The twenty-fifth anniversary of the attacks on the United States of America, recalled most vividly by the destruction of the Twin Towers, has stoked a wave of patriotism and reflection rippling across much of the world. Among the images, is the iconic Thomas E Franklin image of firefighters erecting Old Glory above the debris of the World Trade Center towers, an image of resilience and defiance in the face of aggression. Reminiscent of Iwo Jima, Franklin’s photograph evokes a sense of patriotism among Americans and respect among many others.
I had just finished studying and had a habit of turning on the late night news before bed, and was met by Sandra Sully talking to live images of a burning World Trade Center. I saw the second plane hit. I watched for hours as the reality of what was happening extended to the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania. Such a vast wave of aggression and utter waste of life.
Twenty- five years on, not quite half my life, we’ve seen the Coalition of the Willing retaliate over illusory weapons of mass destruction taking the lives of up to 500,000 people. We’ve watched Iran attacked, a nation that expelled terrorists and provided information and access to detainees to American interrogators in the pursuit of accountability. Our governments have sat mute as the State of Israel attacks its own Palestinian citizens in an eye for a hundred eyes retribution that has morphed into a massive containment of impoverished souls watching gallows erected before them. In the UK there’s been the attacks on London Bridge and the London Tube bombings. That last one hit close – it was hours before we knew a family member was safe.
The same year as the London Tube attack, Australia had the Cronulla Riots. The same family members called me to ask if we’d lost our collective marbles. I gave the only response possible – yes. Since, there’s been the Lindt Cafe siege and Bondi. In Northern Ireland the red-hand on a white shield denotes the province of Ulster; the hand on a white star with a crown hovering above denotes the Ulster of Northern Ireland, a convention that excludes the three counties that joined the Irish Free State in 1922. And yet when it came down to the choice, the people of Northern Ireland voted overwhelmingly for the Good Friday Agreement, flags becoming less important than peace.
I list just a few that will be readily recalled by most Australians, but there are far more – Yemen, Syria, Ukraine. All have a flag, for all it becomes a representation of values. In Australia, the wannabe White Australia Party will tell you that its values include a racial purity and supremacy that excludes anyone of colour. That’s not the values I live by and it has never been for my family, several generations in this country. Everyone has been and is welcomed.
So my question is, what’s the purpose of a flag, or any emblem really, when what it represents can be across such a broad spectrum? A flag announces not only presence, but implies ownership. Ownership of what? Of land? Opinions? Infrastructure?
A flag implies belonging, but how can Thomas Sewell’s rednecks who deny Aboriginal and Torres Strait heritage stand under the same flag?
A flag, according to our leaders, embodies values, but my values and the value of those who attacked Bondi, who overran Cronulla are poles apart.
Flags imply unity through the respect and acceptance of a plurality of ideals. Those who seek to exclude and act aggressively corrupt the meanings attributable to a flag. The firefighters who served the Stars and Stripes in Manhattan 25 years ago created a riveting focus for a nation. A flag is meant to be a positive expression of common ideals, but what the White Australia Party wants is division and supremacy. One Nation is little better. Driven by a leader with chip on her shoulder borne by being knocked up at the age of 15 and finding herself having to support herself and her child, she is mired in a 1970s mindset where there’s no social progress including, notably, no parental support. Pauline didn’t have any support, so why should anyone else?
A flag represents nothing more than a current leadership. Carried into battle, unfurled at an awards ceremony, it is an insensitive, inanimate object that will be replaced or re-framed by any future regime we cannot foresee.
Flags are ephemeral. People have such limited lifespans. But humankind, our species is continuous. We are not flags, we are what we live, our actions. Land will outlast us, regardless of the pennant swerving in a breeze today, tomorrow or next century. It seems we are still sleeping. Dormez-vous?
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© Watershedd, September 2026
Flags are more than just benign symbols, they are objects designed to catalogue and divide us.
Jen I think that you’re right.
Flags cause more problems than they solve.