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BRITISH LABOUR MP Jo Cox was killed on Thursday outside her constituency office of Batley and Spen in a horrific fashion.
It has been reported that the man who killed her shouted ‘Britain First’ during the attack.
One eyewitness related to the media:
I looked round and there was a guy standing over a woman on the floor. He seemed to have what looked like an old gun, like a musket, in his hand and he shot her again in the middle. He then seemed to shoot a third time, towards her head or face.
He was also stabbing her with what looked like a hunting knife, about a foot long. He was stabbing her and waving the knife around. A man who I know as Bernard tried to get near but the man swung his knife around and caught him in the stomach. Blood started coming out.
Before being first elected in 2015, Cox had worked with the international charity Oxfam, which released the following statement: “Jo was a diminutive pocket rocket from the north. She was as a ball of energy, always smiling, full of new ideas, of idealism, of passion.”
Cox was also involved with Labour Friends of Palestine and contributed to a report calling to lift Israel’s blockade on Gaza.
She carried a message of cultural tolerance and pro-immigration views. In her maiden speech last year, she insisted that:
Our communities have been deeply enhanced by immigration, 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.
The investigation is still at a very early stage, but if the suspect indeed did shout ‘Britain First’, this could point towards a political motive.
Anti-immigrant group
Britain First is a far-right group known for its islamophobic demonstrations and marches. It was formed in 2011 by former members of the British National Party and has grown quickly to become the UK’s most prominent far-right group.
Its website states: “Britain First is opposed to all mass immigration, regardless of where it comes from — the colour of your skin doesn’t come into it — Britain is full up.”
It campaigns on an anti-immigrant platform and calls for the return of ‘traditional British values’ and the end of ‘Islamisation’.
It has an extensive presence on social media, including over 1.4 million ‘likes’ on Facebook. It has organised ‘Christian patrols’ and mosque invasions in order to attract media coverage.
In January, 120 of its members marched in Dewsbury, near Cox’s constituency, carrying crucifixes and Union Jacks across the town. Cox had then tweeted:
Dangerous rhetoric
Whether the attacker was or was not a member of Britain First, the fact remains that British politics recently has seen a spike of anti-immigrant rhetoric that makes this type of violence more likely.
For example, only an hour before Cox was attacked, Nigel Farage unveiled a large poster showing Syrian migrants and refugees fleeing to Slovenia. The Leave the EU poster, as part of the Brexit campaign, read:
Breaking Point. We must break free from the EU and take control of our border.
Twitter users quickly compared it to Nazi propaganda footage of migrants.
Whatever the exact motivations for Cox’s murder, such racist political campaigns are bound to provoke acts of hatred. They provide tacit support to extreme elements and individuals to cross a psychological threshold that turns them into violent persons.
Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee noted that at a ward meeting this week her local Labour councillor in north London showed her a sign left on a member’s car windscreen. The vehicle had a ‘Remain’ poster on it. The message left on the car (together with racist symbols) said:
‘This is a lave [Leave] area. We hate the foriner. Nex time do not park your car with Remain sign on. Hi Hitler. White Power’ [sic]
This act did not lead to overt violence but is yet another symptom of the mainstreaming of racist and anti-immigrant feelings in Britain. But the UK is not alone, as many other European countries have seen the emergence of far-right groups and political parties. And elements of mainstream parties and the media have also contributed to whipping up fear.
They all contribute to normalising an ideology of exclusion and spread it across the continent. This is why need to oppose such rhetoric anywhere we live prevent its rise everywhere.
Julien Mercille is a lecturer at University College Dublin.
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Contrary to the most popular misleading post on an earlier vaccine story that now has locked comments, that falsely stated that 1. “fully vaccinated could still spread the disease ” and 2. this is unlike “all other known vaccines”.
1. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will likely prevent further infections and mass vaccination will likely provide Herd Immunity, ending the Pandemic.
This is because vaccinated people generate 6 to 20 times as many neutralising antibodies as a natural infection. This high degree of immunity, more robust than people who recover from an infection, means people vaccinated will likely not pass on the infection. This is known as Sterilising Immunity. Few vaccines provide Sterilising Immunity.
“A new serological study has found that participants who have received the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine have developed 6-20 times more antibodies for the pathogen, Sheba Medical Center said in a statement on Monday.”
“Regev-Yohai also added that people who received both doses of the vaccine will most likely not become carriers of the virus and will not spread it further due to the high level of antibodies.”
https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/H1jaK7mkd
2. Most vaccines for other diseases do not provide Sterilising Immunity, most only prevent symptoms.
“In an ideal world, all vaccines would induce sterilising immunity. In reality, it is actually extremely difficult to produce vaccines that stop virus infection altogether. Most vaccines that are in routine use today do not achieve this. For example, vaccines targeting rotavirus, a common cause of diarrhoea in infants, are only capable of preventing severe disease.”
That said, the likelyhood that the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines (which is also an nRNA vaccine) provide Sterilising Immunity is a welcome bonus.
@David Jordan: thx phizer vaccine simply isn’t suitable as a mass community vaccine , it’s handling difficulties prevent widespread usage. U.K. is now almost totally using Astra. Which Ireland now can’t get due to EU incompetence.
The irony is the EMA is about to approve a vaccine that won’t be available to most EU countries in any volume now.
@Dave McCabe: That is not true. Israel vaccinated more than 25% of it’s population so far using just the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (41 doses per 100). They are well ahead of the UK:
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
They are also seeing excellent results:
“The preliminary results shared by Israeli HMO Maccabi showed that only 20 people out of some 128,600 who received both shots have since been infected with the COVID-19 virus.”
The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require very cold storage and so are unsuitable for 3rd world countries, but I don’t think that’s true for developed countries, which Israeli shows.
That said, Johnson & Johnson are a week to two away from revealing the result so their Phase III vaccine trial, for a single dose vaccine that does not need low temperature storage.
“…the vaccine, if successful, is estimated at launch to remain stable for two years at -20 °C and at least three months at 2-8° C.”
@David Jordan: The problem here is of course timing. We will have billions of doses on June, but all want them now. The problem of not being able to exactly predict yields from cultures is real, and is the sort of messy detail that gets overlooked.
I do think the EMA have been very lacking in urgency, and why the richest block in history couldn’t have ensured extra capacity across the 27, even if we never used it is a mystery. We’re they focused on saving money? Striking a good deal?
We appear to have capacity for 400 million doses by June, under the projections. However the Serum Institute in India have been gearing up since last June to produce 1 billion doses by May.
Throwing a billion or two at this project last year would have been smart considering the eye watering g numbers already lost to lockdowns, especially since Oxford was pretty much a sure thing after their MERS and SARS work.
There are a lot of people with a lot of questions about a lot of covid related issues. This is leading to confusion and frustration. Is there no one capable of organising an online forum where these questions can be gathered, answered by experts and indexed so that they can be found whenever needed?
It’s been a year, honestly I feel like at times people want to be confused by the guidelines so they can have a good moan. Then if you post evidence and reputable sources that usuall gets ignored because it doesn’t fit in with the persons narrative.
I find this with alot of articles for example, you have end the lockdown article, people all for ending the lock down whilst beneath it could be an article about how we are using ICU surge capacity to deal with the pandemic, that artical gets ignored by people cause it doesn’t suit their narrative.
You have experts answering questions but then the anti science people will come along and spew their nonsense and provide a link to a very questionable expert.
@Michael Flynn:
What’s Covid questions ? There is loads of data and resources to read if you want answers
@Ally Mc Culladgh:
Actually Ally which “science people “ are you referring , the CMO for example is a “ generalist “. There is very evidence of data based scientific analysis going into Ireland’s actions at present.
Why so long approving this vaccine?
@Hugh Fogerty: There is a competing German one perhaps?
@Hugh Fogerty:
Because the EMA was based in the U.K. and relied heavily on U.K. local resources it had to move to Amsterdam in a hurry , lost expertise and resources and is slowly trying to get up to speed
It’s dysfunctional as a result. The Germans have lost faith and are doing side deals. Expect to see German emergency authorisations next bypassing ema
@Hugh Fogerty: They must be getting early data from the US study for safety.
https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/update-rolling-review-astrazenecas-covid-19-vaccine
This isn’t a Astra production issue. Astra have contracted to provide other countries with product from the Belgian plant. The EU was predicated on timely approval the EMAhas given Astra a contractual get out
Rumour has it Germany has a separate deal with Astra.
Eu has completely screwed up. Ireland will now have to shelve the community vaccine process as it can’t get enough vaccine.
Moderna is tied to the us. Phizer handling prevents it being used in mass vaccinations , Johnson won’t be approved for months
Lockdown in paddy land to continue all through 2021 imho. U.K. at nearly 10% vaccine with full output from Astra U.K. plant. It will begin to permanently reduce restrictions from end of feb. We will look on in envy all summer at our neighbours vaccinating away gaily while we stew in lockdown Not looking could here at all we’re been screwed by eu commissions purchasing incompetence
@Dave McCabe: Cue Paul Furey’s bewilderment as his bedroom view implodes
@Dave McCabe: That’s a bit of a stretch. The EMA have screwed up, no doubt, and are now looking for someone to blame, which will fizzle out as the week progresses. As for the delay, it will cause a delay, not a cessation.
In June Oxford insisted on multiple manufacturers worldwide, with price conditions attached. Worse case scenario we end up throwing money at someone.
In really dire straits we could probably get a supply from the U.K., since it would make sense for them as well, what with a porous border.
@Dave McCabe: regurgitation from brexiteers
Maybe Because the EU took so long to approve the AtraZ vaccine…and still hasn’t done so. So quite possibly, the contract was predicated on approval and fulfilment by a certain date, which the EU has screwed up big time, and now the vaccines are going to countries that have agreed to distribute it.
Why is the news story, carried in the Irish Times, the Examiner, the Guardian etc being glossed over here? Astrazeneca has reneged on its commitment to supply the EU and is exporting over 50% of the EU quota to an unnamed country.
EU backtracking majorly today after it’s attempts to talk tough yesterday. Let’s face it the EMA gambled with its strategy and it at this point has shown it to be well behind the curve.
Would be interested to see if supply distribution was tied to an approval date. All the conspiracy heads need to understand this isn’t a tin pot garage run Amazon shop, it’s a multi billion dollar international behemoth. Suspect AstraZeneca have put them back in their box
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