“Black lives matter, indigenous lives matter, Muslim lives matter” is the ethos embraced by thousands taking part in protests across New Zealand.
Gatherings of more than 100 people are still banned but thousands of people have shown an interest each of in the New Zealand events. Organisers are also encouraging attendees to use masks, gloves and hand sanitiser, maintain social distancing and register their attendance.
Police are conspicuous by their absence at Monday’s Auckland event but organiser Pharaoh Swami reminded the crowd it was a peaceful, passive event.
But New Zealand events were peaceful, despite several thousand people gathering in Auckland, and hundreds more in Christchurch, Dunedin and Wellington.
Among the speakers was Josephine Varghese, a PhD student at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at University of Canterbury.
She told the crowd that as well as being a memorial for George Floyd, the event was a protest against the dehumanisation of colonised people everywhere.
“We demand racial and economic justice,” she said. “Black lives matter, indigenous lives matter, Muslim lives matter.”
–stuff.co.nz
I’m not sure who has hijacked whom. To me, these protests look like Antifa-organized events. Certainly, the rhetoric is straight out of an Antifa manual. And the planning and coordination that made the simultaneous demonstrations possible is, in my opinion, further evidence of the dark hand of Antifa. The incorporation of “Muslim lives matter” in the chant is interesting, as an internal Antifa document indicates that Antifa has made common cause with Muslims. But how have Muslims, by and large, responded to this apparent overture? Have some of them thrown in their lot with Antifa? If they have, it’s a deeply disturbing development.
I went to the Facebook page of Pharoah Swami, the rapper who reportedly organized the Auckland event, and found the following: “If you’re white: THIS AINT ABOUT YOU!! stop trynna get brownie points on ‘not being racist’ and stand with us and learn and fight for equality and justice. WE TRIED THE MARTIN LUTHER KING WAY. Now it’s time for the Malcolm X way. #NoJusticeNoPeace” Again, this is the language of Antifa, though there is not, as far as I can see, any reference to Antifa on the page.