Politicians use it to beat down opposition to war whilst questioning people's loyalties and patriotism. The symbol of the poppy was never intended for peace or to stop war, it was a cry for others to take up arms and take revenge in a poem by John McCrae. The gentleman whose idea it was to start the poppy, General Earl Haig, was responsible for gross incompetence on the battlefield in which thousands perished.
Yet, we are blinded by this cry of 'our boys' and the fallacy that British troops are in Afghanistan defending Britain. On the back of the envelope there is a 'send a message of support to an injured hero' plastered next to a British flag.
Since when did we start calling paid soldiers, with Kevlar protection, air support, heavy machine guns, armoured vehicles and tanks heroes? In this narrative the farmer who is defending his country from the occupier is the bad guy.
Who are the real heroes? We have whole-heartedly bought into this premise that soldiers are sacred and their role should never be questioned.
I for one cannot accept it and must see the world in a much wider context. Rich versus poor, ruling elites versus the proletariat, the politicians versus the people, big business versus the indigenous people, the well-armed Western soldiers versus the rag tag resistance of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Who will remember the children killed? Who will remember the victims of occupation? Who will remember the contribution of Muslim soldiers to the World Wars? Will they be remembered in the minute silences?
Will their images be brandished on the news; will anyone even think of Ali Shan who fought in Burma for the British and now lives in Birmingham? Ali Shan does not wear a poppy and neither do his children or grandchildren.
Then there is the case of my great uncle, who will remember him? But the poppy can be divisive. For some, it's a symbol that glorifies war.
Meanwhile, some choose to wear different coloured flowers — each carrying a different meaning. The year-old from Edmonton knows that her decision is controversial, but she says it goes beyond Canada's contributions to war. As a history and political science student who focuses largely on Indigenous history, Lawrence has perceived Canadian nationalism as flawed since she was So if a red poppy is the outward symptom of inward national chauvinism, what of the white poppy of the pacifist Peace Pledge Union?
The PPU originated in and, paralleling the more recent antics of George Galloway, tended to argue the justice of German claims to parts of Czechoslovakia and Poland. The PPU also refused to take sides in the Spanish Civil War , refusing to oppose the Nazi-backed forces of Franco as they crushed the working class and destroyed democracy in Spain for a generation.
The policy of the PPU was exactly that of the British state. Ultimately the PPU were the product of the craving for peace that dominated British society in the s, a reflexive but inadequate response to the horrors of the first world war. Similarly, the British Legion had undertaken a misguided trip to Germany in to meet German veterans, only to be drawn into Nazi propaganda, dining with Himmler, being photographed with Hitler and most shockingly visiting a concentration camp.
While the British Legion has acted as ideologues for the use of British armed force, the PPU helped shape not even a political pacifist movement but an individualist one. The PPU originally sought pledges from men not to fight, and this led not to a movement against war but encouraged individual conscientious objectors doing nothing to stop war but opting out as isolated individuals.
The anti-poppy protest staged by Celtic fans on 6 November was an expression of dissatisfaction at having Remembrance Day commemorations imposed on them.
It also shows political activism at a club with an established tradition to that end. However, the reactions to the protest from the Celtic Board and the Poppy Campaign lobby in the local media raise as many issues as the protest itself. Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan. No bloodstained poppies on our hoops". In reality, it's sixty blokes singing songs!
The opposition of many fans to the occupation of Ireland is well documented as is the disgust which met the appointment of John Reid because of his intrinsic involvement in the other occupations mentioned in the banner.
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