When you walk or drive through an area that was once devoid of flags, but now every lamppost is festooned with a St George’s cross or Union Jack, how does it make you feel? I know how it makes me feel.
I grew up in the 1980s when the only people who draped themselves in those pieces of cloth would sing, “Oh, when the lights are flashing, we’ll go P**i bashing!”. Over time we reclaimed the flag from the racists. Rule Britannia became Cool Britannia. The Union flag became a duvet cover, which lay over Liam Gallagher and Patsy Kensit on the March 1997 Vanity Fair cover. We hosted the 2012 Olympics and the same flag graced the shoulders of Sir Mo Farah, the Team-GB Somali born immigrant who brought us much success that summer.
But those events seem so long ago now. And I want to tell white people that many of us believe that you’ve allowed the fascists to reclaim the flag again.
Recently I was driving past a parade of such flags that had appeared almost overnight in Stockport, when my 16-year-old daughter turned to me and said, “I don’t think I want to live here anymore”. She is British Sri Lankan. She is well-educated, inquisitive and empathetic. For me, and her, this sudden proliferation of flags makes us feel unsettled and unwanted. It seems to be sending a clear signal that we are unwelcome in the country of our birth.
Then, on Monday night, my family and I saw two men scurrying across the road with a large ladder, putting up more. I decided that – instead of driving on – I wanted to speak to them. My wife was against it because she thought it might be dangerous, as was my 17-year-old son, who has a largely ambivalent attitude to the flags.
Throughout my career as a BBC broadcaster, I have had plenty of difficult interactions with a wide variety of guests from Stephen Yaxley-Lennon to Jordan B Peterson. I wrote a book called Let’s Talk about the art of conversation because I am fascinated by the stories people have within them, and am pathologically curious. So, my daughter and I were adamant we wanted to confront the men – to talk. To ask why they felt compelled to put up the flags and what was at the root of their grievances.
So we dropped my son and wife at home and went back to find them.
As we pulled up, the two men – both in their mid-thirties- looked visibly shocked by our presence. They both froze, no doubt expecting that an altercation was about to take place. But I’ve learnt that a smile and an outstretched hand can immediately diffuse most situations so that is what we both did. Their demeanour changed instantly. Any nerves that I may have had dissipated too.
A post shared by Nihal Arthanayake (@therealnihal)
We had not arrived to shout at them. I began by asking why they were doing it.
One articulated how he had family members that were using food banks, and that he was sending out a message because he felt nobody listened to people like him anymore. He then went on to talk about the hotel that houses migrants just a stone’s throw from where we were standing. This is when he mumbled something about “fighting aged men” and “a conspiracy” before tailing off. Whilst I doubt that I would have found his arguments convincing, I certainly recognised how helpless he felt, and how angry he was with the Government.
I then spoke to the other man, who was a less conspiratorially minded individual, and told him how uncomfortable these flags made us, as people of colour feel. He denied that racism had anything to do with their actions. He was in fact at pains to say that he was not a racist. Perhaps I am naive, but at that moment, I believed him.
They told us their names, we learned that they were a joiner and a floor fitter, from the North West of England. As we both listened to them speak, it saddened me how their life had come to this: so bereft of meaning, so devoid of optimism, that this was their sole means of being heard and seen.
I pointed out that billionaires avoiding tax was a far bigger issue than refugees. But perhaps through a mixture of life choices, cycles of poverty, austerity and the high cost of living these men were content to see the source of their woes coming from below, and not from above. They briefly nodded in agreement, but almost immediately returned to the issue of “the hotels“.
Then, in the midst of our conversation, a white British woman came past with her dog. She slipped off her headphones and asked if they were the people putting up the flags. The men said yes and without batting an eyelid, and with considerable venom, she called them fascists and walked on.
This enraged one of the men. He shouted at the woman. My daughter calmed him down by saying that shouting meant nobody would learn from each other, and that he should have tried to explain their actions, as they were to us. I don’t know if I have ever been as proud of her as I was in that moment.
After no more than 10 minutes one of the men said that they would have to crack on as they had families to get back to, which brought home to me how normal these men were. That they had partners, and kids, and weren’t just anonymous racist thugs out to create hate and division. They feel cast adrift by a society that no longer works for them or their families and are looking for someone to blame. They have been corralled by Russian bots and billionaire-backed bigots into blaming refugees and small boats.
Days later, reflecting on the experience, I cannot tell you if we made a difference to their thinking, and I have wondered how they would have retold our conversation to their families when they got home that night.
But I know how it made my daughter and I feel, and that was elated. That somehow during a brief moment in time four people had a conversation which was respectful and calm.
I am an optimist, and I believe that ultimately the British people won’t allow politics of hate and division to win out. But Reform, and Nigel Farage, will win if we don’t find a more compelling narrative to counter the lies of the far right, and give a stake in the future to men like this.
Your next read
square LIFESTYLETwo minute, expert fixes for every twinge and ache in your body
square LIFESTYLEWhat stress does to your health after a day, a week, a month, and a year
square LIFESTYLESir Andy Murray: My worst financial decision was buying a Ferrari
square FASHIONThe best supermarket winter coats, by a fashion editor – including Asda’s £38 trench
Hence then, the article about i confronted men putting up england flags in my area i left feeling optimistic was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( I confronted men putting up England flags in my area – I left feeling optimistic )
Also on site :