Monday, July 25, 2016

Munich shooting and right wing extremism - Independent

Everyone must read this post about the Munich shooting and right-wing extremism

Germany is struggling to heal following the tragic events in Munich on Friday which saw nine people killed and 27 more injured after an 18-year-old went on a shooting spree.
Ali David Sonboly had allegedly opened fire at a McDonald’s restaurant in the city on the five year anniversary of the Anders Behring Breivik Norway massacre which killed 77 mostly young people, and injured over 200. 
Sonboly, who was born in Germany and is of Iranian descent, had reportedly been fascinated by shooting sprees, including that of the right-wing extremist Breivik. 
Robert Fisk, writing for the Independent, was quick to point out a double-standard with the way terror attacks are reported:
When first we heard that three armed men had gone on a 'shooting spree' in Munich, the German cops and the lads and lassies of the BBC, CNN and Fox News fingered the 'terror' lever. The Munich constabulary, we were informed, feared this was a 'terrorist act'. The local police, the BBC told us, were engaged in an 'anti-terror manhunt.'

However Sonboly doesn’t have any connections to Isis, and despite a witness claiming they heard him shout “Allahu Akhbar”, the overwhelming body of evidence suggests he had shouted insults to foreigners. 
The shooting challenges the idea that only Muslims can be 'radicalised'. 
Academic, journalist and editor-in-chief of Ajam Media Collective Alex Shams wrote the following Facebook post exploring Iranian identity and the prevailing concept of whiteness as a mark of superiority in response to the attack: 

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