"This is NOT racist never has been never will be," reads the fundraising page of a group calling itself the Wythall Flaggers, which had raised more than £2,000 last 19 August, mostly in small donations of £5 and £10. "We have members of the community of all ethnicities and religions stopping by and praising what we are doing so please don’t call this racist."
The money, according to the page’s organizer, will be used for "coating the local community in England flags as this is home and we should be patriotic and proud ... We need help to cover every street in Wythall with our beautiful St George’s cross." Just weeks after many people in England united around its national flag as the country’s female football team won the European championships, the cross of St George and the British union jack are being raised again in communities across the country. This time however, it is part of an increasingly organised campaign that claims to be purely about patriotism but which many fear – amid a climate of anti-migrant protests and rising far-right activity – could be much more divisive and dangerous. "Let’s bring back patriotism once and for all," reads the Facebook page of Operation Raise the Colors, which urges members to post images of the assorted national flags of the four British nations "being raised around our great towns and cities." Users from Walsall and Coventry and Redditch have posted images of flags on lamp-posts and painted on mini-roundabouts and folded in piles ready for deployment. "In case anyone needs flags Temu has them," wrote one poster. Amazon has a deal on flagpoles, suggested another. A third posted a plea that the union flag be hung the right way up. Having apparently grown out of efforts last July in the Birmingham suburbs of Weoley Castle and Northfield, flag-flying has gathered pace in the city and elsewhere, attracting controversy – and wider political and media attention – after the city council said it would remove banners and flags from lamp-posts as part of a plan to upgrade to LED lighting. Flags have been hung in neighbourhoods across the city, with social media posts claiming "patriotic people" were putting new banners up on lamp-posts as quickly as local authority staff removed them. The council has said it has no policy of removing flags, saying it "proudly" flew the union flag outside the Council House every day. "When it comes to items attached to lamp-posts, it is normal council procedure for these to be removed on a regular basis ... As has always been the case, people are free to fly or hang flags from their homes or gardens, but we ask that they are not attached to street furniture." Many self-described patriots remain outraged, however, and the controversy gathered further pace after the London borough of Tower Hamlets, which has been a flashpoint for anti-migrant protests, confirmed that it was removing St. George flags from lamp-posts. The 12 councils controlled by Reform jointly pledged that they would not take down union or St. George flags, calling them "symbols of unity and inclusion." Tower Hamlets council said said: "While we recognize people wish to express their views, we have a responsibility to monitor and maintain council infrastructure. Where flags are attached to council-owned infrastructure without permission, they may be removed as part of routine maintenance."