Okay, I forced myself to read the entire 74-page manifesto – "The Great Replacement" – by the man who killed 49 Muslim worshipers yesterday in Christchurch, New Zealand. The shooter basically comes across as a poor-man's Anders Breivik , whose 1515-page manifesto of hate – 2083- A European Declaration of Independence – is far more erudite, if equally incoherent.
There is certainly some overlap in the shooter's White Supremacist fantasies and the ideology of the American Alt-Right movement. Both see racial diversity and multiculturalism as the greatest threat to Western civilization. Both see validation in their beliefs with the election of Donald Trump. The shooter expressly praises Trump "As a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose." Indeed, the United States seems to have figured into the purpose of the attack and means for carrying it out:
I chose firearms for the affect it would have on social discourse, the extra media coverage they would provide and the affect it could have on the politics of United states and thereby the political situation of the world.The US is torn into many factions by its second amendment, along state, social, cultural and, most importantly, racial lines.With enough pressure the left wing within the United states will seek to abolish the second amendment, and the right wing within the US will see this as an attack on their very freedom and liberty.This attempted abolishment of rights by the left will result in a dramatic polarization of the people in the United States and eventually a fracturing of the US along cultural and racial lines.
It is unclear from the manifesto whether the shooter ever actually visited the US. He did, however, spend a great deal of time in Europe, especially in France where he was horrified by the number of "invaders" (immigrants). And the person he holds most responsible for the "invasion" of Europe is the chancellor of Germany. In the manifesto's section titled: "Kill High Profile Enemies" he writes:
"Merkel, the mother of all things anti-white and anti-germanic, is top of the list. Few have done more to damage and racially cleanse Europe of its people."
Minus the death threat, the sentiment expressed here is no different from what one routinely hears from leading politicians in the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party (Bernd Höcke).
Other statements in the manifesto strongly resemble the rhetoric of the German Identitäre Bewegung.
The idea that all it takes for a Han chinese man to become German is to be born on German soil is as insane as a German born on Mars becoming a Martian. Europe is only Europe because of its combined genetic, cultural and linguistic heritage.
This statement is no different than what the Identitarian philosopher Caroline Sommerfeld writes in her essay "Bin ich völkisch?" :
"Deutschsein ist prima facie eine Frage der Abstammung. Alles weitere ist kontraintuitiv und daher begründungsbedürftig. "
The one word that appears over and over in the manifesto is "invader"- referring to non-white immigrants. Shortly after the shooter ended his terrorist attack Donald Trump made the following comment concerning non-white immigrants:
"Congress' vote to deny the crisis on the southern border is a vote against reality…People hate the word 'invasion,' but that's what it is. It's an invasion of drugs, criminals, & people…in some cases, they are killers."
