White poppy

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 (as well as the proposal that the black centre of the British Legion's red poppies should be imprinted with "No More War").{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/04/the-great-poppy-war-how-did-we-get-here|title=The great 'poppy war': how did we get here?|last=Usborne|first=Simon|date=4 November 2016|newspaper=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=19 July 2018}}{{Cite web|last=Basu|first=Srabosti|date=2017-11-10|title=The Argument for the White Poppy|url=http://affinitymagazine.us/2017/11/10/the-argument-for-the-white-poppy/|access-date=2020-12-14|website=Affinity Magazine|language=en-US}} Their intention was to remember casualties of all wars, with the added meaning of a hope for the end of all wars; the red poppy signified only the British military dead.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ppu.org.uk/whitepoppy/index.html|title=White Poppies for Peace|website=Ppu.org.uk|language=en|access-date=19 July 2018}} However, they did not pursue the idea. The first white poppies were sold by the Co-operative Women's Guild in 1933.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1502478/British-Legion-reaches-a-truce-with-the-white-poppy-movement.html|title=British Legion reaches a truce with the white poppy movement|last=Iggulden|first=Amy|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=19 July 2018|language=en}} The Peace Pledge Union (PPU){{cite web|url=https://www.ppu.org.uk/sites/default/files/Remembrance_Sunday_Resource_for_Churches.pdf|title=Remembrance Sunday : Services for Peace a resource from Fellowship of Reconciliation and Peace Pledge Union|website=Ppu.org.uk|access-date=29 March 2022}} took part in their distribution from 1936, and white poppy wreaths were laid from 1937 as a pledge to peace that war must not happen again.{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-big-question-why-are-we-asked-to-wear-a-poppy-and-is-its-significance-being-lost-1807573.html|title=The Big Question: Why are we asked to wear a poppy, and is its|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=19 July 2018|language=en-GB}} Anti-war organisations such as the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship now support the White Poppy Movement.

Those who promote the wearing of white poppies argue that the red poppy also conveys a specific political standpoint, and point to the divisive nature of the red poppy in Northern Ireland, where it is worn mainly by unionists but boycotted by Irish republicans.John Montgomery, quoted in the Irish News, 10 November 1986, p.1

Sales of white poppies steadily rose throughout the 2010s, often causing supporters of the PPU to become targets of abuse. On 1 November 2018 sales of white poppies were higher than in any previous year since white poppies were founded in 1933. As of 7 November 2018, 119,555 white poppies had been sold. The final figure was 122,385. The previous record was 110,000 white poppies in 2015. Until 2014, the record was around 80,000 in 1938.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenews.coop/133716/sector/community/white-poppies-sales-highest-level-ever/|title=White poppy sales hit new record ahead of Armistice centenary – Co-operative News|website=Thenews.coop|date=9 November 2018}}{{cite web | url=https://www.ppu.org.uk/news/white-poppy-sales-break-all-records | title=White poppy sales break all records | Peace Pledge Union|website=Ppu.org.uk| date=8 November 2018}}{{cite news|url=https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/white-poppies-remembrance-johnny-mercer-2198212|title=White Poppy sales hit record high following Plymouth MP's comments|last=O'Leary|first=Miles|date=8 November 2018|work=PlymouthLive|accessdate=4 November 2023}}

In 2018, St John Ambulance in England allowed its volunteers to wear white poppies for the first time.{{cite news |title=White 'pacifist' poppies allowed by St John Ambulance for first time in its history |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/white-poppies-pacifist-st-john-ambulance-symbol-world-war-one-remembrance-red-british-legion-a8584526.html |access-date=14 December 2018 |work=The Independent |date=15 October 2018}}{{Cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/15/st-john-ambulance-volunteers-white-poppy-red-poppy-remembrance-day | title=St John Ambulance to let volunteers wear white remembrance poppy| newspaper=The Guardian| date=15 October 2018| author=Robert Booth}}

Those who endorse the white poppy campaign include actor Mark Rylance,{{Cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/9772658/Remembrance-Day-poppies-should-be-white.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130101012227/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/9772658/Remembrance-Day-poppies-should-be-white.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=1 January 2013 | title=Remembrance Day poppies should be white| date=31 December 2012| last1=Ross| first1=Tim}} poet Benjamin Zephaniah{{Cite web |url= https://twitter.com/bzephaniah/status/263218391295336448 |title= (a poem with white poppy) |quote= Rise above the wars / The folly of endless fight, / Let's try making love, / Let's make our poppies white. |website=Ppu.org.uk |first= Professor Benjamin |last= Zephaniah |date= 30 October 2012}} and rapper Lowkey.{{cite web |url= https://www.facebook.com/Whitepeacepoppy/photos/a.372484435286/10160994200320287 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/318698520286/10160994200320287 |archive-date=2022-02-26 |url-access=limited|website=Facebook.com|title= The White Poppy for Peace Campaign |date= 10 November 2018 |quote= Hip Hop artist Lowkey is wearing a white poppy}}{{cbignore}}{{Better source needed|date=December 2020}}

Children's author Michael Morpurgo described his decision to wear a white poppy alongside his red one in a Radio Times article:

:"Wearing the red poppy for me is not simply a ritual, not worn as a politically correct nod towards public expectation. It is in honour of them, in respect and in gratitude for all they did for us. But I wear a white poppy alongside my red one, because I know they fought and so many died for my peace, our peace. And I wear both side by side because I believe the nature of remembrance is changing, and will change, as the decades pass since those two world wars."{{cite magazine|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/news/radio/2018-11-09/remembrance-day-2018-poppy-michael-morpurgo/ | title=Michael Morpurgo: Why I'll be wearing two poppies this Remembrance Day|magazine=Radio Times}}

In New Zealand, a White Poppy Annual Appeal has been run since 2009 by Peace Movement Aotearoa in the week preceding Anzac Day, with all proceeds going to White Poppy Peace Scholarships.[http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0904/S00238.htm 2009 White Poppy Annual Appeal] on Scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 25 April 2009 The appeal was controversial for some, with Veterans' Affairs Minister Judith Collins describing the white poppy appeal as "incredibly disrespectful to those who served their country".{{cite news |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3603373/Rival-poppy-campaign-angers-veterans |title=Rival poppy campaign angers veterans |author=Hank Schouten and Paul Easton |date=21 April 2010 |work=The Dominion Post |access-date=3 December 2011}}

White poppies have also been worn in New Zealand to mark Remembrance Day. In previous years, the annual white poppy appeal was run as a fundraiser for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament around the time of Hiroshima Day in August. Responsibility for organising the annual appeal was transferred to Peace Movement Aotearoa, as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in New Zealand closed down in 2008.

File:White Wreath for Peace at the Cenotaph in 2018.jpg in 2018, the centenary of the end of the First World War]]

The Royal British Legion has no official opinion on the wearing of white poppies, stating that it "is a matter of choice, the Legion doesn't have a problem whether you wear a red one or a white one, both or none at all",{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/red-white-or-none-at-all-the-great-poppy-debate-6230165.html|title=Red, white, or none at all? The great poppy debate|last=Brown|first=Jonathan|date=11 November 2006|newspaper=The Independent on Sunday|access-date=9 November 2008}} and that it defends the right to wear different poppies. Opponents of the white poppy argue that the traditional red poppy already encompasses the sentiments claimed for the white poppy, such as "remembering all victims of war", and consider that it undermines the message of remembrance.{{cite news |url=http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2012/11/09/20343816.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130115062715/http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2012/11/09/20343816.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=15 January 2013 |title=Legion sees red over white poppy campaign |first=Kendall |last=Walters |website=Cnews.canoe.ca |date=9 November 2012 |access-date=9 November 2012 }} In the 1930s, when the white poppy was first established, some women lost their jobs for wearing them.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/remembrance/how/poppy.shtml|title=Why the Poppy?|year=2008|work=Ninety Years of Remembrance|publisher=BBC|access-date=9 November 2008}} Others are concerned that the money raised by the white poppy appeal may affect the funds raised for the Royal British Legion by the red poppy appeal.{{cite news|last=Wainwright|first=Martin|title=White poppies reopen old wounds / Disarmament divisions affect preparations for Remembrance Day|newspaper=The Guardian|date=7 November 1986|page=6}}

In 1986, John Baker, Bishop of Salisbury, stated in his diocesan newsletter that he had been asked about the appropriateness of the white poppy. Baker responded "let's not be hurt if we see a white poppy...there is plenty of space for red and white to bloom side by side."{{cite book |first=William |last=Hetherington |title=Swimming Against the Tide: The Peace Pledge Union Story |publisher=The Peace Pledge Union |location=London |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-902680-51-7 |pages=48–49 }} Salisbury MP Robert Key disagreed, and later that year asked British prime minister Margaret Thatcher her opinion on the issue. Thatcher expressed her "deep distaste" for the symbol during prime minister's questions.{{cite book |first=Bill |last=Hetherington |chapter=Symbols of Peace |title=Housmans Peace Diary 2007 |publisher=Housmans Bookshop |location=London |year=2006 |edition=54th }} In response, the White Poppy campaign received much media coverage in Britain. The Daily Star ran several articles criticising the White Poppy campaign. In The Guardian, artist Steve Bell published a cartoon satirising Thatcher's opposition to white poppies, which he allowed the Peace Pledge Union to republish.

In November 2014, white poppy wreaths on the Aberystwyth War Memorial had to be replaced after they were removed from the Memorial and thrown in a bin.{{cite news |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/peace-campaigners-outraged-after-white-8123699 |title=Peace campaigners outraged after white poppy wreaths torn down from Aberystwyth War Memorial |newspaper=Wales Online |date=17 November 2014 |access-date=17 January 2015 |first=Alicia |last=Melville-Smith }} There were similar reports of a white poppy wreath being removed from war memorials in Bath in 2018.{{cite news |title=White poppy wreath 'pinched' from Bath War Memorial within a day of Remembrance Sunday celebrations |url=https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/in-your-area/white-poppy-wreath-pinched-bath-2218342 |access-date=14 December 2018 |publisher=Somerset live |date=14 November 2018}}

In 2018, UK Conservative MP Johnny Mercer tweeted that he thought white poppies were "attention seeking rubbish".{{cite news |title=White poppy: How is it different from the red remembrance symbol? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45971456 |access-date=14 December 2018 |work=BBC News |date=25 October 2018}} Mercer's comments led to widespread media debate around the appropriateness of white poppies, with the Peace Pledge Union later crediting Mercer's comments as being responsible for the record level of sales that year. Mercer repeated these views in 2019, after being appointed as Minister for Defence People and Veterans in Boris Johnson's government, accusing white poppy wearers of “hijacking symbolism for their own ends”.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/veterans-white-poppy-johnny-mercer-remembrance-day-sunday-a9196606.html/|title=Military veterans demand Tory minister apologises for calling white poppies 'attention seeking rubbish'|last=Bulham|first=May|date=9 November 2019|work=The Independent|accessdate=3 November 2023}} His comments led to an open letter from multiple military veterans and the organisations that support calling on Mercer to apologise for his comments, and instead "spend energy on addressing homelessness and mental health among ex-servicemen and women".

In 2022 Scottish National Party politician, Michelle Thomson MSP, sparked controversy over wearing a homemade white poppy with a "Yes!" logo in the centre. Critics accused Thomson of being “tacky and tasteless” by using a commemorative poppy to campaign for Scottish independence. Thomson claimed that she had used the "Yes!" pin to secure the poppy to her lapel after her poppy "fell apart over the weekend", and that she had not intended to cause any offence.{{cite news|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23109497.snp-msp-michelle-thomson-accused-shameless-stunt-wearing-indy-poppy-holyrood/|title=SNP MSP Michelle Thomson accused of 'shameless stunt' after wearing Indy poppy at Holyrood|last=Gordan|first=Tom|date=8 November 2022|work=The Herald|accessdate=3 November 2023}}{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/11/08/snp-msp-criticised-for-wearing-white-pro-independence-poppy/|title='Shameless' SNP politician derided for 'tacky and tasteless' white pro-independence poppy|last=Sanderson|first=Daniel|date=8 November 2022|work=The Telegraph|accessdate=3 November 2023}}

• Purple poppy

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.ppu.org.uk/remembrance-white-poppies Remembrance & White Poppies | Peace Pledge Union] – official homepage of the PPU's White Poppy project
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C85Y3zFlO5M White poppy wreath-laying at Canada's War Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario, on Nov. 11, 2008]
• [http://archive.scottish.parliament.uk/business/businessBulletin/bb-04/bb-10-25f.htm A motion on White poppies before the Scottish Parliament] (S2M-1865 Mark Ballard: White Poppies for Peace, Monday 25 October 2004)
• [http://www.whitepoppy.org.nz White Poppies for Peace] – website in New Zealand
• [https://www.whitepoppy.ca whitepoppy.ca] – a sub-page of "Remembrance Day For All" – Towards discussion that includes everyone in our Remembrance of Canada’s wars.

• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6131464.stm BBC: Red poppy 'less Christian' claim]
• [http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_061110whitepoppycanada.shtml Ekklesia: Father of dead Canadian soldier supports White Poppy]
• [http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_061112poppyportillo.shtml Ekklesia: Newspaper and former defence secretary back freedom to choose red or white poppy]

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Category:Activism

Category:Pacifism

Category:Peace symbols

White poppy

Poppy, white

Category:Poppies