Salman Mirza on why he took down the flags

Local TV

When Salman Mirza took down several flags in Bearwood, it sparked a row over pride, politics and belonging. Supporters call the flags a show of patriotism. Critics say they’ve been turned into a political statement. We ask what the flag really means — and who gets to define it.

Transcript

00:00Why this matters is patriotism. Who gets to define it?

00:06A flag has become shorthand for loyalty, identity and power.

00:09For some, it's pride for others' provocation.

00:12The campaign behind it mixes political organisers with ordinary residents,

00:17blurring where politics ends and belonging begins.

00:20In Bearwood, Salman and Merza say he took down four

00:23after a neighbour felt she no longer belonged.

00:26Others said the flag made them feel seen rather than shut out.

00:29So, you've said this is about comfort and not confrontation.

00:34What made you act and how do you know it was the right call?

00:38Right, so what it is, like a lot of people, I'm on a street WhatsApp group

00:43and one of the people on the WhatsApp group, I didn't even know she was a migrant,

00:49but she said, look, I'm a migrant. I feel really upset about the flags going up.

00:53I feel like, am I really welcome in this country?

00:56But I'm glad that I've got people like you around.

00:59And I've got no issues around celebrating people's nationality,

01:03but I have got an issue around all these protests around the hotels,

01:07having to go on asylum seekers, you know, and we've seen racist attacks increase.

01:11And I think there's that connection with that,

01:13and that's why I'm against these flags on the lamppost.

01:17Whereas, you know, I live near the council house.

01:19We've got a flag up there, I've never been bothered about it.

01:23This argument isn't about flags, it's about ownership of meaning.

01:27Who decides what a national symbol stands for when everyone claims it?

01:31Online, the same flag, praised as unity, is being used as a warning.

01:36Every removal or repost becomes another round in defining what it means to be British.

01:42You stepped into that fight directly.

01:45How do you deal with being seen as unpatriotic or political for challenging what others call pride?

01:50You know, I don't think you can get any more, if you like, patriotic than me.

01:54And my question is, these flags have gone up.

01:57Has it been an end to people having to access food banks?

02:00No, it hasn't.

02:01And I think people are better invested in, you know, volunteering in a food bank,

02:06campaigning to save their local library,

02:08doing a bit of gardening for, like, the old age pension who lives down the road,

02:12rather than putting flags up.

02:15The real story isn't bunting or bylaws.

02:17It's how identity gets traded, like currency.

02:20Politicians chase it.

02:22Activists weaponise it.

02:24Everyone wants to own it.

02:25Even the Prime Minister tried to reclaim the flag,

02:28praising displays while warning against division.

02:31A patriotic pirouette.

02:33Few are buying.

02:34Really, the real person in power is Nigel Farage.

02:37And that is worrying.

02:38Because in a sense, he's not in a majority party,

02:41yet he sets the agenda.

02:43And unfortunately, Labour are playing catch-up with the racists.

02:46And I don't even think Keir Starmer has signed up to the union.

02:50He hasn't.

02:51He's just an opportunist.

02:53And it's never worked.

02:55If you try to out-racist a racist, right,

02:58you just get more racism.

03:00Of course.

03:03Holding.

03:04You're nostroifyable.

03:05You're not living идеi.

03:06Noぁll God.

03:10Pausa.

03:11Give water so much smoke,

03:13that's here.

03:14You've got to countless Aman Olá.

03:16Absolutely.

03:17You have to look at the crest of theANT UNROR.

03:19I'm sure that the crest of the crest of the BYVER UPX.

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