'Operation raise the colours': Why this is not 'real' patriotism

By George Marshall

Over the past few weeks, a disturbing trend has begun circulating across social media

under the name of ‘Operation Raise the Colours.’ Across the United Kingdom, people have been tying St George’s Crosses and Union flags to lamp posts, hanging them from their windows and even (illegally) painting them on roundabouts, supposedly to promote Anglocentric patriotism.

With hard-right figures like Robert Jenrick getting involved, criticising “Britain-hating”

councils while doing so, as well as far-right groups like Britain First contributing between 200 and 250 flags to the movement, it is clear the intent of this goes beyond sharing a pride for Britain. As councils remove these flags and more videos surface each day of people joining this trend, Britain is divided once more. This time, national symbols are once again being weaponised and passed off as patriotism.

My criticism of this movement instead comes from the action of putting up these flags and the clear motivations behind this – an act of hostility against the establishment and conformity with the narratives of the far right.

We must be clear: patriotism isn’t inherently bad. When conducted in a moderated and

inclusive way, national pride should be celebrated and shown at every available opportunity. After all, it is patriotism – that which evokes a sense of pride, community and inclusiveness – which turns landmasses into nations. This logic also applies to these flags, even with their damaging historical connotations: they are symbols which are there to represent all of us in this country and should be used in moments of national celebration like the Women’s Euro Final and VE Day.

In full awareness of what the St George’s Cross and Union flag have represented and

continues to, it is not the flags I am attempting to dispel regarding ‘Operation Raise the Colours.’ My criticism of this movement instead comes from the action of putting up these flags and the clear motivations behind this – an action of hostility against the establishment and conformity with the narratives of the far right.

In other words, a flag is very much a reflection of what those who hoist it believe. When it is hoisted by those who view a nation as “theirs” rather than “ours,” it then becomes a symbol of exclusion and intolerance, rather than one of unity and acceptance. That is what is happening across Britain’s streets.

You see, ‘Operation Raise the Colours’ is currently being positioned by the far right as the answer to everything that is wrong with Britain. Disguised as patriotism to make it harder to criticise without bolstering their own claim that “England has lost its love for its heritage,” it is being framed as what Britain needs to become a “great” nation again.

Videos on social media displaying flags being fixed to lamp posts as They’ll Always be an England and Rule Brittania plays, all too clearly highlights a desire to take Britain back to an era where “Britishness” meant “whiteness” amongst other things.

Behind the red, white and blue being hoisted over Britain’s streets, the scale of a group in Britain that believes colours are more important than solutions is being revealed. That is deeply concerning. These actions reflect the scale of people who believe the state is anti- British and hold views that Britain needs to return to a time when “Britishness” meant exclusion and conquest, not inclusion and tolerance. The culture war that has been plaguing Britain for years is now in one of its most physical and widespread forms.

So why is the St George’s Cross and Union Jack being utilised to evoke these notions of nationalism, and what does this movement highlight about the far right in modern Britain?

The simple answer to the first question is how it has been used in the past. Despite at times reflecting unity and national pride, The Union Jack and the St George’s Cross as the flags of the United Kingdom and England respectively, has often symbolised conquest, imperialism and exclusion – not just at home, but overseas. From colonial expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries where the flag was used to spread the idea of British superiority to new territories, to its use by far right organisations like the National Front in the 1960s, 70s and 80s as a tool of exclusion and a symbol of anti-immigration, these flags have a long, complicated history.

So, when our flag has been historically contorted and exploited to symbolise far right narratives, those same groups cannot claim these flags no longer evoke those sentiments. Whilst not every use of these flags in the modern day is to incite hatred or exclusion, its historical connotations are not easily erased and are instead sometimes reinvigorated to express similar attitudes.

It is clear that these flags are being used with the intention of attempting to revive the power and meanings they once held.

In recent years, particularly in the midst and aftermath of Brexit, the far right has made a

concerted effort to reclaim these flags as emblems of cultural superiority, and by extension racial superiority, used not for patriotism alone, but also to connote a desire to bring back “proper Britishness.” Additionally, the debates flags have caused in recent months with regards to Reform believing only British flags should be flown over council buildings, has continued to perpetuate the notion that these flags are being used equally as much as a symbol of division as they are symbols of patriotism.

With the context of these being too difficult to ignore, it is clear that these flags are being used with the intention of attempting to revive the power and meanings they once held. In other words, attempting to return to signals of “British dominance” and division between “us” and “them”, that is what is being thinly veiled under the guise of patriotism seen on our streets and on our social media feeds.

Whilst that alone is troubling, what this phenomenon reveals about the far right, and more broadly about the state of British politics at present, is equally disturbing.

Above all, this movement highlights just how receptive large swathes of the British public has become to culture war tactics, instigated by the likes of Nigel Farage and contributed to by those like Kemi Badenoch. This comes with the Conservative leader saying recently that those who oppose this flag-waving movement “fail to understand the country,” ensuring more people believe that state is working against them. What once was viewed as fringe rhetoric and the narrative of small far right groups is now entering mainstream discourse on an uncontrollable scale. Symbols like flags are being used more than ever before in recent years to stir division and criticise the establishment for being “anti-British.” Britain has been divided by the far right on this issue with no in between: either you criticise this display of nationalism and are branded as hating your country, or you prove your loyalty and pride for it by intently evoking division.

Despite this dissent seeming too uncontrollable to fix, those on the left of politics still have opportunities to limit the claims and growth of the far-right. Importantly, this must not be dismissed as just “silly flag-waving.” Instead, the left must reclaim the idea of what it means to be proud of this country to dispel the argument that anyone who does not support this farcical display “hates this country.” This, unlike the far-right, must be rooted in substance and not in symbols: pride in the NHS, workers’ rights, our historical position as a pioneer and defender of democracy, our diverse society and everything else that makes these nations truly great. We must also reclaim our flags to symbolise unity, love, tolerance and accountability, and wave them proudly in that spirit to end its weaponisation.

Yet again we see the far right turn to spectacle rather than creating actual strategy.

‘Operation Raise the Colours’ is not patriotism, its far-right rhetoric thinly veiled in red,

white and blue. If flags and other symbols can evoke this level of public fervour and division, then we must not only worry about what real issues are being ignored, but also the future of right-wing politics in Britain and across the world. True patriotism is not hanging flags on lampposts in the name of national pride – it is about being well informed, tolerant and wanting to make a genuine positive change.

Yet again we see the far right turn to spectacle rather than creating actual strategy. This latest farcical display once again highlights their growing dependency on culture wars such as this. We must not stand by and let symbols which are supposed to represent all of us in this nation be used to exclude others and spread a harmful rhetoric.

Images: Getty and BBC