10th Anniversary of Jo Cox Assassination a moment to restate Democratic values

10th Anniversary of Jo Cox Assassination a moment to restate Democratic values - The Labour Party

Today, on the 10th Anniversary of the killing of Jo Cox MP,  Hannah Deasy (Chair of Labour Women) has restated the need for democrats to protect the democratic process and to stand against hate and extremism.

Deasy said,

“Today, we send our condolences to all those who loved Jo, her two children and all her family and friends.

“Jo stood up for what she believed in. She fought and campaigned for what she believed was right, to make life better for people not only in her own constituency but also in places far from home, such as in Syria.  She embraced the diversity of life and wasn’t afraid of difference.

“In 2018, Labour Women was proud to introduce the Jo Cox award, an annual prize to recognise exceptional women who demonstrate profound bravery, solidarity, and the values of inclusion and equality.

“The fact that Jo was killed while she was doing her job shook us to our core. Doing service to her legacy must mean a commitment to protecting the democratic values we all treasure so much and standing up against violent extremism, xenophobia and misogyny.

“We know that Jo had been receiving threatening and abusive hate mail for months prior to her murder. Unfortunately, this story of abuse is all too familiar in politics today.   Women politicians in particular are subjected to a high level of threatening behaviour online, behind anonymous social media accounts or physically in person. The murder of Jo Cox 10 years was the logical conclusion of such abusive behaviour.  In the febrile political environment surrounding the Brexit referendum in 2016, we saw a coarsening of public discourse in Britain.

“Sadly, in the intervening decade since her death, Ireland has also seen the worst impacts of the Far Right inciting violence against public servants and minorities. We have seen it with the targeting of library staff, particularly during Pride month, in recent years, and with the heinous attacks on ethnic minorities and immigrants in the Dublin and Belfast Riots.

“We all have a responsibility to stand up to abuse and call it out wherever and whenever we see it.  We cannot forget what the worst consequences of extremism can be. Dog whistle rhetoric is the thin end of the wedge and public representatives have a particular duty to avoid any capitulation to extremist language and tactics. We must also, at last, see regulation of hate speech and radicalism online on social media, including legislation to turn off recommender algorithms.”