Last Minute Thought - Want to Street Sell Poppies In Harringay?

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Permalink Reply by drew on November 7, 2014 at 14:28

Hi,
I would like to see selling white poppies instead of red poppies because:

OVER THE next few weeks everyone will be encouraged to buy and wear a red poppy.

There will be military bands playing at main line rail stations, poppy brooches on sale in department stores, trays of poppies at every supermarket checkout. This hard sell is urged on by broadcast media where it seems that everyone is compelled to wear the red poppy on camera.

Poppies are flown thousands of miles so correspondents from Washington to Hong Kong are able to be seen wearing them.

But there are growing numbers of people who refuse to join in. And I am one of them.

Many of us instead wear a white poppy, the symbol of peace. We do so not because we feel the suffering of those who died or were bereaved any less, everyone agrees that we should commemorate the sacrifice.

please read more:
http://stopwar.org.uk/news/why-i-will-wear-a-white-poppy-to-honour-...

all the best

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Permalink Reply by Philip on November 7, 2014 at 14:37

thanks for that Drew. I think most people want to wear a poppy for all the right reasons. But one thing you musn't mention is 'why do we keep sending our troops to kill and be killed?'

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Permalink Reply by Liz on November 7, 2014 at 14:52

You may be interesting in a talk at St Paul Harringay tomorrow (Sat) at 2 by Jennifer Bell on Conscientious Objection in the area. I have attended this talk when it was held at the library and it is well worth the effort.
Click here for more details

There is also a talk at the Friends Meeting House on 26 November which you may find of interest
The world is my country about the movements and people that opposed the war

There is increasing interest in this side of the war and it is much easier to talk about now than in times past but there have always been people opposed to the war.

As a child of the Co-operative movement I am very aware that the white poppy was first introduced by the Women's Co-operative Guild in 1933 and was intended as a lasting symbol for peace and an end to all wars.

The White Poppy was produced by the Co-operative Wholesale Society because the Royal British Legion had refused to be associated with its manufacture.

While the White Poppy was never intended to offend the memory of those who died in the Great War, many veterans felt that its significance undermined their contribution and the lasting meaning of the red poppy. Such was the seriousness of this issue that some women lost their jobs in the 1930s for wearing white poppies. Now The White Poppy Appeal is now run by the Peace Pledge Union but maintains its links with the Co-op movement. It is interesting to see it make such a high profile 'comeback' on the centenary. Some people choose to wear both.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on November 7, 2014 at 16:04

@Jessica, that's part of our new strategy to accelerate membership growth even faster.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on November 7, 2014 at 16:16

Not again..........

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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on November 7, 2014 at 16:31

...and would you believe it, I'm a white poppy person too. Thanks for mentioning it Drew.

The absurd situation now that everyone in the media is compelled to wear one.... even the *tussies* on strictly do.. it's absurd and I'm sure certainly not what those killed or maimed in WW1 and most other conflicts would have wanted.

Most men that I knew who had served in WW1, never wanted to talk about their involvement. They preferred remembrance of the 'quiet kind' and not today's dumbed down 'Hero' culture and requirement to wear a poppy to get street cred. Because I'm afraid that's what has the whole thing has been turned into.

I want ramble on about it being hijacked by government(s) to shore up their miltaristic aims.. many HOLers don't like talk that.

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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on November 7, 2014 at 16:34

edit facility not working.. **I want** should read **I won't**

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Permalink Reply by Liz on November 7, 2014 at 17:05

I recently began a fascinating and free online course with Future Learn about trauma and memory in ww1 and the first week was about the physical and mental wounds brought home by the soldiers and the difficulties they had. Last week, I went to a beautiful and very moving exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery which featured pictures of servicemen and women who have to live with terrible injuries. Studying and looking at the materials reminds me that it is easy to forget in all of this that millions of men and women in conflict don't die but have to live with disability.

So I have changed my view on the poppy. I do buy one and I do contribute to BL funds. I do so as much for those that lived and who may not have made it onto war memorials but whose time at the fronts shortened their lives. I also don't think that the commemorations have been hijacked, simply because too many good historians, both professional and local like Jennifer Bell have done their best to make sure the narratives are corrected and the myths (largely forged by the grandchildren of veterans in the 60s) have been explored and discussed and corrected. I haven't seen that many people wearing poppies and some high profile figures on the TV have made it plain that they won't be bullied into it. As for politicians, well they're a different ballgame altogether but Caroline Lucas (Green) recently appeared in QT with a white poppy...and a red one.

As an amateur historian myself studying this period in depth, I was challenged greatly on my beliefs and knowledge of this war and have been forced to examine just why I think they way I do. I was surprised to find that for some the Great War isn't viewed as a disaster, for example in Poland where it is believed by many that their country wouldn't have been "born" as a modern state without it.

This was not a simple war but a deeply complex one with repercussions that continue today. We can't understand the situation in Europe or the middle East without knowing how this war and the behaviour of countries after the war created some of the problems that are still creating wars today. We do need to talk about it, read about it and reflect on what we read even if it is to disagree.

BTW the theme of this week's free reads is The Great War

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