Global City

International community praises New Zealand PM following her vow to not name the Christchurch mass shooter

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged New Zealand to instead direct their attention to the 50 victims of the mass shooting that took place Friday.

One day after the deadliest attack in New Zealand's history took the lives of 50 individuals in the city of Christchurch, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced sweeping national gun reform. Three days later, Ardern said the suspect in question, who targeted two Mosques, would be tried in court. Four days later and Ardern has vowed to never say the suspect's name.

"He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist," Ardern said to the New Zealand parliament Tuesday. "But he will, when I speak, be nameless. And to others I implore you: Speak the names of those who have been lost, rather than the name of the man who took them."

Ardern, who has served as the youngest female prime minister in New Zealand's history, vowed to not utter the name of the gunman, a 28-year-old Australian citizen who live streamed his mass killing online.

"He may have sought notoriety, but we in New Zealand will give him nothing," Ardern said. "Not even his name."

The suspect shared a 74-page manifesto online prior to the massacre. The document contained anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric, xenophobic internet memes and a section in which he attempts to pre-empt questions that might arise in media coverage of his terrorist act. In the manifesto, the gunman expressed his deep interest in American politics and white nationalism.

"Were/are you a supporter of Donald Trump?" the gunman asked in the document. "As a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose? Sure. As a policy maker and leader? Dear god no."

While the news cycle has widely focused on the aftermath of the mass killing, much of the media's coverage focuses on Ardern as opposed to the shooter. Her public refusal to mention the shooter's name is being internationally applauded.

"With Friday's attack, it played to the kind of leader that Ms. Ardern is, that she is supremely capable in this exact kind of space," said Eric Crampton, chief economist at the New Zealand Initiative who lived in Christchurch from 2003 to 2014.

"Her relative abilities in achieving the kind of emotional resonance that played during the election campaign came again to the fore, and every instinct that she has had has been the right one."

Steven Lamy, a professor in the School of International Relations, said the rise of nationalism and xenophobia have contributed to increased violence throughout the world.

"Nationalism is rising, a fear of the other… that is rising throughout the world," Lamy said. "There is more and more internal disruptions and internal problems related to violence."

Lamy said the massacre in New Zealand is one of many attacks that illustrate a pattern of the effects of nationalist rhetoric.

"When you have a country like New Zealand, which is very small and very quiet, a lot of people have guns but they have them for a purpose … they don't have automatic weapons," Lamy said. "Now this Australian and goes over to New Zealand to kill people. So it's a very disturbing trend and I think we're going to have more of them."

The shooter's objective of widespread fear, anger and hate has been overshadowed by Ardern's rising "popular appeal," Crampton said.

Ardern, 38, got her early political foundation as a member of the Labour Party. As the party began gaining popularity in the past several years, so did Ardern. In October 2017, she was sworn in as Prime Minister.

"Whatever response the murderer was trying to achieve in dividing us has not been achieved," Crampton said. "The community has united — we're together. Hopefully it doesn't bring international divisiveness there."

CNN Digital Editor Hilary Whiteman wrote in an article that the shooter has been "forced into the background" due in part to New Zealand's ban on publishing certain details of the shooter.

"It has been her face — and not that of the suspected shooter — that has come to dominate media coverage," Whiteman wrote.

When comforting survivors of the massacre, Ardern garnered praise for donning a hijab, or head covering worn by some Muslim women. This image of Ardern widely circulated media outlets and many have praised her approach.

New Zealand's largest internet providers join Ardern in her conviction to omit certain details from the dialogue surrounding the shooting. While the shooter attempted to take advantage of social media to publicize the shooting through the live video of the attack and his manifesto, Spark, Vodafone NZ and 2degrees publicly called on officials at Facebook, Google and Twitter, to discuss means of censorship and safety protections with the government.

"For the most serious types of content, such as terrorist content, more onerous requirements should apply, such as proposed in Europe, including take down within a specified period, proactive measures and fines for failure to do so," the statement read. "Consumers have the right to be protected whether using services funded by money or data. Now is the time for this conversation to be had, and we call on all of you to join us at the table and be part of the solution."

In a tweet the day of the attack, Arden called the shooting an extraordinary act of unprecedented violence bound to impact much of the New Zealand migrant community.

“The person who has committed this violent act has no place here,” she wrote.