The Kiwi role model

Lessons from New Zealand about mobilising to prevent an environment going up in flames around us and combatting the feral Whatsapp politics of hatred are in many ways Gandhian - and global

After a white supremacist went on a shooting rampage in two Christchurch mosques last March that resulted in the death of more than 50 people, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern led from the front with compassion rather than hot-headed rhetoric. She visited mosques of course, but also pushed through a law disallowing the ownership of military assault weapons within a week of the attack. (The contrast with the US on this issue was stark) Ardern famously refused to refer to the terrorist by name, arguing that he desired notoriety. I implore you: speak the names of those who were