Australian efforts on Islamophobia flag despite Christchurch wake-up call
Al Jazeera
Five years on there has been little reflection on the Islamophobia behind the Christchurch mosque attacks.
March 15 marks five years since an Australian man killed 51 Muslims while they were praying at their mosques in the southern New Zealand city of Christchurch.
Although the killer, who was jailed for life without parole, was born and radicalised in Australia, there has been little reflection on Islamophobia and racism in his country of origin.
“I think we’re looking for honesty and for reckoning. That honest reflection and accountability,” Rita Jabri Markwell, legal adviser to the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network (AMAN), told Al Jazeera.
“The Christchurch massacre didn’t happen because of just some crazed individual. It happened because of a culture that has been created in Australia for at least 20 years,” she added.
At first, Markwell’s advocacy on the Australian response to what happened in Christchurch focused on legal reforms to address the use of dehumanising language online.
