Offline: Public health and the fight against extremism

Abstract

“Terrible beyond contemplation”, wrote a friend from New Zealand last week after the assaults on two mosques in Christchurch. Most politicians unreservedly condemned the March 15 attacks, examples of white nationalist terrorism that left 50 people dead and many injured. There have been notable exceptions to this worldwide revulsion, with some voices legitimising the hate speech of alleged perpetrator Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the 28-year-old Australian now charged with murder. Australian Queensland Senator Fraser Anning wrote about “the growing fear within our community, both in Australia and New Zealand, of the increasing Muslim presence”. While most responses to these terror strikes have appropriately emphasised solidarity among New Zealand's communities, one regrettably sees that what took place in Christchurch lay at the violent end of a spectrum of xenophobia that is now authorised and accepted in political discourse. No one concerned about protecting and strengthening peaceful and just societies can disclaim responsibility. The health professions have an important part to play in defeating the views that foster far-right hate speech and violence. As Ibrahim Abubakar and colleagues wrote in the UCL–Lancet Commission on Migration and Health, published last December, “Racism and prejudice should be confronted with a zero tolerance approach…Health professionals' and organisations' awareness of racism and prejudice should be strengthened through regulatory and training bodies including accreditation, educational courses, and continuous professional development” (my italics). The task is therefore clear. But we have to do more. Far-right extremists have launched a war of words against diverse and inclusive societies. Dismissing, ignoring, or censoring those views is not an acceptable strategy. Tarrant posted his manifesto—The Great Replacement—minutes before the attacks in New Zealand took place. Although this document has been erased from the internet, his ideas are widespread and mainstream. On Amazon, you can buy Le Grand Remplacement by Renaud Camus. His book explains why the French people are being “replaced” by immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa. Camus has denounced the Christchurch attacks as “appalling”. But the normalisation of hatred against migrant communities is the foundation for the violence that took place in New Zealand. The health community has a powerful role in shifting political discourse away from ethnic-nationalism and towards an understanding of the value of multicultural societies. One book that helps to change the terms of this dialogue is Paul Morland's recently published The Human Tide: How Population Shaped the Modern World. Morland shows how demography has influenced shifts in political power. “The great flow of humanity” is an “overlooked or underplayed contribution to the course of history”. The demographic transitions we see today in nations “may be the most important explanatory factor in world history”. Although demography is not our destiny, Morland suggests that our futures are at least partly dependent on “the human tide”. What is the direction of that tide? It is that societies will be more grey (older), more green (using human ingenuity to create a greener planet), and less white. Morland quotes Cecil Rhodes, an ardent British imperialist: “I shall devote the rest of my life to God's purpose, and help Him to make the world English”. Rhodes' views were not only racist, but also demographically impossible. Global domination by the West was inevitably time limited. Sub-Saharan Africa is today “the final frontier” in the reshaping of world political power. “The biggest news story of the next forty years will be Africa's population growth.” We must embrace and celebrate “a much more fluid world in racial, ethnic, and national identity terms”. In his abhorrent manifesto, Tarrant writes, “If there is one thing I want you to remember from these writings, its [sic] that the birthrates must change.” The justification of all far-right extremist political parties is that white domination is under threat. Morland shows that these shifts in demography are not a threat. They are the predictable evolution of human populations. Health workers have a vital voice in leading public debate about the realities of these transitions and the importance of promulgating the idea of a common, not a divided, humanity. Health leaders must begin to offer a positive and internationalist vision for human societies. Our task is urgent.