>>I don't think anyone is suggesting the monumental task of trying to reclaim the swastika which started off merely as an early christian symbol<<

The very emotive swastika is a lot older than that, and seems to have started out as a Hindu and Budhist symbol.

You still see lots of them around in the Indian sub-continent, and indeed the 1 billion people there have never really lost them. There is much head-shaking in this house whenever I hear anyone advocating the extension of the current German ban on its display to all Europe, because those that do are just being as intolerant of the wider world,in some ways, as those that perverted the symbol in the first place.

I'm not sure how one says "It's my swastika too and I want it back in Hindu, Urdu or Tamil", but the principal is the same.

All these things, such as flags, are simply symbols of what they represent. It is just we human beings cling to such symbols because on the whole they help rather than hinder expression.