WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE ENGLISH FLAG

Riots. Nationalism. Identity. In this powerful piece, our writer unpacks the rise of far-right symbolism in the UK, the violence behind “Operation Raise the Colours,” and what the St George’s Cross means in modern Britain. A must-read opinion piece on British identity, protest, and the future of the flag.

Written by Anon.

On the 4th August 2024 dozens of protesters – clad in balaclavas and varying types of English flag – gathered outside a hotel in Wath Upon Dean, a small town in south Yorkshire. Within hours, smoke could be seen rising on the town's horizon, sirens and shouts echoed in the streets, and a police helicopter could be heard circling overhead. Bins were set alight and pushed against fire exits, preventing those inside from escaping. Bricks, fence posts and rocks were thrown at both windows and the police. Small groups attempted to overturn an occupied police van. Others attempted to break into the building, eventually succeeding. 

England flag

64 police officers were injured, several seriously and over £1,000,000 in damage was caused in what police are calling one of the most violent protests in UK history. All of it perpetrated in the name of protecting “English” national identity.

More recently, hundreds of flags have cropped up across the UK under “Operation Raise the Colours”. Whilst journalists and politicians alike have jumped to portray this as an innocent show of national pride, the pasts of the campaigners' founders betray a darker reality. The founders of this campaign are English Defence League founder and convicted fraudster Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (Aka Tommy Robinson) and convicted killer Andrew Currien (Aka Andy Saxon), supported by convicted robber Guramit Singh Kalirai (as reported by the BBC, 'During his trial, the jury heard Kalirai and his two accomplices, Andrew Wheelhouse, from Alfreton, Derbyshire, and David Mura, of Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, had raided a shop in May this year. The three men pinned the shop assistant to the ground and made threats to slash his throat if he did not hand over cash.').

Flags have been zip-tied to bridges, lamp posts, and window frames. Flown over high streets, farms, and motorways. The cross of St George's has been spray-painted across mosques and Indian restaurants. In Hereford, people even painted a Danish flag on the Newton Farm roundabout (the Danes are charmed, I'm sure). Anti Muslim hate crimes are rising, arson with intent to endanger life has been attempted on multiple British mosques, and riots outside refugee hotels have become commonplace.

So how did we get here? How do we protect British minority communities? Is the flag inherently hostile? And if not, can we save it?

First, let me be clear, a pride in British history and nationality is not inherently racist or discriminatory, and different symbols mean different things to different people. But given the people promoting these campaigns, and the rhetoric being used around these flags, it can be interpreted that their intention is not a pure-hearted celebration of the diverse cultures and identities that the British Isles are home to. The narrative that they are adding to (whether those putting up the flags know it or not) is one of an anti-immigration, the idea that “we” (British people) must show our pride in our "heritage ” (don't even ask why they think tea is British but Mehdi Hasan apparently isn't) because we are essentially under siege by foreign (usually Muslim) invaders who don't share our values and if allowed will destroy those same values and the way of life we hold dear. You don't have to dig very deep to find where this narrative comes from- Enoch Powell’s “island of strangers”, Nigel Farage's Breaking Point posters and the EDL's chant “Muslim bombers off our streets”. The problem with this ideology is it targets already vulnerable and marginalised communities (refugees, migrants and ethnic minorities) and turns them into the source of the nation's problems, and therefore, fair game for discrimination and dehumanisation.

So how did we get here?

English flag being flown at event

The English flag first came into use during the Crusades (a series of largely unsuccessful attempts by European Christians to colonise Palestine). In 1265, during the Second Barons' War, it was adopted by Edward the 1st at the Battle of Evesham so he could identify his own royalist soldiers. During the English Civil War, it was used by the parliamentarians (roundheads). Later, during the world wars, it was used as a sign of resistance against Fascism and as a rallying symbol for the war effort. Later during the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, multiple groups fought for control of the flag- the National Front (a far-right, anti-immigration party that could be seen as the spiritual ancestor to Reform UK), the Anti Nazi League, the Rock Against Racism campaign, and, strangely enough, the Punks. So historically, if you want to know what the flag means… It depends on the week.

It's also important to acknowledge that outside of Great Britain, the flag was often a symbol of colonial oppression and violence. The flag that many of us think of so fondly today was the same one flown over concentration camps in Kenya, slave ships on the middle passage, and the burned shells of villages in Palestine. More recently, it has been flown over the memory of bloodied streets of Derry, Baghdad, and Kabul. 

Most recently, the flag has become a symbol of white English Nationalism and anti-immigration sentiment. The idea that British culture is inherently superior to others, and that the only truly British people that exist are white, Christian, and for whom “Rule Britannia” presumably starts playing when they take a 23 and me.

Whatever you think about the flag itself, this is deeply sad. This is our national flag, supposedly our main symbol of national identity, and many people in this country (wholly unrelated to anything to do with immigration) feel really warmly towards it, because it's their symbol of home. It's sad that the St George's Cross has become (or has long been) a symbol of hate. It's sad that many Britons don't feel comfortable expressing a love for the country they live in. It's sad that our national flag is felt to exclude and ignore so much of our population.

Speaking personally, I find the very narrow idea of what it means to be English that many (for good reason) feel the flag now represents, for lack of a better word, silly. Because at the end of the day, nations are a made-up concept, and nothing really comes from one. So many of the things that we think of as (and to varying degrees, are) quintessentially English originated from somewhere else. Fish and chips were brought over by Jewish Portuguese immigrants. Tea is from India. Christianity is from Palestine. St George was from Turkey (... and Palestine). Potatoes are American. Comedy- Greek. Umbrellas- Chinese. Political Corruption- Italian. I think the only “English” cultural thing that doesn't essentially come from somewhere else is binge drinking, and I'm not sure whether we want to claim that. At the end of the day, the average English person has more to do with the Anglo-Saxons than the indigenous Celts, and even they weren't the first ones to call this island home. 

The beauty of this is- none of this makes them any less English (except St George... He wasn't English). Things can be from more than one place at once, and just because they originally came from somewhere else does not mean this country and its people have not shaped them into what we know today. Speaking simply, the purely “British” UK that British Nationalists think they are (the people who often use these flags) do not exist. We do not live in a vacuum where other countries and ethnicities have no impact. Nor do many of us want to. Think about all the talent, achievements, and culture that is not counted as British under this narrow definition. Dua Lipa, Boy George, half of the cast of Red Dwarf (best British eighties TV show, I will fight you on that), Zadie Smith, Nick Mohammad, Richard Ayoade, Mehdi Hasan, Michael Rosen, Neil Gaiman, Zack Polanski, Romesh Ranganathan… And I think you'd have to agree, claims that these people aren't “really English” ring a bit hollow.

The truth is that being “British” has nothing to do with genetics and everything to do with where you call home, and Britain is not being “invaded” by foreigners- the increasing ethnic diversity of the UK is a completely natural consequence of globalisation that is happening worldwide. There's no conspiracy; people are just moving around more than ever.

The current way the British and English flags are being used does not represent all of the UK. Whatever we end up with, we need a symbol that recognises all British people as British. So we have three options: a) attempt to re-appropriate the flag, b) create another flag, because we cannot leave the cultural ownership of British identity and what it means to be properly British in the hands of the far right. 

Out of these options, I personally prefer the second, though it might not be practical. Many people feel nostalgic for the Union Jack; it's an important symbol of British culture, and to let it go might feel like a victory for the far right. And of course, vast swathes of the UK do feel it represents them, regardless of the far right. However, there is a lot of historical precedent for changing flags. For quite a lot of countries, the flag hasn't stayed constant for more than fifty years, for centuries, most of the time, because with regime change, the flag is usually changed to represent the supposed values of the country. You can see this in France’s change from the Fleur-de-lis flag, which is considered more royalist and traditional, to the Tricolour flag (the one you're probably familiar with) during the French Revolution. You can also see this more recently with the change of the Syrian flag after the country was liberated from Assad, and even the new trend of Russians taking the red out of the Russian flag to symbolise washing away the blood of the invasion of Ukraine.

At the end of the day, it's a tricky conversation with lots of strong feelings all round, and it's probably going to be a long and ongoing one. But I think whatever happens, the main thing is that we keep having this conversation, and keep calling out when people misuse the flag.

Written by Anon