Words matter, says the ASIO chief, so it’s no longer left, right or Islamic terrorism. It’s now religious or ideological extremism.
It is now two years since an Australian terrorist executed 51 people attending prayer services at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and it should be remembered that the ideology on which the Australian acted is still very much alive in extreme right circles.
The pernicious ideological spring from which the Australian gunman drew inspiration relates to the notion of a “great replacement” of white people by immigrants from non-white or non-Christian countries over time.
This is the domain of white supremacists and those that look to Adolf Hitler and national socialism as a solution to whatever problems they seek to blame on other parties that they characterise as being lesser beings because of their ethnicity or the belief system in which they worship.
