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

Well I think this goes to the heart of the question.

For you, patriotism is a bit of fun. Sports, coronation and royal wedding, all the good stuff.

For those of us who have been at the receiving end of physical and verbal abuse in the name of that flag, there's no fun at all. The opposite, in fact. It strikes fear and worry. It makes us scared to show our faces in our own country when - and I'm going to allow myself to be really vicious here - I, with my flawless educational record and not a parking ticket to my name, who has contributed more in taxes and good deeds and charitable acts to people of all colours in the UK than the thugs less than half my age but with a million times more aggression shoved in my face and up my skirt and spat down the back of my head on the way home from work one day 20-odd years ago pretended to in the name of St George. That's what English patriotism means to me. I don't have the luxury of seeing it as "just a bit of fun". There's nothing fun in it.

Thank hun!

Yes but so far he isn’t wandering around with it as his personal property.

I knew Brum would see loads of them. Labour councils are shit scared to do anything about it. I'm not answering anybody, who chips in asking what's wrong with the flag. It's being forced on residents x

I will never be ashamed of the English national flag or think of it a racist. How ridiculous. No other country would think like this. Anyone that thinks flying the national flag is racist can piss right off

For those referring to the stars and stripes: the comparison would be to the Union Jack. The flag of St George's closest comparison would be the Confederate Flag (although not quite so extreme).

Equality claims have cost Birmingham £760 million instead of £120 million. The council owes £2.9 bn

But the tory gov. since 2010 has underfunded Birmingham city council by 17%

Oh he most certainly is.

Not sure why I am being hunned. I am responding to the fact that some people seem to only think Tommy and his fan boys/girls demonstrate their 'patriotism' via the English flag. They also use the Union Flag just as happily.

He's pretty clear who he thinks these flags do - and don't- belong to.

I have an issue with any flags being attached to lampposts across the city, yes

I think England would greatly benefit from bit of general patriotism. Love your place, take care of your place, want better for your place.

..and the French, German, Spanish et al flags? The Union Jack and Flag of St George aren't a symbol of anything other than representative of an island. It isn't the flag that's racist- racists come from everywhere.

Of course they would! There are loads of examples!

I don't think.it's racist i feel it has been hijacked by some people who are racist. My ex was Welsh. He looked on his national flag with pride. This is how it should be for the St George's flag. For many it has been tainted. How we eradicate this is don't know.

I have an issue with any flags being attached to lampposts across the city, yes

I am White English.

By all means fly the flag BUT for the right reasons and these are not.

Some years ago now I was driving to Torquay. At the point where the Torquay road splits away from the A38 just beyond Exeter we were held in traffic. In the next lane was three generations of a (Pakistani? heritage) Muslim Family.

Dad in full outfit and white cap. Son driving in 'smart casual' Grandson in England shirt and St Georges flags on the car - it must have been a big football or cricket event.

By people not freaking out and assuming racism every time they see it.

It reminds me of the BNP leader (or a leader for some party like that) going on marches with a Bible.
People who use props tarnish their true meaning.
Disclaimer: I am not saying the Bible is a prop.

I don't understand how you can reply with so little empathy to someone who so articulately and openly explains their experiences and emotions.

I wonder what would happen if the Hindus and Buddhists had a campaign to reclaim the Swastika

What on earth are you on about? If I go to Iran I don't feel like I'm being attacked by the flags. Is everything okay

But you’re in England so…. ?

I am British but of Chinese descent, born and raised here. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest and I’m not intimidated by the Union Jack or the St George’s flag. I did actually endure racism as a child at school in the very late 1970’s and 1980’s.

👏 👏 exactly. People want you to apologise for being British and/or English. It's so bloody boring - every VE, VJ, armistice, St George's day - same old bitching. Where I live now, nobody feels ashamed to fly those flags.

If I'd been on the receiving end of the same in those countries (and I have, in France), I'd feel the same way about them all.

In fact, those are interesting examples.

Germany (as we're seeing now with it's role in the EU's part in the Ukraine conflict compared to the Israel/Gaza situation) has a recent, tortured history with its past. Patriotism in the form of neo-Naziism is back on the rise but as a distinct and small minority. The country has had decades reckoning with its shameful C20th history and that process largely dictates its foreign policy today.

The French have an enormous far-right population but left and right alike embrace the tricolore flag. I wonder if this is to do with its (relatively recent) embrace of republicanism, that the people needed something to hold onto and needed to define itself after over-throwing their monarchy. Perhaps.

Spain - it's like Franco never existed! They too have much to be ashamed of in their C20th history and yet the flag doesn't really figure. Maybe because they DO have a monarchy to focus attention? In the UK you don't often see the flag flying prominently. It was really marked around the time of QE2's death and the coronation.

What are equality claims? Why are the council responsible for so much of them @MikeRafone ?

Perhaps we should have a national competition to design a symbol of tolerance and inclusiveness to add to the England Flag. Reclaim it from the fascists and racists.