by Raymond Ibrahim, The Stream
England’s oldest national flag, the red cross of St. George on a white banner, is currently embroiled in controversy — particularly amid the nation’s ongoing migrant crisis. The more some Britons raise it aloft, the more others complain about it.
For those flying it, the flag represents pride in being English — reclaiming a symbol of national unity, heritage, and patriotism, no different from when other peoples display their own flags. Detractors, however — most of whom are reflexively anti-English, even if they share English DNA — insist it is a symbol of “far-right” extremism, racism, and xenophobia. To them, it represents exclusion and hostility toward migrants, the overwhelming majority of whom are Muslim.
The truth, however, appears to lie in the middle. English patriots are indeed rallying to their nation’s oldest flag as a collective act of defiance against what they see as an Islamic migrant takeover — one in which Muslims are being used to erode the nation, “groom” its women, and suppress English (particularly Christian) culture and heritage.
Meanwhile, both sides seem to be oblivious to the flag’s actual (and rather ironic) origins: the St. George banner was forged in the crucible of Christian warfare against Islam.