Flags Are Iconic Symbols of Identity

By Henry Srebrnik, [Saint John, N.B.] Telegraph-Journal

Canadians old enough to remember the great flag debate of the 1960s that gave us the Maple Leaf flag in 1965 know about the fierce debates that took place at the time.

The new symbol replaced a colonial-era banner, the so-called Red Ensign. Such British ensign flags were standard throughout the old British Empire, differing only in their background colour and their coats of arms. 

As former British colonies gained their independence, with most becoming republics, these flags were replaced by entirely new versions. 

But in the South Pacific four old ones have been retained, two in the old British dominions of Australia and New Zealand and another two, surprisingly, in the former colonies of Fiji and Tuvalu in Oceania.

The small South Pacific microstate of Tuvalu, formerly part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands protectorate, dropped the Union Flag (the proper name for the so-called Union Jack) from its flag in January 1996 but reinstated it 15 months later, after Bikenibeu Paeniu was elected prime minister.

It is again a light blue ensign with nine yellow five-pointed stars on the outer half of the flag, representing the islands of the archipelago.

“It’s the flag our people wanted in the first place,” he explained at the time. “The new flag was never taken to the people for their views. The flag is our symbol, a symbol of our unity.”

In Fiji, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama’s plans to replace the ensign flag retained at independence in 1970 met with considerable opposition. 

The flag’s blue field incorporates the Union Jack at the upper left. The flag’s coat of arms includes a British lion, as well as panels displaying a palm tree, sugar cane, bananas and dove of peace.

In his New Year's Day address in 2013, Bainimarama announced that the flag would soon be changed so as “to reflect a sense of national renewal, to reinforce a new Fijian identity and a new confidence in being Fijian on the global stage.”

He announced that a national competition to design the new flag would be held, and over 2,000 designs were then submitted, before a final shortlist of 23 was selected by Fiji’s National Flag Committee in June 2015.

After much acrimonious debate, though, the plan was shelved in August 2016. Bainimarama maintained that, while he remained convinced personally that the country needed to replace its ensign with a genuinely indigenous expression of Fiji’s present and its future, it had become apparent that the flag should not be changed for the foreseeable future.

New Zealanders, too, after two years viewing more than ten thousand other options, voted to keep their current flag in March 2016, despite the assertion by then Prime Minister John Key that it symbolized a colonial era whose time had passed.

Four of the five final options to replace the old flag, which had been adopted in 1902, featured variations on a silver fern, a plant of symbolic importance in the native Maori culture. 

Supporters of a new flag called the blue ensign, with Britain’s Union Jack in the upper left corner and the four stars of the Southern Cross, a constellation in the southern hemisphere, in red on the right, an anachronism. 

But those opposed to changing the flag argued that soldiers had died fighting for it and that it represented history and tradition.

In a referendum, voters were asked to choose between the so-called Silver Fern Flag or the ensign. They voted by a majority of 56.7 per cent to keep the old flag.

The Australian ensign has been in use since 1901. The Union Jack is on the upper left, above the seven-pointed Federation Star in the lower corner and to the left of the Southern Cross.

Australian nationalists, who have fought to turn the country into a republic, would prefer a new flag as well. They have so far been unsuccessful on both counts.

The primary arguments for keeping the flag cite historic precedence, while those for changing the flag are based around the idea that it does not depict Australia’s status as an independent and multicultural nation of both indigenous and British heritage.

A survey conducted last year found that 64 per cent of respondents believed the Australian flag should change. The most popular proposed alternative was the “Southern Horizon” flag, which removes the Union Jack, but retains the Southern Cross and Federation Star.

As Tim Marshall points out in his book A Flag Worth Dying For: The Power and Politics of National Symbols, “flags are an emotive subject.” They provide a sense of cohesion – though not always, as these examples indicate.