218. FLAGS - Against Lamppost Patriotism

Sadly a little far-right activism seems to be becoming a late summer tradition here in England. Last year it was violent protests and rioting, and this year it has been the coordinated effort of supposed “patriots” around the country to hang the flags of St George and the Union Jack on lampposts, roundabouts, and bridges and cover the country in red and white “pride”. Like a growing rash, what began as a few spots here and there - flags on a street or two - kept spreading and growing. Two weeks ago, the flags near me were only lining one street. Then we drove across the country to the Lake District and saw the motorways strewn with the things. By the time we got back home the flag plague had metastasised in the streets around our home. Commenting our surprise that a particular road leading off the be-flagged motorway was empty of red crosses the day we returned, by morning that road too was full of cheap flags.

My reaction, of course, would be read by those hanging the things as another symptom of all that is wrong with the country. “You can’t even proudly fly the flag anymore” another grumble to add to the tired list of all the supposed things one “can’t do anymore” in 2025 England by people who continually seem to be doing those very things you supposedly can’t do. But seriously: what is so wrong about flying the flag of the country in which you are living? Why does the sight of this growing parade of waving crosses give me the shivers and feel somehow like an aggressive act in a way that, for example, the copious amounts of stars and stripes flags everywhere when I visit the US doesn’t?

The argument from the people hanging the flags is that these flags express patriotic pride in the country. That there ought to be nothing wrong with proudly flying the flag of your nation in that nation. But it is an argument which is wilfully blind to the historical reality of the symbolic meaning these flags carry. After all, these are the same flags - whether you like it or not - that have been long used as a symbol of far-right and white supremacist terror and oppression in England for decades. Flags which have been weaponised against minorities in the country since long before I was born. The fact that the sudden boom in lamppost flags coincides with a parallel campaign by the far-right to close down asylum hotels across the country (and that the groups outside of such hotels protesting for their closure are usually draped in the very same things) show that this connection to far-right intimidation and even violence is not coincidental. The same message which terrorised targeted people across the country in decades past - for them to “go home” - is being yelled today by people bearing the supposedly innocent flags they are then later tying to lampposts and bridges in an allegedly unrelated display of harmless national pride. But there is clearly nothing harmless about it given the historical and socio-political context.

Consider America’s flag in contrast. It is an equally problematic symbol for some in terms of American imperialism around the world, and even domestically for indigenous Americans for whom it is a symbol of historical wrongdoing and the theft of native lands. There too, the flag is also used by far-right groups to wrap their bigotry and intolerance in the colours and language of patriotism. However, the flying of the flag in America has been part of civic life for so long that the flag’s appearance in public places is not mainly connected to displays of violence, intimidation and prejudice from far-right groups. In fact, its story (whether you believe the narrative or not) is of being a symbol of unity: a melting pot of diverse states and cultures come together in that flag. In more immigration-friendly times, the United States, and therefore its flag, was actually a symbol of welcome to those forging a new life there from other countries, not one of intolerance. So the American flag doesn’t have the same level of negative symbolic baggage as the English flag does within the United States itself. Furthermore, the nationalistic propaganda of America’s founding fathers (rightly or wrongly) simply has placed the flag as a symbol at the centre of civic life in a way that here in England we simply never have. Its omnipresence in the public sphere is long embedded into American culture, whereas here it is not. In America, the flag is raised in schools while children pledge allegiance to it. It is mentioned explicitly in the national anthem, sung at every sporting event, while we here in England sing merely about hoping a deity might save our anxious monarch. And, in America, their flag is hung from pretty much every public building as both a matter of national policy and personal choice for public-facing services: schools, town halls, courthouses, national parks, post offices, libraries, airports, stadiums, etc. And as a result of this normalisation of the flag’s ubiquity, everyday Americans also frequently fly the flag in their own domestic settings. It is very common to see the US flag hung from flagpoles on people’s houses, or in their gardens, porches or decks. Like it or not, it is undeniably part of the American culture to fly the flag in all sorts of places. There are even massive flags sometimes flown from giant flagpoles along the roads.

If this is what the English flag activists are going for - cultural appropriation of this American phenomenon on British soil - it still doesn’t help their argument, for they have also failed here too. After all, there is nothing stopping these supposed English patriots from flying their flags proudly in their own homes, as Americans do, or even making a case for funding and making an agreed national policy of flying the flag from public buildings, if there is a democratic desire for it. But this is not what they are doing. Instead, at a time of anti-asylum-seeker bigotry and a growing threat from the far-right and populist nationalism around the world, these people are not starting a conversation about how to express national pride. They are aggressively and intentionally tying known symbols of racial hatred to lampposts in order to make a clear statement whose meaning is far from benign to anyone old enough to remember those same statements made in the past by groups like the National Front and Combat 18. These are flags being flown at people, rather than flags being flown by people. The difference is signifiant.

While a potential case could be made for England to step up its displays of national pride, such a case would need to address several things the current lamppost campaign ignores. I have already mentioned the symbolic problems with the chosen flag, so a serious question might be asked - if more flags really is what the nation wants - of what an alternative flag might be? Do we have something which already stands for England whilst not also standing for a history of racism and terror? The three lions, for example? Or a flag with the lion and unicorn crest? A serious conversation about the history and symbolism of the flag might give cause for the creation of a new one. Flags can and do evolve and change. If we want an English flag the whole country can get behind, why not set about designing a new one, building on the legacy of the past but wiping away its connotations of hate and violence?

There is also the sticky problem of England. The American flag flown so proudly everywhere across that country is the flag of the United States. While other state flags also fly, they are usually in combination with the national flag, and an acknowledgement that the state is a small part of the national whole. The Union Jack of the United Kingdom also has baggage, but maybe less so than the flag of St George? And importantly, though England is a country in its own right, any English “patriot” needs to acknowledge that England’s identity in the world is not held in isolation, but as part of a (problematic) United Kingdom, incorporating Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A serious conversation about the history of the St George’s cross and its meaning might also have to lead to a serious conversation about the very existence of the United Kingdom, and just how united it is? Similar to America, in Wales and Scotland, the Welsh and Scottish flags are common. Lacking the connotations of violence that comes with the cross of St George, they are often seen as the flags of the oppressed. Symbols of resistance against the colonial invader. Just as the flag of the Republic of Ireland stands in opposition across the border to the familiar St George’s cross of the Northern Irish flag. Remember that old Mitchell and Webb sketch - “are we the bad guys?” Our serious conversation about what our flags actually stand for and what exactly constitutes the “nation” we are supposed to be “proud” of might unleash some uncomfortable home truths. We avoid the conversation because to tug on that thread might unravel the whole precarious shirt.

These flags are not about patriotism, they are about fear, belligerence, and blindly following a meme. They are about intimidation and intolerance. They are about avoiding the difficult conversation instead of having it and about likes on social media within bigoted echo chambers. They are a toxic symbol of toxic times.

Once we did have a symbol of the country that used to make me proud:

hotels welcoming those seeking asylum from persecution with open arms.

Now the hotels are being shut down by angry mobs

and all we have in their place are cheap flags tied from lampposts

wilting damply in the rain.

Author: DaN McKee (he/him)

If you liked this post and have enjoyed what I do here at Philosophy Unleashed - and have been doing every year since 2019 - and want to buy me a coffee or cool philosophy book as a gift to say thank you, feel free to send a small donation/tip my way here.

My own book, ANARCHIST ATHEIST PUNK ROCK TEACHER, is out everywhere on paperback and eBook.  You can order it direct from the publisher or from places like Amazon.  Paperback or e-book.

My academic paper - ‘An error of punishment defences in the context of schooling’ is out in the Journal of Philosophy of Education here.

My other book - AUTHENTIC DEMOCRACY: An Ethical Justification of Anarchism - is available HERE , from the publisher, and from all good booksellers, either in paperback or as an e-Book. 

I also have a chapter in THIS BOOK on punk and anarchism.

Listen to me on The Independent Teacher podcast here. Read my Anarchist Studies journal paper on Anarchism and Character Education here. Listen to me on the Philosophy Gets Schooled podcast here.  Listen to me talk anarchism and wrestling here or anarchism and education here.  For everything else DaN McKee related: www.everythingdanmckee.com