The Labour-run council has cancelled said could cause offence to minority groups in the city.
An ‘Anti-racist’ flag display was cancelled (Image: Getty)
An exhibition of “anti-racist” Union flags has been cancelled after a Labour-run council said it could cause offence to minority groups. The “New Union Flag”, created by artist Gil Mualem-Doron, has been billed as a reimagined symbol of diversity and migration.
It was due to be displayed in Brighton’s Jubilee Library next month [December]. The artist’s variation of the United Kingdom’s national flag would have been displayed alongside two others and was “made using textiles from the UK’s diverse communities”.
Organised by the Stand Up To Racism campaign group, as a response to Operation Raise the Colours, which has seen local activists placing Union flags and St. George’s Crosses on public architecture. Dr Mualem-Doron’s work has been shown across the country. However, the show’s organisers were informed that the event could not proceed and was being cancelled due to concerns that it could cause offence.
Bella Sankey, leader of the Labour-run Brighton Council said that the areas libraries “have been recognised as Libraries of Sanctuary”, a nationwide scheme that sees library staff welcoming refugees and people seeking sanctuary.
She added that this was “something we are very proud of and keen to maintain”.
The council chief added: “Given the fears that minority communities have expressed to me in recent weeks and months, there are particular concerns that displaying national flags could be taken out of their artistic context” reported GB News.
Ms Sankey also expressed concerns that “customers who do not or cannot read” the signs in the library could see the artwork as a “statement by the library and therefore the council”.
“As council buildings, our libraries need to remain neutral spaces and a safe space for all our customers.”
Stand Up to Racism said: “When a public library in a progressive city cannot host a flag celebrating diversity, we should be concerned. We all remember that it is silence, fear and complicity – and not hatred – that is often the greatest danger.”
Dr Mualem-Doron also commented, saying: “Two years ago, Brighton & Hove City Council commissioned New Union Flag works for a citywide public art initiative in bus stops across the city.
“Now the same city refuses to show it in a public library.”
The news follows months of flags being posted up across the country, with some local authorities spending taxpayer’s money to remove them.
