The problem with these politically left academics creating a ‘far-right’ narrative void of any actual reality is that, while they still get paid, nothing in society changes because they are not a reflection of the reality of society. Their story is below entitled “The road to March 15th”
Here are some facts ignored by these academics creating a ‘far-right’ narrative, as Byron Clark did recently, to attempt to destroy opposition to their own political agenda.
1. After being bullied and beaten up at school (by Muslims?) and later loosing a fitness job, Tarrant traveled the world and arrived in NZ in 2017.
2. Prior to this Australia had seen record numbers of Jihadi leave for Islamic State, along with the Lindt Cafe terror attack and almost daily rape and gang violence by Islamic gangs.
3. According to Tarrant’s travel plans, he had certainly checked out Islam. Muslims typically ask new recruits, like they did myself (before the theology degree/religious history major) here in Auckland.
4. Al-Noor mosque, the first targeted, had been in the news, both here and in Australia, for its recruitment of international terrorists for Islamic State.
These academics could have highlighted the failure of the Royal Commission to understand the underlying causes of the attack. “This theory is that native inhabitants of Western or European countries are being replaced by non-European peoples through immigration and the growth of ethnic minority communities. Soon, immigration and declining white birth rates will result in the native (white) population becoming a minority. Muslim immigrants are typically singled out as a threat.99 This theory is closely linked to conspiracy theories popular among ethno-nationalists and racial nationalists (including white supremacists), including the ideas of “white genocide”, “Eurabia” and “cultural Marxism”. (vol 1. pg 108).
Dunedin Mosque were promoting this ‘conspiracy theory’ on their facebook page.
The failure of these academics creating a ‘far-right’ narrative to acknowledge that Al-Noor has been a hotbed of recruitment for Islamic State here in New Zealand demonstrates to Muslims that this recruiting is allowable here. They all know what goes on in their own mosques, and they all know what the Koran says about it.
The road to March 15: ‘Networked white rage’ and the Christchurch terror attacks
By Paul Spoonley and Paul Morris (in Stuff)
The massacres of March 15, 2019 at two Christchurch mosques confirmed the far right remains a constant threat to public order and safety in New Zealand, and that this threat was largely overlooked by security and intelligence agencies.
Both elements were corroborated by the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the attacks that was released in November 2020. The country was not exempt from such activist, murderous politics, despite widespread complacency.
While the perpetrator exhibited many of the longstanding ideological beliefs and violent tactics of white supremacists, his “manifesto” reflected the influence and rise of the alt-right, with a focus on the “great replacement”, the participation in online subcultures and new versions of conspiracies (as well as old ones).
We trace the development of the alt-right as a series of disparate coalitions of far-right and (white) ethnonationalist groups, activists and ideologies – secular and religious – and their use of online platforms to proselytise, recruit and radicalise. We are particularly interested in the rise of identitarian movements and ideologies, and their transnational influence and reach.
How has ethnonationalism been (re-)radicalised? How have new motifs and symbols been used to attract and explain, especially in identifying groups – the “deep state”, mass media, groups such as Muslims or Jews – as an existential threat facing the “white race” or “European civilisation”?
What role does religion play in these new coalitions and their selection of religious enemies and targets? How significant is the neglect of religion in the failure to recognise religious motivations and ideologies by security and intelligence agencies in secular polities? And how have online platforms and possibilities been utilised in the cause of these new politics?
A new stage in far-right politics
The alt-right is a product of the ideological mixing of traditional far-right politics and conservative populist movements. As David Neiwert writes in Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump, key elements began to appear with the Tea Party after 2010 in the US: nativist anti-immigrant views, specifically in relation to “?‘parasitic’ minorities and immigrants”, a “hostility towards ‘liberal’ elites” and the “supposed ‘tyranny’ of the president”. Neiwert writes:
These populist movements have created an “[a]lternative universe [and] a set of alternative explanations [which are] amplified by a panoply of conspiracy theories [including] a New World order [which is] plotting to enslave all of mankind in a world government that permits no freedom […] In this alternative universe, facts and the laws of political gravity do not apply.
There is certainly some evidence of a high degree of disillusionment and feelings of marginalisation in white communities in the US that then translates into support for an angry and exclusive nationalism through the second decade of the 21st century. Arlie Hochschild chronicles this in her compelling book, Strangers in Their Own Land.
The second explanation is that it is a product of the echo chambers of the internet – or “an informal and ill-defined collection of internet-based radicals”. Jessie Daniels goes on to argue:
The rise of the alt-right is both a continuation of a centuries-old dimension of racism in the US and part of an emerging media ecosystem powered by algorithms […] The ideology of the contemporary alt-right is entirely consistent with earlier manifestations of extremist white supremacy with only slight modifications in style and emphasis […] This iteration is newly enabled by algorithms [which] deliver search results for those who seek confirmation for racist notions and [which] connect newcomers to like-minded racists […] providing networked white rage.
The ideological positions of the alt-right are just as likely to be embedded in video games or music videos.
