If you have a narrative about the Sydney siege, here are some facts you need to account for:
- The siege was carried out by a Muslim man who was a self-styled cleric and who had recently proclaimed his conversion from Shia to Sunni (an especially big deal in the current context in the Middle East)
- He identified at some level with ISIS
- He made demands on the state (including the PM!), thereby making his actions undeniably “political”, even if his current demands may not have been ones you or I think are any good
- He had a long history of public political activism around issues that the Left has historically championed
- He was a product of Australia’s immigration and asylum system, but also has lived here for 18 years and seems to have had many experiences as a member of Australia’s actually-existing multicultural society shaping him up to this event
- He had significant contact with politicians, authorities (including the police and time in jail) and Islamic “community leaders” while an Australian permanent resident, and they were aware of his erratic and (allegedly) violent behaviour, yet they could do nothing to prevent this crime from happening
- If the NSW Police are telling the truth, then Australia’s relatively tough gun laws haven’t helped stop this guy getting an unlicensed shotgun despite his history
- His crime occurred in the context of the media and politicians giving massive air time to the ISIS “death cult” and effectively promoting its strategy, thereby increasing the chances that someone might see identification with ISIS as a way to get publicity and fame for their own political causes. Which is exactly what happened.
Further reading:
- Me in New Matilda on the painfully Australian nature of homegrown terror: “Who Let All These Aussie-Born Jihadists Into The Country?”
- Allen Frances and myself in Huffington Post on what the psychiatric controversy over Anders Breivik tells us about responses to homegrown terrorism: “Are Homegrown Terrorists ‘Lone Wolves’ or ‘Stray Dogs’?”
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