Jayne Dowle: #MoreinCommon will be Jo Cox's legacy of tolerance

ALL those months of fervent campaigning and persuasion. All those weeks of bitter arguments, recriminations and mud-slinging. And now, when the day of the EU referendum is finally upon us, all of this is eclipsed '¨by the senseless killing of a woman who was simply doing her job, and its impact on the world.
The parents of Jo Cox, Jean and Gordon Leadbeater, look at the flowers laid in memory of their daughter in Parliament Square, London.The parents of Jo Cox, Jean and Gordon Leadbeater, look at the flowers laid in memory of their daughter in Parliament Square, London.
The parents of Jo Cox, Jean and Gordon Leadbeater, look at the flowers laid in memory of their daughter in Parliament Square, London.

The death of Batley & Spen MP
 Jo Cox has crystallised the arguments not just over Europe, but about how we might co-exist with our fellow human beings.

This is no exaggeration. The social media-fuelled speed with which the #MoreinCommon movement has taken hold around the globe in the honour of Jo is breath-taking. Yesterday would have been her 42nd birthday. From Australia to Tanzania, from Canada to France, events were held to remember her and to remind us of Jo’s wordly view that “we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us”.

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The examples she used to illustrate the point, made in her maiden speech to Parliament, struck a chord with me. She spoke of the Irish Catholics who came to her constituency in the 19th century, mentioned the Indians and Pakistanis who settled in the 1960s and 1970s. Her focus was Batley & Spen, but she could have been talking about so many towns in the North of England. #MoreinCommon is an amazing global phenomenon, but if we are to start to interpret it in the spirit in which it is intended, we must first look close to home.

Just what does it mean in our communities then? To me, it means going to school sports day and recognising that the struggles – and the small triumphs – of a parent are just the same anywhere in the world. At my daughter Lizzie’s school this week, it brought tears to my eyes to see the myriad faces of the children all doing their best at the hurdles and the relay. I always look at the parents of those who have recently settled here and wondered what they may have endured before they eventually landed in this peaceful Yorkshire valley. When I can’t think of anything useful to say or do, I offer up a reassuring smile.

It never seems like enough. There is
so much hate in the world today. I hear
so many horrible things said, not just about the families who are attempting
to rebuild their lives in Barnsley, but about women in general, and all those who are disabled or disadvantaged in some way.

I am pleased to see that the ethos perpetuated by #MoreinCommon is truly inclusive, because there are so many people who are being shunned because their faces don’t quite fit.

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Jo Cox travelled the globe to help refugees and individuals who literally
had nothing. Most of us only have to
walk down the street to see a person
who is lost, confused or in need of a helping hand. We shouldn’t cross that street.

This goes across the generations too. The Yorkshire Post’s admirable campaign to tackle the loneliness faced by elderly people in our region has done much good work. We can each do our bit, though. 
It’s easy to look at an older person and forget that they once worked, ran a busy home and had youngsters to bring up.

Let’s reach not just across the world but across the generations too. The stalwart example set by Jo’s own family as they came to terms with their terrible loss should remind us that close bonds offer comfort.

For years now, we’ve heard our politicians talk about the politics of consensus; a new way of thinking in which divisions were healed rather than manipulated. Mostly for self-seeking and egotistical reasons, this has never actually come about in any realistic or workable form.

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Perhaps we were looking in the wrong place for it all along. Although Jo represented all that is good about the kind of individuals who end up in 
politics, there are plenty of her Westminster colleagues who are 
simply in it for the power.

The impetus for a volte-face in political relations has had to come from the people, inspired by the shining example of one very special MP who stood out from the baying crowd on the green benches.

Whatever the result when the votes
are counted tonight, politics has turned on its axis. The legacy of Jo Cox will live on in the way we measure something much more important than voter turnout. It will make us measure both ourselves and our tolerance of other people. And that matters far more than any argument over trade agreements and tariffs.