Clay Harris

Each season, Charlton Athletic designates one home match “Red, White and Black Day” to recognise and celebrate the diversity of its community. While we long-suffering Addicks wish Charlton were as successful as a football team as it is as a social outreach agency, it’s an important and clear statement.

I wonder if it could also inspire a solution to the controversy and increasing ambiguity surrounding another annual tradition – the wearing of poppies for Remembrance Day.

I don’t wear a poppy. I privately remember and honour the dead, and not just once a year, but I do not support the military trappings of most ceremonies. In dark moments, I think some love the war dead so much that they want to keep creating more of them. I would like to see the Royal British Legion out of active business in, say, 70 years’ time when our descendants will still honour the dead but give thanks that we’re not creating more.

Efforts to make wearing the poppy mandatory for public figures or anyone who appears on television, moreover, only undermines the meaning of Remembrance. Calling it “poppy fascism” is a step too far – we must save “fascism” for real threats of it – but enforced conformity is still disturbing.

My head and heart are more with the Peace Pledge Union and its white poppies, a tradition almost as old as the red ones. I have spoken to people who wear them, and they say the white poppies are often a catalyst for fruitful conversation. I can see, however, that some people might instinctively interpret the white poppy as a slap in the face of the war dead, when that is the opposite of what is intended.  Yet, how people perceive a symbol is as important as how it’s intended.

An extra and sinister level of ambiguity has been introduced by the BNP’s effort to hijack the poppy. Just as the National Front’s use of the Union Flag in the 1970s made people avoid ordinary display – and the Cross of St George still has worrying ancillary symbolism – it does no good to deny that the BNP’s ploy hasn’t had an effect in tarnishing the poppy.

What I propose for next year, therefore, is a new poppy that addresses all these issues – a Red, White and Black poppy.

Red, to honour and remember the dead, the wounded and all who served.

White, to borrow the Peace Pledge Union’s colour to show our aim of ending war.

Black, explicitly to recognise that those who fought and died in all the wars, as well as the Britain of yesterday, today and tomorrow, were of all colours and backgrounds and beliefs.

Let the BNP try to hijack that one.

In the best case, the Royal British Legion should adopt such a poppy. The passing of the last First World War veterans is an appropriate moment to introduce a revised image that has a broader, more inclusive symbolism. It would have the additional benefit of obliging people to buy a new one rather than recycle their poppy from previous years.

If not, perhaps another charity could take up the challenge, promising to split the proceeds between the Royal British Legion, the Peace Pledge Union and Hope Not Hate.

That’s a poppy that I would be the first to wear.

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Richard said:

... An article I wholly disagree with. The poppy and remembrance day serves only to remember people often young men and women who died or were injured merely in the service of their country. These people were overwhelmingly made up from ordinary walks of life who made the supreme sacrifice. Why must you so called 'right on liberal thinkers' question every little thing, can't you just be respectful and conform without making everything political. Surely you recognise the world was a better place with Nazism being defeated. Whether you agree or disagree with the recent conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan , just be respectful to the young troops who are following orders and some have lost their life doing so. They daily endure hell and you sitting a comfortable office thinking you are being really clever and free thinking by making PC points and imagining you are being original. War is a terrible thing but sometimes the alternative is even worse. On another note I refuse to allow symbols of Britain such as our flags to be hijacked and then given up to the BNP, they belong to the ordinary people of Britain not an extremist party. The Royal British Legion actually wrote to Nick Griffin and requested him not to wear a poppy. You fail to realise that ordinary people are switching to the BNP partly because of PC obsessed people like yourself who wish to advocate the eroding of traditional British symbols and traditions. Allow people to be British, wave the flag, wear a poppy without being ashamed or accused or racism or nationalism etc, you might be surprised at the results if the BNP was suddenly to disappear into obscurity again.

November 11, 2009

SEO　被リンク said:

... And I'll be the last one to wear the poppy...haha.

February 01, 2010

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