Statement on the Islamophobic hate being mainstreamed by the NZ Chief Human Rights Commissioner

I read with profound sadness the statement made by the NZ Chief Human Rights Commissioner Dr. Stephen Rainbow about "the increase in Muslim immigration as threat to Jewish community."

The sentiment expressed in the statement reflects the Islamophobia being circulated across Far-Right platforms globally targeting Muslim communities.

In the US for instance, the networked infrastructure of the Far-Right has continually produced the image of the terrorist Muslim threatening Western civilization to stoke up fear and hatred. The Trump administration has mainstreamed this Far-Right extremism in the form of Islamophobia scripted into policies that have been dressed up as addressing antisemitism. Consider the targeting of international students, particularly Muslim international students, and international students expressing solidarity with Palestine and speaking out against the genocide being carried out by Israel.

Similarly in the UK, Far-Right groups such as the English Defense League (EDL) have built their base through the production of the fear of the Muslim migrant. One expects such rhetoric around Muslim immigrants as threats from Far-Right actors such as Tommy Robinson.

Closer in Australia and in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Islamophobic hate in far-right discourse led to the extremism witnessed in the Christchurch terror attack.

The statement by the Chief Human Rights Commissioner portraying Muslim immigration as a threat to the Jewish community mainstreams the Islamophobia that is being amplified across digital infrastructures globally. It poses critical threats to social cohesion, democracy, and safety of Muslim communities. The Christchurch terror attack teaches us that mainstreaming of extremist hate rhetoric is a key ingredient in the amplification of extremist violence.

It is important that this mainstreaming of Islamophobia in Aotearoa New Zealand is challenged vigorously, and that the Islamophobic hate voiced by the NZ Chief Human Rights Commissioner is countered.

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The Substack and the Slur: How a Manufactured Crisis Toppled a Wahine Māori Political Editor

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