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A8 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 6 augusT 2019

5 months on, Christchurch attacker inspires others

By KRISTEN GELINEAU build a narrative for their
Associated Press views or actions.
SYDNEY (AP) — The attack Paul Spoonley, who has re-
on a Texas Walmart that searched white suprema-
left 22 people dead bore cist groups in New Zealand
all the classic hallmarks of and is writing a book on the
America’s cycle of mass subject, said Norway’s An-
shootings: A lone shooter. ders Breivik is the mass killer
Multiple casualties. A white who established the model
male accused of the crime. for the type of attack seen
But it also revealed a new- in Christchurch.
er, emerging pattern: em- Breivik, a right-wing extrem-
boldened white suprem- ist, killed 77 people in a
acy. A racist diatribe pub- 2011 bomb-and-shooting
lished to the online mes- rampage. Each of the re-
sage board 8chan. And cent attacks has similar
apparent inspiration drawn elements such as a mani-
from the Christchurch, New festo and social-media use
Zealand, mosque attacks during the event, he said,
earlier this year. and the actions are those
The El Paso massacre is of lone shooters with little or
the latest attack in which no contact with the orga-
the gunman appears to nized far right.
have praised the March 15 In this March 18, 2019, file photo, mourners lay flowers on a wall at the Botanical Gardens in On Monday, New Zealand
shootings in Christchurch, Christchurch, New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ard-
where an Australian white Associated Press ern was asked about con-
supremacist is charged seems to be gaining ground church attack had a very day at Linwood mosque cerns that the Christchurch
with killing 51 worshippers as a political symbol, as specific target: Muslims. when he hid in a bathroom attacks are starting to be
at two mosques. the racist views espoused “Christchurch, looking at as the gunman slaugh- remembered as a symbol
Authorities are investigat- by the man charged with the manifesto, is about im- tered people a few feet for violent white nationalists
ing the possibility that Sat- the killings, Brenton Tarrant, mediately an ‘us and them’ away. When the police ar- around the world. She said
urday’s shooting in El Paso continue to resonate with proposition: Our lands will rived, Bari had to jump over any effort to prevent such
was a hate crime, and white supremacists half a never be their lands, they the bodies of his fellow wor- spread of hate has to be a
are working to determine world away. are invading us, they’re try- shippers to get out. cooperative one.
whether a racist, anti-im- “Christchurch was a sym- ing to conquer us, and we “The ideology exists, and “What I want to make sure .
migrant screed posted to bol from the moment that have to fight back,” Gross- we know that. And it’s just is that we do what we can
the 8chan board shortly Brenton Tarrant’s manifesto man said. unfortunate that people to create a regulatory envi-
beforehand was written appeared online,” said Mi- These recent attacks, she are acting as copycats ronment where we do not
by the man arrested in the chele Grossman, a profes- says, were designed to in- now,” Bari said. “That’s see violent extremism, and
attack. Though he was tar- sor and research chair in cite even more violence. a concern, obviously, for violence, and terrorism cir-
geting Latinos rather than diversity and community “You might say that this is every Muslim living in the culated online,” she said.
Muslims, the first sentence resilience at Deakin Univer- part and parcel of an ef- West.”He added: “We feel “But New Zealand can’t do
of the online rant expressed sity in Australia. fort to spearhead a revo- it — that it can happen that alone. These are inter-
support for the Christchurch The difference between lutionary uprising to inspire anytime, anywhere.” national platforms.”
shooter. Christchurch and Colum- people to say, ‘If I can do Given how high profile and By posting a 74-page doc-
For decades, mass shoot- bine — and the shootings this, you can do this, too,’” recent the Christchurch at- ument on 8chan before
ings have been viewed each may have inspired — Grossman said. tack was, it’s not surprising the mosque attacks, the
through the prism of the can be seen in the attacks’ That concern is especially that it might be referenced accused Christchurch gun-
lethal 1999 attack on Col- respective targets, Gross- intense in Christchurch. by the El Paso shooter, said man clearly tried to ensure
umbine High School in man said. The Columbine Muti Bari was not surprised Jacinta Carroll, director of his rampage — and his use
Colorado by two of its stu- shootings were indiscrimi- when word of the Texas national security policy at of a conspiracy theory that
dents. Columbine acted as nate; in his journal before massacre reached New the Australian National Uni- contends elites are plotting
an inspiration and symbol the attack, shooter Eric Zealand. versity. Terrorists, she says, to replace whites with non-
for lone shooters for years Harris wrote about wanting Bari has lived in fear of an- try to justify their actions white immigrants — would
to come. But Christchurch to kill humanity. The Christ- other attack ever since the through references that echo widely. q

Major German union urges members

to join climate protests

Associated Press
BERLIN (AP) — One of Germany’s largest unions is calling on its members to join a world-
wide protest calling for action on climate change next month.
Verdi head Frank Bsirske told the WAZ newspaper on Monday he was calling on the
union’s 2 million members to take part in the Sept. 20 protest that’s being organized by
the group “Fridays for Future.”
The group, which was inspired by Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, has
attracted thousands to its weekly protests in cities across Europe and elsewhere in the
world over the past year.
Many are students who skip school to join the protests.
In this photo taken on Friday, July 26, 2019, Greta Thunberg
stands next to Swedish parliament in Stockholm. Bsirske says he’s not calling for union members to walk off work but to join in after their
Associated Press shifts are done.q