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Labour MP Jo Cox dies after being shot and stabbed in her constituency near Leeds

An article from the Guardian.

Jo Cox: an attack on humanity, idealism and democracy


The slide from civilisation to barbarism is shorter than we might like to imagine. Every violent crime taints the ideal of an orderly society, but when that crime is committed against the people who are peacefully selected to write the rules, then the affront is that much more profound.

The killing, by stabbing and repeated shooting in the street, of Jo Cox is, in the first instance, an exceptionally heinous villainy. She was the mother of two very young children, who will now have to grow up without her. It is also, however, in a very real sense, an attack on democracy. Violence against MPs in Britain is mercifully rare. Only three have been killed in recent history: Airey Neave, Tony Berry and Ian Gow, all of them at the hands of the Irish republicans. Two others, Nigel Jones and Stephen Timms, have been grievously wounded, the latter by a woman citing jihadi inspiration and rage about the Iraq war. Whatever the cause, an attack on a parliamentarian is always an attack on parliament as well, which was as clear in Thursday’s case as any before.

Here was the MP whom the citizens of Batley and Spen had entrusted to represent them, fresh from conducting her duty to solve the practical problems of those same citizens in a constituency surgery. To single her out, at this time and in this place, is to turn a gun on every value of which decent Britons are justifiably proud.

Jo Cox, however, was not just any MP doing her duty. She was also an MP who was driven by an ideal. The former charity worker explained what that ideal was as eloquently as anyone could in her maiden speech last year. “Our communities have been deeply enhanced by immigration,” she insisted, “be it of Irish Catholics across the constituency or of Muslims from Gujarat in India or from Pakistan, principally from Kashmir. While we celebrate our diversity, what surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.”


What nobler vision can there be than that of a society where people can be comfortable in their difference? And what more fundamental tenet of decency is there than to put first and to cherish all that makes us human, as opposed to what divides one group from another? These are ideals that are often maligned when they are described as multiculturalism, but they are precious nonetheless. They are the ideals which led Ms Cox to campaign tirelessly for the brutalised and displaced people of Syria, and – the most painful thought – ideals for which she may now have died.

The police are investigating reports that the assailant yelled “Britain First” during the attack. If those words were used, this would appear to be not merely a chauvinist taunt, but the name of a far-right political party, whose candidate for City Hall turned his back in disgust on Sadiq Khan at the count, in sectarian rage at a great cosmopolitan city’s decision to make a Muslim mayor. The thuggish outfit denounced Ms Cox’s death, as it was bound to do. But their brand of angry blame-mongering could very well serve to convince particular individuals – especially those who are already close to the edge – that some people are less than human, and thus fair game for attack. The rhetoric of western racism and Islamophobia is the mirror of the ideology with which Isis and al-Qaida secure their recruits and that persuades them to strap explosives to themselves, and die in order to kill. It might be especially powerful in Britain, at a time when divisive hate-mongering is seeping into the mainstream.


We are in the midst of what risks becoming a plebiscite on immigration and immigrants. The tone is divisive and nasty. Nigel Farage on Thursday unveiled a poster of unprecedented repugnance. The backdrop was a long and thronging line of displaced people in flight. The message: “The EU has failed us all.” The headline: “Breaking point.” The time for imagining that the Europhobes can be engaged on the basis of facts – such as the reality that a refugee crisis that started in Syria and north Africa can hardly be blamed on the EU, or the inconvenient detail that obligations under the refugee convention do not depend on EU membership – has passed. One might have still hoped, however, that even merchants of post-truth politics might hold back from the sort of entirely post-moral politics that is involved in taking the great humanitarian crisis of our time, and then whipping up hostility to the victims as a means of chivvying voters into turning their backs on the world.

The idealism of Ms Cox was the very antithesis of such brutal cynicism. Honour her memory. Because the values and the commitment that she embodied are all that we have to keep barbarism at bay.
 
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Murdering an innocent woman for political disagreement isn't decent. This is right wing extremism and it is rising in many Western countries.
I agree its definitely indecent behavior.. however the antidote to rightwing feeling of the masses is to reduce migration so that people feel comfortable again.. many white british people think they have lost their country to outsiders... and as an outsider I do sympathize with that feeling.
 
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Murdering an innocent woman for political disagreement isn't decent. This is right wing extremism and it is rising in many Western countries.


And for that we can thank the left wing and its misguided policies .It it wasn't for the extreme leftist idiocy,the extreme right wing wouldn't have been popular in Europe.We must destroy left wing policies so we can stop the extreme right wing,we must destroy the nanny state.
 
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He was interested in Neo Nazi activism. That rules current politics out. He also had a history of mental illness. The guy was a nut.
 
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The man had a history of mental illness and no evidence of any political affiliation. He might have been an ultranationalist but the left wing are jumping to conclusions.

rubbish
 
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I agree its definitely indecent behavior.. however the antidote to rightwing feeling of the masses is to reduce migration so that people feel comfortable again.. many white british people think they have lost their country to outsiders... and as an outsider I do sympathize with that feeling.

Indecent? It is terrorist behavior. Indians are the biggest immigrant group in the UK. Why don't the Indian immigrants set an example and start leaving?
 
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One of the widely quoted eyewitnesses has since stated he didn't hear it.


Gas fitter insists Jo Cox 'killer' DID shout 'Britain first' as he shot the MP
Clarke Rothwell, 42, was working close to the scene of yesterday's attack
Said he heard MP's attacker shout 'Britain first', or 'put Britain first'
Far right group Britain First has denied any involvement in the killing

Graeme Howard, 38, told the Guardian that he had also heard the attacker shout 'Britain first' before the shooting and during the arrest.
'I heard the shot and I ran outside and saw some ladies from the cafe running out with towels,' said Mr Howard, who lives close to the scene. 'There was loads of screaming and shouting and the police officers showed up.
'He was shouting "Britain first" when he was doing it and being arrested. He was pinned down by two police officers and she was taken away in an ambulance.'

Suspect's far-right links are 'priority line of inquiry', police say

West Yorkshire police have released a statement saying that reports linking the man who shot Jo Cox to far-right extremism form a central part of their inquiries.


R.I.P lady
 
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And for that we can thank the left wing and its misguided policies .It it wasn't for the extreme leftist idiocy,the extreme right wing wouldn't have been popular in Europe.We must destroy left wing policies so we can stop the extreme right wing,we must destroy the nanny state.

That's rubbish because no one told the Nazi terrorist killer to go and kill the innocent lady except for right wing ideology. This person was indoctrinated by right wing extremist propaganda for years. He was aspired by the apartheid in South Africa and had access to right wing hate material. Don't blame it on the left.
 
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That's rubbish because no one told the Nazi terrorist killer to go and kill the innocent lady except for right wing ideology. This person was indoctrinated by right wing extremist propaganda for years. He was aspired by the apartheid in South Africa and had access to right wing hate material. Don't blame it on the left.


As usual,burry your head in the sand and ignore the root of the problem.We didn't have such a powerfull extreme right wing in Europe 10 years ago_Oh well,carry on....
 
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As usual,burry your head in the sand and ignore the root of the problem.We didn't have such a powerfull extreme right wing in Europe 10 years ago_Oh well,carry on....

Right wing terrorism killed Jo Cox. Nothing else.
 
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R.I.P. the lady.

This is the result of hatred spread by ultra nationalist British terrorists.

I hope they will begin a crack down on these and media will high light this issue 1/10000th of if someone with an Arabic name would have done this terrible thing.

Yes, we know all of these terrorists are psychos, but there is absolutely no excuse of sparing Johns and punishing Abdullahs only.

A crackdown on Ultra British terrorists is immediately required....
 
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I won't debate this in here further,as respect to the memory of the victim.

In the words of late Jo Cox's husband: 'Let's 'fight against the hatred that killed her'.

Right wing extremism is nothing short of a cancerous disease.
 
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