To ask those who are not white brittish how they feel about the flags?

[PicaK]

Birmingham and Tower Hamlets are having St George England flags put up by privately funded groups.
I'm horrified by the implicit racism. I've seen a lot of white people applauding this and "time we took back the country" comments.
I haven't seen many non white people commenting. My feel is that they are too intimidated to do so. Am I right? Or is it indifference or is it that you're dealing with racism on a daily level and this is just one more thing.
Please don't post if you're white.whatever you feel about the flags. I want to hear on white viewd

@Cloudymonday

Also I have noticed that in other countries where the national flag is officially on display, the far right extremists tend to make up their own flag, because it doesn't make sense otherwise.

The Nazis didn't use the German flag, they invented the swastika flag, which of course became the German national flag for the period of the Third Reich.

St George's flag has been hidden away as something to be ashamed of for so long, it's made it an easy target for the extreme right, meanwhile depriving the majority of ordinary English people of the right to have a national flag they can display without apologies and explanations

So grow a pair and reclaim it. Why are you - the very powerful, listened to (by media) and monied white liberal class - so helpless in the face of a minority of thugs? Why hide behind censorship rather than saying that’s my flag too, fuck off with your racism, I will fly it with pride in my multicultural country and defend England for everyone?

It's heavily reminiscent of nazi flags.

Whattttttttt

More tea?

Spell it out, you think that it's never the case that non-white people might actually disagree with what you think is racist? So in fact these people don't exist.

Or is it just that if they do, it makes them white-adjacent so they don't count?

Either is insidiously racist.

I sometimes wonder if people who say things like this actually know many non-white people. Because if they did they would know there is a wide variety of viewpoints among them and they are as likely as anyone to express them.

Union Jack, Scottish flag, Welsh flag = no problem with it (I’d include NI but I don’t know what it is 😬). Yes there are historic connotations (I’m a brown British citizen, grandchild of the empire), but I believe the majority of British people are decent and not racist. There are pockets, of both extremes, but on the whole I’m unbothered. I abhor all forms of patriotism, everywhere, but appreciate I’m in the minority and would never dream of denying someone theirs. Especially members of the armed forces.

Flag of St George = skinheads, and other varieties of racist pigs who co-opted the flag for their own propaganda. I’ve been on the receiving end of this. As a pp said: I’d rather assume the worst and be pleasantly surprised than risk the opposite.

It’s the duty of the majority to stop the minority who ruin things for them. That goes for everything in life. World affairs show us what happens when this doesn’t happen.

Where I live, for the majority of displaying a St George flag it racist… how do I know? The level of ignorant and mean comments on social media and in general on the streets. The majority here would not have the first clue who St George was.
A minority fly for a better reason.

I have no idea why MN moderators are allowing some of these posts to stand.

This isn't the odd flag. They have been tied to every lamppost all over the whole area where I live in Birmingham (both the Union Jack and St George flag. Lots of comments all over social media about getting our country back. There is definitely a racist undertone, and sadly it feels like it's just the start of something unpleasant

@MavisandHetty I abhor all forms of patriotism, everywhere, but appreciate I’m in the minority and would never dream of denying someone theirs.

Why abhor? Sometimes I think patriotism is a bit silly, but it's nice to feel proud of something, and fun when it comes to international sport events. I'm guessing you don't feel patriotic towards the UK from what you've written, but perhaps you feel pride in your ancestral heritage? Which is not the same, but similar.

Flag of St George = skinheads, and other varieties of racist pigs who co-opted the flag for their own propaganda.

Exactly this. It's a crying shame. I'd like to have an English flag we could be proud of, but I'm way too ashamed of the far right to ever fly an English flag.

I'm shocked we have come to a point where flying out own flag is seen as racist.

The other day I was listening to James o brien on LBC whilst cooking and he mentioned this flag thing and he sounded perfectly reasonable. He said no flags are allowed ,what can't people understand ,the st George flags are taken down because non are allowed.

Good point

But then I read the problem was actually Palestinian flags had been flown for weeks and not removed!!

Omission the greatest lie

I don't think we can compare that to Reich. They made own flag because they wanted flag for an Empire.
Ours are waving ours.

I’m English and I love my country and my flag.

I regularly bring my flag out and I particularly care if it offends people (which I doubt it does really) but if it does, that’s not my problem.

A group are talking about putting the flag on lamppowjere I live and I like the idea of it

My dad was white British and my mum was from India. I was born here and have zero connections with the Indian side of the family for various reasons, so identify solely as English although I do have brown skin. I have zero problem with people putting up these flags, and I am totally sympathetic to the 'getting our country back' narrative.

It's thanks to the far-right BNP skinhead nutters, who used it so much that it's culturally and socially tainted.

Clearly we need a new English flag. I propose a teapot with an Alice in Wonderland theme around the edges! And a Bakewell tart somewhere in there.

That doesn’t make the flag itself racist. And quite frankly the notion that it’s only OK to fly it during football and not at any other time is insulting.

Why non white, and not other white immigrants?

Even if you hear 'non white' views, are you likely to believe them, if they say they don't have a problem with the flags? Why on earth are you comparing the flag of St George with Nazism? This appeasing, apologising and looking for offence, is just ridiculous.

The only racism I see here is the last 2 lines of your op

You've not given the answer, the OP wants to hear.

https://hampshireflag.co.uk/product/english-white-dragon-flag/

This was the original English flag, its the flag id like to see rather than the flags taken over by far right and used as a banner for their protests - which I don't agree.

I abhor patriotism because it requires blind faith. I don't have that and can't imagine having that, in a country or a political party or even a person. You have to take the bad with the good. There's not a country on this planet that hasn't raped, pillaged, looted, massacred, stolen, mistreated its women, abused its natural resources etc. I don't think there's much space for "fun" when you really appreciate this. I feel the same way about my motherland. I don't need tribalism to feel good about myself. I derive plenty of joy and pride from the people I choose to be my "family". As for sports, I always support the underdog (British or what?! 😂).

Definitely not comparable. The Reich flag stood for killing Jewish people, among other terrible things related to that. It stood for an ideology that advocated the mass murder of people because of their religion. The St. George's flag may have been co-opted by the far-right, but it stands for nothing of the sort. Very offensive and ignorant comparison.

Seeing my six year old grandson singing Calon Lan, in a sweet voice and word perfect brought a tear to my eye. They all wear their red rugby shirts, fly the flag at school with delight.

They also wear Portuguese rugby kit, when they're playing rugby.

Family member flies the Bermudan flag having lived there for a few years. No-one blinks here.

So do you have a problem with any other flag, or are there only racists emanating from the UK?