Bristol’s lord mayor will lay a wreath of red and white poppies during the city’s Remembrance Day ceremony on Sunday in the latest sign of the peace symbol’s increasing mainstream acceptance.
White poppy orders from schools are considerably higher this year, say campaigners, who cite increasing concern about global conflict after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and factors including the link to the climate crisis from a new recyclable white poppy.
Russian and Ukrainian peace campaigners will address the Alternative Remembrance ceremony in London in recorded messages as events take place across the UK.
Paula O’Rourke, a Green party councillor and lord mayor of Bristol, told the Guardian that she would be laying a wreath of red poppies, to which white ones would be added, to remember the sacrifice of members of the armed forces and support efforts to strive for a more peaceful world.
“In no way is it meant to diminish or take away from the role or significance of red poppies. I feel this is about adding something to that campaign,” she said. “Personally, I have worn a red poppy with a white one for many years and I do think of the origins of it during the 1930s when the world was edging towards a major war. We do seem to be getting closer and closer again today.”
Last year, Leicester University was criticised by some commentators for including white poppies in its Remembrance Day wreaths. However, O’Rourke believes there is less controversy this year around the wearing of particular types of poppies.
The actor Mark Rylance is among those wearing a white poppy this year after launching a campaign by the Peace Pledge Union (PPU), which distributes the symbols, worn as remembrance for victims of war of all nationalities.
Promotional videos have been made by the poet Benjamin Zephaniah and the comedian Kate Smurthwaite. The latter will speak at Sunday’s National Alternative Remembrance ceremony in Tavistock Square, London.
The event will hear recorded messages from the Russian Movement for Conscientious Objectors, the Russian section of War Resisters’ International, of which the PPU is part, and Yurii Sheliazhenko, the secretary of the Ukrainian pacifist movement.
Sheliazhenko said: “In my message, I am saying that it is important to remember all victims of wars, which are essentially mass murders organised by governments that failed to resolve their disagreements peacefully.”
Symon Hill, the campaigns manager at the PPU, said there had been an increase in membership of the organisation after the war in Ukraine broke out, with dozens of new members joining each week.
There had also been an increase in the number of requests from schools seeking education resources that the PPU produces, he added, and a “significant increase” in the number of schools ordering boxes of 100 white poppies.
“That might be partly due to the publicity in recent years, but it’s also potentially due to more young people becoming politicised and getting involved in, for example, climate campaigns,” said Hill, who drew attention to peace protests on the campuses of at least four UK universities in the past month.
This included nonviolent direct action over universities’ links to arms companies. Student protesters, including PPU members, have been wearing white poppies.
