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New challenge to global terrorism
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Showing solidarity: Riau Police chief Insp.Gen. Nandang signs a banner, where Riau University academicians express their commitment to fight against intolerance, terrorism, and radicalism. (JP/Rizal Harahap)
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uicide bombings shook Sri Lanka on April 21, just over a month after white supremacy terrorist Brenton Tarrant opened fire on Muslims who were performing Friday prayers at two mosques in Christchurch on March 15.
The Sri Lankan government accused the local radical Islamic group National Thowheeth Jama’ath (National Tauhid Jamaah/NTJ) of perpetrating the bombings, but later Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the terror.
At first glance, the carnage in Sri Lanka and New Zealand appears to be simply violent acts of hatred between two parties. It turns out not to be that simple. The cruel and barbaric terrorist attack in New Zealand, which was then avenged by no-less-brutal acts of terror in Sri Lanka, has unfurled a new challenge to the discourse on global terrorism.
There had been a stereotype that acts of terror were associated only with radical Islam, but the Christchurch case demonstrated that terrorism is also connected with antimigrant and anti-Islam white supremacist/ultraright movements.
