Readers may not know that white poppies were introduced by the Co-operative Women’s Guild in 1933 to remember casualties of all wars. They were meant as a sign of hope for peace and the end of all wars. They are now sold by the Peace Pledge Union as a symbol of remembrance for everyone harmed by war, whether they are civilian or in the armed forces. They are “a pledge that war must not happen again.”
Remembrance Day on November 11th will mark 100 years since the end of the First World War. The anniversary will coincide with a continuing, massive death toll of innocent civilians in Yemen, in which the UK government is complicit. In the 18 months after Saudi Arabia intervened in the civil war in 2015, the UK Government approved £2.2 billion worth of export licences to Saudi Arabia for aircraft, helicopters and drones, and £1.1 billion for grenades, bombs and missiles. The United Nations estimates that air attacks by the Saudi-led coalition have caused almost two-thirds of civilian deaths. Tens of thousands more civilians are dying as a massive humanitarian disaster unfolds.
White poppies may be worn alone or alongside the red poppy.
Rachel Hope
Heeley Green Party
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