The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has shone a spotlight on political violence in the US and around the world.
The 31-year-old was shot at a Utah university last week in front of thousands of people. The alleged killer is 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, who is set to appear in court this week.
While his motive remains unclear, the killing has sparked conversations about the widening gap between left and right politics.
It has also highlighted the dark depths of the internet and how young people can be radicalised online.
Internet sleuths have begun to try to decipher messages written on bullet casings found at the scene, and the shooter’s online blueprint is being dissected. The intricacies of internet meme-culture and commentary about the warring factions of the far-right have emerged as people try to figure out why someone would assassinate a conservative activist so publicly.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has continued to accuse his political opponents of inciting violence, placing blame on the left. Even before the suspect was caught, Trump blamed “left-wing radicals”.
Vice President JD Vance, while hosting the Charlie Kirk Show podcast, blamed the death on “a growing and powerful minority on the left”.
Massey University emeritus professor and sociologist Paul Spoonley told The Front Page that we are naive to think this is something that only happens in America.
“It has happened here, and it will happen here... In the case of the Charlie Kirk killing, but also in the case of the Christchurch shooter, there were people around both of those shooters who would’ve seen something, but possibly didn’t know what they were looking at.
" I do think we need to increase the awareness of families, peers, and teachers in terms of what they might look for as people get radicalised," he said.
Spoonley said New Zealand’s security and intelligence agencies have developed some new categories of people who bring together various traditions and ideologies to provide new viewpoints.
“I think one of the things that strikes me is that when you look at the extreme left and the extreme right, very often they look quite similar. They might demonise different people, but the way in which they demonise people and justify violence towards government.
“The US evidence over the last two decades, they’ve got an excellent report on what’s contributed to terrorist attacks and radicalisation, is that 70% have come from the far right.
“White supremacists, they would be classic Nazi fascist groups. But the other major category is anti-government. So, I think what we’ve seen is a new set of actors and groups begin to emerge, particularly since Covid,” he said.
In the US, conflict between factions of the far right shows that the political landscape isn’t as black and white as we might think, Spoonley said.
“We need to map that landscape. It’s changed, and it’s constantly changing.
“There’s a private group in New Zealand called Global Risk Consulting Group, and their latest assessment says that there’s a 70% chance that we will see a terrorist act in the next five years in New Zealand - and I think we have to take that seriously.
“One of the things I would dearly love us to do is to understand both the international but also the domestic landscape because I do think we face the possibility, because we don’t understand all of these permutations, somebody’s gonna come out of somewhere that we haven’t paid much attention to,” he said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.