What’s with the flag?

Those who have kept up with the anti-regime protests, in Iran and worldwide, may have noticed a strange behavior by the protesters. Thought most of them are Iranians, Iran’s state flag is nowhere to be seen, except when people are burning it, or stomping on it. This may surprise some who aren’t aware of the history of the flag. After all, why would the people of a nation desecrate their own flag?

The answer is because most of us don’t recognize this flag as our own. The flag currently known as Iran’s national flag wasn’t its flag until the Islamic Revolution of 1979. It was created by the Islamic regime after the Ayatollah took power and established a new government.

Iran’s flag for centuries was the bands of red, white, and green, with the emblem of the Lion and the Sun. This motif carries historical and astronomical significance for our people and goes back to the 12th century. Because the Islamic regime hates everything that has to do with ancient Persia, they not only removed the Lion and Sun motif and replaced it with a logo that spelled Allah in Arabic, they also added two fringes of Allah-o-Akbar in Arabic at the borders of the color bands. That is a lot of Arabic for the flag of a nation that has no Arab roots. Essentially the Islamic Republic took something that signified our people’s heritage and history, and replaced it with something they thought the nation should be about.

Since the majority of Iranians hate the usurping regime, they hate its flag too. The flag has become a symbol of the regime’s selfishness, oppression, and quest to destroy Iran’s culture in favor of installing a quasi-Arab, jihadist identity. This is one of the many reasons Iranians fight the current government. The Islamic Republic didn’t just take their freedoms away. It has sworn to destroy our national identity, ancient heritage, and diverse culture that belongs to our people as opposed to a religion that originated elsewhere. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the flag they stole and bastardized, which is now only good for two things: burning, and wiping one’s feet on.