Tuesday, 8 November 2011

Is anyone actually offended by poppies or is it just propaganda by the far right?

I'm sure many of you will remember what happened near by the Rememberence service in November 2011, a group of militant Islamists burnt a poppy whilst shouting "British Soldiers Burn in Hell". Many people including myself were shocked and appalled at the amount of disrespect to fallen soldiers, many of us have ancestors who fought in WWI and WWII and use this day to remember their sacrifice. These men were charged under Section 5 of the Public Order Act for causing distress and harm to those who witnessed it.

I am grateful that this group of protesters are in the minority, most people respect this time of year where we pay our respects to servicemen. However I have seen on Facebook people having copy & paste statuses reading things like "Staff at (name company here) are banned from wearing poppies in case it offends Muslims" and posting pictures that say "If our poppies offend you then fuck off back to your own country". I have to ask; why is it assumed that all Muslims or foreign nationals are offended by poppies? What proof do you have that anywhere has banned poppies from being worn? I can't help but think that this is far right wing propaganda aimed at turning people with long British family histories against immigrants by claiming that they wish to disrespect our military, hitting many citizen where it hurts.

I acknowledge that some immigrants or descendents of immigrants who arrived in Britain after 1945 may not observe rememberance day, not because they disrespect British soldiers but because they don't relate to it in the same way as someone like myself who has relatives who fought and died in battle for the British Army. But whilst on this subject let's not forget that many people from abroad did fight for our armies, let's not forget the Gurkhas!

I hate to see all this "If you don't like our poppies, fuck off out of our country" type messages going around. It takes away from the importance of Rememberence Day, and that's remembering and honouring those who sacrificed their lives for our safety and freedom. Far Right groups have sickeningly taken this time to peddle their agenda.

RIP all fallen soldiers... Never Forget xx

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