Every time the sanctity of life is subverted for hateful ideologies, hate finds form and voice, and we are forced to ask ourselves how humans veered so far off their humanity? What caused our civilization’s atavism? How did we reverse back to a near state of nature?
We cannot explain, wave aside or tuck under dazzling rhetoric the death of 50 worshippers, the many injured, the mother that died of heart break over the death of her son, the grieving husband that have forgiven the mass murderer that attacked his faith and killed his wife.
We cannot wish away the darkness that descended on the world on March 5, during the Christchurch deliberate massacre, but we can reflect and learn from it.
New Zealand is a relatively peaceful country although it has had her share of violent expression in 1997, when six people lost the lives to a mass shooter in North island town of Raurimu. Before this tragedy was the unfortunate and deadly mass shooting in the town of Aramona, which killed 13 people and injured three.
The difference between these incidences and Christchurch massacre, however is, the religious colorations, its tendency to polarise New Zealanders and the world as well as the unfortunate opening of a new frontier by a right wing extreme terrorist.
The comfort that these types of terrorist are disorganised and poorly led was shaken by the action of a lone-man wielding the ubiquitous AR15 has given credence to the state federal police in Australia, that next to the immediate threat posed by Salafi Jihadi terrorism was the steady raise of right-wing extremist groups. The only way forward is to build peace and constantly thicken its cloak so that in times of infractions and disagreement it can stretch to accommodate our opposing perspectives.
The Jacinda Arden way
Within a span of five days, her coalition government formulated a ban on all semi-automatic weapons that was used in the Christchurch attack. In order to build peace, we must take away every instrument of violence, so that the first things we reach out for in times of dissatisfaction and disagreement is not a danger to ourselves and others.
Arms proliferation remains one of the biggest challenges to Africa generally and Nigeria in particular. The initial demobilization of exercise supervised by ECOMOG that took place in Liberia, failed because there were still many arms in circulation and Taylor’s ex-combatants were not demobilized.
This became the cause of fresh waves of crises. This phenomenon has also led to seeming lack of success of Nigerian state to effectively contain the insurgency in the Northeast and numerous crises that bedevils the country.
She calls the act by its name
According to most main stream Western media, terrorists are bearded Jihadist and bearded Arabs in general, and women in Burqas. Stories of beheadings bombs and genital mutilation are constantly being projected to establish this impression as a fact. Muslims are framed as savage perpetrators of depravity and torture. But when acts of equally deadly and devastating consequences are unleashed by non-Muslims it is called anything but terrorism. If the perpetrator happens to be Caucasian he is conveniently dismissed as a mentally ill person or a victim of society’s negligence.
This stereotyping can be identified in Nigeria according to how certain crimes and criminal acts are associated to a particular tribe or ethnicity and how we may tailor the situations to fit an established rhetoric. Herds men are murderous Fulanis, Igbos are armed robbers, Yorubas are ritualists. When we view situations from such doctored lens we are likely to arrive at preconditioned solutions.
The Muslim call to prayer was broadcast on Radio New Zealand and an Imam was invited to New Zealand parliament to talk about Islam in attempt to breach the gap that existed between Muslim and others. This also encourages the feeling of a sense of belonging among the Muslims.
Also, she used the victim centered approach concentrating on the victims rather than the criminal. In Nigeria we tend to talk more about insurgents than the casualties of their actions.
She wore a scarf on her head when she visited mourners. This symbolic gesture became the face of a movement against hate and racism. New Zealand woman made the heart of billions of people across the globe swell with pride as those pictures pelted the internet and media outlets all over the world. I call it demystifying the hijab.
If we ever underestimated the enduring string that binds people of the same culture, religion, race or nationality, then we need to look at the iconic image of Jacinda Arden hugging one of the victims of Christchurch terrorist attack display on the tallest building in the world UAE may have put up the picture, but in the heart of almost 1.6 billion Muslims she attained the height of Burj Khalifa.
Media commentators and politicians must be held accountable when they toy with extremist ideas to pursue popularity. Australia rose to the occasion of peace through her support of bound reforms law and other positive actions in this particular crisis.
Donald Trump can be rightly singled out for making the unspeakable a norm in mainstream right wing politics. He has also sadly spread and normalizes the toxic politics of fear.
Hadiza Onido wrote in from Abuja
