West should reflect on white supremacy

An outrageous terrorist attack happened in New Zealand's Christchurch Friday. A gunman, who was believed to have accomplices, broke into two separate mosques and shot randomly at people inside.



At least 49 people were shot dead and many were seriously injured. The peaceful New Zealand never expected such a nightmare.



What's most worrying is that the gunman was a typical white supremacist. Although the tragedy happened in New Zealand, the gunman is an Australian citizen. He wrote a 37-page "manifesto" filled with white supremacist proposals. He live-streamed his attack, saying he carried out the attack to "show the invaders that our lands will never be their lands," "to take revenge on the invaders" and to ensure "the future for white children."



The attack was full of symbols of Western racial and religious conflicts. The far-right political thought, prevailing in the West in recent years, was undoubtedly one of the inspirations of the attack. The Western world failed to control such a trend, and many countries drifted into far-right politics and even set off its upsurge.



The terrorist attack in New Zealand will trigger indignation in the Islamic world. But no matter the Western or Islamic world, they lack a powerful and effective mechanism to control the domino effect of extreme events. Instead, using conflicts to usurp political influence was always regarded as a legitimate game.



A few years ago, terrorism was mainly about Islamic extremists in the Middle East attacking Western targets. But the shooting in New Zealand is the reverse. It reflects the white supremacists' radical mood to expel all other races and religions. If the disadvantaged Muslims and arrogant white supremacists use terrorist attacks to even the score, it would be the world's nightmare.



Western elites should come forward to strongly condemn the terrorist attack in New Zealand and lead the Western world in thoroughly rethinking white supremacy. White supremacy is not an isolated ideology. It prevails in Western centrism and the popularization of the so-called Western universal values. The West should be inclusive toward globalization instead of always prioritizing its own benefits and taking Western superiority for granted.



The shooting in Christchurch again proves that it is hard for different races, religions and cultures to harmoniously coexist. Prejudice, discrimination and self-enclosure are common among races and religions, and the attack showed people how dangerous they are. Western society has severe deficiencies in governing these issues. Western countries always criticize non-Western countries' efforts to control these problems, but they have underestimated the crisis in the Western world. Western countries would choose easy solutions because of their political system. But that is dereliction of duty.



After all, the Western system encourages political confrontation. Religious and racial conflicts are both political. When the West is prosperous, the conflicts will be eased. But when many white people feel their lives are ruined and politicians tell them immigrants moved their cheese, the conflicts will escalate. As society becomes more dangerous, it is easier for politicians to climb up.



Some forces in the world wish for terrorist attacks. The more antagonism there is, the more they will benefit. Politicians who incite antagonism have aided these forces, while other countries' efforts to promote harmony would be ridiculed. Antagonism is always under the guise of morality and justice. This is the pathetic part of the current world.





