Is it really just a flag?

A flag is a symbol, and symbols are far more powerful than words. One symbol can generate a dozen different meanings depending on who you ask. The flags of England and the United Kingdom are no exception. When you walk down any high street in an English town at the moment, you are sure to see both displayed proudly. There may be many valid reasons to be proud of your country, but the reasons these flags are put up often carry sinister undertones, even if some of those hanging them may have good intentions.

As the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and those who are hanging up flags out of a sense of wanting to protect their country and the people in it have sadly been caught in a political game, manipulated by far-right voices into supporting xenophobic rhetoric and trends in the name of patriotism.

Alongside those with good intentions who have been conned, there are others who disguise hateful, racist ideologies behind the flag of St George, and who are quick to deem anyone who opposes them a traitor.

People are told to hate the unknown entity of immigrants rather than the more systemic domestic problems that have less simple solutions

But how can a flag be racist? I would argue it depends entirely on the context in which it is being used.

The flag in this context has a negative value. It is not a positive symbol of pride for our country in and of itself; instead, it is more of a symbol of pride of being one of ‘us’ from Britain as opposed to being one of the foreign ‘invaders’ coming onto our shores. Rather than being a symbol of pride, it almost seems like a warning for people who aren’t from here that they aren’t welcome. It is an act of protest against foreigners who have been demonised as economic drains on our country and as dangerous because of some isolated incidents, which aren’t representative of every immigrant.

Everyone wants to blame someone for how badly our nation’s economy has declined for the average person, and the simplest targets are immigrants who are supposedly dangerous and supposedly draining our finances every year.

Now the question is, if immigration is costing us so much money and these people are angry about that, why don’t they fly flags to protest tax evasion, which costs us billions more each year? The simplest answer is that people are told to hate the unknown entity of immigrants rather than the more systemic domestic problems that have less simple solutions.

It is a natural, tribal instinct for some people to have fears about outsiders coming into a nation, but where a lot of people fall short is that they don’t move past this fear and look at the facts. We are a nation built on the back of immigration, and we would be nowhere near as prosperous as we are today without it. Even when the Normans invaded in 1066, they helped develop the modern English language, just as Roman invaders built our roads and brought over Christianity. All of these things would now be seen as traditional parts of our nation, but all are derived from immigration.

Why not instead blame bad governance and the underfunding of virtually every public service in the nation over the last 15 years, which is the real reason for people’s suffering?

People fear losing our national identity and our economy to immigration, but they have been lied to. Immigration makes us stronger, not weaker, and they should direct their anger towards the real issues which are costing our nation dearly.

Why blame the immigrants who come here searching for a better life? Why not instead blame bad governance and the underfunding of virtually every public service in the nation over the last 15 years, which is the real reason for people’s suffering? It is much easier for some to give in to tribal tendencies and to be racist than it is to look at the complex issues facing our country, and this is exactly what far-right grifters like Tommy Robinson capitalise on.

Putting up flags against immigration won’t make the nation any better, and hating those who don’t come from here won’t either. Some people have fallen for a pack of lies, while others, like Robinson, are the ones capitalising on deceit for their own benefit. The rich and powerful don’t want to pay their fair share to fund our nation, and they would much rather the target be on the back of immigrants than on them and their exponentially growing wealth.

A flag can be a symbol of many things, but in this circumstance, our flags are being twisted in a negative way to represent an ‘us vs the immigrants’ ideology, which far too many have fallen for

Billions are sitting in the accumulated wealth of the rich, which could never conceivably be spent and won’t help anyone. Yet the people putting up British flags have fallen for the lie that migrant hotels are the real problem. Only through more political education and a media which actually shines a light on our biggest issues can we solve this problem. I hope that one day we can talk about the billions of pounds, which could pay for our NHS and other public services, but isn’t being used, instead of the comparatively tiny amount spent on migrant hotels.

A flag can be a symbol of many things, but in this circumstance, our flags are being twisted in a negative way to represent an ‘us vs the immigrants’ ideology, which far too many have fallen for. We need to unite together to tackle our problems and think more critically about what those problems are, rather than lashing out with blind, misplaced hatred.