On Thursday, we heard about the tragic killing of Labor MP Jo Cox, which was a stark reminder of the things she warned us about like hate speech, racism and outright hostility towards migrants and minorities. All we can do when such a heinous act gives us and our democratic institutions a blow is to stand strong.
Cox death reveals in naked reality where Europe is failing and how it wants to correct its failure with violence. The brutality and bloodshed we are witnessing on European soil also involves the hundred of thousands of asylum seekers who have fled strife to only be given the cold shoulder by the European Union as was the deal with Turkey.
A paragraph in The Guardian sheds light on Cox’s death below.
“The idealism of Ms Cox was the very antithesis of such brutal cynicism. Honor her memory. Because the values and the commitment that she embodied are all that we have to keep barbarism at bay.”
A good synonym for barbarism is inhumanity.
Finland’s efforts to keep barbarism at bay are disappointing to say the least. The rise of the xenophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, the silence of most politicians to ever-growing racism and discrimination, stiffening family reunification laws and immigration laws, near-constant bravado and saber rattling from politicians are some of the challenges we have had in keeping barbarism at bay.