Across the country, flags have been raised to support Operation Raise the Colours, aiming to restore the love for our nation which many feel has gone a miss in recent years.
As someone who has recently expressed concern that our nations flags are becoming lost in a grave mischaracterisation, I certainly understand the sentiment of the campaign and all that it is attempting to embody.
I found it ironic, however, that is has taken a campaign to affirm pride in our nation to highlight why the flag is being increasingly associated with a threat to society, rather than the values of our nation.
Whilst the sentiment of the campaign is admirable – and something I can definitely get behind – many have taken the opportunity to underscore exactly why the mass media associate our national flags with the far-right and antisocial behaviour.
Across our nation some have deviated from the spirit of the campaign to spray paint various road markings and buildings with the aim to try and depict the St. Georges Cross.
Let’s be unequivocal about this action – it is vandalism. A crime, plain and simple.
The irony is the campaign’s aim is to foster patriotism in our nation, whilst vandalism permits and promotes the exact opposite. Taking pride our country and actively looking to vandalise our streets are strictly incompatible.
You cannot claim to carry out an action in the name of the country whilst fostering antisocial behaviour and breaking the laws of that country.
The spray painting on road markings are especially baffling, as any true patriot wouldn’t want the flag on a zebra crossing to be stepped on hundreds of times a day.
Alas, the campaign has done a great job in not only putting our nations colours back on our streets, but also to highlight the issue, and the battle at hand with those who aim to take that cause and weaponize it.
It would be disingenuous to say that this is an issue with everyone involved with the campaign – as it is a minority who are the issue.
Alas, the media will inevitably look to portray that minority as the beating heart of the campaign. The easy thing to do here when looking how to tackle the issue of dissociating the flag with the far-right is to blame the media entirely, however that would not address the issue at its source.
On my train journey back from Exeter to London over the weekend I found myself listening to a chapter from David Cameron’s memoir, where he accounted the aftermath of the Islamist extremist attack which claimed the life of fusilier Lee Rigby in 2013. He made the point that the issue of Islamist extremism is not existential to Islam as a religion, it’s an issue internal to Islam which must be tackled from within – there is something there which allows for a grave mischaracterisation and turn it into a political ideology.
Although this is on the topic of religion and not of an entire nation, I believe the lessons learnt, and the premise of Cameron’s remarks, ring true in the current battle with the far-right.
For as long as the far-right aim to mischaracterise the flag, it’s an issue from within that must be addressed. It is up to the state to get to the source of the issue and root it out – this could possibly come in the form of ensuring a higher regard for our country and its values in our schools, for example.
One observation that I have made of late is the role of the British monarchy in this battle. Of course, the monarchy should remain out of politics as it has aimed to do for many decades now – however this should not mean they abdicate their duty to unite the country. The late Queen did a commendable job in this capacity, and the current monarchy must step up to the occasion to fulfil this role as she did for 70 years.
This goes to say that the state, both the government and the monarchy, must play their respective roles in addressing this genuine threat to our nations prosperity. Without those unifying and influential voices being heard, the nation is on a worrying trajectory.
Featured image via JC Cuellar / Shutterstock.
