Terrorism in black and white

Last year a 15 year old male shot dead a New South Wales police civilian employee. The news media widely reported it as an act of terror, and the New South Wales Police Commissioner said, “we believe his actions were politically motivated and therefore linked to terrorism” (story).

Waking this morning in Australia, we were greeted with the news of British Labour MP Jo Cox having been shot and stabbed to death. Police have arrested the suspect, a 52 year old man local to the area. The act has been described as hateful, but no news outlets or public figures are describing it as an act of terror. It is almost certain that the attack was politically motivated (story).

So what is the major difference between the two attacks?

The first was an act by a young man who was described as “a radicalised youth of Middle Eastern background” (he was Kurdish or Iranian). The second act was by a white Briton.

The New South Wales Police later stated that the Sydney teen was not believed to be motivated by religious extremism or Islamic State ideology. He reportedly struggled with mental health issues (anxiety and depression) and had Autism. Despite all of this, his actions continued to be labelled terrorism by law enforcement agencies and the news media (story).

We find the same false distinctions being made in mass shootings in the US. A second generation American, nominally Muslim who clearly had mental health issues kills dozens of people in a gay nightclub in Orlando and it is terrorism. It appears that he was not part of any terrorist group or network, and was not directed by any terrorist group.

A 20-year-old white American kills his mother, fatally shoots 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and then commits suicide, and the word terror doesn’t appear at all. If he had darker skin and a more exotic name, newspapers would have “terrorist” plastered all over their front pages.

Jo Cox was the first sitting British MP to be killed since Ian Gow in 1990. Gow was killed by a bomb that had been set under his car outside of his home. The bombing was politically motivated – the IRA claimed responsibility for the attack. Gow was one of a number of British politicians killed by the IRA. These killings were widely reported as “attacks” and “assassinations”, but very rarely as terrorism.

It’s about time we had a sensible definition of terrorism, and consistency in how it is used.