“The people who’ve died in war should be honoured, but war should not be honoured” said the late great historian Howard Zinn. That statement encapsulates the current trend of glorifying war.
The red poppy is now everywhere you turn. Pretty much every presenter on television seems to have to wear one (so much for the right to choose), and they’re sold from every venue, from your local shop, to your favourite sports team’s ground.
With this in mind, I have a request for all of your readers. The next time you see them on sale, go up and ask if they sell the white poppy?
Unlike the red ones, the white poppy remembers all of the war dead, including civilians. If you consider that around nine out of ten fatalities in war today are regular people like you, me, and your children. They’re made by Peace Pledge Union.
We have to get out of this delusion that all of ‘our boys’ are heroes. Britain, the U.S. and it’s allies killed around a million people in Iraq alone. War turns everyone into ‘bad guys’.
Also, when you hear “they died for their country”, that’s a lie. Their lives were taken away from them, and they died for their government. Unfortunately, Britain is less safe now since it’s invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
War must be abolished!
Colin, Tooting
