Why we should never politicise and devalue Remembrance Day

91 years ago today the Great War ended. The war to end all wars. And yet only twenty years later the world descended once again into global conflict which would lead to the needless deaths of even more still.

Marking this anniversary is something I’ve always felt that Britain does remarkably well; sombrely and poignantly. In each city, town and village wreaths will be laid at the memorials which list every person killed in conflict and people pay their respects with two minutes of silence.

This is the first year in which there are no longer any living survivors of the trenches. The war has now passed from memory into history. I’m not sure that anyone today could get close being able to fathom what it must have been like to fight in the trenches. It is almost completely impossible to imagine what life must have been like there, despite the first-hand accounts, poetry, documentaries and even sketchy footage.

In fact one of the most emotive depictions I have seen is the ending to Blackadder Goes Forth, in which all of the characters meet their deaths, which then fades out to the scene of a field of poppies (see the video at the bottom of this blog).

To put the seemingly limitless loss of life into context, families are currently mourning the death of the 200^th casualty since Britain began operations in Afghanistan. Already people are rightly beginning to question whether military operations should continue. Yet on the first day alone of the battle of the Somme one hundred times this number (20,000) died and a further 35,500 were wounded. These are just numbers, but it’s roughly equivalent to the size of the town of Rugby disappearing overnight. In total 15,000,000 on all sides died.

Today we donate money to the British Legion and are able to personally pay tribute to all of those killed in all conflicts by wearing a poppy. All of those who died gave up their lives to enable us to live in a free society, where we are free to able to make whatever choices we wish, free to speak our minds, free to vote for whom we choose. It is therefore totally abhorrent to use this day of commemoration for any form of political wrangling, or indeed coerce people into making the gesture if wearing a poppy.

People can wear a poppy if they choose to – but they should never feel pressured into doing so which increasingly seems to be happening on the television. John Snow apparently refuses to wear a poppy when presenting the Channel 4 News for this very reason, but off camera does indeed wear one. Likewise, the Italian manager of the England football team, Fabio Capello, chooses not to wear a poppy as he respects it as a British act. On the other end of the scale, the British Legion has asked BNP leader Nick Griffin not to wear a poppy badge throughout the year in order that it not become a political symbol.

Equally, as part of its anti-Gordon Brown week, the Sun derided the Prime Minister for not bowing his head upon laying a wreath at the Cenotaph on Sunday. But as John Walsh of the Independent points out:

“If a politician lays a wreath at the Cenotaph, it's not an insult; it's an expression of respect. And forgetting to adjust your head a certain way indicates you have personal feelings and aren't just going through the motions.”

In a similar vein, five of the Premier League football teams chose not to embroider a poppy onto the front of their shirts for last weekend’s matches. Manchester United was one of those teams and a spokesperson rightfully pointed out that poppies were available around the ground, were worn by club officials and the club works regularly with armed forces charities.

Yet again the bullying campaigns such as in the Daily Mail to ‘shame’ those who do not wear a poppy wholly miss the point. Quite instead of respecting the lives that were lost they are devaluing their sacrifice.

I shall leave the final word with Guardian journalist Richard Williams:

“The bullying campaign run by the Daily Mail debased a tradition that, in its modesty and dignity, reflects individual responses to collective emotion. Coercion does not come well from a newspaper that might do better to reflect on its own reaction to the rise of totalitarianism in the 1930s (sample headline: "Hurrah for the Blackshirts!")”