Jo Cox: The Latest Victim of Europe's Far RightWhen the murder of Labor MP Jo Cox was revealed in the media on Thursday, various non-profit organizations that used to work closely with her and the refugees for whom she advocated immediately expressed their sorrow and praised her commitment to human dignity in Britain and abroad.
Cox, 41, worked for many years with Oxfam, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the Freedom Fund and others on humanitarian issues, including those related to the conflicts in Darfur and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
But she was especially known and praised for defending the peaceful and cheerful cohabitation of the various communities that formed her constituency in Batley and Spen and in the UK.
“Our communities have been deeply enhanced by immigration, be it Irish Catholics across the constituency or Muslims from Indian Gujarat or Pakistan, principally from Kashmir,” she said during her maiden speech in parliament last year. “And whilst we celebrate our diversity, the things that surprise me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.”
As a vocal anti-racism and pro-refugee activist, Cox also received a tribute from SOAS Palestine Society, which issued a statement saying: "Jo Cox campaigned tirelessly for bringing humanity back to a broken system. Whether it was with advocating for the rights of refugees in Europe or for the displaced and besieged in both Palestine and Syria, she never gave up."
As chairwoman of the All Party Parliamentary Friends of Syria, she was a vocal critic of the Syrian government but also refused to support airstrikes in Syria.
In contrast to Cox's long record of advocacy, her suspected murder, Thomas Mair, is allegedly linked to the neo-Nazi group National Alliance.
At least one eyewitness claims that Cox's assailant also shouted "put Britain First," referring to an anti-Islamic far-right group,
