Over 100 people came along to send our condolences to all those who lost loved ones and to pledge to fight the politics of hate with hope and love.
I was proud and privileged to speak alongside friends from the Muslim community, trade unionists and local politicians. I feel passionately about the need to call out racism and Islamophobia and to do all we can to challenge the politics of hate and the rise of extremism and the murder of innocents which result.
These are my words:
"The murder of innocent Muslim worshippers in Christchurch has been devastating. It was an act of hate, pure and simple, like many such acts we’ve seen over recent years.
Like most people I have gone through several emotional
phases
Feelings of deep sadness at the loss of life,
especially the children and young people who had their whole lives in front of
them
Feelings of anger at the act itself – the deliberate
shooting of so many people, young and old
- At the arrogance of a young man who thinks that his life is worth so much more than the lives of those he has killed in such a brutal way
- At a world-wide political system that has allowed the rise of the far right – of white supremacists who think that they are somehow better than those of a different race, religion or creed. People that make me ashamed to be white
- At the perpetrator’s choice of New Zealand to perpetrate this crime – a peaceful country and one that has welcomed migrants and refugees.
Feelings of powerlessness about how to fight such
arrogance and hatred of people who cannot and will not see that there is so
much more that unites humanity than divides us and who cannot see that our own lives
are as they are, only by accident of birth.
Feelings of confusion as to how people can grow to
hate in such a way.
Feelings of occasional despair about how to challenge this
arrogance and hate.
This happened across the world but the hatred and the
division can also be seen in our country perpetuated not just by the rhetoric
of this Tory government and a right-wing media but also by government policies
which demonise migrants, those of different faiths, the disabled, the poor and
the vulnerable.
You only have to look at the Brexit debate, the
ongoing saga that is Windrush, the stripping of British citizenship from
Shamima Begum to see the underlying racism and Islamophobia in government
policies.
And what that creates is fertile ground for ordinary
people to think it’s acceptable to be racist or sexist or anti-semitic or
Islamophobic.
Fertile ground for the far right and other extremists
to gain a foothold and spout their politics of hate.
So we have to constantly challenge this hatred and
division with unity, with hope and with love.
We share a common humanity that values diversity and recognises that there is more that unites us than divides us.
If the terrible events in Christchurch tell us
anything it’s that instead of judging we need compassion; we need to be able to
walk a mile in each others’ shoes; we need to work together to combat the rise
of extremism.
Those of us here tonight – we share each other’s
sadness at such a brutal loss of life; we share each other’s anger at the rise
of hate and extremism that resulted in this terrible atrocity
But we also come together to pledge that we will do
everything in our power to promote understanding, empathy and compassion and to
fight the vicious rhetoric that sets people against each other and results in
murderous acts like the one in Christchurch
Hope and love will conquer hate.
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