Last modified: 2023-12-09 by rob raeside
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There is no worldwide accepted flag of Earth.
Many flag makers 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 are listed 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 manufacturer’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 unofficial, naive or plain ugly, if any of these designs ever catches
up 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
Because most people only think of nations. They consider themselves citizens
of that nation, members of that culture or society they were born into. Yes,
flags are political by nature and many patriotic or nationalistic people will
automatically reject any flag that threatens the sovereignty of their nation no
matter how benign.
As for the others who don't feel particularly
connected to a specific nation, or culture, or the ones who are actually born
without citizenship of any kind, they seek an identity that no one will
officially recognize. So the artistic ones will create their own, but mainly for
their own use.
I consider myself a Terran, and I have been looking for a
flag that shows my feeling of world citizenship. Someone cited a lack of a
“them”. The “them” in this case is all other individual nations. I wouldn't mind
using the United Nations flag if it was a more respected organization. As it is,
it is largely ignored by all nations who go ahead and do whatever they want
despite all the pomp about settling their differences through the United
Nations.
The flag created by the farmer and used by SETI is fine. All the
comments are nit-picking in lieu of finding any real flaws in the design. This
design over all the others is the best and apparently is the most widely
supported non-commercially. It is simple in its design. Easily recognizable as
representing the Earth with its satellite the Moon, against the Sun in the
background. No other symbolism of “unity of man” or any other philosophical
intention. It represents the Earth…without comment.
The Earth Day or
Authentic Earth flag was obviously created for commercial purposes only. The One
World flag is okay, but it is a commentary on the human condition, not a
representation of the world on which we live. The International flag looks like
an abstract Japanese mon symbol which is not easily recognizable as being planet
Earth. The Citizen of the World flag has too many negative concepts which could
be construed to mean that conflict between peoples is not only inevitable, but
acceptable. As for the World Service Authority flag, I can see groups calling it
sexist already.
As for a flag representing the Internet. I have been
using my own design. It may be that someone will notice. If they do you may be
able to identify it for them easily from the information that I have provided on
my blog here:
http://www.seventeentharcanum.com/WhitePhoenixBlog/2013/04/17/proposal-for-a-symbol-and-flag-for-the-internet/
Rod Lockwood, 17 November 2015
Since Mr. Lockwood addresses several issues in his message, I'll try my best and answer (on my own behalf):
Earth flags: interesting as it may be, the point (or points) or why there is no general consensus over an earth flag actually has to do with such wide and thorough topics such as Cosmology (how they view the universe) and the Cosmogony (the answer to the origin of the Universe) of the Nations (not countries, but peoples) in a traditional cultural manner, as well as other important issues like language, religion, social, economic and government systems diversity, that makes it virtually impossible to decide on one single flag to represent us all. That's why past efforts have dealt with this topic and tried to gather as much influence and acceptance by using unifying concepts, such as a globe (remember the idea of a circumference shapped Earth was not widely accepted until the Middle Ages), a language (the Esperanto flag for instance), a political motive (like the Sufraggete flag), or even a social cause (the white flag of truce).
Flag for internet: when mentioning "flag of Internet", I would assume you are referring to WWW (World Wide Web), which is the most accessible network and recognized concept. Unfortunately there's no flag for it, not even his founder established one, nor successful efforts took place. As an alternative for this, there's ICANN: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. But again, no flag for this organization either.
Finally, there's even a concept called "Interplanetary Internet", which would
actually lead to several "Planet flags" (not only Earth) and also "other
internets" flags.
Esteban Rivera, 18 November 2015