#political-symbolism

#political-symbolism

Most days, I pass through a cool, shaded colonnade my son describes as "the tunnel." A promise to swing by can sometimes convince him to leave the playground, and I plan my own routes around its dependable roof, avoiding the heat and rain that seem to get more extreme as the city turns tropical. There's a string of lights underneath, like the ones over pleasant outdoor markets, which makes it easier to rifle through my purse for my keys or phone in the evenings.

Last week, a Portland protestor named Seth Todd showed up at the ICE protests in the Oregon city dressed up in an inflatable frog costume. Footage of armed soldiers backing up as the protester confidently walked toward them went viral on social media, along with a video of an agent spraying pepper spray into the costume's air filter.

In Indonesia, it was hung outside homes, on motorbikes, cars and trucks, in a sign of discontent with the government that boiled over into deadly protests railing against lavish perks enjoyed by politicians. In Nepal, it was draped on the golden gates of the palace that houses parliament, as young people toppled their government. In the Philippines, it was raised at rallies by protesters furious at alleged government corruption.

The crosses of St George are retailing for about 2.36 on Temu, depending on whether you want them car-window sized, or big enough to write the words GET OFF MY LAND in the white spaces. Keir Starmer has declared that he is a supporter of flags. Alas, at the time of writing the prime minister's position on other items of tactile fabric remains unclear.

T hroughout the culture war flareups of the last fifteen years or so, liberals and conservatives have periodically traded fire over matters that are fundamentally symbolic and often negligible to meaningless at the level of actual political substance. In their own different (and often quite cynical) ways, both factions have been adept at converting cultural issues into the language of political grievance and, in turn, into supposed forms of political engagement-and even activism-that have often amounted to little more than new kinds of shopping

The Bundestag's administration has ordered deputies to immediately remove rainbow flags displayed in and around their parliamentary offices, stating that displaying flags is "fundamentally prohibited, regardless of their symbolism."