Why Did People Allow The Union Flag To Be Associated With Far Right Groups?

[sp1814]

This is the result:

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/herne-bay/news/st-georges-flag-snubbed-16150/

Which other country would allow their nation flag to become associated with right wing political factions?

In America, all people can stand behind their flag...now if you see a group of men marching down the street with the Union Flag draped around their shoulders, you can be fairly certain that their knuckles will be draping along the ground (did ya see what I did there?)

Seriously...how comes this happened to England, but not Scotland, Ireland or Wales?

Who is to blame (because I assume *someone* has to be blamed...)

[jno]

the Union Jack is the Union Flag, sp1814, the Admiralty says so and as we know, Britannia waives the rules.

[royfromaus]

now if you see a group of men marching down the street with the Union Flag draped around their shoulders, you can be fairly certain that their knuckles will be draping along the ground (did ya see what I did there?)

(did ya see what I did there?)


Yes, it's a bit like saying all muslims are terrorists!

[jno]

actually, you're right, sp1814, I'm pretty sure the National Front did sport Union Jacks in the 1970s as you say. I don't know when they moved down to the St George flag. Maybe there weren't enough NF types in Wales and Scotland to keep the movement going there so they retreated to their English heartland?

[Gromit]

// Which other country would allow their nation flag to become associated with right wing political factions? //

Probably most of them. In most countries I have visited, the Nationalists hide behind the national flag. The extreme nationalist even more so.

The US is probably different because everyone is to the right. Extreme right wing politics in the US is the norm. So in the US, shows of extreme patriotism is more prevalent and therefore acceptable.

[woofgang]

You are asking why people allowed....how could "people" have stopped it?

[Quizmonster]

Wharton, there used to be - may still be - a famous postcard the picture for which was obviously taken at 5 a.m. on a Sunday morning. It showed Aberdeen's main thoroughfare, Union Street, virtually devoid of people and traffic. The caption read: "Union Street on a flag day."
Just as most Jewish jokes are probably created by Jews, I'm sure most 'Aberdonians are mean' jokes are probably created by Aberdonians.

[sp1814]

Gromit

I thought in the US it was the Confederate flag (for historical reasons) that ultra right wing groups stood behind?

[sp1814]

wolfgang

Good point. Perhaps I should have asked, "How did this come to pass?"

royfromaus - in the 70s, if I saw a picture of a group marching with Union Jacks draped over their shoulders, I would immediately think "They're NF".

Now if I saw the same picture, but with the Flag of St George, I would think, "They're BNP or perhaps BNP" (depending on the number of spelling mistakes appeared on any placards they were carrying).

But here's the thing - the Union Flag has pretty much lost it's right wing associations (as evidenced by this story).

[sp1814]

Gah!

Second 'BNP' should read 'EDL'.

[sp1814]

Just to clarify something...I'm lying when I say that I would automatically assume a group draped in the Flag of St George are supporters of some ultra right wing group.

If the group were racially mixed, I would default to thinking they were footie fans.

[youngmafbog]

What can anyone do about a group adopting the National flag?

It was also fueled by the anti british liberal left who were using the BNP/EDL/NF to push their own aims. flying any flag, union or National in England and you were a 'racist' in their mind. This was later also endorsed/backed by Noo labour and their disastrous great multi cultural experiment that deterred very normal people from being patriotic.

So, I dont think it was any one person or group that allowed it to happen, but the anti British liberal left and Noo labour were probably the most to blame.

[anotheoldgit]

Not at all surprised at Wetherspoons flying the Union Flaf instead of St George's in case it might cause offence.

England and the English are now words increasingly being replaced with the words Britain, British, Brits, and the UK.

Why even in news reports one very really hears the word England, even when the report specifically refers to England, unless of course it is a sporting matter.

And even on official forms one wasn't given a choice of stating one's nationality as English, and when I was at school we were taught "The Kings and Queens of England" during history lessons.

I wonder how many of our ethnic minorities celebrated St George's Day, I couldn't see one in the various television coverage of the celebrations last night.

[Peter Pedant]

.

sp prescriptive law - yes that has been tried
The old Public Order Act 1936 - now repealed - has sections about wearing distinctive dress which was aimed at the Black Shirts of Oswald Mosley who were racists in the thierties.

People were nt sure if it could be used against a flag....

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

/// If the group were racially mixed, I would default to thinking they were footie fans. ///

Racially Mixed!!!!!! don't you mean if some happen to have darker skins than the whites in the group?.

I think you will find there are some Asians in the EDL, also in UKIP which some refer to also as a far right organisation.

[sp1814]

youngmafbog

I'm not convinced that it was the 'anti british liberal left' who reassigned the national flag to right wing groups. My recollection is that the NF used the Union Flag and the EDL/BNP took up the Flag of St George without prompting from any outside faction.

The problem now is that the flag has been (IMO) tainted by association.

[sp1814]

AOG

You asked:

Racially Mixed!!!!!! don't you mean if some happen to have darker skins than the whites in the group?

Yes.

You've understood exactly what I mean.

I've never seen a racially mixed group of EDL or BNP protestors, but I've seen racially mixed groups of footie supporters.

Especially around where I live (Arsenal) which has always attracted a racially mixed crowd...unlike Millwall, which has always suffered from perceptions that it's followers were racists (perhaps the Bermondsey connection - I dunno).

[scooping]

Surely extreme nationalists across the centuries and across the world have used national flags to a greater degree than others. From Israel to Putin's Russia, the American far right...

[ToraToraTora]

Not sure what you are trying to stir up here SP, not much can be done if a few idiots want to adopt the flag, I still fly the george and the Union as appropriate. The US flag is hijacked all the time by redneck racist groups that does not stop the US general public flying it does it. I agree we should start reclaiming it more but then we get called names by the right on weird beard brigade.

[youngmafbog]

I didnt say they reassigned it, I said they reinforced and inflamed it by cries of Racist.

It fits nicely with their anti English (and British) agenda.