Srdja Pavlovic, Adjunct Lecturer with the Department of History and Classics, and Research Associate with the Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies (photo: supplied).
The terrorist attack in Christchurch by a white supremacist and self-declared "eco-fascist," Brenton Tarrant, is the latest reminder of the dangers of white supremacy terrorism and radicalization based on a false and racist narrative about defending white Christendom and about the so-called white genocide.
After I heard the news from Christchurch, Paris and Charlie Hebdo terrorist act came to mind. I thought: "I am Muslim / Je sui Musulman," and went to the Al Rashid Mosque to talk to my fellow Edmontonians who worship there.
That same night I read Tarrant's 74-page rant titled "The Great Replacement." He wanted to "create fear," and warned against the "Balkanization of the U.S." He declared that "mass immigration will disenfranchise us, subvert our nations, destroy our communities, destroy our ethnic binds, destroy our cultures, destroy our peoples". He also wrote about the current U.S. President as "a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose." Moreover, he boasted about his murderous spree being blessed by the Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik.
I was somewhat surprised by how clear a link between Tarrant's actions and the Serbian nationalist discourse from the early 1990s was but then I learned about his 2016 trip to the Balkans, where he allegedly visited locations that hold some significance in the white supremacist's grand narrative. This Balkan connection in his text is one of many and it could be the product of either his online activities, or him being instructed by fellow radicals from diasporic communities, but it nevertheless deserves a few clarifications.
Tarrant wrote that he had been "working part time as a kebab removalist." Here, he refers to a propaganda song and accompanying video, produced by the Serb forces around 1995, during the height of the ethnically fueled war in Bosnia.
In the opening sequence of his sickening video we could hear the sound of a Serbian nationalist song widely known under several different names, including Serbia Strong, and Remove Kebab. This was an anti-Muslim slogan that began in Serbia but has been adopted by white supremacists across Europe and around the world. The song's lyrics have been rewritten many times in many languages, never losing its militant anti-Muslim message. Originally titled Karazdic, Lead Your Serbs, the song references wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karazdic, who was convicted of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in 2016 by the ICTY in The Hague.
Moreover, Tarrant's using of the term "Turk" in his writing points to an understanding of the nuances of Balkan history and multilayered meaning of its languages. As argued by others, the term "Turk" does not appear to be a common slur among Western far-right activists. It is, however, one of the main ingredients of the extremist terminology used by Serb nationalists.
Furthermore, images showing Tarrant's vest and weapons used in the shooting were marked among other names with those of the 19th century Montenegrin tribal leader Marko Miljanov Popovic, as well as the late-17th century Montenegrin outlaw, Bajo Nikolic Pivljanin, both of whom waged prolonged battles against the Ottoman forces.
It is clear that for this white supremacist terrorist as well as his fellow new-age far-right extremists the Bosnian war and genocide committed there constitute a significant ideological muster point and inform their actions around the globe. Tarrant adopted one of the favourite nationalist tropes of the Eastern Orthodox Balkan Slavs - them being the bulwark of Europe saving its shores from the Muslim invaders advancing from the east. Much like his fellow Serb nationalists, he sees this region as having been and continuing to be a military frontier in a global struggle between two faiths.
Some might have the inkling about a strategy by a diasporic South Slavic community that has been under scrutiny for its well documented radicalism and islamophobia: outsourcing of specific ethnic and national extremist narratives within the broad framework of defending white Christendom. It could also be that this white supremacist thoroughly did his homework online. Either way, this should be a matter of grave concern for every government.
In my adopted home, Canada, the seemingly harmonious interfaith relations should not lull us into thinking that we are not in the cross airs of white supremacist terrorists. The most recent attacks on a mosque in Quebec City, displays of arrogance by the Calgary-based Aryan Guard, and the intimidation campaign run in many Canadian cities by the Soldiers of Odin should be a wake-up call for all of us. Political and community leaders should stand up on this front line (make no mistake about it, we do live on a frontline), call the murder in Christchurch by its proper name, and do everything in their power to root out the evil of white supremacy. Their silence and reluctance to act resolutely could have deadly consequences.
Srdja Pavlovic is an Adjunct Lecturer with the Department of History and Classics, and Research Associate with the Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies.