good.net.nz 40

Type face:

SultanAladdinFaux Arabic

good.net.nz 41

Should New Zealand

be worried about

ISIS has been top of the global headlines for well over a year now, with Europe, America, France and Japan suffering directly as a result

of their activities. But it’s all a very long way from New Zealand, isn’t it? Golnaz Bassam-Tabar takes a closer look

GOOD QUESTION

ISIS?

good.net.nz 41

good.net.nz 42

What do a railway bridge near Huntley, a computer centre in Wanganui, the Wellington

Trades Hall, and Greenpeace’s ship the Rainbow Warrior have in common? They are all sites of terrorist activity in New Zealand. No wait, let’s get this right – they are the only sites of terrorist activity in New Zealand. Since the Waitangi Treaty was signed in 1840 there have been just four such events of note, and the first piece of legislation to deal specifically with terrorist activity wasn’t introduced until 2002.

This nuclear-free, outdoor-loving, future-thinking country with a small army whose deployment is mostly related to peace keeping isn’t used to worrying about the likes of ISIS. But should we? John Key says yes. Last year the threat level was raised from “very low” to “low” – which may seem insignificant when the likes of the UK

are on “severe”; but it’s a big step up from “no chance mate” to something more like, “well, possibly”.

New laws have also been put in place allowing the government to cancel the passports of suspected foreign terrorist fighters for up to three years, and the Security Intelligence Services have received $7 million in funding to monitor the terrorist threat.

In January this year, Key hinted heavily that military assistance from New Zealand in the fight against ISIS would go ahead, saying “it is the price of the club”. In other words, to continue to be a respected Western power we have to act like one, and that means joining in the fight. There are perhaps few people who would disagree with the need to stop an organisation whose methods are so brutal even the Taliban have distanced themselves … but the fight won’t always be on foreign soil,

so what does our involvement in “the club” mean for the situation at home?

Identity crisisIt’s a truism that every single person living on New Zealand soil is an immigrant. Whether your ancestors came over from Polynesia in a waka or chasing Cook’s heels on the Rosanna,

each and every one of us can call another land “home”; and those universal links to other parts of the globe, along with the get-up-and-go needed to make a better life for yourself, are an essential part of the Kiwi identity. Increasingly though, those of Muslim immigrant descent are finding themselves viewed differently.

“It’s frustrating to have to prove my Kiwiness here when I don’t think it’s the case for white immigrants,” says Mohamed Hassan, a 26-year-old journalist of Egyptian descent who has lived in New Zealand for 17 years.

Mohamed believes there is an expectation placed on Muslims in New Zealand to demonstrate their willing assimilation into Kiwi culture. While New Zealand prides itself on its diversity, according to Mohamed, the country can do more to celebrate the differences its vast ethnic minorities contribute as a nation. He feels this is especially important since the advent

good.net.nz 43

of the so-called War on Terror. It is, after all, well known that instability and conflicts create major economic and social inequalities, affecting mass migration and even refugee influxes across international borders.

“I’ve spent more time here than any where else, including home”, Mohamed says. “Everything I do; my education, values, thinking, is shaped by living here”. His family emigrated from Egypt when he was a child and have since embraced New Zealand’s freedoms and laid back culture, feeling they have something to contribute to society.

Soraiya Daud, whose ancestors were some of the first Indians to settle in New Zealand a century ago, echoes similar sentiments. The 26- year-old geography master’s student serves as the youth vice president on the New Zealand Council of the Labour Party, and says she’s used to having to explain what it means to be a Kiwi Muslim. Soraiya is proud of her heritage, which she says is a concoction of different things. “Our culture at home is very diluted, but we do practice Indian traditions such as wedding celebrations. I have a bit of that Kiwi culture, Indian culture and Muslim culture – and it all sort of forms something different.”

The question of identity is something that Muslims in New Zealand have been forced to ask themselves

repeatedly since 2001 – and often in the light of negative media coverage, such as what followed the recent Sydney café siege and Paris massacre of Charlie Hebdo journalists. Now more than ever, the chatter on social networks and mass media uses words like “Muslims”, “Islam” and “terrorism” together. The infamously violent terror group ISIS – now more commonly known as ISIL; the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – is now the deriguor spark for such discussions.

Information on the group’s origins was initially murky and it wasn’t clear whether they were a breakaway extremist group of Syrian rebels fighting against the Assad regime, or

if they had an earlier and less active presence in Iraq. But the Guardian recently revealed in an article by Martin Chulov, how a young Jihadi who was imprisoned by the Americans in Iraq 10-years-ago became a senior official within the group and recruited members in jail. He revealed how inmates gathered around in prison without fear or restrictions that deterred them assembling, all merely minutes away from the entire Al Qaeda leadership.

“ISIS has become the hottest new

GOOD QUESTION

good.net.nz 43

Mohamed Hassan (opposite page); Soraiya Daud with a friend (left)

good.net.nz 44

thing but there isn’t a lot of reflection on how they came to be. Where’s the money and weaponry coming from? Where does the ideology come from?” says Soraiya, who believes politicians and media are not asking the right questions. There are still uncertainties around where the group gets its political and logistical backing to have extended such a forceful grip in parts of Iraq and Syria. Eyebrows have been raised on the odd occasion of Westerners travelling to Syria to fight for them. The lack of knowledge about ISIS simply adds to feeling’s of suspicion and panic.

Folk devils In his classic book, Folk Devils and Moral Panic (1972), sociologist Stanley Cohen examines the way the clashes between the mods and rockers of the 1960s were handled by the media. His work focused on the way coverage

amplified the events in Clacton, Easter 1964, creating what he called ‘folk devils’ out of normal kids, many of whom didn’t even identify with the subcultures the media blamed for the violence – the extent of which had,

in itself, been exaggerated. This seminal work about the reaction to the way in which events are covered by the media has never seemed more relevant. The media, writes Cohen, created a moral panic; “a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests.” While it’s important we take the activities of groups like ISIS seriously, the knock on effect of reports that bundle the extremes of society together with the average person, results in heightened public concern, increased sensitivity by police, and the inhibition of rational debate.

Among New Zealand’s Muslim community, there is an atmosphere of frustration over the “label-bashing” of the news media. In the case of the recent Sydney attacker, it was later revealed the offender faced numerous criminal charges and had a history of mental health issues. Soraiya says news media

were too quick to shout “it’s terroism”, even though their language was pulled back as the story developed.

The vitriolic backlash on social media shocked many Muslims, such as the “Kill All Muslims” hashtag that emerged from it. “You get linked to that extremist view on social media commentary and people taking some obscure interpretation of Islam as being reflective of the entire religion. It can be quite upsetting,” says Soraiya, while also acknowledging the unusual rise of galvanised moral support offered from the wider community. One example of this was the #I’llRideWithYou online campaign, where non-Muslims offered to travel with frightened Muslims on public transport in the wake of social media threats.

Mohamed says; “I feel a lot of conflicting emotions, ranging from: ‘I hope it wasn’t a Muslim who did it’, to getting fed up with the destructive narrative by which it all gets explained. This then builds up the way in which the media portrays all Muslims and it becomes a baggage we all have to carry.”

Many in New Zealand’s Muslim community believe the key to understanding and solving the “ISIS problem” is acknowledging the importance of local, culturally relevant solutions. The perception is that mainstream media often misses important cultural information and

good.net.nz 45

background on events. Neither does it spend much time on the reality that the overwhelming majority of ISIS’ victims are Muslims in the Middle East.

Instead, selective every-day reporting of events encourages a view that Westerners are exclusively sought out by this group. It offers little analysis into the cause – behind what the community calls young, confused, vulnerable youth manipulated into carrying out atrocious violence. Likewise there dosn’t seem to be much acknowledgment that the more suspicion is directed towards a subculture – any subculture - the more likely they are to become radicalised.

“Why is it that we, whether in the media or politicians or society, automatically talk about Islam after something terrible has happened?”, asks Mohamed. “Why do we talk about the Muslim community as being inherently a threat or danger. What is so unique about the Muslim community that allows us to view them in a way that is fundamentally threatening to Western values or our way of life?”.

Double standardsThere is a feeling of double standards in the West as to when violence occurs. Mohamed raised the 2012 mass shooting where a man opened-fire on moviegoers in Colorado, USA, killing 12 people and injuring more than 70.

“It’s with a feeling of frustration that I observe when a Christian kills innocent people, it’s not referred to as Christian terrorism because the entire notion is perceived as ridiculous.”

The term “Islamic terrorism” tends to be thrown around with a casualness that dismisses the repercussions of such simplistic and often sensationalist story-telling. There is a call for media agencies to offer a more culturally and historically relevant description of events when reporting these stories.

The Muslim community wants to be engaged on these matters. For instance The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand and the Ahlul Bayt Foundation of New Zealand have written to the Government repeatedly seeking involvement and dialogue. Ali Boorooni is the minister of religion at the Ahlul Bay Foundation and says terror attacks affect people of all faiths. “It can cause people to think that terrorism is the fruit of religion.”

The Foundation recently created the

Interfaith Committee of Shia Muslims and Christians, headed by Boorooni and the reverend of the Howick Church in Auckland. [who?] The committee has drafted a joint declaration of condemnation of terrorist attacks that they are distributing to local media and Christian and Shia communities. Their message is clear, and one we can potentially all embrace – that the domestic threat in New Zealand isn’t from extremists fighting in the Middle East, but within ourselves and the way we treat each other.

Boorooni says; “We want to find some way to inform Westerners that these extremists and terrorist actions harm millions of people worldwide by demolishing the wall of love and peace we need to live together. The media have a great role to play in disseminating this message.”

GOOD QUESTION

good.net.nz 45