In the UK, as the day of remembrance for the dead of the first world war comes up, two kind of poppies to be worn on your vest’s lapel come up. They are sold by volunteers for the benefit of charitable organization.
There is the white poppy and the red poppy. Basically, the red poppy is worn by British patriots to honor the dead, the white poppy is worn by those who want to protest the war. The red poppy is a lot more popular than the white, but some people wear both, and some people like me wear only the white, mainly because the red one is too associated with patriotism, but also because it was created by the co-operative women’s guild, and therefore represents a more feminist view of what war is.
Here is the history of the white poppy from the white poppy website:
“White Poppy – origins
The idea of an alternative poppy dates back to 1926, just a few years after the red poppy came to be used in Britain. A member of the No More War Movement suggested that the British Legion should be asked to imprint ‘No More War’ in the centre of the red poppies and failing this pacifists should make their own flowers.
In 1933 the Co-operative Women’s Guild produced the first white poppies to be worn on Armistice Day (later called Remembrance Day). The Guild stressed that the white poppy was not intended as an insult to those who died in the First World War – a war in which many of the women lost husbands, brothers, sons and lovers. The following year the Peace Pledge Union joined the CWG in the distribution of the poppies and later took over their annual promotion.”
The website also explains why they chose to differentiate from the red poppy and outlines the history of the red poppy as well. Check it out, and maybe, introduce that idea in the US if it is not present there already. I will scan my white poppy so that you can see what it looks like. [Source]
Why can’t Canada adopt a poppy this noble and fashionable?
10 comments on “The White Poppy”
“represents a more feminist view of what war is” that’s stupid. War is war, no matter how you view it. People still died, even looking through feminists’ eyes. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t wear the red poppy.
The person who shared that post obviously was confused. I didn’t see the point of highlighting the feminist perspective (though feminists have traditionally been anti-war, dating back to even before the American Civil War, when women created Mothers’ Day in an attempt to limit violence.) The idea of the white poppy is brilliant though. The red poppy has nationalistic and violence-condoning connotations. As the organization that created white poppies after WWI share,
“The White Poppy symbolises the belief that there are better ways to resolve conflicts than killing strangers.
Our work, primarily educational, draws attention to many of our social values and habits which make continuing violence a likely outcome.
From economic reliance on arm sales (Britain is the world second largest arms exporter) to maintaining manifestly useless nuclear weapons Britain contributes significantly to international instability. The outcome of the recent military adventures highlights their ineffectiveness in today’s complex world.
Now 85 years after the end of the ‘war to end all war’ we still have a long way to go to put an end to a social institution which in the last decade alone killed over 10 million children.”
Why shouldn’t those of us who oppose violence work to alter symbols we use in order to reflect our ideals and ensure that we are clear that no violence should be glorified?
I personally don’t like how the white poppy looks the red poppy just jumps out at you more.
I think in canada stepping away from the red poppy in anyway would be a little disrespectful of the vets.
the day of rembers isn’t about protesting or pece its about reembering those that died for us in a very real and nessecary war. WWI and WWII can’t be anyway compared to iraq.
I think that any assumption of disrespect toward veterans could be cast aside with a proper education campaign showing that white poppies express the thing these people were supposedly fighting for, Peace.
Rememberance Day should be a day we remember how horrifying war is in any form it takes. Yes, we should be thankful that some were willing to die to gain a peace, but we should also stress that there are better ways to gain it than resorting to violence. Otherwise we risk losing the very peace they made efforts to give us.
WWI and WWII certainly can be compared to Iraq in many ways. America would be the agressor this time, but the loss of lives and the damage to world peace is no less important to note and be wary of. Hitler’s march to war is mirrored remarkably well in Bush’s. Both men mislead their countries and the world in very dangerous ways, ultimately leading to a conflict in which the entire world had / has a huge stake in.
Yes, WWII was one that, by the time Canada joined it, fell into the extremely rare last resort category. However that doesn’t make it any less of a failure for humanity in general. The World Wars were preventable, as are all wars, and what we should learn from them is the great need for all of us to work toward peace.
I suppose the Brittish connotation may be different. The white poppy is an old tradition there, from between the two world wars, so perhaps we’ve altered the significance of the red poppy instead of introducing a white one.
I’ve often felt the violent acts of soldiers in the world wars were glorified falsely. There was nothing grandly noble in what we were forced to do, only desperation. Humanity was a cornered animal with no resort but to fight back.
finally something we disagree on.
Here in Calgary, poppy colour dosen’t matter much.
There are thieves stealing the poppy donation boxes in the major malls and gas stations.
I heard about that. It’s quite sad.
Ah, I didn’t know they were made over here. That’s interesting.