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Trade Unions, Legions, Red and white poppies

anemic White Poppy long ago gave up ghost

By Judi McLeod

Monday, November 13, 2006

Like a covert spy hiding in a brave soldiers' bunker, the White Poppy seeks to replace the Red Poppy on Remembrance Day.

Insipid in nature, the White Poppy is worn as an alternative to its red counterpart by pacifists.

around since 1926, the White Poppy has never in any significant way come off the shelf.

"In 1926, a few years after the introduction of the red poppy in the UK, the idea of pacifists making their own poppies was put forward by a member of the No More War Movement (and that the black centre of the British Legion's red poppies should be imprinted with "No More War). (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). "Nothing seems to have come of this, until in 1933 the Women's Co-operative Guild introduced the White Poppy; their intention was to remember the war dead (as with the red poppy), but with the added meaning of a hope for the end of all wars.

"The White Poppy was at first produced by the Co-operative Wholesale Society, because the British Legion refused to be associated with its manufacture. In 1934 the recently formed Peace Pledge Union joined the CWS in production of the poppies, and eventually took over production and distribution altogether. The annual White Poppy appeal is still run by the PPU."

But trade unions are no match for veterans and the Battle of the Poppy wages on.

Even as Remembrance Day 2006 was being commemorated at cenotaphs the world over, peace movement members were declaring it high time to "move from a service of remembrance to a service for peace".

andrew Kleissner, an ordained Baptist Church minister in Ipswich, England is leading the White Poppy drive overseas.

"I am amazed that so many people in the churches never seem to question the annual Remembrance ritual which has become a regular, even anticipated, part of the religious calendar," Kleissner laments. "Personally, I would far prefer to organize alternative peace services focusing on repentance, prayer and recognition of the terrors of today's world rather than on recollecting the past."

Wiping out the past is an all but impossible mission for ambitious peace activists.

In Canada, Patti Hartnagel, a member of Edmonton Women in Black, an anti-war group that is selling white poppies, says the red and white symbols don't have to be in conflict with each other, but instead should be worn together. (www.canada.com, Nov. 8, 2006.)

That's an idea that will never wash with the fiercely proud Royal Canadian Legion. Red poppies sold by the Legion in advance of Remembrance Day honour Canada's war dead in a practice that has been the Canadian way since 1921.

"It's taking a symbol of sacrifice and using it to represent a political position," concludes Rod Stewart, a vice-president of the legion's alberta-Northwest Territories Command.

"November 11th is Remembrance Day. It is the one day set aside where we show our respect to the war dead. We don't get judgmental about why they died or where they died or for whom they died."

Stewart said the white poppies "piggyback" an inappropriate political message onto Remembrance Day. He said a more appropriate day might be September 21, the (United Nations) International Day of Peace, and suggested the groups sell olive branches instead of poppies.

The legion issued a statement condemning the white poppy campaign last Tuesday. "This practice is not only disturbing, but illegal," stated the press release.

The poppy, in any form other than a real poppy, is a registered symbol of the legion and can't be used without permission, Stewart said. He added that the legion would ask groups selling white poppies to stop. Legal action has been used in the past to enforce trademark infringement.

The bloodless White Poppy has been dying a slow death from anemia since its birth, and is not likely to replace the ones that grow in Flanders Field anytime soon.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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