A flag is no more than a symbol
Oct 05, 2006
SIR — I have observed in the media intriguing campaign materials supposedly designed to rekindle waning patriotism, by generating interest in the national flag.
SIR — I have observed in the media intriguing campaign materials supposedly designed to rekindle waning patriotism, by generating interest in the national flag. Its sponsors seek to utilise style as a tool to glean national pride out of Uganda’s citizens. While the importance of a national flag is indisputable, it is just as important to note that a flag is not about colours and cloth combining to make an impression. If it were so, nations would frequently upgrade their flags to suit the taste and trends of successive generations, a difficult task and potentially subjective as that might have been.
A flag is a symbol and no more. In picking a symbol, like the crested crane, by way of demonstration, it was not necessary to consider any particular bird from that species.
A standard bird was adopted and to this day remains an icon. It is inconsequential that there are individual citizens who disregard the crane’s wellbeing, encroaching on wetlands or that Uganda Airlines is no more — its natural and ceremonial habitats respectively. It is also immaterial whether local birdwatchers single them out as targets to train binoculars or cameras on during “safarisâ€.
Beautifying the national flag is but an act of sheer folly. Importantly, however, the national flag must have standards, such as precise hue and patterns which must guide its reproduction.
A vertical assemblage of the colours black, yellow and red, for example, cannot by any stretch of imagination, be equated to the national flag of Uganda.
England, an old country teeming with talent, has graciously endured a fairly ordinary flag, content with it as a symbol of the heritage of its people and what they stand for. The source of their passion for it lies not in appearance but elsewhere.
At international gallas, the English will not swap it even for the admittedly trendier Union Jack.
To stir interest and pride, the national flag needs not be subjected to unbridled creativity, lest we compromise its very essence. An individual may vary hairstyle but a nation can ill-afford to fly a variety of flags or inadvertently alter its original design merely to achieve beauty.
The importance of a symbol is not its intrinsic value, rather what it represents. How else would one explain the ekikere (toad) clan’s rather bizarre choice for a totem?
Russel Moro
Kampala
A flag is a symbol and no more. In picking a symbol, like the crested crane, by way of demonstration, it was not necessary to consider any particular bird from that species.
A standard bird was adopted and to this day remains an icon. It is inconsequential that there are individual citizens who disregard the crane’s wellbeing, encroaching on wetlands or that Uganda Airlines is no more — its natural and ceremonial habitats respectively. It is also immaterial whether local birdwatchers single them out as targets to train binoculars or cameras on during “safarisâ€.
Beautifying the national flag is but an act of sheer folly. Importantly, however, the national flag must have standards, such as precise hue and patterns which must guide its reproduction.
A vertical assemblage of the colours black, yellow and red, for example, cannot by any stretch of imagination, be equated to the national flag of Uganda.
England, an old country teeming with talent, has graciously endured a fairly ordinary flag, content with it as a symbol of the heritage of its people and what they stand for. The source of their passion for it lies not in appearance but elsewhere.
At international gallas, the English will not swap it even for the admittedly trendier Union Jack.
To stir interest and pride, the national flag needs not be subjected to unbridled creativity, lest we compromise its very essence. An individual may vary hairstyle but a nation can ill-afford to fly a variety of flags or inadvertently alter its original design merely to achieve beauty.
The importance of a symbol is not its intrinsic value, rather what it represents. How else would one explain the ekikere (toad) clan’s rather bizarre choice for a totem?
Russel Moro
Kampala