Reform Councillor Withdrew Flag Motion After Peaceful Protest
This week, we saw a rather ridiculous effort from the Reform councillor Philip Crook to stay relevant. Councillor Crook motioned to ban all flags except the Union Jack, St George’s Cross and Southampton City flags from being flown at the Civic Centre. This included the Pride flag, Windrush flag and even the International Women’s Day flag*.
This motion called for an emergency protest from the LGBTQ+ community and other organisations to meet before the public council meeting starts on Wednesday.
On the day, people gathered after 1:00 pm around the Civic Centre to a ray of rainbows, glittering outfits and a multitude of flags. These flags did not exclude; the Pride, Transgender, Bisexual, Palestine, and Ukraine flags fly side by side to represent the inclusiveness we see in our community. Political party members and organisations, such as the Socialist Party, Southampton and South West Union Council, Labour and the Green Party, were present.
As people chanted, took photos, and waited to enter the meeting, the microphone was passed around for the crowd to speak freely. Speeches were made, including those supporting motions to stop flytipping and on cost-of-living matters, illustrating how diverse the gathering was.
Many raise the point that Pride flags have stopped flying in a lot of places, but reflect on why it is more important that all voices need to be heard. Including only the Southampton flag, St Gerog’s Cross, and the Union Jack reflects that we are not addressing the existing diversity within the city. As many have raised that marginalised people are being threatened, flags, as little as the gesture seems, make people feel safe. These voices need to be heard, and the flags need to be seen and not swept under the radar.
As small as the issue may seem, protest participants reminded us that 1930s Germany started off with small incidents. There are no issues too small to protest against. Some holding the mic had also confirmed the ridiculousness of us addressing this motion, wasting time and police force standing under the baking sun to protest, when instead, we can be focusing our energy and time within the council meetings and outside for more pressing social and political matters.
On site, we were greeted by a police force of under ten policemen and women standing at a safe distance from the entry of the Civic Centre, where people gathered, while behind them, a young man and an older man holding other flags stood. They spent a lot of time fiddling with two different styles of St George’s flag that they tried to grab out of a bag. After they did, they held it for a while in front of them, while not moving their stands behind the police and rows of cars; they then decided to bring out an Israeli flag. As it was a windy day, like many others, they managed to proudly show their flags in the air, the two men spent some time unfolding this third flag. Once it was out, they didn’t wave it high and proud. Instead, they quickly put them back into their bag. There were no chants yelled from this side, nor any action to move forward. As the two men chose to express silently, the reason for the men’s presence was unclear. Many respected their distance as they continued standing more like bystanders.
At the time this article was published, Philip Crook had withdrawn their controversial motion, which raises the question: was this a mere publicity stunt to create further controversy between opposing opinions?
This win, sadly, is a temporary one. One of the speeches made outside the building yesterday was by Green Party councillor Misty Burgess: “My motion that I put in with regards to guidance from the EHRC has been deferred to September, because it is apparently sensitive enough.”**
As Councillor Burgess has continued, it is a great outcome, but we would all need to come again in September for their motion, which holds an even bigger threat to the transgender community.
Marginalised people make the effort to be seen, but unfortunately, it is a long battle. Safe spaces should not just happen in designated spaces, but rather they should be public, should be seen, like the flags flying in our city centre. Politicians should not be dividing us; instead, they should be listening and reflecting on our needs. Policies should be up to date to reflect the ever-changing society, making us feel free, safe and included.
* Other flags currently flying in the Southampton council during special occasions include: the Armed Forces Flag, the Commonwealth flag, Hampshire Day flag, Merchant Navy flag, International Women’s Day flag, Hate Crime Awareness Week flag, White Ribbon Day flag, Vaisakhi flag, Windrush Day flag and Black History Month flag.
** For more info on councillor Misty Burgess’ motion: Click here