Flags and fools
What manner of evil is this?
Why is it racist to wear the flag of my country? Isn’t England, Britain one of the most diverse countries in western Europe? Surely we are grown up enough to welcome that diversity, embrace others and still retain our own identity? Look what happened in the US after 911. Stars and Stripes hung everywhere. They were not just jingoistic tokens and while undoubtedly there were some who held narrow views on what an ‘American’ looked like, for most it was a way of showing unity, of saying you’re taking us all on.
Although Anne Owers’ motives are good, her methods are completely unacceptable. The way to deal with racist officers within the prison service is to sack them. Racism is intolerable wherever and whenever it rears its ugly, misshapen head. But we need to fight the real problem, fight the racists, confront them, force them out. We do not need wish washy New Labour solutions. The Union flag and the flag of St George were hijacked by the far right decades ago. But they are our flags, mine, yours. I’m not at all sure what it means to be English today, but by god I’m proud to be it. The flags need to be taken back by the decent, mature, inclusive majority, by you and me.
Make it a symbol of love not of hate.
Update 05-10-05
Multi-cultural Britain does work.
Prison bans Cross of St George tiepinsI’ve had cause to question in the past about how the British and us English in particular have lost our way in the world. What do we stand for now? We don’t believe in anything do we, don’t hold anything dear to our hearts. Bullshit like this doesn’t help. No, it doesn’t help at all.
Prison staff have been told to stop wearing Cross of St George tiepins because they could be "misinterpreted'' as a racist symbol. Anne Owers, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, was "concerned'' to see a number of officers at Wakefield jail in Yorkshire wearing the tiepins, apparently in support of a cancer charity.
Why is it racist to wear the flag of my country? Isn’t England, Britain one of the most diverse countries in western Europe? Surely we are grown up enough to welcome that diversity, embrace others and still retain our own identity? Look what happened in the US after 911. Stars and Stripes hung everywhere. They were not just jingoistic tokens and while undoubtedly there were some who held narrow views on what an ‘American’ looked like, for most it was a way of showing unity, of saying you’re taking us all on.
Although Anne Owers’ motives are good, her methods are completely unacceptable. The way to deal with racist officers within the prison service is to sack them. Racism is intolerable wherever and whenever it rears its ugly, misshapen head. But we need to fight the real problem, fight the racists, confront them, force them out. We do not need wish washy New Labour solutions. The Union flag and the flag of St George were hijacked by the far right decades ago. But they are our flags, mine, yours. I’m not at all sure what it means to be English today, but by god I’m proud to be it. The flags need to be taken back by the decent, mature, inclusive majority, by you and me.
Make it a symbol of love not of hate.
Update 05-10-05
Multi-cultural Britain does work.
posted by phylos @ 09:51
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