At least 50 people were killed and another 50 wounded in Friday’s Christchurch attacks. New Zealand authorities worked through the weekend to identify the victims as quickly as possible in order to allow for them to be buried in accordance with Muslim tradition.
The suspect in the shootings, 28-year-old Brenton Harrison Tarrant has been charged with murder.
Cipher Brief Expert Nick Fishwick, who is a former senior member of the British Foreign Office, considers the impact that the attack could have on New Zealand’s strategy to combat terrorism.
The bloody murders in mosques in Christchurch will sicken everyone.
New Zealand is a small country in the Pacific of fewer than five million people. The main language is English, the head of state is the British Queen Elizabeth, it excels at rugby union. It prides itself on its friendliness and tolerance. It is, if you like, Britain without the drawbacks.
At least 50 innocent people have just been murdered by one, or maybe two, or three, people with cretinous and unspeakably evil views. But does it matter in security terms, or should we see it in the same terms as “non-political” mass-killings in schools and towns in the U.S. and Europe over recent years?
New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, has been forthright in describing this as a “terrorist attack”. She is right, and this matters.
The attack was aimed at people with a certain set of religious beliefs. It was designed to kill some who had these beliefs and scare others (less than 1% of New Zealanders are Muslim). It will be watched nervously by the wider global community of Muslims, which numbers over a billion worldwide. Muslims in non-Muslim countries will be asking themselves, do we feel safe here? If not, what do we do?
The attack will not have a neutral effect on Islamic feeling globally. Most Muslims will continue to work with the authorities and civil society to address perceived problems. A few more will not only be enraged by what has happened but will also think that Muslims have to defend themselves: which might mean, striking back.
The attack will not have a neutral effect on extreme right-wing feeling either. Incomprehensible as this may be to most of us, small circles of violent extreme rightists see people like Anders Breivik, the Norwegian who murdered 69 defenceless youngsters in 2011, as heroes and martyrs. The same myth will develop around the perpetrators of the Christchurch attack, which is likely why one of the alleged killers filmed his killing spree and spread it across social media.
New Zealand has long been a valued member of the 5-Eyes community. As such, the threat of terrorism, and what a counter-terrorism strategy requires, is familiar territory. The country’s security services are smart and sophisticated but not huge in number. I am sure that the other members of the 5 Eyes community will be reaching out to assist. And New Zealand will have to decide whether it needs to take a different approach to counter-terrorism.
Writing for The Cipher Brief three months ago, I described my concerns about violent right-wing extremism. This is why it matters.
Read more from Nick Fishwick in The Cipher Brief and engage with Nick, who is a featured speaker, at The Cipher Brief's upcoming threat conference.
