Tom Peters
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern used her visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly to accelerate global efforts to censor the internet. Her government is playing a leading role in exploiting the March 15 Christchurch terrorist attack to promote international mechanisms to block or take down online material that governments deem “extremist.”
The so-called Christchurch Call, an agreement between several governments and tech companies launched in May in Paris, was expanded at a special UN meeting with the addition of 33 signatories, including Denmark, Mexico, Belgium and South Korea. The agreement is intended to further concentrate power in the hands of governments and technology giants to remove content from the internet.
The Christchurch Call has nothing to do with preventing attacks such as the massacre of 51 Muslim worshipers in March. The gunman, Brenton Tarrant, like numerous mass killers in the US, was inspired by US President Donald Trump and other extreme-right leaders, who are being consciously promoted by the ruling elites internationally. Trump’s fascist rant to the UN on September 24 echoed Tarrant’s manifesto with its violent hostility to socialism and glorification of nationalism.
Jacinda Ardern
The day before Trump’s speech, Ardern gushed to reporters that she had “an excellent meeting” with Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien. Ardern said Trump showed “interest” in the Christchurch Call. Washington, while not a formal signatory to it, had “a really good level of participation and support,” and US-based tech companies had signed.
Ardern’s speech at the UN, with its references to “kindness” and diversity, and criticism of “fierce nationalism or self-interest,” was widely contrasted in the media with Trump’s statements. Such statements were thoroughly hypocritical. Ardern’s Labour Party-led coalition includes the right-wing populist NZ First Party, which has made numerous anti-Muslim and anti-Chinese statements. The government has restricted immigration and enforced a racist ban on refugees from African countries.
Ardern’s speech stressed global “interconnection,” mainly in order to argue for a crackdown on social media and the internet. This was needed, she said, to counter the promotion of terrorist violence and “language intended to incite fear” of religious and ethnic groups.
No one should believe the lie that these powers are aimed at terrorists. As mass movements of the working class against austerity and war spread throughout the world, the ruling class is responding by expanding the definition of terrorism and “extremism” to criminalise left-wing and anti-fascist groups.
Trump’s UN speech, for instance, described “open border activists” as “evil” and supporters of “criminals.” His administration has threatened to label Antifa a terrorist organisation. French President Emanuel Macron’s government, a key supporter of the Christchurch Call, has vilified the “yellow vest” anti-austerity protesters as “extremists.” Germany’s secret service has branded the Socialist Equality Party an “extremist” organisation to justify state surveillance.
India’s Hindu chauvinist BJP government, a signatory of the Call, has blocked all communications in Kashmir, in the name of fighting “extremism.” The Indonesian government responded to recent mass protests by shutting down the internet in its two Papuan provinces.
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