Global Dispatches: UK—A Cross to Bear

England as a legal or national entity is largely swallowed up by Great Britain.
Global Dispatches: UK—A Cross to Bear
Piggotts' employee Bob McWilliam checks stock of the Flag of St George in the warehouse of the flag maker on June 8, 2010 in Ongar, England. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
Simon Veazey
10/13/2010
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/101881765.jpg" alt="Piggotts' employee Bob McWilliam checks stock of the Flag of St George in the warehouse of the flag maker on June 8, 2010 in Ongar, England. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)" title="Piggotts' employee Bob McWilliam checks stock of the Flag of St George in the warehouse of the flag maker on June 8, 2010 in Ongar, England. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1813485"/></a>
Piggotts' employee Bob McWilliam checks stock of the Flag of St George in the warehouse of the flag maker on June 8, 2010 in Ongar, England. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
The English national flag is apparently the only flag in America that, in a few circumstances, is allowed to be flown above the Stars and Stripes.

I would love to think this is a sop [something to placate or soothe] of respect thrown to a long-distant cousin, separated by a long-forgotten family feud, but I know it’s just another example of how the St. George’s cross means different things to different people.

For some English, the flag is simply a symbol of national identity that sits innocently alongside other English national symbols, like the red rose, and the oak tree. But for others it carries darker, unpleasant, and controversial connotations.

Adopted as the English national flag around 800 years ago, the red on white cross is the symbol of St. George, the patron saint of England. In America it was adopted not as a symbol of England, but as “God’s flag,” and thus allowed a higher status than the American flag.

Exactly how it came to be the English national flag is a little hazy. Initially it was used during the crusades by French knights; the English eventually reclaimed it, but not before it had cemented itself as a symbol of the Crusades.

These days, the symbol still brings disputes over ownership, and its origins in the Crusades still attract controversy.

I was reminded of this a few days ago while reading a Web headline about a 1,000-strong protest in a nearby city against the so-called “Islamification of Britain.” As I read the headline an image was already forming in my mind and when I clicked the to the article, the image appeared just as I had envisioned: the contorted faces of angry young men draped in St. George’s flag, framed by the yellow jackets of riot police.

The protesters, supporters of the “counter-jihadist” English Defense League (EDL), argue that they are patriotically defending Englishness in the face of encroaching Islamic influence. EDL critics say they are a fascist organization using the flag, with its Crusades affiliation, as a deliberately provocative symbol.

The association of the flag with the far-right National Front party is not new as over the last few decades many people of ethnic minorities have come to see the flag with trepidation; and the flag’s more proper use, has in turn, frequently become the victim of political correctness.

England as a legal or national entity is largely swallowed up by Great Britain—although the identity of England itself still remains sharply distinct.

England is governed by the British Parliament, not the English parliament, ruled by British laws, and represented abroad by the British prime minister. There isn’t much of an excuse to fly the flag.

Only in sport does the English flag really come into its own—when the kingdom splits neatly and comfortably into its constituent parts, like some uber-transformer toy.

But even the world of sport hasn’t kept the reputation of the flag clean. The rampant football hooliganism of the ’80s carved out a dark reputation for England fans around the world. The St. George’s cross was the leitmotif running through shocking footage of chair-smashing, bottle-hurling swarms of England fans that frequently hit news screens.

The reputation of the fans has improved in recent years, but the flag is once again running the gauntlet of a potential fascist symbol and political correctness.

But if history is anything to go by, it may yet emerge cleanly as the symbol of Englishness it once was; it has after all already endured 800 years of change.
Simon Veazey is a UK-based journalist who has reported for The Epoch Times since 2006 on various beats, from in-depth coverage of British and European politics to web-based writing on breaking news.
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