Erstellt am: 23. 6. 2016 - 09:08 Uhr
#LoveLikeJo
Six days after she was murdered outside her Yorkshire constituency, the Labour MP Jo Cox was honoured by thousands at an event on Trafalgar Square in central London on a day that would have marked her 42nd birthday.
Chris Cummins
Thousands had turned up to pay their respects and to express solidarity with the deeply humane values the young politician had passionately defended during her short parliamentary career, and previously as a front-line aid worker in war-torn zones such as Afghanistan and Syria.
“I came down here to show that this is wrong,” one woman told me, “She was murdered for just standing up for people.” Another pointed to her commitment to finding common ground and rejecting unnecessary antagonism: “There’s sadness in the world, there is bitterness in the world. We create hate figures on both the right and the left. It is not right. It is simply not right.”
Chris Cummins
The violent death of a parliamentarian would be shocking under any circumstances, but this murder has provoked some soul-searching in Britain. She was killed by a man who reportedly shouted “Britain First” and told a judge his name was “Death to traitors”. Cox had been campaigning energetically and loudly for Britain to remain in the European Union and had been a particularly strong believer in the value of migrants to society. Her murder came hours after pro-Leave party UKIP unveiled a poster showing Syrian refugees with the slogan "Breaking Point." Was this a “Brexit murder?”
Did she die because she had defended migrants who were being demonized by parts of the pro-Brexit campaign team?
“I think until we find out more from the investigation it would be wise to avoid speculation,” said one man who said he had come to show his solidarity with the values Jo Cox stood for, and to champion her legacy. But he added that “it is better to wait until we have all the facts.”
Chris Cummins
Others were more willing to make a connection – not specifically with the Leave campaign, but with the often ugly undertones of political discourse and the media coverage of issues such as the refugee crisis. One man had delayed a business trip to Scotland in order to attend the ceremony: “In this world we live in, we keep on pointing out differences of humanity and yet we have so much more in common. Her values were those I aspire to. “
Another said: “We are here to celebrate her 42nd birthday and her efforts to unite the people.”
Most of all, this is a tragedy because she leaves behind two young children and a grieving husband. But even her widower Brendan conceded at the ceremony that his wife has “come to symbolize something much bigger in our country and our world that is under threat”. Britain has lost the sort of woman who could have reconnected a disillusioned voting public with the integrity of politics of conviction.
Chris Cummins
Humanitarian Malala Yousafzai, a Nobel Prize winning teenager from Pakistan who survived being shot by the Taliban, made a sweet joke about Jo Cox and herself sharing a similar diminutive stature. She said it showed “small people could still be giants,” and added that “ Jo’s life is proof that a message of peace is more powerful than any weapon of war. Once again the extremists have failed.”
Two slogans were emblazoned above a stage from which Malala was speaking, and the message was echoed in banners or posters in the crowd: slogans from the age of Twitter. The first was #LoveLikeJo. Many people had their own interpretations of what that meant, but my favourite came from one of Jo Cox’s friends who had shared the moorings of her houseboat for a period: “For me it means”, she told me, “a gentle strength.”
Chris Cummins
The second was #MoreInCommon. “It means a way of uniting people and reminding us that despite differences there is something that brings us together,” said a woman holding such a banner aloft. “We need to emphasize this message at this particular moment . The murder of Jo was horrific. It was a hate crime and it is important that we don’t let that become what Britain is about. We need to remember the things that make us British: tolerance, open arms and diversity. Those are the things that we have in common. “
Chris Cummins
One man had a banner of his own explicitly referencing the Brexit debate: it read #LoveDon’ttLeave. “Jo was against borders. The referendum is about whether we are friends with Europe, whether we love Europe. I want to love Europe. I am a European. It is important for me to be here today.”