Union Nation

By Dan McCurry

The Union Jack is one of the great design classics of all time, but unlike most great design classics, this striking piece of imagery was created before the days of intellectual property protection, allowing it to be hijacked by various groups over the years and stolen away from its unifying intent, culminating in the disgusting defamation by a political movement founded on racism and hate. Well we’re gonna take it back! We’re gonna take it back and restore it as the symbol of our vibrant, tolerant and multicultural nation, that is Great Britain today.

Originally created by an English Admiral, the union flag flew on both English and Scottish ships following a Royal decree in 1606 and a hundred years later in 1707 it become the national flag. With the rich history of empire this piece of red white and blue fabric became imbued with history, authority and culture; a symbol of our unity and tolerance.

When the age of empire ended so did our identity. A young designer called Mary Quant realised that these cheap pieces of fabric coming down from flag poles around the world could make quite good shopping bags and socks. To the amusement of the young generation and the fury of the old the flag became a symbol of irony from a generation determined to break their country away from the past. But with no clear path to a future identity we drifted into decline and into discourse.

However, the end of empire carved a new and unexpected identity. The Commonwealth was born with a vision to create an English speaking network of democracies throughout the world, linked through commerce and existing as a permanent legacy of the achievements of the British Empire. It didn’t quite work out like that, but the people of the empire would become the identity of our nation. But those immigrants found conflict in this nation as they made their mark.

While the Caribbeans brought new music and dance and the Indians provided our new national dish, the far-right had picked up our flag and waved it as their own, creating a symbol of hatred and division; a design classic that was recast as a banner to a Darwinian master-race. We, the socialists, defeated those purveyors of hate and we won over our sceptics.

The racists still remain as a political force, but more as a barometer of discontent than a serious proposition. Their hidden agenda is often comical as they call for the banning of the Notting Hill Carnival on Health and Safety concerns. The immigrants themselves have dealt with their issues; the brave good-judgement of Jack Straw and Margaret Hodge channelling the frustrations of each community into a consensus for all. The recent Islamist protest against returning soldiers was tedious but not inflaming, demonstrating the common view of the group as being on the fringe with no widespread popular support.

So I say that we are one nation, with one voice, but the business is still unfinished as long as the symbol of our unity still flounders. The reputation of our union flag continues to remain in tatters. Torn and discredited by the story of our struggle for identity, it remains to this day, an embarrassment to our movement. To restore it would be to end the chapter; to symbolise our unity, mark our break with the past and celebrate our identity with the future.

Of the two photographs attached here, one is of me, and the other of Councillor Alibor Chowdhury of Tower Hamlets Labour Party. The union flag in the background has been superimposed. The picture of Alibor is an exciting image; the one of me causes the viewer to recoil. On viewing this image, some people say that my hand is raised as if in a Nazi salute, but I’ve tried lots of images; it’s not the fact that I’m speaking with my hand raised that causes the viewer to be reminded of the Nazis.

People say that the photo of Alibor captures a serene expression and that makes it a better photo. To this I agree; it is captivating to see a Muslim man with an expression of serenity posing before the union flag. The message is too deeply engrained in our subconscious; we see in our flag, a message of hate. We associate our national emblem with a rallying banner of racism.

We can restore our flag to its rightful place as the symbol of our multicultural identity, but it would take a national effort over six months to achieve this. We will need the white population of this country to avoid waving the flag for those six months, while the black and ethnic minority communities must fly it every day. We must see black teachers wearing union flag ties, Asian nurses with union flag buttons. We can’t possibly suggest that white people shouldn’t fly the flag, but can at least communicate the message that we want the black and ethnic minorities to claim it as their own for this limited period.

We need African traffic wardens with union flag hats, Arabic doctors with union flag stethoscopes, black police officers wearing union flag aerials on their radios. Across the country black and Asian people must make the flag their own. After six months of this campaign the union flag will be fixed in the minds of every British citizen as a flag of multiculturalism. This is now the flag of all communities, the flag of our future; the flag of unity.

If the six month campaign starts at the Labour party conference in September, then the six month campaign will end on Saint George’s day the following spring. We’ll make this day our Union Day and have every house in the country waving our Union Flag and carry on waving it through till election day.

If you support this campaign and would like to see it develop, please join the Union Nation Facebook group for updates.