The actions against terrorism taken by the New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern after
Christchurch mosque attack in 2019 are considered successful in reflecting both the qualities
of leadership and humanity. To explore the discourse better, this study attempts to investigate
the ideologies and powers struggled through Jacinda Ardern’s Christchurch speech.
Fairclough’s three dimensions of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) are chosen as the basic
theory for a more comprehensive analysis of the linguistic features and the social processes.
The three dimensions consist of text analysis (description), discourse practices (interpretation)
and social analysis (explanation). The results indicate that the ideologies struggled are
socialism and patriotism marked by the values of collectivism, equality and some linguistic
features. There are at least 7 powers shown by the Prime Minister: depicting New Zealand local
cultures as their identity; projecting the close relationship amongst New Zealanders;
maintaining the compassion and welcoming qualities of the people of New Zealand; expressing
deep condolence both as an individual and as the government; representing the victims’
humility and modesty; excluding and calling out violence and extremism practices in the
country; and urging the people and the world leaders to end violence and extremism practices.