Iranian Flag and its Strange Colors at Official Ceremonies

http://www.persia-house.com/node/1115

Green Movement’s Co-opting of Revolutionary, Islamic Symbols Poses Challenge for Regime

Shafaf – Summary translation by Persia House

March 3, 2010

In the past several weeks, in many official occasions in which high-ranking officials were present, posters of the Iranian flag were shown with illegal colors! At some official meetings, the green part of the flag was blue! Of course, officials from the Presidential Office claimed it was due to the reflection of the light. They even stated that they have the banner to prove it. So, where did the black color covering the green part of the flag come from? Is it again the reflection of the light that changed the green to black?

Persia House Analysis:

The Ahmadinejad administration's illegal action to mask the holy “greenness” of the Iranian flag illustrates the general effectiveness with which the opposition Green Movement has co-opted the Islamic Republic’s symbols and rhetoric for its own purposes.

Although the Iranian Constitution stipulates that the flag display the Islamic color green—signifying the Prophet Mohammad and his bloodline—the regime has become wary of the color’s current symbolism. Green, which was Mir Hossein Mousavi's campaign color (his family supposedly is descended from the Prophet), became the symbol of resistance following the June 2009 presidential election. An earlier indication of the regime’s new-found aversion to the color occurred in the fall of 2009 when state-controlled television broadcast an Iranian soccer league game in black and white in order to hide the green worn by opposition supporters in the stands.

Protesters have adroitly adapted slogans from the 1979 revolution to fit today’s political situation, often in an attempt to highlight the fact that they are the inheritors of the revolutionary struggle while the regime has become the reincarnation of the hated Shah. Following the June 2009 election, opposition supporters cried “Allah-o-Akbar” from rooftops—echoes of the calls in support of Khomeini three decades ago. Marchers in the streets chant “Basij jenayat mikonad, Rahbar hemayat mikonad” (the Basij commits a crime, the Supreme Leader supports it), which alludes to the revolutionary slogan “Artesh jenayat mikonad, Shah hemayat mikonad” (the Military commits a crime, the Shah supports it.)

Source Information:

Shafaf is a moderate conservative news site, founded in February 2009, with the intent of providing “clear, transparent news without giving foreign enemies a weapon to use” against the Islamic Republi