After a knife attack in Australia: Care is more than restraint

In Sydney, a man kills six people, five of whom are female. Nevertheless, the police see no evidence of an ideological background.

Remembering the victims in Sydney Photo: Alasdair Pal/Reuters

When a shot is fired somewhere in the world, within a minute someone on social media usually knows who shot who and for what reason. That was also the case after the deadly attack in Sydney over the weekend, in which a man killed six people with a knife.

In the hours after the attack, a photo of the alleged perpetrator went viral on X, formerly Twitter. Users speculated that he came from the “Middle East” and was a jihadist. Shortly thereafter, the identity of the man who was falsely accused was made public: a Jewish professor of Middle East Studies. The name and his photo went viral. But he had nothing to do with the perpetrator. It was a hoax.

Cautious restraint is not rewarded at X, Instagram and Co. Wild speculation and anti-Semitic speculation, on the other hand. That’s why it’s not uncommon for dozens of theories to spread online shortly after public crimes. Tabloid media also like to join in. It is the job of journalism not to join in with this murmur, but rather to report on what is certain and to clarify what is unclear. This is part of journalistic due diligence.

At the same time, this necessary restraint must not lead to a naive turning away and misunderstanding of social problems. This is particularly true for issues where security authorities and the judiciary still have blind spots.

Statements from the authorities are confusing

Five of the six victims killed by a 40-year-old Australian in a shopping center near famous Bondi Beach were female. The only male fatality was a security guard who tried to stop the attacker. A majority of the 12 injured are also women.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the mall’s surveillance cameras showed the man chasing mostly women with his long knife. She told the ABC television station: “It is obvious to me and to the investigators that the perpetrator focused on women and avoided men.” It is pleasing that the police are communicating this so clearly.

But the authorities’ further statements are irritating. Webb says the perpetrator has a long history of mental health problems and that there is no evidence of an ideological motive. And what’s more: a terrorist background is ruled out.

But how can one recognize a targeted killing of women and at the same time rule out an ideological motive? Behind such a statement there is ignorance or intentional looking the other way. At least it makes the danger that women have to live under every day invisible: because misogyny is not an isolated phenomenon, but a structure that runs through all areas of society.

Femicide as terror

Last December, for the first time in Canada, a femicide perpetrator was sentenced to life in prison for terrorism. The then 17-year-old killed 24-year-old employee Ashley Arzaga and injured two other people in front of a massage parlor in Toronto four years ago. At the time of the crime there was a piece of paper in his pocket that advocated violence against women.

The court saw this as the act of an “incel”. Behind the word, an abbreviation for “involuntary celibacy,” lies a misogynistic ideology according to which men see themselves as victims who are denied a supposed right to sex.

The fact that such a form of gender-based violence has been classified as terrorism in Canada is a novelty. An important signal for the whole world, it was said at the time. But the signal effect has so far been a long time coming. This is also shown by the handling of the case in Bondi Beach.

Generate public pressure

The Sydney bomber’s father said in an interview with Australian media that his son was “desperate for a girlfriend.” This doesn’t have to have anything to do with the motive for the crime – but you shouldn’t rule it out either.

The media should therefore not simply accept statements from the authorities without questioning them – especially not when the investigation, as in the current Sydney case, has not yet been completed. Pointing out possible political motives can also create public pressure, forcing authorities to investigate them. The reasoned reference to the social context of crimes and an awareness of this are also part of the journalistic duty of care.