On the 15th of March 2019 a 38 year old woman stepped onto a podium to speak and address not only her own country but the world. As the planet turned to watch the news about the aftermath of a brutal attack on the Muslim community at Christchurch mosque by a white male terrorist, it was taken aback by the message she carried. The woman was none other than Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand and the youngest living PM in the world. Ardern, who is the leader of the Labour Party which came into power in 2017 was center-stage at a most poignant moment of history about the New Zealand shooting in Christchurch as well as another mosque nearby.
On a Friday congregation, a white male terrorist opened fire on men, women and children as they gathered for prayers. Nicknamed “Jacindamania”, the Prime Minister bore no excuses for this matter and termed it purely as an act of terror violating human rights. And the world which before had braced itself up to hear more excuses usually to distill matters by heads of state or expected the worst by not even acknowledging race-driven crimes got another surprise as New Zealand started to gain control of their own country amongst the chaos that was about to ensue but was curtailed by their next steps.
Jacinda Ardern had several decisions to make as the news got from bad to worse. The victims of the Christchurch shooting were now a total of 50 with most others of the congregation severely injured. The entire country including other minorities would be in a state of panic and fear. The situation could go both ways in an already racially driven world of today. New Zealand that had come recently into the forefront when boasting of the youngest PM in the world, would now be associated with something so horrible. And as she opened her mouth to speak, the world expected an excuse and basic discrepancies in the relay of events which one expects in most cases. But they heard for the first time, a complete acknowledgement of what had occurred. She gave no excuses and termed it directly as a violent act of terrorism against the Muslim community. A first acknowledgement of its kind in the history to come within hours. The 38 year old PM who may have won the elections in her own country now gained global respect by her words of control, sincerity of acceptance and most of all peace. Within days, photographs of her donning a black scarf as a tribute of respect to Muslims were being passed around.And there stood before the world a leader amidst a crisis.
Amidst the disdain and disgust of the evil deed the world saw something good emerge with the bold reaction of the PM giving the signal. Starting as a tiny spark on social media, then became larger and had a viral drive of immense proportion within the social media community as well as in print
News of the shootings flashed and pinged alerts started flooding. New Zealand which has enjoyed ‘no news’ most of the time (as one New Zealander had once told me), was this time, about to become infamous. Immediate steps were taken within the week, a few of the first started with the local Christchurch daily newspaper “The Press’ with its famous message of ‘Salam” which is the Arabic word for peace as well as the Muslim greeting, printed boldly on their front page. Images of policewomen wearing scarves, protecting mosques started to rotate. New Zealand crowds rose up in solidarity and expressed their messages of condolence. What started as what seemed a simple gesture became a prominent message with movements such as ‘Headscarf for Harmony’ and ‘Scarves in Solidarity’ which flew across the internet in hours of their launch. The ‘Headscarf for Harmony’ movement is the idea of Dr. Thaya Ashman. In her words “It’s a simple invitation to the whole of New Zealand to show our support, but also to recognize our grief as New Zealanders.”
‘Scarves in Solidarity’ was spearheaded by New Zealander Raewyn Rasch who arranged an event by the following week gaining huge momentum and support within the community.
Amidst the disdain and disgust of the evil deed the world saw something good emerge with the bold reaction of the PM giving the signal. Starting as a tiny spark on social media, then became larger and had a viral drive of immense proportion within the social media community as well as in print.
With media pouring in messages of concerns a digital trend started and spiraled. By Friday the 22nd of March, a ‘National Scarf Day’ was also observed in New Zealand. Thousands of posts started to appear from everywhere in digital media. Women from all over the world started putting up their pictures not just in support of Christchurch shooting victims but as well as for the Muslims all over the world.
The day took upon a different meaning from its predecessors and similar instances of re-generating “Hijab Day”. Usually such occasions as in earmarking a Hijab Day have not been without their fair share of controversy. Here another dimension was now added to the history of solidarity and goodwill towards Muslims and in this situation as the world decided to keep the New Zealand movements as a symbolic gesture of peace.
One must appreciate the drive for peace extended first by the New Zealand community but also a message that spanned across the world. The scarf was appropriated as a symbol of peace, a clear message put forth in a beautiful manner with utmost respect in a world gone mad with violent behavior to a world where each community could live in peace side by side, stronger and much more accepting. The message was to live and let live as you are. A tribute of respect and acceptance from the western mind. Condolences usually seen as candles lit, now took on another shape. One may not agree with the scarf, many may never want to wear it as an attire, but the message of empathy was clearly there.
The Pakistani community of Influencers, writers and bloggers also put up posts in solidarity and spoke words of comfort and condolence.
The ‘Head Scarf for Harmony’ and the ‘Scarves in Solidarity’ movements were just one of the many messages of peace that occurred from the New Zealand shooting. Within 6 days the New Zealand government also put in reforms to their gun control law and introduced legislation that would ban most semi-automatic firearms, including the types of weapons used in the shootings which had just occurred. Each step was taken to counter the negativity of the terrorist attack. The New Zealand Christchurch incident may have started out with despair, chaos and confusion, but within days the Prime Minister had established her rapport and stance correctly.
The name of the white male terrorist will hopefully be forgotten and he will be termed simply as a ‘terrorist’ by history. Just another madman spewing hatred. A no-name in the line of nobodies who would not be remembered except for being the catalyst for something good coming out from a loving world of which his ideology is no part of. What evolved after was much more powerful be it an effort to control a situation or a marked gesture to take a stand. The fact of the matter remains Jacinda Ardern produced results within a week and her country rose to the occasion. Be it out of national self-interest or even at best a soft image marketing, New Zealand did choose boldly. Is it perhaps too much to expect others to follow suit.
Dedicated to the families who can never stop the horror of loss through violence that has entered their lives -our hearts are with you. For the survivors, a long healing process of recovery and the constant fear from going through such traumatic events, remains. A day commemorated will not take away the pain of that suffering, but the hope for the Muslims that there are people out there willing to listen to basic human rights, kindling a legacy of peace will stay on. The victims of the New Zealand shootouts died in the action of attending their prayer, of receiving a hater (now deeply hated)with the words “welcome brother”. They died in the action of trying to save each other, bowing down in faith. Actions that hatred could not erase from remembrance.
Those Muslimsdid not die or suffer without causing millions to stand for them in prayer or providing assistance to their families. To the victims of racist crimes all over the world, there is another world of humanity and love that stands with you. A world that truly does believe in truth, justice, equality and peace.
