i shall use this valuable space to critique a world flag. i shall follow only this rule: stick to the extraordinary and the dreadful while ignoring the mundane. now, on with the flags!
5 October 2004 Formerly a United
Kingdom possession known as Rhodesia, Zimbabwe gained its
independence over a 15-year period between 1965 and 1980. Robert
Mugabe, the nation's first prime minister and country's only ruler
has dominated the political landscape. Things weren't peachy,
but they weren't chaotic either. That is until Mugabe instituted a
land redistribution campaign in 2000 that caused an exodus of white
farmers, crippled the economy, and ushered in widespread shortages
of basic commodities. But what about the flag? It's a busy
banner with not one, not two, but seven horizontal stripes of green
(which symbolises agriculture), yellow (mineral wealth), red
(bloodshed), black (native people), red, yellow and green, with a
white isosceles triangle on its hoist side. Inside the triangle sits
a yellow Zimbabwe bird superimposed on a red star. I'm all
for colours and symbols, but this flag tries to do too much with all
of those stripes. It reminds me of the various rugby shirts I wore
as a lad. However, as avid readers of this column know, I
cannot totally condemn a flag with a bird. And this little beaked
friend is a regal sort, sitting on a throne and looking away from
the striped mess that lies behind him. And for that, the flag gets a
half-star higher rating than it would have otherwise received.
Next time: Belarus
8 September 2004 A great deal of
controversy abounds in Iraq these days, but what I'm referring to
has nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction nor Saddam
Hussein. The center of the hubbub is the new flag design of
post-Saddam Iraq. Traditionally, flags in the Arab world
share three colours: green and black for Islam and red for Arab
nationalism. This is true of such flags as Syria, Jordan and Kuwait.
And countries such as Egypt, Oman, Yemen and others have at least
two of the colours. However, Iraq's new flag is inexplicably
comprised of white, blue and yellow. While it is
aesthetically pleasing, it does little to capture the spirit of its
people. Designed by Iraqi artist Rifat al-Chaderchi, the flag's
parallel blue bands at the bottom are said to represent the Tigris
and the Euphrates rivers, and the yellow band Iraq's Kurdish
minority. A large Islamic crescent sits in the field and is
unusually depicted in blue. The Governing Council needs to go
back to the drawing board and come up with a design that truly
represents the Iraqi people. This irrelevant monstrosity is a slap
in the face of Iraqis — and Arabs — everywhere. A brief history of Iraqi flags 1921-1959:
The original flag of Iraq was adopted in 1921, when the country was
formed. Two seven-point white stars on the triangle denoted the then
14 provinces of the kingdom. 1959-1963: Following
Abdul Karim Qassim's 1958 military coup that deposed the monarchy,
Iraq adopted a black-white-green vertical tricolour with a red
eight-pointed star with a yellow circle in its centre. 1963-1991: After the Qassim regime was overthrown, the
country adopted the now-familiar red-white-black horizontal
tricolour with three green stars. The stars were originally placed
there for the a proposed union with Egypt and Syria. That union,
however, never materialised. 1991-2004: In 1991,
Saddam Hussein added the words, "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great)
between the stars. It is said that the words on the flag are in
Saddam's own handwriting, and many interpreted the change as an
attempt to garner support from the Islamic world in the period
immediately preceding the Persian Gulf War.
Next time: Zimbabwe
1 September 2004 St. Helena is a tiny island in the
South Atlantic Ocean that was once an important British port for
ships travelling around the Cape of Good Hope to points beyond in
the Middle and Far East. (If you were to follow a line straight
south from Côte d'Ivoire and straight west from Angola, you'd
find it.) It's probably most famous, however, for being the place
Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled from 1815 until his death in 1821. The flag is much like those of many current and former British
possessions, which sports a solid color (in this case, blue) with a
flag of the United Kingdom in the upper hoist-side quadrant. The St.
Helenian shield features a rocky coastline and three-masted sailing
ship with an English flag at the stern. Our flying friend at the top
a wirebird, which is the last surviving endemic land bird on St.
Helena. I am generally not a big fan of these cookie cutter
flags, but as I have pointed out in the past, I have a soft spot in
my heart for flags with birds. The shield is imaginative and
represents various aspects of the island. The flag would be much
better if eliminated the Union Jack and incorporated more from the
shield into the field.
Next time: Iraq
