Our Flag, Our People
IT’S FINALLY HERE! Our inaugural zine, ‘Our Flag, Our People’, is out now!
IT’S FINALLY HERE! Our inaugural zine, ‘Our Flag, Our People’, is out now!
‘Our Flag, Our People’ emerged in response to the proliferation of flags across the UK. I wanted to do more than fan the flames of the enduring culture war in which Britain, Britishness, and the national flags are flattened and reduced to binary thinking: either good or bad, progressive or conservative, individual or communal - a harmful paradigm with rhetoric that results in real pain for marginalised communities. What transpired was an exploration into the ways our relationship to Britain/Britishness is shaped by positionality.
Holly’s Guide to British Assimilation facilitates this exploration - thanks Kaia for the idea - and the following submissions elaborate, provoke, or illustrate each ‘step’ of the guide. As Rosie (Merrie England) takes aim at the hollow nationalism spurred by the far-right, Abigail (Shithole) and Kaitlin (Not a GCSE Between Them) draw attention to regional decline. As Jess (Hair of the Dog) navigates English pride and shame, Kene (This Land Is My Lungs) and James (An Island of Elsewhere) contend with where we’re ‘really’ from.
Beyond the culture war’s binarism, our flag is an exposition of our people’s lives and journeys through British society. Through pluralism we can better understand the ways we are kept divided and pitted against one another as the British capitalist machine marches on.
Dyar Hussain (Editor)
Read it. Share it. We hope it sparks some important conversations.
Thank you so much to all of our contributors:
Abigail Collicutt Daryl Chau Em Dyer Holly Gregory James E Clissett Jess Barry Kaitlin Willoughby Kene Obienu MNamug Rosie Robinson Vig Venkataramaiah
We hope you enjoy!