Hate Strangers .. Is White Terror Generated from Trump's Tweets?

Imran Abdullah

"In general, I support the Christ Church shooter and his statement."

So the man accused of shooting at least 20 people at Walmart's store in El Paso, Texas, began a document he posted on an Internet forum used by white national terrorism supporters. He added that the New Zealand shooter inspired him and motivated him to repeat his attack in response to What he considers "Spanish conquest of Texas".

On July 30, just days before the latest attack in Texas, leaders of the Washington National Cathedral issued a statement strongly criticizing Trump, saying President Trump's words insulting a leader in the fight for racial justice and equality were too dangerous, inhuman and violent. To act by extremists, violent words lead to violent actions.

From hostility to Muslims to hate immigrants
New fascist movements evolved in the 21st century from anti-Muslim to anti-strangers, according to Australian writer Jeff Sparrow, who published the book Hate Online and the Christ Church Massacre.

"The ongoing Western war against terrorism has led to the normalization of an anti-Muslim rhetoric that reproduces almost all the traditional ills of anti-Semitism," Sbarro said.

"A new generation of politicians, parties and media figures have publicly embraced xenophobia and Islamophobia, but for the most part, they have avoided a culture of violence associated with real fascists."

Sbarro, in the article published in the British Guardian newspaper, said that the normalization of racism by populist politicians and others facilitates the work of fascists.

Turning to violence
The transformation of extreme right-wing racism into material violence rather than contenting its violent ideas via the Internet and websites has become a feature of the times. A statement by the New Zealand and Texas attackers indicates that right-wing violence is an end in itself for white racists who want to distinguish themselves and not just speak on The Internet, but actually practicing it.

The election of Donald Trump, known for his populist and racist attitudes, has encouraged more incidents of right-wing violence. In the aftermath of the New Zealand attack, Trump has said he does not see white nationalism as a growing threat, considering it a small group of people.

Both shooters in New Zealand and Texas called what they called “acceleration,” if they saw mass murder as a way to accelerate the destruction that would happen anyway.

The message from the New Zealand shooter to racist right-wing activists around the world seemed to have paid off, and white racists condemned the political elites that facilitated immigration and believed it was their duty to attack immigrants and their supporters.

Has Trump inspired the attacker?
The Twitter account, named after the suspect, marked "Like" on tweets with the hashtag BuildTheWall, which supports Trump's idea of ​​building a wall between Mexico and the United States, and also on a picture written by Trump's name using multiple weapons.

The statement published by the suspect implied racist and hatred ideas that had grown under Trump, accused Democrats of courting Spanish voters, and condemned racial mixing similar to some of Trump's expressions that he had repeatedly spoken of a foreign "invasion" from the southern border, and described Mexican immigrants as "rapists." Syrian refugees with "snakes" and "Trojans."

Finally, Trump wrote, attacking four elected women of Congress of colored origin and asking them to "return" to "the crime-infested places from which they came."

"The terrorist today cited the most powerful man in the world, President Trump," said Nihad Awad, chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

British journalist Mehdi Hassan spotted 10 supporters of Trump accused of horrific violence, including a shooter at the Quebec mosque in Canada and the Australian killer in New Zealand, who called Trump a "symbol of renewed white identity."

In the article he wrote for the Intercept newspaper, Hassan said the president was not planting the bomb but enabled much of the hatred behind the violence of far-right activists and ethnic white supremacists.

The New York Times writer Michelle Goldberg said that Trump had retreated from the humble efforts to combat racism by his predecessor Obama and introduced the language of white national supremacy to the crucifixion of American policy, to become a dominant American discourse, in addition to his administration canceled the grants from the Obama era to the groups It works to combat racist extremism.

This is an invasion
The former FBI director wrote that Trump cautioned in the marches ahead of last year's midterm elections - nine months before the last attack - that America was being attacked by immigrants heading to the border, and chanted, "This is an invasion. This is an invasion." ! ".

The suspect in the Texas attack asserted that his views "precede Trump and his campaign for president" as if he expected the controversy to follow the bloodbath, but many - including Komi in his article in the New York Times - blame the US president for stoking racism and hatred on which these beliefs are based. .

Because of the influence of the US right wing in state institutions, terrorist attacks by white racist extremists are not receiving enough government attention, and laws do not adequately criminalize joining white racist organizations. Local terrorists face charges of weapons, conspiracy and hate crimes. Not terrorism charges.