History
as ghastly repetition – Anna Lindh & Jo Cox
18
June, 2016
In
2003, just four days before the Swedish referendum on joining the
Eurozone, a prominent pro-Euro MP, Anna Lindh, was stabbed
to death in a public place.
The man later convicted, claimed to have no idea why he had done it,
and no political motive was ever suggested for the killing.
Nevertheless
many people predicted that the brutal death of a pro-Euro MP, so soon
before the vote, would have a massive effect on the results. In the
end it did not, and Sweden voted to stay out.
In
2016, just seven days before the UK referendum on leaving the EU, a
prominent pro-EU MP, Jo Cox, was shot to death in a public place. The
man accused has been described by
neighbours as
“quiet, bit of a loner, keen gardener”, with no known political
opinions, and, according to “records obtained by” the Southern
Poverty Law Centre,
as a white-supremacist Hitler-supporter with a houseful of Nazi
regalia and other incriminating items.
It
is too soon to say whether the awful, violent death of Ms Cox will
have any bearing on the EU referendum, but if it does not it
won’t be for lack of shameful effort on the part of elements in the
mainstream media to make political capital out of this still largely
unexplained human tragedy.
Guardian wastes no time in turning tragedy into politcal capital
17
June, 2016
Less
than 24 hours after the violent death of the Labour MP Jo Cox, the
Guardian has unleashed two editorials that seek to pin the blame, not
on the suspect currently in custody, but on the people campaigning
for Britain to leave the EU.
The
first, by
Polly Toynbee,
is closed for comments (for the author’s sake, you would think…but
we’ll get to that later) – it is tasteless, evidenceless and
manipulative:
It’s wrong to view the killing of Jo Cox in isolation.”
…she
says, and having quickly and efficiently removed the need to talk
about the specifics of the murder, or any of the tragic details, she
proceeds to use the killing of a 42 year old mother as a platform for
attacking her political opponents and ramming home some Guardianista
agenda.
This
poor woman was not killed by the apparently mentally ill man,
currently in police custody, but by the “mood of the country” in
which we are “encouraged to mistrust elected officials”. In a
sense, Polly Toynbee says, everyone who doesn’t like the government
is responsible for Ms Cox’s death…and especially, of course, all
those who want to leave the EU:
…there are [anti-EU campaigners] whose recklessness has been open and shocking. I believe they bear responsibility, not for the attack itself, but for the current mood: for the inflammatory language, for the finger-jabbing, the dogwhistling and the overt racism.
She
contrives and twists to somehow make the murder of a white woman at
the hands of (allegedly) a white man somehow an act of racism. She
cites Oswald Mosely and Adolf Hitler and Nigel Farage as somehow
equivalent, and levels the blame for the actions of one man firmly at
everyone who disagrees with her about Europe.
It
is political manipulation of the worst sort, and it is truly
disgusting.
It
too tries to conflate Brexit supporters with racists, and tries to
suggest that this somehow an inevitable consequence of “the mood”,
rather than the actions of a single man. On a day when both Leave and
Remain campaigns mutually agreed to stop campaigning as a sign of
respect, the Guardian felt itself above such niceties:
The idealism of Ms Cox was the very antithesis of such brutal cynicism. Honour her memory. Because the values and the commitment that she embodied are all that we have to keep barbarism at bay.
Vote
Remain, it’s what Jo would have wanted.
It
makes your skin crawl, doesn’t it? It certainly seemed to raise the
ire of many commenters, through whom the moderators cut a broad
swathe. That so many should be censored under a column ostensibly
defending Britain’s freedom and democracy does not seem to register
on the Guardian’s irony meter.
Profiling Jo Cox's Killer: Was He A "Terrorist" Or Just Insane
17
June, 2016
In
the aftermath of the tragic murder of British Labour MP Jo Cox, the
most poignant - and debated - question that has emerged is whether
the shooter, 52-year-old white male Thomas Mair, was motivated by
political ideology especially since as some eyewitness have claimed
he shouted "Britain First" during his deadly attack and is
now being probed for "far-right links", or if he was simply
mentally ill.
The
reason is simple: just like in the aftermath of the mass Orlando
shooting, both Brexit camps are trying to score political points by
presenting the lone shooter as indicative of the ideology they are
trying to protect the UK from.
As
we reported
earlier, none
other than Angela Merkel promptly tried to portray the event as an
example of "radicalization", suggesting that the murder was
ideologically provoked: She said that the “total exaggeration and
radicalization of the debate doesn’t contribute to facilitating
such respect. So for all of us who value democratic rules, we know
how important it is to establish boundaries in one’s choice of
language and argument as well as the choice in a sometimes
disparaging way of arguing -- and to engage with respect those who
think and believe and love differently... Otherwise
it will be difficult to stop radicalization."
And
while the question of radicalization is certainly relevant, is it
fair or event ethical, to bring it up in the aftermath of Cox' murder
if the shooter had no rational, ideological motive and was simply
insane? The answer will likely never be revealed as every side will
use whatever narrative suits it, we do know some facts.
As
the Guardian
reported overnight,
the picture that emerged of the man known as Tom or Tommy from those
who knew him best was of a quiet and caring loner. His half brother,
who is mixed race, claimed he had been volunteering at a school for
children with disabilities for several years and had never expressed
any racist views. Duane St Louis, 41, described his brother as a
devoted son who shopped for their mother twice a week and who had
visited her on Wednesday night to help tune her TV.
St
Louis insisted his brother had never expressed any racist views and
seemed fine to have a mixed-race sibling. Asked whether he had any
strong political views, St Louis said: “Not that I know of.” He
said he had no idea how Mair had got hold of a gun and did not have
any hobbies that would require a firearms licence.
Mair
grew up not with his mother, Mary, but his maternal grandmother,
Helen, who died in 1996. The pair lived in a semi-detached house on
the Fieldhead estate in Birstall, 15 minutes walk up the hill from
where Cox was killed. St Louis said his brother lived alone after
their grandmother’s death and had never married or had children. He
had not had a girlfriend for years. “He had one girlfriend when he
was younger but his mate took her off him and he said he didn’t
want another one,” said St Louis.
Despite
Mair living in the same house for at least 40 years, his neighbours
told the Guardian they knew little about him. They said he was quiet
and polite, volunteering to do their gardens and offering
horticultural tips as he passed down Lowood Lane on his regular
strolls into Birstall to use the computers at the library.
So
far the profile is that of an unremarkable, caring man. Alas, there
is more.
As
we first reported yesterday, and as the Guardian confirms, it
is believed he had mental health problems and was quoted as praising
a particular passage of care he had undertaken in the past.
In
2011, he was photographed by the local paper volunteering in nearby
Oakwell Hall country park. The previous year he was quoted in the
Huddersfield Daily Examiner, saying he had begun volunteering after
attending Pathways Day Centre for adults with mental health problems.
“I
can honestly say it has done me more good than all the psychotherapy
and medication in the world,” he
said. “Many people who suffer from mental illness are socially
isolated and disconnected from society, feelings of worthlessness are
also common, mainly caused by long-term unemployment. “All these
problems are alleviated by doing voluntary work. Getting out of the
house and meeting new people is a good thing, but more important in
my view is doing physically demanding and useful labour.
"When
you have finished there is a feeling of achievement which is
emotionally rewarding and psychologically fulfilling. For people for
whom full-time, paid employment is not possible for a variety of
reasons, voluntary work offers a socially positive and therapeutic
alternative.”
And
then the key punchline which most media have so far largely ignored:
"The men have another brother, Scott Mair 49, who told reporters
he had wept when he heard about the killing. He said: “I am
struggling to believe what has happened. My brother is not violent
and is not all that political. I don’t even know who he votes
for. He
has a history of mental illness,
but he has had help.”
It
appears not enough help.
To
be sure, mentally unstable or not, there are reports that Muir did
express a right-wing ideology and may have been an outright
"terrorist"
as the WaPo
dubs him.
As the Atlantic
reports,
citing an unconfirmed report by the Southern Poverty Law Center
(SPLC), Mair was a longtime supporter of the National Alliance, a
U.S.-based neo-Nazi group. Here’s more
from the SPLC:
Mair purchased a manual from the NA in 1999 that included instructions on how to build a pistol.
Mair, who resides in what is described as a semi-detached house on the Fieldhead Estate in Birstall, sent just over $620 to the NA, according to invoices for goods purchased from National Vanguard Books, the NA’s printing imprint. Mair purchased subscriptions for periodicals published by the imprint and he bought works that instruct readers on the “Chemistry of Powder & Explosives,” “Incendiaries,” and a work called “Improvised Munitions Handbook." Under “Section III, No. 9” (page 125) of that handbook, there are detailed instructions for constructing a “Pipe Pistol For .38 Caliber Ammunition” from components that can be purchased from nearly any hardware store.
Guardian
also notes, that Mair's name appears on an extremist website. It
describes him as “one of the earliest subscribers and supporters
of” a certain extremist publication which is alleged to be linked
to white supremacy.
Then
there are the reports of him shouting "Britain First."
Graeme Howard, 38, who lives in nearby Bond Street, said: “He
was shouting ‘Britain first’ when he was doing it and being
arrested.”
Another witness, Clarke Rothwell, told the Huddersfield Daily
Examiner: “He was shouting what sounded like ‘Britain first,
Britain first’ but then seemed to panic and hurried off. He seemed
scared and hurried off towards Union Street, dumping a jacket on the
floor. I got into my van and tried to follow him but I lost him.”
But
even this may be incomplete. As Breitbart
London reports,
"the eyewitness who insists Jo Cox’s killer shouted “Britain
First” before murdering the MP was on the leaked British
Nationalist Party (BNP) membership and contacts list. Britain First
and the BNP are known to be openly hostile toward one another."
Peter Thompson
It appears a spat between the BNP and Britain First may be clouding Jo Cox murder. https://wikileaks.org/wiki/British_National_Party_membership_and_contacts_list,_reference …
The
original claim for the “Britain First” shout was local dry
cleaner Aamir Tahir. In the following hours, however, Mr. Tahir has
told other news outlets that he “wasn’t there [at the scene]”
and simply heard the allegation as second-hand information. Another
witness, Hicham Ben Abdallah, has said that he heard no such claim.
Additionally,
there is no record of the last witness named in the Guardian –
Graeme Howard – living in the area, though they claim he lived on
Bond Street, just minutes away from the site of the murder. Breitbart
London visited Bond Street – a tiny road – last night, and could
not find Mr. Howard. A sign in a shop window close to where Mrs. Cox
was killed insists that “no one shouted Britain First” at any
time.
Others
simply deny that Mair ever said "Britain First" in the
first place.
Ben
Eyewitness tells reporters he didn't hear anyone shout "Britain first", saying: "Never heard that".
To
be sure, as we reported yesterday, Britain First spokesman Jayda
Fransen distanced her organisation from the attacks, which she called
“absolutely disgusting”.
All
this has been sufficient for the UK police to say they have begun
probing Mair's far-right links.
AFP news agency
#BREAKING UK police say probing far-right links of MP murder suspect
As Reuters
writes,
"police were investigating Mair's political affiliations
following witness accounts that the suspect shouted "Britain
first" as he launched the attack."
And
while the police should certainly probe whether or not Mair acted out
due to ideological reasons, what is surprising is the almost mirror
image to the Cox muder versus that of the Mateen mass shooting, by
members of both the press and authorities. After all, only "fringe"
voices have dared to accuse Mateen of being a "radicalized
Islamist", while less than a day later Angela Merkel was
throwing around the word "radicalization" in connection to
the Cox shooting as if the motive was already known.
I’m glad when the media withhold judgment about a killer’s motives or goals before there is sufficient evidence to know that with reasonable certainty. I have no particular objection to their refraining from applying the “terrorist” label to Cox’s killer before more evidence is available. And, as I said, the term “terrorist” at this point has so little cogent meaning that debates about how to apply it seem quaint and completely academic. The scholars Remi Brulin and Lisa Stampnitzky have spent years documenting how the term, from the start, was little more than a propaganda tool designed to legitimize one side’s violence while delegitimizing its enemies’ violence. The issue is that this journalistic restraint is extremely selective. Does anyone have any doubt at all that if Cox’s suspected killer had been Muslim, yelling “Allah Akbar” instead of “Britain First,” then every media outlet on the planet would be describing him forever as a “terrorist”? The fact that they are not doing so here sheds great light into what this word really is.
Greenwald
may be right... if Mair indeed did yell that key phrase, as many have
suggested never happened.
* *
*
Whatever
the true reason behind Mair's attack, it will likely not be revealed
in time before the Brexit vote next week, unless said vote is
postponed, speculation of which morbidly served as the catalyst to
send risk assets soaring yesterday coupled with speculation that the
backlash over the "Britain First" shouting "terrorist"
would sway the Brexit campaign to the side of "Remain."
In
the meantime, as we said at the start, expect both Brexit camps to
distort this tragic event in a way that allows both to "score
political points" by presenting the lone shooter in whatever
light best serves their agenda. Hypocritical or not, even this
skewing of reality may be too late as by now it is far more likely
than not that enough people have made up their minds how they will
vote in less than six days.
As
for tragic events like the Cox murder, we can only hope that they
will not be used for political purposes in the future as that would
only serve to encourage more violence and death. We will be
disappointed.
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