Bodywork artist said he hopes more people will show compassion and love for one another rather than being divided
Birmingham tattooist Nathan and the England/Union Jack flags in Stirchley
A Birmingham tattooist who went viral in a row over the flying of flags on a city high street today claimed ‘idiots are trying to divide people.’
Bodywork artist Nathan appeared on social media as he clashed with a member of Raise The Colours group – a grassroots movement to cover Britain in flags which says it stands for unity and patriotism – over a Union flag in Stirchley.
Nathan, who did not want to use his full name, said he hoped people could “show more compassion and love for one another rather than being divided by hate.” The row on Pershore Road came after scores of flags appeared in south Birmingham over the last few weeks.
READ MORE: Stirchley flags row goes viral as Raise the Colours team accused of ‘spreading hate’
READ MORE: Watch as flags put up in Stirchley with cherry picker after others taken down
READ MORE: Group putting up St George’s Cross in Birmingham asks passers-by ‘don’t you speak English?’
Speaking to BirminghamLive, Nathan said: “It’s not about them putting flags up to be patriotic. There are negative connotations to the flags.
A row over flags breaks out between local tattooist Nathan and a member of Raise the Colours
“These idiots are trying to divide the people of England. They are not trying to put them in areas which they know are multicultural because they know what reception they’re going to get. They’re trying to put them (the flags) in mainly white areas.
“It’s cowardly and just trying to cause division. People should work together and show compassion and love for one another.”
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Cross of St George and Union flags have been added to lampposts on Pershore Road by the Raise The Colours group using a cherry picker.
Asked about the reaction to the video, he said: “I’m a tattoo artist and I run a tattoo business. Tattoos are against the Islamic faith, but I have had nothing but love and support from so many Muslim people since this has happened offering to help my business and offering to leave a review based on a character reference.
“These are good loving people. If you have no understanding of someone’s religion or culture you can always make assumptions and you can guess until you hang around with these people and actually get to know the truth or you’re never going to know.
“But these people don’t do that. They stand far away from them.
“It’s alright saying people come to England and they don’t integrate – are we providing a country where they do integrate or are we just providing an area where they put everyone?
“It’s ridiculous. We’re an island – islands only survive by trade. These people are coming here to trade. They are trading their services, coming here to work and pay taxes.”
He continued: “The management of the country is not OK. It’s not our job to make judgments upon people.
“People are making presumptions. I tattooed an army officer and he told me half the people being housed in these hotels were police officers and translators in Afghanistan and Iraq who helped English people not be bombed and shot.
“These people have saved British officers lives. These people are due our thanks.”
St George’s Cross was put up on Pershore Road in Birmingham
Flags in neighbourhoods across the city have sparked an ongoing debate, with those responsible describing their installation as a patriotic move to celebrate Britain’s history and achievements.
Raise the Colours says on its website: “A group of South Birmingham lads are responsible for the raise the colours movement that has spread nationally and has now gained global recognition, with a handful of people determined to show their pride by flying the flag from one neighbourhood to the next.
“It has spread suburb-to-suburb city-(to)-city until it became a nationwide movement. What started as a few flags on local streets has grown into a campaign to cover Britain in symbols of unity and patriotism.”
But the trend has sparked concern from anti-racism campaigners and others amid claims the flag campaign was politically-motivated and sought to sow division. Asked if he would tattoo someone who wanted a British flag, Nathan said: “I have done a plethora of tattoos in the last couple of months.
“I believe in autonomy. You have control over your own body and what you want.
“I have nothing against real patriotic English people. Some people tattoo England flags on people – but that’s their body. They are allowed to present that in whatever way they want.
“But hanging that on a flag doesn’t show strength – it shows insecurity because you are just trying to virtue. You’re trying to say we’re a big, strong country. We’re not – we’re divided.
“My nan always told me this one quote: ‘A ship will never sink from the outside. It can only ever sink from damage from the inside.’
“As soon as there’s weakness from the inside that’s when it will sink. That’s a good quote for what’s going on now and the hatred for the people coming over on the boats. Human traffickers are exploiting these people and now we have people exploiting them for political gain and it’s wrong.
“It’s playing with human lives. There’s people on social media laughing that children have drowned when these boats have gone down.
“When you’re laughing at children drowning you need to question your humanity.”
St George’s Cross flags in Birmingham – the story so far
The flags of St George and the Union have become a regular feature in neighbourhoods across Birmingham this year, fluttering from lamp-posts lining major routes and housing estates.
The phenomenon started in south Birmingham communities including Weoley Castle, Northfield and Frankley before rapidly spreading across the city, Solihull and the Black Country, and on to other cities and towns.
Organisers say they are aiming to spread “love, unity and patriotism” with the flags, but some community voices and residents say the motivations behind putting up the flags lies beyond spreading civic pride.
The Raise the Colours movement says it is behind the rapid spread. Birmingham co-organisers Elliot Stanley and Ryan Bridge have spoken of their ‘patriotic intentions’ and have criticised those who seek their removal.
Prominent groups have also emerged in each community – the ‘Weoley Warriors’ among them. One of their organisers, Nathan, has described how a group of football fans wanted to ‘restore pride’ to ‘neglected’ working class communities.
But there are concerns the project has links to the far right and is designed to divide and intimidate, with a nationalist narrative at its root which seeks to promote specific views on immigration.
The flag hanging comes at a politically charged time in the UK.
Far-right protestors have been raising St George’s flags outside hotels housing asylum seekers and some Birmingham community groups have called for their “immediate removal” warning it is not “innocent patriotism.”
Others have said that would inflame tensions and that the best way to counter the phenomenon is by putting up ‘Brummies United’ posters instead.
If you’d like to share your views on what the flags mean to you, please get in touch.
Nathan said the flags were put up at a busy time in Stirchley in the late afternoon of Thursday, October 2.
He said: “They had made themselves known when all the businesses, the bars were open.
“They have done it for a reason to try and provoke the area. Unfortunately they got the provocation they wanted. I’m not happy it’s being used to cause more division because people should come together.
“But at the end of the day it needed to be said because the other person’s viewpoint was never heard.
“I just hope it can inspire people to have a few more conversations, maybe get to know some people who are related to people who are immigrants and actually see they are not bad people.
“They are very good people, hard-working people, just humans, like everyone.”