Progressives, many of them Muslim, decried the mainstreaming of Islamophobia as providing fuel for the hatred and violence which led to Friday’s attack on two mosques in New Zealand that killed at least 49 people.
The one attacker that has been charged, identified as Australian Brenton Tarrant, cited a number of familiar xenophobic and Islamophobic talking points against immigrants and Muslims in a manifesto posted online. The sentiments were placed alongside more blatant white supremacist rhetoric about “white genocide” and declining birth rates.
For many on the left, the attacker’s apparent motivations were the inevitable result of years of anti-Muslim rhetoric in politics and media across the West.
“From the US to France to Australia, Muslims are persistently vilified and attacked, while biases against them are normalized,” said Remi Kanazi, a Palestinian-American poet, on Twitter. “Then when white supremacy violence kills dozens, society disingenuously throws its hands up and wonders how this could ever happen.”
Humanitarian non-profit Islamic Relief USA, in a statement from the organization’s chief executive officer Sharif Aly, called for an understanding of how things got to this point while also hoping for peace and dialogue.
“We cannot address this horrific tragedy against Muslims,” said Aly, “without addressing the root causes of racism, bigotry, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hatred and violence.”
Pointing out that those root causes are increasingly accepted in society, Imraan Siddiqi, the executive director for the Council on American Islamic Relations in Arizona, said on Twitter that Friday’s attack was something that was a long time coming.
“All it takes is one individual to be radicalized by these messages and to act out violently,” said Siddiqi.
The attacks were “a moment of reckoning for leaders across the world who have encouraged or turned a blind eye to the scourge of Islamophobia,” said Amnesty International secretary general Kumi Naidoo in a statement.
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