A Lesson We Can All Learn Post The New Zealand Attack

The attack in New Zealand, resulting in the loss of 50 lives, has shattered many across the world. It is one of the instances when the government along with their Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern have accepted that it was an act of terrorism and a result of white supremacy.

This is a great shift in global politics and a great eye opener for political actors of the West.

Post 9/11, a rigorous anti-Muslim policy has been adopted. When masses are being constantly being fed an anti-Muslim narrative along with efforts to humanize white terrorism, they are bound to believe that an entire religion is radical and is to be fought against.

Without realizing, what leaders of the West have done is brought terrorism home.

A phenomenon they thought was only going to impact the rest of the world now shines brightly over their own territories because of the bigoted narrative they presented. With information technology making advances and the interconnectedness of the world, the global political regime now needs to realize the consequences of their actions and the narrative they build. The Prime Minister of New Zealand has broken that barrier and identified the attack as a terrorist attack. Now the next step lies in the sensitization of the Western media when it comes to reporting such incidents. All the efforts to humanize white terrorists by labeling them as mentally challenged persons only add to the problem and create space for terrorism in their own countries. The indirect effect is also on the immigrant population which now feels unsafe in their own countries because not only the political actors but also the masses have internalized xenophobia.

And let’s be realistic, this is not just a problem with the West. What is happening in the West should serve as an example for the rest of the world.

Wherever you give birth to a bigoted narrative, the result will always be the loss of lives. And this loss of lives may not affect you in the beginning but it will eventually affect you. It is our job as people of this planet to protect its diversity and guarantee the right to life to everyone. Protect your minorities otherwise, once again we will move towards a hyper-nationalist world where there is no regard for human life other than the one in the majority in our own countries. And this is what we have evolved against. The interconnectedness of the world and the availability of information should be used to our advantage rather than making it a tool for propaganda which results in lack of acceptance and a hindrance for coexistence.

In this day and age, there should be hope for a better tomorrow.

Question the narrative being put forth by your political actors and do not believe anything that goes against the injunctions of basic human rights guaranteed by the Human Rights Charter of the United Nations. It is high time that the international bodies are urged to use their presence in favor of the people of the world. As voters, it is our right to question any and everything which disrupts the peace of the planet. While thoughts and prayers go a long way, it is time to reclaim what is yours – your vote!

Here’s a video of New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, dealing with the situation as any politician should!

New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern says she will never mention the Christchurch terror suspect by name to deny him notoriety.
More on her speech to parliament here: https://t.co/jtQDplUMNd pic.twitter.com/Vot80Q8qA6
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 19, 2019