A few weeks before her killing, Jo Cox’s husband, Brendan Cox, said the anti-immigration rhetoric by the political and media elite in the United Kingdom had the potential to incite hate in the country and make those who advocate for refugees and human rights targeted by extremists.
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In a paper he wrote which has been circulating since the death of his wife, he argued that mainstream politicians “in most cases are clueless on how to deal with the public debate. Petrified by the rise of the populists they try to neuter them by taking their ground and aping their rhetoric."
He added that such steps “legitimize their views, reinforce their frames and pull the debate further to the extremes (Sarkozy and the continuing rise of Front National is a case in point).”
Unfortunately, Brendan Cox’s argument does in fact apply to his wife’s tragic death.
Ahead of Thursday's "Brexit" vote, teleSUR looks at a few examples of how politicians, political parties and the media have in fact been feeding into the xenophobic sentiment in the country which eventually leads to the targeting of those who oppose it.
1. David Cameron's "A Bunch of Migrants" Comment
Commenting on a visit by the U.K. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and his colleague John McDonnell, David Cameron said during a parliamentary session the two “met with a bunch of migrants in Calais and said they could all come to Britain”.
The comment was deemed as dehumanizing and inflammatory by rights activists and other MPs in the British parliament.
2. Labour's "Controls on Immigration Mug"
As part of promoting their general election pledges a year ago, the British Labour party put out a sale for a mug featuring the phrase “controls on immigration mug.” Members of the party itself slammed the mug and called it a shameful move by the leadership.
Alongside a picture of the red mug senior MP and Labour party member Diane Abbott tweeted: “This shameful mug is an embarrassment. But real problem is that immigration controls are one of our 5 pledges at all.”
3. Nazi-Like Brexit Promotion Poster Of "Refugees in a Queue"
In order to promote leaving the EU, British UKIP leader Nigel Farage unveiled a poster depicting a line of desperate refugees trying to reach Europe under the headline "Breaking Point" during an event for his party on June 16.
The poster was reported to the police by Unison general secretary Dave Prentis, who said the poster violated the country’s race laws and incited hate and violence.
Social media users in the country were outraged by the poster and a side-by-side comparison between it and Nazi propaganda from the 1930s was widely shared online.
4. Daily Mail's Anti-Refugee and Xenophobic Reporting
The infamous British newspaper has been widely criticized over its Islamophobic and anti-refugee reporting for years and the biggest blow against it came from none other than the Swedish government, one of Europe’s biggest hosts of refugees.
The Independent newspaper reported in March that Swedish diplomats in the U.K. sent a report to the Swedish foreign ministry saying the Daily Mail was portraying Sweden as being "naive" for taking in more than its fair share of refugees.
"The tabloid Daily Mail has launched a campaign against Swedish migration policy,” the memo read, according to the Swedish news agency TT. "Sweden is being used as a deterrent and an argument against allowing more refugees into the U.K..”
5. Katie Hopkins "Genocidal" Comments Against Refugees
Last but certainly not least, the controversial columnist called for “gunships” to take out refugees instead of rescue ships, referring to those fleeing war and conflict as “cockroaches."
Her comments came in a column she wrote just days before last year’s biggest refugee tragedy when more than 800 people died after their boat capsized in the Mediterranean which was on its way from Libya to Italy.
"No, I don't care … Show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad. I still don't care,” she said in a column for The Sun newspaper in April 2015.
“Make no mistake, these migrants are like cockroaches … Once gunships have driven them back to their shores, boats need to be confiscated and burned on a huge bonfire.”
In January this year she made headlines for another dehumanizing and insulting comment about refugees when she called for them to wear “wristbands” for food because “that is the least they can do”. She also said her government and Europe were giving refugees “resort services."
Her latest comments came in a column she wrote for none other than the Daily Mail newspaper.
