherit the consequences of your own folly, better you than me.
Greg Hunt’s lies exposed. Hunt did not attend the 2010 shadow cabinet meeting where Morrison is reported to have urged ministers to capitalise on anti-Muslim sentiment. Hunt’s recently come out to back his leader up but he wasn’t at the meeting. In his own words on ABC 17 February 2011
“Unfortunately I wasn’t at the meeting, but I know Scott, and his style is deep compassion, he is deeply compassionate, he agonises around the issues of protecting people who are being lured to their deaths,” he said.
https://ab.co/2TUZqrw
Mr Zebedee says, “Fraser Anning, time for burial…I mean bed.” With a heap of apologies to The Magic Roundabout.
David,
Are you sure that comment was about Scummo or was that little weasel Hunt channeling Trump sycophants years ahead of time? Either way, it’s a real brown nose and lips (hell, it’s a full on head right up the rectum) comment.
Alcibiades you egregiously misquote me, a thread means of many, but does exist. Along with paul walter and corvus boreus your reactionary conservatism, means you always attack the messenger, personally, yet offer nothing of substance nor credibility, while incapable of asking a question.
Also, blaming ‘population growth’ and ‘immigration’ for any perceived issues in Australia like Conservatives of left and right have been encouraged or conditioned to do over decades, is at best intellectually lazy, and ignorant.
I assume you will not make attempt to disprove well documented astro turfing, Nativism and junk science of ZPG, Sustainable Oz, Club Of Rome, fossil fuel sector etc. and John Tanton’s mate (like Attenborough), a patron of Population Matters UK, Paul ‘Population Bomb’ Ehrlich, used as a (mealy mouthed) source by the Green Agenda writer.
Ehrlich (who visits Oz frequently), who tries to keep his distance from more open white nationalists like John Tanton (another visitor), has form. Black media in the US know him as ‘ambiguous’ on race, but like Tanton, he can lack ambiguity at times. In his own words,
‘There is no reason blacks ought to be concerned with a world they don’t have a piece of’ (Rowan, C. June 24 1970, The Evening News, ‘Blacks Fear Population Control as ‘Genocide” https://tinyurl.com/y3n66krs ).
The Guardian revisited the population issue with article from science journalist Fred Pearce ‘Is the way we think about overpopulation racist?’ including much about Ehrlich and his views informed by Delhi ‘“What he did see were poor non-Europeans.” By coincidence, the article in the ‘Cities’ section of the Guardian was sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation (well funded over the years by Standard Oil then Exxon Mobil etc.)….
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/mar/19/overpopulation-cities-environment-developing-world-racist-paul-ehrlich
Either way, too many Australians like to keep up the stereotype others have from the outside i.e. ‘shallow, conservative and racist’, while many will not be surprised that an Australian was responsible for Christchurch terrorism incident.
Back to Dick Smith and Anning, they don’t just share the same final destination, with different perspectives, they are the same, as both came from the same nativist swamp.
@David Tyler
No ! Tell me it is not so. Yorrick Hunt would never lie. Bully, profane, abuse, defame, manipulate, etc, yes indeed.
Hm, okay … upon reflection … add his blatant fib to the mountain that they’ve collectively told. Damn, if only one had access to their swear jar they no doubt drop a gold coin in, as devout ‘believers’, each & every time they’re naughty. Thence donate it to the homeless & destitute, that’d really ’cause ’em to blow a foofer valve.