There are already murmurs being made that the GCSB, SIS and Police need mass surveillance powers to combat the extremism that erupted so violently towards Muslims in Christchurch last week.
As the numbness dissolves, as the recoil shock to ourselves and our national identity slows in its reverberations, we are left with an enormous amount of damage to heal, new steps forward to take and real questions that demand answering.
…attempting to connect the violence on Friday with right wing opinions, the defence of free speech or concerns about immigration and conflate that with all white people as racist murderers is a sure fire way of eroding the solidarity in sorrow that has bound many.
Mueller’s report is finally over and while the White House may try and censor anything too embarrassing, it doesn’t look like Trump is panicking at all and that could suggest that there’s no evidence of collusion.
If that’s the case, I think we are in real trouble.
Our SIS & GCSB are supposed to protect us from this type of act, yet despite being warned about the shooter and the Muslim communities own complaints about ratcheting violence, white supremacists weren’t seen as a threat and according to the last decade of SIS reports, have never emerged as a specific danger.
Hasn’t every person who claimed Jacinda couldn’t be a mother and lead the country at the same time been shamed by the incredible courage, empathy & fortitude she has shown over the last week – we would be a lesser people right now without her leadership.
Blaming Mike Hosking, Duncan Garner & Chris Lynch is easy and it might make us feel better, but it won’t provide us with real answers or keep us safe, that falls upon the Intelligence agencies who had a combined budget of $230m last year.
I’m sick of hearing ‘he wasn’t on our radar’ the fucking radar wasn’t switched on!
Wanting to censor the trial or hide his words is a natural response but we are being tested globally and our justice system is strong and our values deeper than his sophistry of hate. We have nothing to fear standing in the light and dragging him into it. In fact, it’s our obligation to do so.
I’m taking my 9 year old daughter to the climate protest today, which means she’s wagging a day from school.