Of flags and lampposts
Oct. 7th, 2025 05:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hmmm_teaWent into town today and someone has put a load of Israeli flags on a number of lampposts along the seafront. We recently had a similar thing with St George's flags a few weeks ago (which have since been taken down by the council).
While I disagree with most of the actions of Israel in the current conflict, I get that the events at the music festival 2 years ago were horrendous and people should be allowed to commemorate them if they need to. However, even if the flags are simply intended as a symbol of solidarity, they still seem a little provocative given how precarious the situation is there at the moment, so I'm sure there must be some other way of doing it.
It feels as if flags are becoming more and more meaningful in a very uncomfortable way, and most of that meaning seems to be down to arbitary boundaries that someone has decided to draw on a map (and often not the people that are affected by where the line is). I know that some people would argue it's also to do with culture, but I'm a little unconvinced by that argument as culture seems to be much less rigidly bound by borders and often connected to less formal geographic locations.
Having come back to this blog after some time, I was looking back through my icons and was reminded of this one. It's a photo of Oxymoron by Mark Wallinger, a flag he created when tensions were running high in Northern Ireland combining elements of both the UK and Irish flags. I saw it flying on the South Bank near the Royal Festival Hall some time around 15-20 years ago (guess if I looked back through the posts here, I'd probably find out exactly when it was). I love how thought provoking it is on the whole concept of national identity.
Not going to go out and tie copies of it to lampposts, but somehow think it would help if more people would question these things.
While I disagree with most of the actions of Israel in the current conflict, I get that the events at the music festival 2 years ago were horrendous and people should be allowed to commemorate them if they need to. However, even if the flags are simply intended as a symbol of solidarity, they still seem a little provocative given how precarious the situation is there at the moment, so I'm sure there must be some other way of doing it.
It feels as if flags are becoming more and more meaningful in a very uncomfortable way, and most of that meaning seems to be down to arbitary boundaries that someone has decided to draw on a map (and often not the people that are affected by where the line is). I know that some people would argue it's also to do with culture, but I'm a little unconvinced by that argument as culture seems to be much less rigidly bound by borders and often connected to less formal geographic locations.
Having come back to this blog after some time, I was looking back through my icons and was reminded of this one. It's a photo of Oxymoron by Mark Wallinger, a flag he created when tensions were running high in Northern Ireland combining elements of both the UK and Irish flags. I saw it flying on the South Bank near the Royal Festival Hall some time around 15-20 years ago (guess if I looked back through the posts here, I'd probably find out exactly when it was). I love how thought provoking it is on the whole concept of national identity.
Not going to go out and tie copies of it to lampposts, but somehow think it would help if more people would question these things.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-08 10:20 am (UTC)That's an interesting flag in your icon. I lived in Northern Ireland during the troubles and the flags were very provocative, none more than the flag of the Orange Order flown by the protestants to celebrate the battle of the Boyne when William III deposed James II, which really caused tension and violence between the Protestants and Catholics in the six counties.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-08 11:37 am (UTC)I remember events in Northern Ireland coming up on the news right through my childhood, long before I knew how far back this went and it simply wouldn't have occurred to me that it did.