Issue 412, April 1, 2019
The death of fifty innocent men, women and children in Christchurch Mosques on Friday, March 15, 2019 and the fifty other people injured have touched the heart of New Zealanders.
We are a caring nation, and there is no evidence of any root of terrorism amongst us.
We are a tolerant society, home to more than 200 ethnicities speaking 160 languages and there has never been any sign of intended harm; we may have occasionally felt a tinge of racism here and there, but never to a scale that would lead to massacre.
We live in a corner of the world, untouched by terrorists.
Until March 15, 2019.
And until that day, we thought that much of terrorism in the world is inflicted only by a group of people.
Innocence gone
But hatred, terrorism and a penchant for mass murder apparently exists elsewhere.
The mindless shooting of Muslims in Christchurch has taken away the innocence to which New Zealand was once famous.
It has also brought us all closer together. We have begun to speak, in one tone, that there should be no room for such terrorists on our soil.
As Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Parliament on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, “That quiet Friday afternoon has become our darkest of days. But for the families, it was more than that. It was the day that the simple act of prayer – of practising their Muslim faith and religion – led to the loss of their loved ones lives. Those loved ones, were brothers, daughters, fathers and children. They were New Zealanders. They are us. And because they are us, we, as a nation, mourn them.”
As New Zealand was coping with the unprecedented tragedy, The British Royal Family and world leaders have expressed their sympathy and solidarity to the Governor General and Prime Minister of this country.
The plight of Islamic Women
The Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand (IWCNZ), which is marking its 30th anniversary this year, said that it has been concerned, in recent times, the increasing pressure on our communities from rising levels of discrimination in this country, and the social issues that came with that. “The issues we were seeing were too much for our community to resolve on a volunteer basis. More than this, the solutions were systemic and required investment by government in programmes and human resources.”
About five years ago, the Council wrote a comprehensive report of the problems that Islamic women were facing and sent it to the Ministry of Social Development. Its officials pushed, but as far as they are concerned, nothing concrete was done with that report.
Reaffirming support
As Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said, this is the time to reaffirm our support for a multicultural and multifaith nation and City. Our goal as a City is to be inclusive, to treat as equals and to treat with respect all people regardless of race, colour and creed.
Security agencies have come under pressure to explain why they appear to treat Muslims as more of a threat than the alt-right and white supremacists.
IWCNZ has said it told the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet at a January 2017 meeting of the ‘extreme urgency’ of its concerns about rising racism and the alt-right, and also told this to the SIS.
We believe that diversity enriches and should not divide us. Equally, it is a time to assert zero tolerance for racism. When people abuse, demean and ridicule Muslims or any other faith or ethnicity, we cannot be passive observers on the side lines.
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