SPECIAL REPORT: The Sentencing of a ‘Human Shell’

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Special Report by Selwyn Manning. A German language version of this report was published by Cicero.de magazine in Germany. Caution: This report contains detail that could be disturbing to many people.

AT WHAT POINT in time does an atrocity have a beginning? Is it when the first gunshot is fired? When the first victim is killed? When a killer first submits to thoughts of hatred, alienation, blame and decides to apply those emotions into physical action? Or, is it when racism is justified, when killing is considered defensible by those in whom one chooses to associate with, to support, to impress? Is it when one subscribes to another’s ideology of hate? Or when silence is a protector – chosen by reasonable people – when those around us speak of inhuman things?

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‘Ok lads, enough talking, it’s time for action.’ With those words, early on March 15, 2019, and expressed to his dark-net acquaintances, Brenton Harrison Tarrant initiated his plan to murder as many people of the Muslim faith as was possible.

Tarrant then packed six firearms into his vehicle, including: two military-styled assault rifles (AR-15 .223 calibre) and semi-automatic shotguns. He added 7000 rounds of ammunition, a bayonet-styled knife, and four IEDs (improvised explosive devices).

Wrapped within a bulletproof-vest he reversed from the driveway of his rented Dunedin home and self-drove 361 kilometres northward to New Zealand’s largest South Island city, Christchurch.

Reconnaissance:

Christchurch is known for its gardens, parks, sport, English-Victorian-styled architecture, earthquakes, parochialism, a modest inter-faith Muslim community; and, paradoxically, its white extremist gangs.

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Two months earlier, in January 2019, Tarrant visited Christchurch. The purpose: reconnaissance of Al Noor Mosque – a place of prayer and worship for hundreds of the city’s Muslim people.

In January, Tarrant parked his vehicle adjacent to Al Noor Mosque, unpacked a drone and flew it above and over the facility. He recorded an aerial view video of the grounds, noting points of entry, exits, corridors where people could escape, where they could hide.

Tarrant observed how hundreds of people would attend Friday prayers. He decided Al Noor was the location, and, Friday was to be the day of the week which provided him an opportunity to kill as many people as possible on one single afternoon.

Christchurch is also a city built on a plane. Geographically it rests on a flat ancient seabed – framed only by the Port Hills to the south and the towering Southern Alps to the west. The city’s traffic is characteristically light (compared to other cities) and the route from Al Noor Mosque to nearby Linwood Islamic Centre is a short drive. Tarrant fathomed that even with news of a mass killer in the area, traffic would most likely be light.

Al Noor Mosque to Linwood Mosque – EveningReportNZ/Google Maps.

Tarrant quietly, and unobserved, took notes. Once satisfied, he returned to Dunedin where he determinedly, and with precision, planned mass murder.

At no time during the reconnaissance, nor the planning phase, did New Zealand Police nor Australia’s Police, the Security Intelligence Services, the New Zealand Government Communications Security Bureau notice what was being planned and expressed online. Brenton Tarrant’s intensifying hatred grew, undeterred, against those who were not white. As is the case of many western nations, New Zealand, along with its Five Eyes intelligence partners, Australia, Canada, Britain and the United States of America, had appeared more preoccupied with surveillance of those of Muslim and Islamic origins than they were of disarming an intensifying white extremist threat.

NOTE: For a video discussion on this security intelligence element, see: A View from Afar with Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning, March 27, 2020.

Alpha and Omega:

In the early afternoon of March 15, 2019, Tarrant arrived at his first waypoint. He parked his vehicle in a neighbouring driveway. Around 190 worshipers (children, women, men) had already arrived at Al Noor Mosque and others were still making their way there for Friday Prayer.

It was a warm late Summers day. In a nearby park, people were playing. School children were enjoying the peace and fun that the garden city offered.

Inside his vehicle, Tarrant strapped his bulletproof vest tightly to his body. He put on a helmet. Earlier, he had fixed a video camera and a strobe light to the helmet – the latter was designed to confuse his intended victims; the camera was connected to the internet via a cellphone device so as to provide Tarrant the opportunity to livestream his intended atrocity to a Facebook audience.

Tarrant then sent a ‘Manifesto’ to a white extremist website. He also emailed his intentions (with ‘Manifesto’ attached) to the New Zealand Government, to the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and to national and international media.

Minutes later, Tarrant weaponed up, stepping from his vehicle he carried two semi-automatic firearms (including a shotgun) with multiple magazines, and approached the entrance to Al Noor Mosque.

At that time four worshippers, Mounir Soliman, Syed Ali, Amjad Hamid and Hussein Moustafa, were at the Mosque’s front entrance. Without warning you discharged the shotgun multiple times in quick succession, killing each of them. A wounded Mr Moustafa was despatched by you at point-blank range with shots to his back and head.(ref. New Zealand High Court ruling, Justice Mander, August 27, 2020; URL: https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/R-v-Tarrant-sentencing-remarks-20200827.pdf)

That was just the beginning, the moment Brenton Tarrant decided to open fire, ultimately putting his plan into action. His hateful journey, once conceived in his past, had been nurtured by those with whom he chose to associate with. His racist views had become darker by the month. His decision to become a mass murderer, a terrorist by his own definition and admission, was now a reality.

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Catharsis From Horror

Throughout the week of August 24-27, New Zealanders discovered how detailed Tarrant’s plan was. There was a risk, due to Tarrant’s guilty plea (lodged some months earlier) and his decision to refuse legal assistance, that details of his crimes – forensically applied to a timeline by detectives, scientists and prosecutors – would be sealed beyond the reach and rightful consideration of survivors. New Zealanders of all ethnicities, colour and religions too, needed to hear detail of how this monstrous act of terrorism could have occurred in this relatively peaceful land.

New Zealand High Court Judge, Justice Cameron Mander. Image, media pool.

Officially, the High Court summarised the charges:

The Offender pleaded guilty to 51 charges of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one of committing a terrorist act after shooting worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch. Court held that no minimum period of imprisonment would be sufficient to satisfy the purpose of sentencing. Offender sentenced to life imprisonment without parole under s 103 (2A) Sentencing Act 2002.

There was also a concern, that Tarrant, who had the legal right to address the High Court, would use that opportunity to express his white extremist ideology. As a preventive measure, the High Court’s Justice Mander applied tight controls on media, and insisted Tarrant would be withdrawn from the Court should he begin such a tirade.

Victims and survivors were offered the right to speak their impact statements to the Court and, significantly to tell Tarrant what they thought of him, and of the true consequences his actions had had on their lives.

Initially, 60 people wished to read their statements to the Court and to the killer. Others, after observing how their fellow Muslims accounts somehow were beneficial, also wished to have their experiences told.

Image by Professor David Robie, AsiaPacificReport.nz.

Some spoke of how Tarrant had failed in his purpose, as their faith had strengthened since the murders, that they as a community had become stronger, and how loved they had felt when New Zealanders of all colours embraced them as valued members of the nation’s family. A common account reiterated how ‘you sought to divide us, to alienate us. You failed’.

While in Court, Tarrant’s deportment was passive, absolutely. Whenever he was ushered into the Court, his hands and legs bound in shackles, he was assisted by officers to sit before the packed public gallery. When the Judge addressed him, he was respectfully at full attention. When addressed by his victims loved ones and survivors, he was attentive, although without emotion.

At one point, a murdered victims’ mother addressed Tarrant. She stated she had “no hate for him” as a person, that she forgave him. Tarrant acknowledged her with a nod. Began to blink rapidly and appeared to wipe a tear from his eye. Shortly after, New Zealanders learned that the killer had withdrawn his intention to address the court.

A total of 98 victims and loved ones read their impact statements to the Court and to Tarrant. Some expressing distress and some anger. The killer was referred to as a ‘coward’ by a school teacher, whose brother was murdered in cold blood. Another man, the son of a middle aged worshiper addressed Tarrant as a ‘maggot’. Another, that Tarrant was nothing but “rotten meat” to him. Three men concluded their account with a Muslim prayer and chanted Allahu Akbar while pointing defiantly at Tarrant.

The Court observed in silence, noting the tragic recount of events told by those who suffer injuries from the bullet, the experience leaving physical, mental, emotional, social wounds as a consequence of Tarrant’s crimes – but none expressed a loss of faith in Islam nor of New Zealand as a community.

As Radio New Zealand reports: ‘One survivor, Dr Hamimah Tuyan left her two sons in Singapore to travel to the High Court in Christchurch to speak and honour her late husband, Zekeriya – the 51st victim to die.’

She told Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report she wrestled for some time if she should write a statement. Once she came back to Christchurch she decided she would listen to every victim statement delivered in court: “I was just so inspired by the brave brothers and sisters – their words, their feelings. I’m just so glad that I actually wrote it and opted to read it. That was the only way I could represent my husband and my boys,” she said on live radio.

Dr Hamimah Tuyan said she felt a weight lift from her shoulders and then left everything in the hands of God and the judge.

“We were all calm after the last session and basically waited … listening to each and every word of Judge Mander’s sentence until the end – two hours.” Ref. Radio New Zealand, ( https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/424653/mosque-attack-hero-we-achieved-what-we-wanted )

She, and many others, spoke of Catharsis in having had the courage to speak of their experience and their strength, and of the bravery of their loved ones who died on March 15, 2019.

Cold Blooded Reality:

Then came the Judge’s ruling. For four hours Justice Mander read a precise account of what happened that day. In a move that was welcomed by the victims and New Zealanders, Justice Mander spoke of each victim and of their character, of the circumstances of how each person died.

For the first time, New Zealanders learned of the cold blooded reality of the consequences of hate that tore at the heart of the Muslim community that day.

Accounts like:

‘As you made your way down the hallway of the Mosque to the main prayer area you shot Ata Mohammad Ata Elayyan and Ali Elmadani, murdering both men. You then entered the main prayer room at the rear of the building. There were over 120 worshippers present. They had heard the gunfire. Appreciating that something was very wrong, they moved to each side of the large open prayer area to where there were single exits in each corner.

‘When you entered the main prayer room you initially fired at worshippers who were lying on the ground. You shot Ziyaad Shah. You then turned to the two large groups gathered on each side of the prayer area. There was little chance of escape. You fired your semi-automatic firearm into the mass of people on one side of the room. The rate of fire was extremely rapid. You repeatedly moved your weapon across that side of the room before turning to the other group of trapped people on the opposite side.

‘As you turned your semi-automatic weapon on these worshippers, Naeem Rashid ran at you. Despite being shot, he crashed into you, forcing you down on one knee and dislodging a magazine from your vest. Mr Rashid had been hit in the shoulder and, as he lay on his back, you fired further shots at him. Mr Rashid died but his bravery allowed a number of his fellow worshippers to escape.’

‘By this stage you had emptied a 60-round magazine. You replaced that with another. Standing in the middle of the room, you fired rapid bursts towards each side of the prayer room where people were trying to hide or were attempting to escape. After reloading yet again, you continued to shoot at persons lying prone or trying to escape. You discharged rapid bursts across both sides of the room before approaching individual victims and shooting them. As Ashraf Ragheb sought to escape from a side room down the hallway to the main entrance, you shot and killed him. Already there were many dead.

‘You moved closer to each now piled group of people lying deceased, wounded or feigning death on each side of the main prayer room. Worshippers, who were either crying out for help or who appeared to be alive, were systematically shot in the head. One of those was a three-year-old child, Mucaad Ibrahim. He was clinging to his father’s leg and you murdered him with two aimed shots.’

The judge continued, detailing how Brenton Tarrant then made his way outside Al Noor Mosque.

‘Outside you shot at people attempting to flee. You shot Mohammad Faruk in the back, killing him. Wasseim Daragmih and his fouryear-old daughter received life-threatening wounds. You fired in the opposite direction, hitting Sazada Akhter in the spine. She will be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.’

Tarrant then returned to his vehicle. Quickly he rearmed himself with an assault rifle fitted with two 40 round magazines.

‘You fired this weapon down a side driveway towards the back of the Mosque, murdering Muse Awale and Hamza Alhaj Mustafa, a 16-year-old boy who had escaped from the main prayer room and was sheltering behind vehicles. Another man, Mohammad Shamim Siddiqui, was critically wounded.

‘You then returned to the main prayer room. As you entered you saw Md Hoq, who was wounded,sitting up against a window. You aimed one shot at Mr Hoq, killing him instantly, before firing further shots at a group of people lying in one corner. There were some 30 deceased or critically wounded worshippers in this mass of people. You delivered fatal shots to those who were still alive.

‘You then reloaded your weapon and walked over to the group of people lying in the opposite corner and fired into them. You noticed Haji Nabi attempting to shelter behind a small wall. With two carefully aimed shots you murdered Mr Nabi before walking to within a metre of the piled group and firing further shots into those who were either deceased or mortally wounded. Any persons who showed signs of life were shot.’

The Judge’s ruling continued on, every precise detail that the Police, scientists, and prosecutors had discovered was read to Tarrant. The killer’s gaze remained attentive. Silently, he sat, emotionless, listening to every word.

Observers reflected on how Brenton Tarrant appeared a hollow shell of a human being. Immediately after his arrest, Tarrant presented as arrogant, remorseless, complaining to Police that he was disappointed that he didn’t kill more people. He was then in peak physical condition, clearly having been working out regularly. But this week, he appeared without emotion, without purpose, passively listening to the accounts of victims and that of the Judge detailing the facts of what he had done. He did not challenge the facts, rather he had accepted them as accurate a true account of his crimes.

Justice Mander continued on:

‘After exiting the Mosque for the second time you saw two women attempting to escape. You shot Ansi Karippakulam Alibava and Husna Ahmed. Ms Ahmed was killed. Ms Karippakulam Alibava was wounded. While she lay on the street, pleading for help, you murdered this defenceless young woman, firing two shots at her from point-blank range. You then returned to your vehicle and inflicted the indignity of driving over her body as she lay in front of the driveway from which you exited.’

Still, Tarrant remained emotionless, leaving some to ponder whether he was intent of creating an enigma of himself, a mysterious figure who refused to offer any words or emotion upon which others may define him. Rather, he had earlier defined himself to appointed psychiatrists and psychologists as a “Terrorist” and a “Fascist”. He had stated to the clinicians, appointed to assess his personality and condition, that in the months leading up to the killings, he had sunken into despair, into a depression. That he was angry at the world and wanted to hurt it, damage it.

The Child The Man:

Radio New Zealand investigated Brenton Tarrant’s background. The following segment is a paraphrase of that investigation.

Brenton Tarrant, while travelling in Pakistan.

Brenton Tarrant’s life experience was unremarkable, at least in the beginning. He was born on October 27, 1990 and raised in rural Australia, in a town called Grafton some 500 kilometres north of Sydney. He was the youngest of three siblings. His parents separated while he was still at school. He played sport (Rugby League) but was overweight and was bullied, to a degree, by others of his age. His father worked as a rubbish collector, and his family was respected in the general Clarence Valley area.

One of Tarrant’s cousins told Australia’s 7News, there was little in his background that would have indicated problems ahead. But, when his father died of cancer when Tarrant was 20 years of age, he was crushed by the loss. He inherited AU$500,000.00 from his fathers estate. Dabbled in investments. Then travelled extensively. It was during his overseas experience abroad, particularly in Europe, that he was radicalised.

Details are vague, but court accounts place him in France where he was attracted to white extremist groups with which he increasingly shared commonly held racist views. He continued to travel around Europe, and developed an interest in the countries that were once ruled by the Ottoman Empire, visiting historic battle sites. He travelled through greater Asia, visiting Pakistan and the border areas of Afghanistan.

Then, in August, 2017, he emigrated to Dunedin, New Zealand. He joined a rifle club, acquired a firearms license from the New Zealand Police, and joined a South Dunedin gym.

He kept largely to himself, isolating his ideas, his anger, his purpose from those around him.

Brenton Tarrant never sought to work in New Zealand and showed no intention to get a job.

Wider family members visited Tarrant while he lived in Dunedin. They returned to Australia, noting concerns to his immediate family that he was not in a good state of mind, and had shown them that he had many guns.

Then, as Radio New Zealand reported Tarrant’s last message to the white extremist group on 8Chan came in March 15, 2019:

“It’s been a long ride and … you are all top blokes and the best bunch of cobbers a man could ask for,” Tarrant posted.’

Radio New Zealand noted: ‘His friends were faceless, his interactions existent only in cyberspace.’ (Ref. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/424269/a-loner-with-a-lot-of-money-a-look-into-the-christchurch-mosque-gunman-s-past )

The Courtroom Account Continued:

Justice Mander:

‘As you drove away from the Al Noor Mosque you continued to shoot at anyone who you considered should be the target of your hate. You discharged a shotgun at two men who appeared to be of African descent. A short distance on you saw Muhammad Nasir and his son walking towards the Mosque dressed in traditional clothing. You again discharged the shotgun, seriously wounding Mr Nasir, before actioning the weapon again and pointing it directly at the boy who was trying to hide behind a wall. You pulled the trigger but it failed to fire.

‘You then sped away, driving directly to the Linwood Islamic Centre. On the way you came abreast of another vehicle being driven by a Fijian man. You pointed your shotgun at him. Despite repeated attempts to discharge the shotgun it failed to fire.

‘When you got to Linwood you approached the Mosque on foot down a long driveway, armed with yet another firearm. You saw three people in and around a car. You shot Ghulam Hussain in the head, killing him, before firing at and wounding Muhammad Raza who had got out of the other side of the vehicle. You shot another occupant of the car, Karam Bibi, before advancing up the driveway, where you saw Mr Raza attempting to find cover behind a fence. He attempted to retreat from you. Despite his pleas to spare him, you murdered him. A wounded Ms Bibi sought to hide in front of the vehicle. You walked to within metres of her as she lay prone with her head buried in her hands, stood over her, and killed her.’

Tarrant approached the Mosque, passing a window. He saw a silhouette of a man. He shot him with a single shot to the head. The man’s name was Mohammed Khan.

With your weapon now empty, you ran down the driveway back to your vehicle. As you reached the car, Abdul Aziz Wahabazadah, who had courageously followed you down the driveway, challenged you. You retrieved another semi-automatic rifle from your vehicle and fired at him. He dived between some parked cars, before you walked back up the driveway to the main entrance to the Mosque.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I wrote about this moment, in the German magazine Cicero.de in March 2019, shortly after the murders:

Inside Linwood Mosque was Abdul Aziz, a man who had gathered with his Muslim brothers. He had just begun his second pray when he heard gunshots outside. At first he thought it was someone playing with firecrackers (fireworks). But then, within seconds, he heard people screaming.

Mr Aziz picked up an EFTPOS (electronic funds transaction) machine from a table inside the mosque. He ran outside. He saw a man he describes as looking like a soldier. He said to the man: “Who are you”. Mr Aziz then saw three people lying on the ground dead from shotgun blasts. He realised the man was the killer. He approached the attacker, threw the EFTPOS machine hitting the killer, who in turn took from his vehicle a second firearm (a military style semi-automatic assault rifle) and fired four to five shots at Abdul Aziz, missing him. Then, in an attempt to lure the killer away from other people, Mr Aziz shouted at the killer from behind a car: “Come, I’m here. Come I’m here!”

Mr Aziz said he didn’t want the killer to go inside the mosque and kill more people. But the killer remained focussed. He walked directly to the entrance, once inside the mosque he continued his killing spree. Survivors speak of the killer wearing “army clothes”, dressed in “SWAT combat clothing”, helmeted, wearing a vest and a balaclava… Written on the rifle were the words, ‘Welcome to hell’. (ref. Attentat in Christchurch – Willkommen in der Hölle

In the High Court this week, Justice Mander continued:

‘There were several people standing inside the entranceway and further into the building at whom you repeatedly fired. You killed Musa Patel. Walking further into the Mosque, you shot and killed Linda Armstrong. People were huddled in corners of the room or trying to escape as you fired your weapon, killing Mohamad Mohamedhosen. You continued to fire the semi-automatic rifle until it ran out of ammunition, at which point you dropped it and ran back to your vehicle.

‘Mr Wahabazadah chased you down the driveway, yelling at you. You removed the bayonet from your vest but retreated in the face of his advance. As you began driving away, Mr Wahabazadah got close enough to throw one of your discarded weapons at your vehicle.

‘After leaving the Linwood Mosque, your intention was to drive to Ashburton to attack another mosque, but your vehicle was rammed off the road by a police car and you were apprehended by two armed police officers. You were anxious not to be shot and offered no resistance,’ Justice Mander read.

The Judge then spoke about the character of each of those who were murdered, about people like:

‘Haji Mohemmed Daoud Nabi was a 71-year-old who had been married to his wife for 46 years. He was a role model and leader to his family; a best friend to his children and to his wife. For them the pain and anguish never goes away. Mrs Nabi describes herself as “alive, but not living”.’

And…

‘Ansi Karippakulam Alibava’s husband found her lying on the road. He sat down beside her until police told him it was not safe. He knew when ambulance staff were not treating her that she had died. He is devastated. He finds himself constantly reminded of the events of that day and the loss of his dear wife. He can find no solace.’

And…

Ozair Kadir was training to be an airline pilot like his big brother. His death has left a scar on the hearts of his proud parents. His murder haunts his father.

And…

‘Sayyad Ahmad Milne was a precious 14-year-old boy with his whole life before him. His murder has left a huge hole in his parents’ hearts. Despite his father’s resilience and forgiveness, they grieve for him deeply.’

And… …

‘Mucaad Aden Ibrahim was younger still — a three-year-old infant. His father described him as “the happiness of the household” — a vibrant young boy who made friends with everyone he met. No family can recover from the murder of such a small child.’

In the end, Justice Mander considered what sentence is permitted under New Zealand law. As a liberal social democratic country, New Zealand repealed the Death Penalty for murder at the end of the 1950s. After consideration, the Judge sentenced Brenton Harrison Tarrant to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole – which means, he will die in prison. This is the first time any accused has received this sentence in New Zealand.

Officially, the Judge delivered his order:

‘On each of the 51 charges of murder (charges 1-51) you are sentenced to life imprisonment. I order that you serve the sentences without parole.

‘On each of the 40 charges of attempted murder (charges 52-91) you are sentenced to concurrent terms of 12 years’ imprisonment.

‘On the charge of committing a terrorist act (charge 92) you are sentenced to life imprisonment.

‘I also direct that the four psychiatric and psychological reports prepared for this proceeding be made available to the Department of Corrections.’

And then came the Judge’s final order:

‘Stand down.’

On writing this account, I am mindful that we cannot republish a summary of each of the victims when 91 people have been either killed or maimed by one man’s actions. It feels terribly selective when choosing who to include, and who to exclude from this report. How can one apply news values to people who have had their present and future stolen from them? One cannot. Therefore, I encourage you, readers, to read the unabridged ruling from the New Zealand High Court. While upsetting, it will offer a sober account of what occurs when hatred is left to grow inside us, when others do not know how to react or challenge when hatred is expressed . ( https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/R-v-Tarrant-sentencing-remarks-20200827.pdf )

Also, there is this awful thing, this contemplation, this series of unanswered questions which remain after the killing ceases, well after the victims’ faces become one. Answers remain elusive even after the verdict is read, the sentence is delivered, and the survivors have been ushered home to pick up the pieces of their lives. We are left to wonder, why. That question, that one word, will haunt us for the rest of our days.

Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern’s reaction to the sentence:

Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern.

“I want to acknowledge the strength of our Muslim community who shared their words in court over the past few days,” Jacinda Ardern said.

“You relived the horrific events of March 15 to chronicle what happened that day and the pain it has left behind.

“Nothing will take the pain away but I hope you felt the arms of New Zealand around you through this whole process, and I hope you continue to feel that through all the days that follow.

“The trauma of March 15 is not easily healed but today I hope is the last where we have any cause to hear or utter the name of the terrorist behind it. His deserves to be a lifetime of complete and utter silence.”

Alpha and Omega, as we began, so we close:

At what point in time does an atrocity have a beginning? Is it when the first gunshot is fired? When the first victim is killed? When a killer first submits to thoughts of hatred, alienation, blame and decides to apply those emotions into physical action? Or, is it when racism is justified, when killing is considered defensible by those in whom one chooses to associate with, to support, to impress? Is it when one subscribes to another’s ideology of hate? Or when silence is a protector – chosen by reasonable people – when those around us speak of inhuman things?

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PS: We also invite you to view this week’s episode of A View fro Afar with Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning where they discuss, in depth, the causes, impact and possible solutions when dealing with white extremism.

See Also by this author: Willkommen in der Hölle, Cicero.de, March 2019. And, Christchurch Terror Attacks – New Zealand’s Darkest Hour

22 COMMENTS

  1. First of all, this is the first conviction for terrorism in New Zealand’s history so no one has ever experienced terrorism of a kind. But even people who have like Mr Paul Buchannon could never agree that knowledge of the timeline is anything more than propositional attitudes. Even though what Tarrant did was wrong it’s now an established document that blesses everyone with an established way of talking about terrorism it just can’t be, I mean if this whole thing was conducted in another language a lot of these attitudes simply wouldn’t arise.

    In many other language’s people simply don’t say and wouldn’t say Brenton Tarrant knew what he was doing was wrong. In New Zealand, our desire to know, happens in a very broad sense and now we are asked to go beyond the court’s ruling in this case and beyond the technical usage but this is not the way this knowledge was used.

    Words like “scum of the earth, trash, buried in a landfill, wasting taxpayers money, my 72-year-old father will break you in half if you challenge him to a fight,” these are the words that will haunt Brenton Tarrant until he repents for his sins.

  2. “AT WHAT POINT in time does an atrocity have a beginning?….”

    Made in Australia

    Australia has been forcing us to take their convicts for years.
    Most of them arrive here leaving, jobs, families and all their usual networks of support behind them in Australia. Dumped in New Zealand, a country that many of them have no memory of, or immediate family to turn to, they often need government support, or return to crime just to survive putting further cost on this country.
    The total cost of their support has been borne by the New Zealand taxpayer.
    Australia has never offered New Zealand 1 cent toward the cost of the deportees they have dumped here.
    We should stop accepting these deportees until Australia agrees to pay at least half the cost of this Australian terrorist’s incarceration.

      • Yes. I’d agree @ CLEANGREEN.
        Is there even the faintest notion that tarrant might simply be mad. Literally insane.
        But not in that howling at the moon way as one throws one’s faeces at the neighbours car suspecting, indeed assuredly knowing in their insanity, that it’s about to sneak over and mate with the cat. A suspicion supported by the prevalence of the odious looking Nissan Leaf EV.
        Not that kind of insane. I mean an insanity with finesse. A subtle, vaporous madness that’s consumed him over many years like sequential poisoning and, like all things with things in common, they find common ground to gather upon.
        God help us all then if we are, by default, as being human beings will succumb to subtle insanities over time leading to profound consequences?
        Look around you?
        There’s very little art and a vast swamp of advertising which demands our attention which demands our money and we know, there aint a damn thing funny, cause it’s all about money in this land of milk and honey.
        “So don’t push me because I’m close to the edge. “ might have been something tarrant’s said to himself.
        Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – The Message
        https://youtu.be/PobrSpMwKk4
        The very worst thing to do to tarrant if one must have vengeance is to give him Ecstasy which would enable him to have a different perspective on the tarrant that plotted to murder as many people as he could as he gave a running commentary while filming what he did as he did it.
        Then I have to ask?
        Is it kinder to him, then, to let him live with his insane belief that what he did was the right thing to do?
        But then what does that make of those of us whom regard ourselves as sane in our judgement of him?
        I think we’d have all been better off, him included if he’d been executed.
        But again, see?
        Do we keep him alive as a trophy to our misery or do we execute him out of compassion?

    • It is not just NZ prisoners returned they send all of them back to country of birth if they have not become Australians. This is very popular over there and both parties endorse it so it is unlikely to change. They are NZ people with a NZ passport so we cannot refuse t o take them. The are 1100 NZ in Australian prisons so expect this to go on for awhile .It is a pity we do not do the same to or criminals

    • “Made in Australia” is a convenient cop out for the made in NZ Islamophobic race baiting that we have and do ,,,, feeding and affirming poisoned minds/.

      Some Examples are ” Jihadi brides ” which is shorthand for female Muslim terrorists …

      John Key and the media were always wanking on about ‘ masses of boat people’ heading for NZ ,,, which was invasion fearmongering ,,, and 99% bullshit.

      Right wingers in NZ were / are pushing speakers who share the exact same ” Great Replacement ” / white genocide / anti miscegenation beliefs as Brenton Tarrant ,, specifically Laura Southern https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/07/19/12/4E3A911D00000578-5970353-image-a-34_1532000926138.jpg

      And written on the killers weapon is a specific shout out to the national party ,,, feedback to their invasion fearmongering https://globalnews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/brentontarrant3-e1552660176875.png

      14 “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children”,

  3. This tragedy still needs to be a wake up call for unity for all NZ. While we have come together as a country to a large extent, the SJW/twitterati/woke activists are still pushing an anti-white male line that may well backfire and even create some sympathy for this disgraceful act. Blaming all white skinned people for every injustice suffered by every dark skinned person is not rational behaviour, and will create backlash. I’ve said this before on this site, I am very scared of the conditions many of youth are facing, kids (boys) the same age as my sons leaving school and unable to find work, living in dreary flats with no income and no future, being told they are priveleged (because of their skin colour) misogynist rapists (because of their gender), and told they do not deserve to be have a say in mainstream politics (paraphrasing Marama Davidsons “delete yourself”). This is not unity in NZ, it is the way to create the next disaster.

    To quote Haile Selassie; “until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained.”

    The modern woke are so fixated on correcting past race issues they do not realise they are creating the race issues of the future.

    Tarrant in some aspects was a victim also, a victim of a society that allowed his inadequacies to fester into a monsterous tragedy. I think our two Green MPs Marama Davidson and Golriz Ghahraman should have thought this through before their spiteful anti-white rhetoric at a time the rest of the country was trying to come together. The woke will kill NZ.

    • Ben, Thank you for articulating this whole issue so clearly. I share all your concerns here.

      I think the most shocking thing about Marama Davidson and Golriz Gharaman’s anti-white self-indulgent diatribes following the Muslim tragedy, is that these women are members of Parliament holding views of ignorant isolated slum dwellers. They plunged me back to the anti- Catholic and anti-Protestant prejudices of my long ago childhood, except that the pair of them were making judgments based on colour, which is unbelievable in the inter-connectivity of the 21stC, and worse than the ignorance of non-educated backward medievalists.

      Perhaps the time has come not to speak of “white supremacists”, but simply as “supremacists”, as a term covering all people, such as the repugnant Davidson and Gharaman, who designate other groups as inferior to themselves.

      Blaming, as they do, today’s people, for the injustices of the past, is not just irrational, it is dangerous. If the intent is to provoke societal unrest or disorder, it is plain bad. Our young people struggling in the real world, deserve better, and need better, and they need it now. Kia kaha and arohanui to all our sons and daughters.

  4. All I can say is “well done Justice Mander” and now I want to forget this F$%#@r for the rest of his pathetic life.

    My wish is that the Media will give this (sorry…I don’t know what to call him, without swearing) no more space. No documentaries, no updates, no mention of him again apart from maybe a footnote when he meets his maker whenever that happens. However, I don’t hold out much hope on that.

  5. As an act of Mercy He should be allowed voluntarily if he chooses to receive Euthanasia once he cannot stay sane rotting alive in his cell.
    I mean this seriously. Perhaps allowed 1 month of freedom to say goodbye to people and places first and make his peace even to repent.
    prolonged solitary confinement is recognised as torture by the U.N.

  6. No not the face of a madman, just a disturbed young man really. Terribly sad the whole thing, including the remaining of his life. I am not a fan of lock em up forever.

    What I have always wanted to know is the cop who allowed him to have a licence without the appropriate checks and balances still a cop. If so why?

    It really worries me that the cops never seem to take the fall for the f-ups they make. And this one was appalling.

  7. Such courage she is the one that deserves real respect:
    She stated she had “no hate for him” as a person, that she forgave him. Tarrant acknowledge

    I really disagree with this sort of language:
    addressed Tarrant as a ‘maggot’. Another, that Tarrant was nothing but “rotten meat” to him

    The man is a human being and a product of society.
    He has pretty serious mental health issues.

    And where the hell were our security services… honestly all the dosh they get.

    • In a functioning liberal democracy, thought is not policed to that degree especially when no one is exaggerating. New Zealand borrowed about 8x whatever the economy was to overcome WW2 and we probably won’t need that much to overcome the challenges that face us today but we do need that mentality to overcome these short term crises. Tarrant may not disrupt society to the extent coronavirus has today, if we try to develop a society that penalises free speech then perhaps we will disrupt society to the extent that Tarrant imagined. So just let it go.

  8. Racism and religious intolerance are ‘alive and well’ around the world, and as economic and social conditions continue to get worse (be made worse by governments) and people look for scapegoats, we should expect to see more reports like this from previously-socially-cohesive-and-tolerant Sweden, and other nations.

    ‘A wave of chaotic unrest broke out in Malmo, Sweden after anti-Islam activists filmed a public Koran burning, sparking protests that soon descended into riots, with unruly demonstrators setting fires and clashing with police.
    Some 300 people gathered along a main thoroughfare in Malmo on Friday around 7:30pm local time to protest after members of a far-right political party staged a Koran burning earlier in the day, according to local press reports. As the crowd grew, fires were ignited in the street and several cars torched, prompting a heavy police response that struggled to bring the situation under control.

    “We have ongoing and violent riots right now that we have no control over,” police spokesman Rickard Lundqvist told a local news outlet amid the disorder.’

    https://www.rt.com/news/499381-malmo-riots-koran-burning/

  9. Send back this shell, why it!s our land the crime done, his life is jailed for the length of his being and cost equivalent, of our justice, or some may think injustice take your pick of what mindset.
    More relevant, are is those you call shells, those imprisoned – at this time, with looking for release are those shells being released these shells without any care of past rehab. Who these shells released with money enough for a good night out and then left forgot as employers require a Police check FOR MOST IF NOT ALL JOBS.

  10. The curtain has dropped on the characterless creature responsible for the Christchurch Mosque massacres, but still there lingers Voltaire; “It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished, unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
    Most victims of this atrocity were/are here in New Zealand, and so were in those places on that terrible day, because, as refugees, they had fled here from homelands destroyed in military actions many times worse than Christchurch, and which, in some cases, we participated.
    Even the RNZAF Hercules which ferried the killer to and from his sentencing, quite possibly ferried New Zealand troops to some of the lands from which the victims of the Christchurch massacres have fled.
    But nobody wants to talk about that.

    • NZ fighting USA sponsored wars.
      Helen Clark – reconstruction excuse but SAS were really in combat replacing Americans, We were effectively lied to.
      Jonkey put SAS directly into an aggressive role killing natives. He also involved us under NATO, a cabal NZ was not a member of.
      Who is it that controls our MPs to sacrifice lives and blood for USA adventurism.
      These illegal wars create carnage of unbelievable proportion. Refugees have to flee fron USA generated horror.
      The refugee’s religion is of no consequence but division and hatred generated by USA officialdom as a pretext for war lives on in the feeble minds of many.

      It is a long time since I have read a front page article in NZ calling for world peace. Our MSM is compliant with US directed policies in the murky world of CIA and SIS activity.

  11. Kia ora Malcolm Evans
    To me there is something unsettling about the way in which New Zealand has managed the aftermath of the Al Nor massacre. The question of “How and why did this happen” has not been addressed at all. A Norwegian journalist has commented that the background to the atrocity has been “dimly lit”. That is an understatement. The full story has been concealed under a government sanctioned media blackout and a trial in which rigorous measures were taken to keep the defendant silent throughout.
    Contrast that with the way in which the State of Israel tried Adolf Eichmann, and Hannah Arendt was able to analyze the political, social and psychological factors which turned Eichmann into a mass killer.
    By comparison, with all respect to the victims and survivors of the massacre, the Realm of New Zealand has delivered no more than a show trial. Israel exposed the fascist ideology for what it is. New Zealand has sought to ban any examination of Tarrant’s political theories or associations, and for one very obvious reason: that his beliefs are so closely aligned with the ideology of the Five Eyes alliance.
    This approach has led to some bizarre incongruities. Because the New Zealand government has decreed that Tarrant’s name should not be mentioned, he is routinely referred to as “the mosque gunman” or “the mosque terrorist” which has the effect of cementing the association between Islam and violence in the nation’s subconscious. To their credit, some in the media attempted to avoid such an association by labeling him as “the Australian terrorist”, but while well-intended that also has the unfortunate (and politically unforgivable) consequence of associating Australia with terrorism. So, to most of the media he remains “the mosque terrorist”.
    Brenton Tarrant should always have been plain Brenton Tarrant. It should always have been clear that the actual massacre was conducted by one individual who, along with his unidentified mentors and associates, had succumbed to the pernicious belief that the “Anglo-Saxon” nations – Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – should be permanently at war with other nations of the world, particularly and currently with the Muslim nations.
    There is also a psychological process at work in the ontogenesis of a mass killer, to which New Zealand society seems blindly indifferent. The New Zealand media apparently believes it is right to label Tarrant a “loser”, “failure”, “low life”, “pathetic”, “trash”, “maggot” and so on, and for the government to decree that he should be denied a name, and be designated as a non-person no longer recognised as a human being. That attitude is an extreme extension of the callous contempt for our fellow human beings which breeds people precisely like Brenton Tarrant. It does not serve us well.
    The process has been “dimly lit” for a reason. It is because shining a strong light on the ideological, political, social and psychological background to this atrocity would reveal elements of the New Zealand and Australian states standing in the shadows behind Brenton Tarrant.

  12. The wider scenario of this tragedy is tied to the illegal Iraqi /Afghanistan /Syrian invasions by USA war criminals .with NZ joining in actively supporting first two. The many thousands of refugees from the war torn and ongoing conflict areas over the last 20+ years, were displaced and some gained entry to NZ. As some of these refugees had collaborated albeit, unwillingly, with NZ forces then they were in danger from reprisals from those fighting the invaders.
    Tarrant spent some time visiting the area where it is deemed he became radicalised from those invading who saw the locals as enemies.
    So we have people from the Arab world who have fled to NZ and an Australian racist who harboured hatred he had learned from the same war zone.
    Both a result of NZ’s folly joining in with US illegal warring for resources.
    NZ has paid dearly but not as dearly as the refugees both here and elsewhere whose families and homes have been shattered by US / NZ illegal invasion and occupation.

    Apart from the 8 NZ personnel killed to date, and the mission creep as NZ is kept from pulling out as promised, most Kiwis just accept the war as it is not in their neighbourhood, until something resulting from the war happens on their turf.
    To that extent we are equally guilty as the USA.

    Peace keeping missions are a euphemism for supporting occupation.
    Ron Marks has attempted to drag us into South Sudan, the Golan Heights and Lebanon, with the last two being Israeli / US expansionism at terrible cost to the native people.
    National are willing to increase NZ’s support for US / Israeli warfare on native ME territories of the ME.

    Now Labour is talking about ISIS when it has been clearly shown that ISIS has clandestine support by USA with funding and weapon supply including tanks.
    Who is our government.

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