Statement by anti-fascists in (so-called) Australia on the fifth anniversary of the Christchurch attack of March 15, 2019

Anti-fascists gathered in a number of Australian cities yesterday to mark the fifth anniversary of the Christchurch massacre and issued the following statement:

Five years on, we gathered across ‘Australia’ to honour the victims and survivors of the terrorist attack on Ōtautahi/Christchurch mosques by Australian neo-Nazi Brenton Tarrant on 15 March 2019. We express our solidarity with Muslims in Aotearoa New Zealand and in ‘Australia’, where we recognise a dangerous climate of increasing Islamophobia and anti-Arab hatred. Tarrant was first radicalised here in Australia in a similar climate. The neo-Nazis who he donated to and who tried to recruit him, continue to operate with impunity. Confronting fascism, Nazism and racism in our cities and towns remains our duty as antifascists.

Ahad Nabi, son of the martyr Haji-Daoud Nabi (who greeted the terrorist with “Hello, brother” and was then gunned down) gave this victim impact statement in 2020:

“You deserve to be buried in a landfill. This world was created with colour, a peasant like you will never change the human race. Your wish is to make this world a racist cult of one colour, but you will never succeed…I ask that he be put in mainstream prison and stop wasting taxpayer money on giving him special treatment and protection. And coming back to this maggot, I would like to say that my 71-year-old dad would have broke you in half if you challenged him to a fight. But you are weak, a sheep with a wolf’s jacket on, for only ten minutes of your whole life. I’m strong, and you made me even stronger. Allahu Akbar.”