Collateral Damage - make a white poppy for an exhibition of commemorative artwork

I'm all for it. I have no time for the British Legion's poppy campaign. Its sponsorship by companies like BAE is like giving respect to drugs bosses for funding drugs rehabiliation programmes.

Millions of people - soldiers and non-combatants - have died over the centuries, and continue to die. Our potential to kill millions more has increased with the development of more sophisticated weaponry - and this country is one of the major players in the global arms trade. This, in my view, is not a matter to be celebrated with fly-pasts and arms exhibitions. What a mixed message to give to our children .

Thinking about people who were affected by war, we went to a performance at Tate Modern (I think it was the World Premiere) of "The Head and the Load" by South African artist William Kentridge, commemorating the African soldiers, porters and bearers who were involved in WW1, to commemorate their contribution.

(For every one soldier, German and British troops used four "native carriers," including women and children, who hauled food supplies, arms and even artillery; cooked, scrubbed and tended to their needs; and died of exhaustion, malnutrition and disease").

The performance was jaw-dropping, like a modern opera on the giant stage in the Turbine Hall, so much going on, I didn't know where to look first.

Here's a short clip about it:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBzUpB5g1z0

Yes, we were shocked to hear that.

Some people do wear both. I don't think it's a conflict of interests, although the British Legion's links with BAE systems do worry me.

Yes, true trisher, worth noting.

I think that DH and we would wear a red one to remember his father.

You may believe that Jalima1108 but the British Legion clearly states
Members of the public wear the paper poppy on their chest as a symbol of Remembrance: to remember the fallen Service men and women killed in conflict
Ony the Peace Pledge Union white poppy recognises thehuge number of civilian deaths that modern warfare causes

Of course, the red poppies commemorate all the dead, civilians and military people who have, and still are, dying in wars. and are worn to remember them all and to make a fervent prayer for peace too.

The Peace Pledge Union sell White Poppies every year. They commemorate all the dead, civilians and military people who have, and still are, dying in wars. They were originally made by the Cooperative Womens Guild after WW1. I wear one because my home town Hull was one of the most bombed cities in WW2 and hundreds of civilians died. They have no cenotaph or war memorial to commemorate their deaths.
Thanks for the link Grannyknot I will start work asap.

I believe founded as the women’s peace pledge union after the First World War. They distribute white poppies for Remembrance Sunday each year, often available via Friends meeting houses, now I come to think of it, but it isn’t a Quaker organisation so far as I know.

Thanks both of you, I had an inkling that’s what it was.

Hi Lemongrove... Google tells me "The Peace Pledge Union is a British pacifist non-governmental organisation. It is open to everyone who can sign the PPU pledge renouncing war". It is non-sectarian.

Friends House is the central office of Quakers in Britain

Because, if I make anything, I like to know exactly the purpose in which it will be used, and by who.

I'm not sure lemongrove - I just went along to a workshop in our local library and made a poppy in memory of my late FIL, who survived the war physically, but not mentally.

But, probably, because the exhibition is at Friend's House in Euston. Why do you ask ...?

A Quaker organisation?