We are shocked and saddened to hear the news of the horrific murder of UK Labour MP Jo Cox. Our comrade was holding a surgery in her constituency in West Yorkshire when a man attacked her. She was stabbed and shot a number of times; the motivation remains unclear at time of writing. She focused her mandate on the Syrian crisis and on humanitarian law, was the founder and chair of the ‘Friends of Syria’ All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), and, in the past months, was a passionate campaigner for the Remain Campaign in the EU referendum debate.

This is not just an attack on a comrade and on a fellow Labour Party member, but an attack on what we stand for as socialists and social democrats., This is an attack on democracy itself. We express our deep condolences to Jo’s family and friends and to our British comrades. We are reminded that we have to stand up against violence and extremism, to challenge hate and intolerance and to know violence and weapons won’t stop us. We shall overcome.