After the Iranian revolution, roughly 1980, the country put together a new flag to symbolize a new, reunited country. The new Iranian flag was Green, White and Red. Green symbolizes fertility and (ironically?) Islam. White symbolizes purity and peace. Red symbolizes the martyrs' blood. In the center, a red emblem symbolized various parts of Islamic life: Allah, the Book, the Sword, the five principles of Islam, balance, unity, neutrality, and the universal government of the downtrodden. So, we have a flag for 30 years that signifies an Iran moving toward strong democracy, unified social people, and modern integration of religion into civil society.
June 2009: Iran holds elections that are, arguably, a farce. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared himself the winner and Candidate Mirhossein Mousavi appealed the election. The young, educated Iranian community and the international community (not the U.S.) stands behind Mousavi. Demonstrations and rallies emerge around the world. Green - from the stripe of the flag - was the chosen symbol of the opposition to Ahmadinejad. Mousavi drops the charge, accepts Ahmadinejad's reelection. The U.S. is happy that there is a continued pillar of "democracy" in the Middle East. The world moves on.
January 2010: President Ahmadinejad holds a run-of-the-mill official ceremony. The flag behind him is Blue, White and Red. Or, shall we say, Red, White and Blue (oh wait, isn't the U.S. of A. flag Red, White and Blue?).
Does erasing the green mean that Iran erased the opposition, or wants to, anyway? Ironically, didn't the green in the flag also symbolize Islam? Did Iran erase Islam, too? Flags symbolize so much to so many people: love for one's nation, fellow compatriots, and own happiness in life. Can a president just 'decide' to change the nation's flag on his own whim? How old are we anyway? It reminds me of how I used to change my shirt if my sister happened to be wearing a shirt with the same color -- or a color even remotely close on the spectrum -- for school that day.
At the very least, I think it's clear that Iran is less than stable these days. I believe: if we don't get to the root of the problem before moving on to fix it and rebuild on top of it, the problem will surface again. Is it possible that the time it takes The Problem to get to The Surface is about ... 30 years?
Serbia's flag is red, white, and blue too. They think their colors are "truer" than American colors. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteThis immediately reminded me of the great images from 2009 election, check them out:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/06/irans_presidential_election.html
As far as flag colors go... I propose establishing a Humean state with a flag that is composed of the missing shades of Red, White and Blue.
interesting post. i didn't, however, know that you used to change your shirt when i had on a similar color! you never told me that!
ReplyDelete