There’s been reports for this link to be an ad… we’re allowing it nonetheless because the discussion is very rich (I, personally agree with many of the criticism that were done: products may not be socially or environmentally friendly, or even it may be better to support an European artist). The EU parliament is more like a tool, and sometimes it does work well. Oftentimes it just makes decisions that are not aligned with our values as a community. Nonetheless, the EU flag is nowadays an important symbol that’s being undermined by bigots and propaganda. That’s why I’ve been ignoring the reports of this as an ad. I believe the underlying message to be more important. And, as I said, the discussion here has brought very good points that I wouldn’t have thought so just by myself.
Best regards, anzo.
EuropeFirst sounds trumpian, how about EuropeTogether or something a bit more inclusive?
Way better.
That’s a good one.
“Europe is Way Better”
The answer to America first is Europe United.
This is a phrase made popular already by the Greens party of Germany before the last national elections.
But… but…
It was always so funny to me that Bezos saved that show. I wonder if he ever got the irony.
Funny thing is that Amazon has multiple productions in progress (The Boys, Gen V, Upload, just to name a few) that are blatantly anti-corpo, anti-altright etc., yet Amazon is the very image of what those shows stand against…
Call me earth then 😎
EuropeForever
I feel like we shouldn’t copy the American flag waving and blind patriotism. I believe we’re much better off with a Federation of EU States than without it, and I see Schengen as a huge accomplishment, but the EU as an institution has many problems we shouldn’t be blind to.
Still, I think that what you often see in Europe is almost complete indifference to European identity, and there’s a huge amount of middle ground between that and the ludicrously excessive blind nationalism that you see in the USA. I personally think it would be a good thing if we embraced an identity as Europeans a little more. Being proud of European identity, and even waving a flag once in a while, isn’t a bad thing. Patriotism gives you something to fight for. A common identity is needed for people to achieve more collectively. The important thing is to not be blind or arrogant. You have to base that identity on reality, and work to make sure that identity stands for something good, rather than assuming it will automatically be so. Too much success and empire building causes rot to set in, but the EU is uniquely positioned to be a post-imperial entity. What comes after empire building is up to us.
Show your support for European values by buying clothes made outside of Europe under horrible environmental and human conditions! (That’s my assumption since there is no info on the website)
Do a chat control shirt next.
“Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.”
“Make Europe Great Again” vibes
More “Make America European Again”
Through… branding, merch sales, and fear of the other? Not sure I get it
Buy merch from your favourite artists/bands instead and be vocal about taxing the rich. Also stop using Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, et cetera. The EU Parliament has plenty of money, many artists do not, yet the latter have way more reach than wearing an EU t-shirt, and plenty of artists are vehemently against our whole corrupt system. E.g., Massive Attack, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, et cetera.
Unknown indie artists living in precarious financial situations like The Biggest Name in Trip Hop and The Biggest Name in Post-Rock.
While you made me laugh out loud, those belong to the “and…against our whole corrupt system” part of the sentence, not the “many artists do not have plenty of money”.
Feel free to append the list ;)
Going to concerts of local/visiting artists is the best way of support, and the by a CD or something.
Definitely.
Also, I stand corrected: the “e.g.” was preceded by a dot and capitalized, so my picks indeed seem silly haha. Those are two of my favourite artists so my choice was primed. 🙃
its a private owned company (from Germany), Just getting this out to avoid confusion with any official shop/resource.
nevertheless, great thought! possibly makes for a great Gift for Christmas top 😁
Pretty sure they’re “official”, as in a private company but directly contracted by and affiliated with the European parliament. Their physical location is even inside the parliament’s visitor centre.
So this is the EU parliament gift shop on-line?
Yes, exactly.
Yeah no thx nationalism will definitely defeat the threat of nationalism.
Probably this is just marketing by the people selling those shirts but ehhh
Europe isn’t a nation, it’s a group of nations and there is a big reason to support it now
Yeah agree and America isn’t a state it’s a group of states and we need to make both the united states and the group of nations great again
The EU federalists would really like to make it one though.
Not sure why they think that, considering every single attempt in history to centralise political power in Europe has failed.
Decentralisation of power and denationalisation seems a better way forward
Were people in Europe wearing shirts with American flags before?
I wouldn’t think so.
There are also a lot of shirts being sold here in Europe that have names of states or cities printed on them (such as California, Los Angeles, New York, etc).
I have one, with a small flag. If it’s in the stores, you buy it without much thinking. People in my area also wear Canadian flags, Scottish flags or the Union Jack on their clothes. For example. They’re just quite recognizable. Simulacra in the Baudrillard sense, even.
I never owned any with any flag
hoodie for 70€
damn they sure learned capitalism from the US…
Or just stop buying clothes unless you really need it (hint, you don’t)
As an American, please stop buying our products. Funds do not go to a good cause.
Only American product I would have considered is a cast iron pan because they don’t really get produced in the UK. But I already have one so I will probably never need to buy another one.
Not to mention that with cast iron specifically, there’s no reason to buy new. Not when you can get an exact same pan that is 80-100 years old for a fraction of the price at a garage sale/ estate sale.
I think they are not so common here unfortunately, so there are not many second hand options either. If they were more common then the only British manufacturer I could find for them would probably still be in business.
Wanna know why you can’t find old British pots and pans?
Good old shitty bloody war.
The World at War, Episode 4, 13 minutes in.
Basically, we needed to increase production of planes for the Battle of Britain and needed metal to do so. Not only was there a military battle happening though, but a propaganda one. A need to ensure morale stayed high within the British public. So to make them feel like they’re playing their part to help the war effort, to understand how desperate the situation was, there was a drive to donate any metal that you could to build planes. Mostly pots and pans, gates, and fences. That’s why you’ll often see large stones with rows of black metal stumps in front of old houses, because the fences were chopped at the base.
The best bit? It was a waste of bloody time. There’s not much aluminium in all that metal and that was what was needed the most. Huge piles of metal sat and rusted for years after the war.
That wouldn’t get rid of 1970s pans though, people still don’t buy proper pans.
The Frenchies make some excellent ones. (The smell of cheese washes off.).
I’m glad I could be of service
