We earlier examined a celebrated case in
France, of proscription of an item of non-verbal speech: La quenelle. Here, now, is another, this time from Germany:
Künftig ist es verboten,
Kennzeichen oder Symbole der Miliz in Deutschland zu verwenden - hier liegt ein
Problem des Verbots. Die Fahne des IS zeigt kein abstraktes Symbol, das nur
Dschihadisten verwenden, sondern sie besteht aus dem islamischen
Glaubensbekenntnis: "Es gibt keinen Gott außer Gott, und Mohammed ist der
Gesandte Gottes." Dieses Glaubensbekenntnis ist eine der fünf Säulen des
Islam und hat mit Terrorismus ebenso viel zu tun wie das Glaubensbekenntnis der
Christen: nichts.
For reader reference, we reproduce an image of the
forbidden object (German nationals are required to avert their gaze):
 |
| "I pledge allegiance ... to the flag ..." |
Now, that one really is an Islamic State flag, for
beneath the shahâdah (“There is no
god but God, and Muhammad is His prophet”) stands the legend Dawlatu l-Khilâfati l-Islâmiyyah ‘State
of the Islamic Caliphate’ (yet another
designation for the group!) .
But what of this plain-vanilla version, showing
nothing but the bare profession of faith?
Is this banned too?
Apparently so:
Gerade
dieses IS-Symbol-Verbot trug dem Vernehmen nach dazu bei, dass das
Innenministerium mehr Zeit brauchte als erwartet: Der IS präsentiert auf seiner
schwarzen Flagge nämlich eine Kombination aus Kalifatsbezeichnungen,
Prophetensiegel und der ersten Sure des Koran. Intensiv prüften die Juristen
deshalb, ob durch ein Verbot die religiösen Gefühle der Muslime verletzt
werden. Ergebnis: Diese Symbolik wird seit zehn Jahren nur von der Isis, dem
jetzigen IS, verwendet.
~
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Clothiers to
gentlemen since 1917
~
[Update 28 September 2014] Let us be quite …. clear.
That last image is not the property of any
particular group. All it does is
affirm the unity of God -- Credo in unum
Deum, as we say in our faith -- and then adds the most minimal bit to make
it Muslim: “Muhammad [is the]
prophet [of] God”. (In Arabic,
this is just three words. An
odd feature of the layout is that this last phrase is laid out vertically, and
must be read (not usual for Arabic at all) from bottom to top: thus, geometrically subordinating Muhammad to God. Monotheism does
not get more pure than that.
And so, let us contemplate, what banning that
image means. The phrase itself
must never be banned; one could
debate about the particular B&W layout as a flag -- there is nothing sacred
about the color-scheme or layout.
Alas, we must now consider this. The unspeakable coven of Xanthippean
diabolists known as “Femen” have dedicated themselves to profaning all that is
sacred. They did it at Notre-Dame,
and now … but what they did, is
too horrible to reproduce here;
click if you dare:
Eine Schande !
~
Was
für Krimi liest wohl Dr. Sigmund Freud?
Schauen
Sie mal!
~
[Update 15 December 2014] Here we see hostages forced to display the flag in Sydney,
Australia:
 |
| Season's greetings from Iran |
[Update 21 December 2014] The ISIL flag functions internationally rather like MacDonald’s Golden Arches -- an
instantly recognizable visual brand.
The Franco-Burundian Islamist convert who slashed
several police officers in France, put up an image of that flag on Facebook,
just before the attack:
http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2014/12/21/01016-20141221ARTFIG00066-joue-les-tours-l-assaillant-avait-affiche-sur-facebook-le-drapeau-de-daech.php
[Update] More in the ISIL flag:
[Update 10 Feb 2015] The flag is banned in France, perhaps:
http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2015/02/09/01016-20150209ARTFIG00032-lille-verdict-aujourd-hui-pour-le-libraire-ayant-expose-le-drapeau-de-daech.php
[Update May 2015] In the latest edition of Dabiq (#9), ISIL, with its sternly minimalistic, monochromatic or rather achromatic flag, denounces the rainbow banners of its jihadi rivals.
[Update 30 June 2015] Comic relief:
http://www.cleveland.com/
The context for is the flurry of calls for banning the Confederate flag. Trigger for these was that fact that a recent mass-murderer posed with that flag on Facebook. (What would we have done if, instead, he had posed with the flag of the United Nations, or with a GOP elephant?)
Farcic relief:
South Carolina, the state where the recent assassinations took place, has apparently come up with a compromise: a joint ISIL/Arabian/Confederate flag that is immensely tasteful and doubtless will soon be gracing the chic-est salons:
[Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America ]
Order yours today!
[Update] More in the ISIL flag:
"The Islamic State’s design of
the Muslim profession of faith is different from every other attempt to
replicate the prophet’s flag: 'No god but God' is scrawled in white across the top
and 'Mohammed is the Messenger of God' is stacked in black inside a white
circle. (...) Yet the Islamic State’s choices display the modern sensibilities
they try so hard to displace. The white scrawl across the top, 'No god but
God,' is deliberately ragged, meant to suggest an era before the precision of
Photoshop, even though the flag was designed on a computer."
(The Atlantic 22.09.2015)
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/09/isis-flag-apocalypse/406498/
*
Si cela vous parle,
savourez la série noire
en argot authentique
d’Amérique :
[Update 10 Feb 2015] The flag is banned in France, perhaps:
http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2015/02/09/01016-20150209ARTFIG00032-lille-verdict-aujourd-hui-pour-le-libraire-ayant-expose-le-drapeau-de-daech.php
[Update May 2015] In the latest edition of Dabiq (#9), ISIL, with its sternly minimalistic, monochromatic or rather achromatic flag, denounces the rainbow banners of its jihadi rivals.
[Update 30 June 2015] Comic relief:
http://www.cleveland.com/
The context for is the flurry of calls for banning the Confederate flag. Trigger for these was that fact that a recent mass-murderer posed with that flag on Facebook. (What would we have done if, instead, he had posed with the flag of the United Nations, or with a GOP elephant?)
Farcic relief:
South Carolina, the state where the recent assassinations took place, has apparently come up with a compromise: a joint ISIL/Arabian/Confederate flag that is immensely tasteful and doubtless will soon be gracing the chic-est salons:
[Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America ]
Order yours today!
[Update]
Ever-more-contorted German
attempts to forbid codes and
symbols:
[Update 15 Nov 2015] Now here's an interesting flag...
(Manif en Bretagne.)
 |
| "Breizh da gentañ" |
(Manif en Bretagne.)
That curious, whirly shape is known as a triskelion:
Il est quelque peu méchant, car il rappelle une
autre figure giratoire, mais à quatre
pattes au lieu de trois.
[Update 21 November 2015] And now … the “Merkel-Raute”:
Deutschland im
Zeichen der Merkel-Raute – in dieser Zeichensprache kommt wohl der Anspruch der
Bundeskanzlerin zur Geltung, alles zusammenzuführen und in einer Mitte zu
vereinen.
Update 21 April 2016] In a very informative article
We learn of yet another flag in ill-favor:
Demonstrators
sometimes hold up the “Wirmer flag,” which the anti-Hitler resistance around
Claus von Stauffenberg had intended as the symbol of a post-Nazi Germany. In
fact, many far-right groups in Germany have appropriated this symbol to signal
that they consider the current state illegitimate.
 |
| Wirmer-Flagge |
The author does not comment on that symbol’s legal
status, but according to Wikipedia, it’s allowed:
Bei
der Wirmer-Flagge gibt es keine rechtlichen Einschränkungen, anders als bei der
ähnlich wirkenden Reichskriegsflagge, die selbst in der Version ohne Hakenkreuz
von der Polizei wegen „Verstoß[es] gegen die öffentliche Ordnung“ sichergestellt
werden kann.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirmer-Flagge#Verwendung_durch_rechtsextreme_und_rechtspopulistische_Gruppierungen
As for the taboo’d Reichskriegsflagge, here it is,
in a version in use until 1903 (German citizens, avert your gaze -- Auch das blosse
Anschauen ist streng verboten):
.
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