Democratic Tajikistan (Sep 24 r/vex Flag Contest)
The September 2024 r/vexillology flag contest was about making flags for fictional pro-Democracy movements in authoritarian countries. You can see all the submissions, ranks, and the full prompt at the official Vexillology Contests website.
My submissions
For the 2024 September r/vexillology Flag Contest about protest flags in multiple authoritarian nations for democracy, I chose Tajikistan, as it is a country and nation I am not familiar with, but know that it has an interesting culture and history. I made 2 flags, one serious one that I took effort and time making, and an experimental one, as always.
The first one is the Sarnagūnshavii Sher (The Lion's Dethronement in Tajik) This flag shows a golden lion (the symbol of authority and tyranny in Persian culture) with the crown from the Tajik flag on a black field, and to the right, 3 blue AK-47s on a white field. The lion is from the Presidential Tajik flag, and the guns were heavily inspired in this vector.
Lion: Represents the current regime (tyranny) in gold (زرد/طلا), symbolizing corruption, something that unfortunately is incomprehensibly present in all aspects of Tajik society, especially government. The lion is cowardly hiding its face, signifying it is out of touch with the people and trying to avoid confrontation/resistance.
Bisection: The black (سیاه) signifies oppression, and the white, purity, peace, and a fresh restart.
Guns: The 3 are AK-47s (chosen are they are an icon of revolutions worldwide), the main one representing the Tajik, and the 2 smaller ones the Uzbeks and other minorities, symbolizing a united population against the regime, for democracy. They're blue (آبی), representing trust, peace, and stability.
The other flag I have made is a disappointment, it is an experimental flag to test if an effortless flag made in less than 2 minutes can place higher than a flag that took me days to perfect. It is the Parcam ʙo sūrox, and unsurprisingly, it placed 12 positions above Sarnagūnshavii Sher. To be frank, I made it in the last time possible, and it only took me less than 2 minutes, as I wasn't too confident people would like my previous flag, and here is the last minute description I've made for it:
This flag may seem like a troll, but it is a conceptual pro-democratic flag for a free Tajikistan. It takes inspiration from the famous 1989 Romanian revolutionary flag, one used by anti-Communist and pro-democratic Romanians during the revolution to oppose the brutal Communist regime and seek the establishment of a free and democratic state with human rights and freedom of speech. (Yes, I tried forcing an anti-communist rhetoric in the description to maybe attract more votes, I won't lie)
The Romanian flag was called drapelul cu gaură (lit. "the flag with a hole"), and were exactly like the Romanian flag at the time, but cut-out the Socialist coat of arms. It was a deeply important symbol of protest for human rights and democracy, and I attempted to recreate it with the Tajik flag. The part cut out is the Tajik crown, which represents the Samanid dynasty, the current highly oppressive and dysfunctional regime.
The name of this flag, Parcam ʙo sūrox, means drapelul cu gaură, the original name of it in Romanian which literally means "the flag with a hole", but in Tajik.
Opinion
I loved this contest, there were some fantastic entries and I had a good time seeing them, good job to everyone that participated, and even though I'm not the biggest fan of SeeZwee's winning flag or its symbolism (I prefer your Red Sea one, really nice Islamic Crescent design, interpretation and symbolism), it is nonetheless a really nice flag, good job for the win!
I must say, however, the even though there were a lot of good flags, u/bribridude130's Fallen, Yet Forever Visible has made me shed a tear. What an absolutely legendary flag, I shall say it may also even been one of the greatest and most meaningful flags I've ever seen, it is just perfect in every way. Here are my favorites:
- Fallen, Yet Forever Visible (I still can't understand how this masterpiece has scored 10th place)
- The Snow Lion Banner of Democracy
- The Strength of the Shooting Star
- Free Goguryeo
- The Liberation Hemicycle
- White Lilies
- Tongilminju Gitbal
- We’el Al-Shaab – Call of the People
- Blooming Progress
Apart from that, I didn't really expect to get a good position because I didn't give so much effort to my flag, and like always, I seem to be physically unable to learn from my mistakes from all the past contests and do something that the voter will like, not me, so I don't really mind having such a terrible rank. However, I find funny (to not say otherwise) that an experiment I made, of making a hollow (literally), effortless flag in less than 2 minutes (I counted) somehow got 12 positions above one that took me 2 days (I counted too), and the fact that some flags that I also make an educate guess that didn't take even 1 hour to make were 10–50 ranks above it are quite... dampening, however I know it is just not the style of most people. Thank god that I again did not get defeated by 50 ranks by a random stupid American that thinks their country's own specific meaningful items (like a torch, for example) represent the same concept on the whole world (not specific at all) (purely random) (just a hypothetical example) (totally not 20th place)...