White Poppy Campaign
One of the PPU's more visible activities is the White Poppy appeal, started in 1933 by the Women's Co-operative Guild alongside the Royal British Legion's red poppy appeal. The white poppy commemorates not only British soldiers killed in war, but also civilian victims on all sides, standing as "a pledge to peace that war must not happen again". In 1986, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher expressed her "deep distaste" for the white poppies, on allegations that they potentially diverted donations from service men, yet this stance gave them increased publicity.
Read more about this topic: Peace Pledge Union
Famous quotes containing the words white, poppy and/or campaign:
“The puritanical potentialities of science have never been forecast. If it evolves a body of organized rites, and is established as a religion, hierarchically organized, things more than anything else will be done in the name of “decency.” The coarse fumes of tobacco and liquors, the consequent tainting of the breath and staining of white fingers and teeth, which is so offensive to many women, will be the first things attended to.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
“The young woman-smell
Of your poppy body
Rises to my brain as opium”
—Frank Marshall Davis (b. 1905)
“The fact that a man is to vote forces him to think. You may preach to a congregation by the year and not affect its thought because it is not called upon for definite action. But throw your subject into a campaign and it becomes a challenge.”
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933)