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Ausflag
-- promoting a new flag for Australia-- sans
Union Jack. Canada spurned the Union Jack over 30 years ago, now
Australia's turn. Plus history of Australian flags.
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The National
Flag
This
design serves all purposes, including civil and naval ensign. In
informal use it is acceptable to fly the two earlier versions of this flag,
one with a plain blue field,
lacking the eight stars, and one with a single blue star (see below).
There is no "official" explanation of the
"meaning" of the flag, but politicians in speeches over the years
mention these recurring themes: The tricolor variously stands for (a)
the three principles of Liberté (red), égalité
(gold, and fraternité (blue), adopted more or less
contemporaneously with the French Republican flag, (b) the three factions that made up the
original independence movement, (c) the three branches of government,
(d) the three virtues of (i) faith & loyalty (the ancient priestly
virtue), (ii) knowledge & light (the ancient virtue of the scribe) and
(iii) bravery
& blood (the
ancient virtue of the banda warrior), and (e) the
three basic elements in traditional cosmology together denoting cosmic order
that incidentally were always symbolized in pre-columbian times by the colors red, gold and blue.
The blue field is variously explained as representative
of the Ocean, the Community, or the ancient virtue of chiconatrei-- honesty
& trust based upon mutual respect & honor.
The eight gold stars of course refer to
the
Eight Principles of the Revolution.
The proportions of the flag is 3 x 5. The proportions of
the tricolor canton is 2 x 3, and is positioned to occupy one half the
height of the flag.
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Evolution of the National Flag
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Le
Compagnie du Cities, the union of French-colonial cities that organized
to resist British Rule after 1763. The emblems in the Christian cross
are a Bergonian variant on the
fleur-de-lys, also a rendition of an ancient
fertility-prosperity symbol.
The
later version of the flag placed the cross & fleur-de-lys in a canton, in
imitation of the design of the British
blue ensign. It was first used as the regimental flag for regiments and
militias loyal to the Compagnie, which ended up constituting a rather large part of
the anti-British forces. Military units placed their emblems or wrote
their names and the names of their cities and towns of origin on the blue
field.
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The
Flag hoisted by Michel Pesilei, rebel military commander, when he ousted the
British from Ceiolai. This was the flag that flew on 30 April 1880,
when Pesilei proclaimed the formation of a republic independent from
Britain, now commemorated every 30 April as Independence Day. Blue, gold, and
white were the traditional colors of Ceiolai (see its flag below). Peislei made his proclamation in the giant plaza called Zereitlamar,
still the great center of the great city. To this day this flag of
Pesilei's flies all around Zereitlamar.
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The first
national flag, adopted by Congress in Sonai in October 1780. The
graphic tri-color design simplified Peislei's banner, but the colors were the Compagnie
colors. Red was the color most often used by the various trader guilds that had formed in the French colonies. The guilds formed
the core of the Compagnie's original support, and many of its leaders came
from guild ranks.
The seven stars indicated the seven states into which the first Republic was
divided. This flag is still displayed informally, but the modern
versions often display eight, not, seven stars. The yellow was
described variously as "deep yellow" and "dark yellow" and "gold,"
and is quite often shown as ochre.
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Flag of
Bergonia, 1800 to 1859. The gold of the first flag was changed to a
brighter
yellow. This design adapts the design of the Compagnie flag. It was first adopted as the naval ensign in
1780, and contrasted at sea with the Red British
Ensign. The Army used variations of this flag. Regiments and
military services, such as engineers and harbormasters, placed their
particular insignia on the blue field, usually in yellow silhouette,
although now the armed forces uses a red version (see below). After it
became the national flag, the various governmental agencies and ministries--
e.g. customs, the postal service, the geological survey, the national bank--
applied their insignia to the blue field.
Though
no surviving official records of the Bergonian Navy specifically document
the use of this "Golden Cross Ensign," many paintings and illustrations from
the early decades of the new Republic, including those commissioned by the
Navy itself, depicted this ensign flying from fighting vessels.
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Flag of
Bergonia, 1859 to 1934, incorporating a four-pointed star, which
resulted from the distinctively Bergonian rejection of the Western five-pointed
star. This flag was adopted by the successful Mountain-Cat
revolutionaries of 1859 who finally ended all
gentry rights to income from the
peasants, and ended property and class restrictions on the franchise by
extending the vote to all men twenty-one or older. This was the
star of Bergonian republicanism. The subsequent dictator John Rarsa retained
the new star on the flag when he seized power in 1866, and the flag
continued to fly under the Third Commonwealth after 1885. One still sees this
flag flown today too.
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Flag of
Bergonia, 1934 to present, adopted after the Revolution, incorporating the eight stars
that represent the
Eight Principles.
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The
first official display of the French Tricolor was as part of the Republican Naval
Ensign, flown from 1790 to 1794. Thereafter, France used the Tricolor
by itself as the national flag. We see how France first used a Tricolor in a canton and then
by itself.
Bergonia, on the other hand, started with a tri-color by itself and then
moved it into the canton on an ensign-type design.
The flag of
the United States, of course, was also based on
the
British ensign, albeit the red version, transmuting in a two-step process: (a) first the red
field was replaced with the thirteen red & white stripes (see the
Grand Union
flag), and (b) then
the 13 stars replaced the British
flag in the canton.
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This
is the
"Easton Flag" of the United States, displayed briefly in
1814. It mimicked the
Bergonian flag. Likewise, the flags of
Australia and
New Zealand use a
canton against a blue field full of stars. All four flags are obviously
derived from Great Britain's blue ensign.
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Other Flags of the
Commonwealth
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The
official Flag of Congress. This design reflects nothing more than
the unique tile pattern on the floor of the Grand Salon in the
Governor's Palace in Sonai, where the First Congress had its meetings in
1782.
When Congress built the great capitol building in Ceiolai in 1815, the same pattern was
used on the floor of the legislative chamber. When Congress built its
new capitol in Lefitoni in 1943, the pattern was repeated a third
time. The checkered pattern suggests the
unity that comes out of the orderly arrangement of individual elements, as if the tiles represent
individual delegates or constituencies arranged into a coherent body.
Another version of this
flag uses the national colors of blue-yellow-red instead of black-white-red.
The flag of
the President employs a sun-disk that was a common motif in
pre-columbian times, usually associated with sovereign power-- see blow the flag of the
city of Ceiolai, an imitation of the
flag of the Second Ceiolaian Empire, which also uses this emblem.
After 1050 AD the sun-disk evolved into a common Miradi emblem,
still in use today (see Miradi Civic Union flag below). But in this
flag's context it
plainly has no religious connotation. The placement of the
yellow sun over the red band is supposed to relate to the president's
"imprimatur"-- the war powers. At the time of independence
in the 1880s,
a variation of this design was considered for adoption as the national flag,
but beaten out by the tri-color with the seven stars.
Flag
of the Executive Council. The
device within the uma (the blue lozenge) is formed by seventeen stars, with one point elongated
toward the common center. The executive council has seventeen
members. Each elongated star also take on the appearance of a dagger,
always an accoutrement to a banda warrior, but
together they form a wheel. It is very similar to
the flag of one of the major parties, the NDP (below).
This
is the flag of the recently-created Peoples
Assembly. The design is meant to connote how the various
constituencies of the nation come together under the 8 Principles.
This is the flag of the Armed Forces
of the nation. Since there are no "branches" of service as in the US,
all military units, including the Navy, fly this flag. It is obviously based upon the national flag, with a reversal of the stripes in the
canton to preserve the integrity of the design. Red of course is the
martial color.
The seal
on the flag is the coat of arms of the armed forces. For use on the flag the
light-blue rays are omitted. The book is to remind the troops of what
they are serving to protect; it symbolizes the constitution and the nation's
laws, as well as the concept of civility.
This
is the flag of the Coast Guard, a
diverse branch
of service independent of the regular armed services. The Coast Guard
has responsibility for (a) armed boats patrolling the coasts, (b) sea and
water rescue service, (c) customs, (d) smuggling interdiction and (e) harbor masters.
It is now assigned many of new "Homeland Security" functions in
this new age of terror, although Bergonia has experienced minimal terror
from foreign groups. The yellow
was chosen for the simple expediency of visibility at sea and
outdoors. Here we see an anchor contained within an uma, the
traditional Bergonian lozenge emblem.
Flag of the Merchant Marine.
Most Bergonian commercial ships fly this flag. This quartering in the
canton comes from an old traditional motif respecting the four cardinal
directions, the four corners of the universe, the four oceans of the world, and the four Shufrantei
deities who together held up the world. The colors are modern,
however, containing the national combo of blue, red & gold, plus the
cyan taken from the old militant longshoremen's & seamen's union flag from the
late 1800s. (p.s. I stole the double anchor emblem from an Algerian naval
flag.)
This
is the flag of Canle-Lesre, the League of States,
which steals the star-studded canton from the American flag. The canton contains
31 stars for the 31 states, all of whom voluntarily belong to and participate in the
League. The prior design displayed 30 stars in a simple 5 x 6 pattern.
This flag was adopted in the summer of 2004 to welcome the new state of
Sargaso to the ranks. The League's seal appears in the yellow field, depicting a
winged preba-cat flying over the ocean waters, with a rising sign in the
distance. The banner across the middle of the scene displays a
Nacateca word for "mutual aid," or "helping each
other." The handshake between two hands of different colors is a
popular emblem reflecting the proper attitude toward the nation's diversity,
originated with the Ciranic movement in the late 1800s.

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State
and City Flags:
Northwestern States |
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Flag of Coninpati (sometimes called Goninbad). The eight
stripes refer to the eight "tribes" of Coninipati, one of which
are the French-speaking descendants of colonists.
Paiatri's
flag was designed in 1940, but it is quite similar to ancient flags of the
region. It incorporates the colors of all Paiatri's larger
cities. The diamond-shaped device in the middle is the uma, a common motif in
pre-columbian graphic arts. The uma refers to the virtues of unity &
balanced wholeness; thus it symbolizes a healthy community. The
diamond is incorporated in the Anctoned glyph for "city."
Flag of the city
of Cationi, Paiatri's capitol and largest city, with 4,400,000 it is the
nation's fourth largest. Below is the seal.
Here
the 8 stars do not represent the 8 Principles, but rather
Cationi's 8
traditional wards. Their names neatly translate as follows: the Docks,
the Tower, the Hillside, the Garden, the French Quarter, Coninipati (named
after the state), the University, and the Summit. Cationi has always been
a town of colleges, philosophers and learning-- hence the book, with the
dove emerging from its pages, with the sword of the state protecting the
stars and serving the dove and the book.
Lampanira
was one of the few areas that managed to preserve an autonomous government
throughout the colonial period, even though it had a large number of English
settlers. Lampanira was a British Protectorate
for over three hundred years. This device, a fringed belt, was
distinctively worn by the tieri of Lampanira, along with a
matching headband, a design predating Columbus. Thus the pattern became a symbol of Lampanira's
independence.
Here
is a variation used during the 1700s and early
1800s with a cross to acknowledge the English minority and British
domination. It is now the official flag of the city of Drakesburg.

Flag
of Sefaieri. This symbol stands for "the Golden Man,"
an ancient hero who lived atop Nanetlamo, the mountain at the center of the
province, a mountain once incredibly rich in gold deposits, but now all
mined out.
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Flag of Omaika. The
seal represents the French, Nacateca and Pasan elements. The sheep
in the green field is an homage to the centuries-old means of making a
living in Omaika, which remains renown for the quality of its wools.
In Bergonia stores one looks for "Omaika" wools alongside the Cashmere,
named incidentally for the region now disputed by India & Pakistan.
The flag of
Pueoi bears
a famous old soldiers' motto which translates, "Our faith makes us
strong," or more literally, "Our bonds become our
strength." Red and light blue are Pueoi's traditional colors, and
were employed on the flag used before the Revolution-- see below-- but in
1934 this flag was adopted, incorporating the national colors.
The traditional flag of
Pueoi, employing the emblem used by the ancient state
of Pueoi. Red and light blue are still used as the colors of many
sports teams in Pueoi.
This flag has no
official status, but appears everywhere in Pueoi. The design appears on ball
caps and tee-shirts, sports logos, cafe signs, bumper-stickers, political
signs, mailboxes, and websites. It is Pueoi's unusual compound uma,
derived from an emblem used in medieval Pueoi for
good luck, commonly carved onto amulets given to new immigrating arrivals then.
Cuecha,
the state at the center of ancient Nacateca culture, and the most populous
of the 31 Lesre, uses an ancient Nacateca
device dating back over three thousand years old, referred to as the
sun-wheel, a symbol related to Arcan, the male god of the Shufrantei duinity,
and also related to the solar-related four seasons and the calendar, thus a
strong agricultural symbol. The entire flag in fact depicts the sun in
the sky above the verdant earth of the Ifuno Plateau.
This
was the flag of the pre-columbian state of Tiericoatli, which included most
of what is now Cuecha (see above). Some people still fly it. It is a
version of the sun-wheel motif that appears on the current flag.
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Southwestern States
The
flag of Incuatati, with an uma (the lozenge), was popularly though
incorrectly considered a mockery of the British flag. Incuatati had been a British colony,
called Cresner Colony, and in fact this flag's first rendering came
from the pen of an English journalist who was proposing self-government for
the colony and who had no intention of mocking the Union Jack. He
meant for the red cross of St. George to represent the British population
and the yellow St. Andrew's cross to represent the atrei, with the uma
representing the fundamental unity of the territory.
The flag of the autonomous county of Puelelo, populated
primarily by Faroi people.
Sanraniclai's flag
has in the canton a traditional Faroi device, the turtle. This is one
of the few state flags that expressly mirrors the national flag.
The
flag of Soleinia shows the English influence, imitating the English red
ensign in use from 1620 to 1707. The five-petal Alua
flower grows profusely in Bergonia's dry southlands.
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Flag of
Letlari, reflecting the national colors, and displaying an uma, standing
for unity of the community.There is a more official
version, shown below, containing a seal within the uma that includes both traditional and
revolutionary emblems. The date emblazoned in the uma is the date that
Lefitoni officially became the nation's capital. The simpler flag is
the one in common use.

Flag of the capitol city
of Lefitoni, also capitol of the state of
Letlari. Depicted is a preba-cat. This flag is traditional,
dating at least from 1660, one of the earliest instances of use of a
four-pointed star.
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Northeast States
Flag
of Bun-Vosuget, which means "Northern Federation," a
federation of six ethnically distinct counties. Note the use of the
traditional four-pointed star. Some of Bergonia's thickest forests and
most verdant lands lie in B-V, and therefore green has become B-V's
emblematic color.
Flag of Calpia, the archipelago of islands north of Bergonia's mainland.
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This is
the flag of Pasiana. The circles-within-circles pattern is a recurring
theme in Pasan folk art, often found in logos, and on pottery, decorative trim,
textile prints and print graphics.
This is
Zeinran's flag,
graphically similar to Sanraniclai's, and the national flag. The
old flag consisted of the three horizontal stripes, but after the revolution
they were placed in a canton so that the eight stars could be added.
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East-Central States
The
flag of Rarsecin. Ceiolai is the
capital of this big state.
This is the
flag of the Capital City of Ceiolai, located in
Rarsecin, and
Rarsecin's capital as well, employing the traditional colors of white, gold
and blue. This emblem was used during the Second Ceiolaian Empire; it juxtaposes the sword which
represents force, the prerogative of
imperial power, and the solar principle, which underlies it.
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Flag of Kalicon,
one of five state flags that predominantly displays an animal, in this case
a beautiful stag.
This nice flag, flown by the state of Foi-Pentana rather coincidently
resembles the flag of Tibet.
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Eastern States
The
flag of Sacamota. imitates the blue-gold-red canton on the
national flag. The expanded field of red, which has for centuries
dominated local and regional atrei flags. Red was the color of Bathicon, the
medieval state which comprised most of Sacamota's modern territory for over
a 700 years.
The star & crescent are a female
& nighttime symbol relating to Icotesi.
The
very first cities in Bergonia were built in what is now the state of
Bunamota. almost 3,000 years ago by the Kuan people. This long,
deep history of civilized life is celebrated by a powerful fertility-humanity symbol
used commonly by the ancient Kuans. The three stripes
refer to the Minidun-speaking people of Putilon, the Fishlin-speaking people of the
Sargaso islands, and the Portuguese-speaking population.
Sansan's
flag suggests the river valley that comprises its entire geography, and the
three city glyphs represent the three constituent regions,

Flag of the new
archipelago state of Sargaso, the 31st state. This flag
was approved in a referendum, in 2004, beating out three other designs.
Flag
of Saldeia, incorporating both Portuguese and atrei elements.
The blue cross on white background shown in the lower right disk was used
extensively by the Portuguese in their grand Age of Exploration. The
white emblem in the lower-left disk is a medieval glyph. The elaborate
Bergonian 4-pointed star in the center overlaying the four other designs
signified the modern national spirit that has unified the disparate
elements.
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Halemarec The star in the upper left was a revolutionary addition to Halemarec's
ancient design, just as communist states (e.g. Mongolia) sometimes added red
or gold five-pointed stars to their traditional emblems. The glyph in
the in the center of the device is the ancient name for the city of Glen.
Flag of the City of Glen.
Sky blue and industrial grey are Glen's colors, appropriate for an ocean
port and manufacturing giant.
A garland of the
Bergonian olive. The corsair represents Glen's connection to the
sea. The eyelet glyph within the uma lozenge represents
"vision," or rather "intelligent imagination," or maybe
just "cleverness." The glyphs below date from the Imperial
Era & recite a slogan, "The eastern Sun shines
brightest."
Flag of the island state of Bruntaigo.
This is a revolutionary design that replaced an old flag retained from
British colonial times that displayed a Union Jack in a canton against a
blue field. Against the blue field was a seal depicting an English
planter and an atrei in traditional tieri's suit and cape, jointly holding a
spear upright. It was considered a reactionary design and after the
particularly bloody battle between leftists and Kilitan-nationalist forces
for control of Midway and the naval port in the summer of 1931, the
triumphant leftists raised this banner.
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Southeastern States

Flag of Erithin,
the small island off the southeast coast. The emblem in the middle is
a stylized flower, the Sithilia, native to Erithin, as well as the
dry climes of southeastern Bergonia.
The flag of the Free
State of Giles, showing its Christian, English and Cromwellian roots.
The white lion in the black shield comprises Oliver Cromwell's personal
arms. The original settlers of Giles were unrepentant dissenters.>
The
flag of Balupic depicts a stylized red-bean plant.
The
flag of Corifoi bears the name of the state written in the Imonana
alphabet. The four stripes refer to the original four legendary
families that founded the Corifoi nation, from which every Corifoi resident
can supposedly trace their ancestry. The colors are traditional
among the Corifoi people and predominant in Corifoi crafts & decor.
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Serpei's
flag shows an ancient glyph, symbolic of the Serpei people. The glyph
generally translates as "good cheer." The cross shows the
English & Christian influence. Serpei was under British rule
longer than any other part of mainland Bergonia, and the English influence
remains great there. The very un-British colors of green and yellow were
traditional to the Pre-Columbian states of this region.
This is the flag of
the federated city of Harler-Bathilicon, a city of many islands and
many ethnic neighborhoods. The linear outlines of the sun & star are
rendered in the national shade of dark blue. This flag was designed
and adopted after the Revolution to replace several competing British &
nationalist flags.
The
flag of the state of Dhentamina,
showing a preba. The little red things are traditional blossom
emblems, indicating the six main regions of the state.
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Party and Movement Flags
The
Ataolei Flag, flown by the Ataolei militia in the state of
Sefaieri. This
small militia spearheaded a quixotic peasant revolt in 1819. The rebel force
grew to 60,000 and threatened to take over the whole state, but the Bergonian
army overwhelmed them. The Ataolei militia, some 4,000 men, retreated
intact and holed up in an old stone fort, where they defended themselves to
the last man. The siege and massacre
was immediately romanticized by all atrei republicans, radicals, idealists
and dissenters. It has become Bergonia's Alamo. In every
painting, poster, play, movie and television show, this flag is
commemorated. In the white field was often inscribed the name
"Ataolei" or some other slogan.
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The
Mountain Lion
Party Flag. Sometimes the preba-cat was rendered in red.
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Flag of
the Lance & Pen Party, another step in the radical tradition.
The emblem depicts a pen, a lance and a flame emblem, which mimicked the
ancient Anctoned glyph for liberty.
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The
Democratic
Front. The eight stars represent the Eight Principles,
adopted in 1920. Before the red flag most often displayed a single
gold four-pointed star. The red is the red of radical republicanism
and socialism. The gold reflects the gold and yellow used by Bergonian
revolutionaries in the past. The Minidun word "Democrasi" of course
came from the English "Democracy" and the French "Democracie,"
but the accent falls on the first and third syllables.
In Nacateca it is "Timocrasei," with the same accent, and the DF flags flown in western
Bergonia usually read
"Timocrasei." Likewise,
people who spoke other languages flew other variations. But "Democrasi,"
the Minidun version, became the official version, on the theory that since Minidun
was the plurality language in Bergonia it therefore became the default national
language. This preference later became government policy after the
Revolution, when Minidun was declared the Primary State Language, in
exchange for the national capital being relocated from Minidun-speaking
Ceiolai to Nacateca- speaking Lefitoni, an event commemorated on the
flag of the state of Letlari.
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The flag of the Kilitan
Movement.
The red wings are an ancient motif used to represent purpose, focus, a
mission, a journey, a cause, a calling. The wings are positioned over the waves of the
ocean, a traditional symbol of eternity and fundamental energy. The
ocean (shore) also marks the boundary of Bergonia. The arrangement
refers to Berg's position relative to the rest of the world..
This became the Kilitan's battle flag during the Revolutionary Civil War of
1931-1933. Like the Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War, the Kilitan and
its "Nationalist" allies changed flags during its unsuccessful conflict, in
part for expediency's sake. The single jagged blue edge was much
simpler than the repeating wave pattern, and still graphically represented
the ocean waters.
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The National Democracy Party. Simpler versions lack the yellow
trim and place the blue star-studded uma directly on the red field.
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The
Socialist Freedom Party. This flag parallels the international
anarcho-syndicalist flag, which incorporate the red of socialism and the black of
anarchy. However Bergonian syndicalists have generally transmuted the
European black into deep
navy blue. The single four-pointed star distinguished the
party flag from the general Bergonian anarcho-syndicalist banner.
The Socialist
Country Party. a party of farmers, miners and other rural
interests.

The Bergonian Communist Flag
adapts the blue of the
national flag. Note the absence of any five-pointed star.
Bergonian communists also like to display a pure-red banner with the gold
hammer & cycle in the upper left. It is almost identical to the
now-discarded Soviet Flag, except that the Soviet Flag placed a small gold
star above the hammer & cycle. In its propaganda, the party uses a
red star-- four-pointed of course.
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The
most common Bergonian Anarchist flag (there is of course no
"official" flag). It includes the black of the
international anarchist movement, but also displays the Bergonian star. Occasionally
one will see a dark blue version.
The
Harmony Party too has embraced the eight principles, with the
expanded interpretation of Principle #8. The chartreuse
mountain portrayed on Harmony's first flag, adopted in 1977, was emblematic of the Berg environmental movement. The
flag however was revised in 1984 with a more standard shade of green.
Two typical flags of local political
clubs, both with umas central to the design. The first is from a club
in Sufilo, in southern Cuecha state. The one below is from the
Minre Borchetin Orac, the "Industrial Workers Club" in the city of
Balrein in Halemarec state, incorporating the slogan Soshalisa, Moreina
("socialism and freedom").
Rev. Oct 2005 |
Bergonians
love their flags. Every city, town and major organization and every political club
has its own banner, and flags fly everywhere in the cities and towns. But Bergonians do not
make false idols of their flags.
Published on Wednesday, April 3, 2002 by
Common Dreams
What the American Flag Stands For
by Charlotte Aldebron
The American flag stands for the fact that cloth can be very important. It is against the law to let the flag touch the ground or to leave the flag flying when the weather is bad. The flag has to be treated with respect. You can tell just how important this cloth is because when you compare it to people, it gets much better treatment. Nobody cares if a homeless person touches the ground. A homeless person can lie all over the ground all night long without anyone picking him up, folding him neatly and sheltering him from the rain.
School children have to pledge loyalty to this piece of cloth every morning. No one has to pledge loyalty to justice and equality and human decency. No one has to promise that people will get a fair wage, or enough food to eat, or affordable medicine, or clean water, or air free of harmful chemicals. But we all have to promise to love a rectangle of red, white, and blue cloth.
Betsy Ross would be quite surprised to see how successful her creation has become. But Thomas Jefferson would be disappointed to see how little of the flag's real meaning remains.
Charlotte Aldebron, 12, wrote this essay for a competition in her 6th grade English class. She
attended Cunningham Middle School in Presque Isle,
Maine.
There is, parenthetically, nothing even remotely resembling
the USA's Pledge of Allegiance in Bergonia.
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