Last modified: 2006-11-11 by antónio martins
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There is no wordlwide accepted flag of Earth.
Many flagmakers have in their stocks several designs
that they call “Earth flag”, which have no official
status, of course.
James Dignan, 27 May 1996
We have had dozens of Earth/World flags “reported”, but only a
few arelisted here. These three seem to have (or have had)
some sort of real world currency — the others are ignored.
António Martins, 28 Jul 2004
The UN flag, by virtue of its visibility and the
organization behind it, is probably the consensus “flag of the
world” today. However many world flag designers either don’t feel
represented by the UN, or are trying to create some kind of an idea which
cannot be adequately represented by a political entity. Very few of the
world-flaggers actually advocate world government or world
federalism. They seem to be attempting to represent universal ideals in
their designs. It’s odd that there would be so many world flag designs
if the concepts they are trying to reflect are indeed so universal. Perhaps
the ideals aren’t as universal as they thought… or more likely,
these grand and all-encompassing ideals can’t be neatly summed up in a
single flag design.
Steve Kramer, 21 Jan 2003
[World flag proposal designs] attempt to symbolize a non-political idea
with a symbol most of us regard as political, i.e., a flag. Flags have
always had this sort of connotation, and there’s nothing intrinsically
wrong about that. But you can’t use political language, so to speak, to
express a non-political idea. One suspects that the proponents of this concept
are trying to say «Let’s all join together and rise above national
and ethnic differences and proclaim the unity of the human race and the
oneness of mankind.» Now there, mes amis, is an idea worth
promoting. I’m just not sure a flag — any flag — can carry
the message.
Bill Dunning, 22 Jan 2003
I think the problem is a bit different. A flag is a symbol of both
inclusion and exclusion. It’s a ceiling under which we get
reunited, and exclude them, the guys who do not belong under our
flag. A flag, to work, needs both: a set of “us“ and set of
“them”. So, a flag for the planet is not viable, because
there’s no “them”. If, or when, we find or establish
extraterrestrial populations, then a flag of Earth will naturally emerge,
probably as a response of flags adopted by “them”, since the
majorities are usually the last to adopt a flag.
Jorge Candeias, 21 Jan 2003
One possible explanation for so many world flag designs could
also be, that these world flags are all fairly unknown to most
people. Thus, when someone comes up with the idea that there
should be a world flag, they don’t know that there already exist
a couple of flags like that.
Elias Granqvist, 21 Jan 2003
I also don’t see how each new design actually improves the
situation.
John Ayer, 21 Jan 2003
I’m afraid the goal is to improve the manufactor’s and
vendor’s financial situation.
António Martins, 22 Jan 2003
Needless to say, [world flag proposal designers] have got their
design all picked out. And the entire world, which as we know agrees
on so much else, will naturally agree on it. Perhaps just as there
are parks in Russia containing the fallen statues of Stalin, there
should be a special section of our site for all these vanity Earth
flags…
Nathan Lamm, 20 Jan 2003
[World flag proposal designers] were wondering if you might like to
list [their] flag on your site and thus give prominence to the idea.
Anselma Torres, 19 Jan 2003
However unnofficial, naive or plain ugly, if any of these designs
ever catches up, however slightly and efemerously, we should report
it in these pages. Considering that unflattering comments may end up
added to the pages, having these designs on our site may not be the
best way to publicize your very own world flag…
António Martins, 22 Jan 2003 and 24 Jan 2003
Anything below this line was not added by the editor of this page.