BIRMINGHAM, England – A sign of how much British society is coming unglued is how many citizens see displaying the British flag as a bad thing.
A BBC program host said recently, “You’ve got something called ‘Operation Raise the Colours.’ That sounds very military. That sounds very aggressive.”
A guest on another program claimed, “People aren’t putting up this flag to celebrate Britain. They’re putting up this flag to remind us that Britain is white and we shouldn’t be here.”
Some on the Left Believe the Flag Stands for Racism
The British fly plenty of flags. The Palestinian flag is flown in support of Gaza, some fly the LGBT rainbow flag, and some have even flown the flag of ISIS. But fly the Union Jack or the flag of England with St. George’s cross, and in some areas, it’s likely to get ripped down or start a fight.
At the center of the controversy is a movement called Raise the Colours. Birmingham businessmen Elliott Stanley and Ryan Bridge say they began Raise the Colours to boost national pride and unity at a time when some say Britain could be headed toward civil war. They’ve stirred a national debate over whether the British have a right to be patriotic and proud of their flag, because some here are not.
One person who ripped down a Union Jack, or the Union flag as the British call it, was shown on social media saying, “I don’t like these flags, because we all know what they mean.”
Another opponent of the flag campaign told Stanley the Union flag stands for “racism.”
Death Threats Over Flags?
You wouldn’t think that putting up flags would cause this much controversy. And yet this campaign, which was intended to promote patriotism and unity, has been attacked as ‘racist’ and ‘fascist,’ including one man who told those putting up flags, “You’re a fascist, you’re a fascist, and you’re a fascist, and you can go away.”
“You would think that, displaying one’s own flag in one’s own country would in no way be classed as a contentious act,” Stanley said.
And yet Stanley and Bridge have been doxed and threatened.
“We’ve been met with a substantial degree of hostility, and that’s now escalated into death threats,” said Stanley.
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Bridge said, “I’ve had phone calls to my office at work, phone calls on my mobile. I’ve been getting emails saying, ‘We know who you are, we know where you live, we’re coming for you.'”
Flying the official symbol of Britain’s national government has even been opposed by certain local governments and some police officers. Opponents have also started ripping down and destroying flags honoring veterans, something Bridge calls “absolutely disgusting.”
“I’ve had somebody come up to us in the street while we’re displaying the Union flag, screaming at us that it’s the flag of the Nazis,” Stanley said.
Tense Times in a Nation at Risk of Civil War
These are tense times in Britain. Economic optimism is at record lows. Polling shows Prime Minister Keir Starmer is one of the most unpopular leaders in the democratic world.
King’s College-London Professor of War Studies Dr. David Betz set off alarm bells when he warned Britain is headed toward civil war.
A 100-year-old World War 2 veteran, invited to be honored on the program Good Morning Britain a few weeks ago, surprised his hosts when he said that the sacrifices of World War Two weren’t worth it, because Britain has become less free.
Bridge told us his motivation for getting involved, “Was because I felt like in our country, we’ve been let down by weak governments, weak borders. And I feel that instead of going on the streets and rioting like we had in the UK a few years back, for us to just raise the flag, a group of guys, working-class men, to raise a flag of our country and show a bit of patriotism, and to bring that back from what’s lost.”
Prime Minister Starmer & Labour Decide to Wave the Flag
Prime Minister Starmer has said he wants to “reclaim the flag” from what he calls “far right” protesters and “divisive populism.” In left-leaning Britain, most of the “far-right” would simply be called “conservative” in the United States.
Opponents of Raise the Colours told us they don’t believe the movement is about unity but division. Stanley says most of the opposition to Raise the Colours comes not from ethnic or religious minorities, but from what he calls white liberal “lunatics.” He says neither they nor the government will stop this movement.
“It’s going to keep growing,” Stanley says. “This has now gone from starting in south Birmingham to the rest of Birmingham to across the whole of the UK, from village to village, city to city. I think we’re speaking for people that are patriotic, but they’re too frightened to speak out. The more funding we get, the more we can do. And keep the country covered in our flags, because it’s our country and it’s our flag.”
