Significance of political colours, slogans and symbols

EDWARD BULE
Correspondent | Monday July 25, 2011 00:00

On a personal level especially in Africa, clans, for instance, differentiate themselves from other clans through symbolic objects such as totems.

By the same token, nations all over the world associate themselves with icons such as flags, national anthems, coat of arms and such like. Religious organisations are not an exception with respect to the use of symbols.

According to Alan R. Ball, 'Political attitudes and values in a society are symbolised by such things as national flag and national anthem.'

Political parties, just like corporate bodies, thrive on the use of attractive albeit specific colours, slogans and symbols whose main objective is to mesmerise the potential voter and galvanise him into action. The colours, slogans and symbols, as a form of branding, are indispensable to the life of any political organisation. All are meant to establish positive identities with the view to achieving mass appeal for the benefit of the party. Slogans intend to enhance the image of the political party to the voter, in the most succinct, poetic and crisp language.

Critics, however, see all slogans as deceptive over-simplifiers and misleading gimmickry designed to ensnare the unsuspecting customer.

Political colours, slogans and symbols are intended to enhance the image of any organisation and portray it in a way that is immediately convincing. Ball says that colours, slogans and symbols, 'Give reality to abstractions and embody some aspect of the dominant political values such as the hammer and sickle emphasizing the unity of workers and peasants.' In other words, the party colours in the form of party attire or flag as well as voting symbols are indispensable assets that not only evoke the emotions of the party members but engender the identification between the individual and the political party. Party colours distinguish the particular party from its competitors.

All colours, slogans and symbols communicate a message as they convey the values, goals and ideals of the particular party. Adolf Hitler's black swastika and brown shirts, like Benitto Musolini's black shirts represented, 'A sense of power belonging to a movement whose success was irresistible.'

Mariam Sawer of the Australian National University says that, 'Political colours play an important role not only as visual symbols of the course but also in the emotional life of social movements.' They help to sustain collective identities which are crucial especially for the purposes of the elections. If the colours or symbols represent a sad past, these symbols are likely to, at all times engage the emotions of the party members and hopefully catapult them into action. Some members will align themselves with a certain political party not out of any emotional political attachment but because they like the colour of that party.

Usually, it is the older members of a political party, those who know something about the history of the party and the meaning of the party colors and symbols who get emotionally involved and are not likely to compromise their commitment to them.

Not all those who wear a particular party colour and worship a particular party symbol have got a clue what those stand for. It should be noted that during the elections, voting symbols come in handy especially in places where the level of illiteracy is high.

There is, according to Sawer, an 'alignment of colours with the political spectrum.' The colour green, which is also associated with nature and the environment, has been associated with the so-called green parties in Europe. The colour red, which represents radicalism and revolt, has 'long has appropriated by leftist organisations' alongside the symbol of the hammer and sickle. Curiously, the Botswana Democratic Party, which has got no socialist inclinations whatsoever, has always used the colour red as it main color. To them, the colour, which is also the colour of blood represents life. The jack symbol used by the BDP is said to represent BDP commitment to the up-liftment of Batswana. The interpretation is consistent with the BDP slogan of 'tsholetsa' which means to lift up.

Critics, however argue that there is a discrepancy between reality and what the colours and symbols represent citing high levels of poverty and unemployment in the country.

During the liberation movement in Africa, which coincided with the cold war, many liberation movements in the continent adopted the colours red, black, gold and green. These colours, it was believed encapsulated the ideals and aspirations of the struggling masses of the African continent. Those liberation movements which adopted the red colour, understood it to be the colour of struggle. Black represented the people among the more pan-Africanist organizations who were also attracted to the ideal of the united independent Africa free from imperialism.

The green and gold colours, which represented natural resources in the form of vegetation and minerals, were also popular among pre-independence liberation movements in Africa who saw independence as a chance to achieve economic control over the countries' resources for the benefit of their people.

The black star, which is common in the flags of pre-independence political organisations, is linked to Marcus Garvey's Black Star Liner, a commercial shipping company whose goal was the economic liberation of blacks. The Botswana Peoples' Party, which uses the black star as its voting symbol, has been ridiculed especially by the BDP for being colour-blind because, in reality there is nothing like a black star. By shouting the slogan 'lefatshe' which means land, the BPP is communicating its goal of redistributing the land should they come to power.

Political parties do not take their symbols and colours lightly. The case in which the BPP took on the Botswana Alliance Movement for continuing to use the black star after a failed cooperation effort between the two parties a decade ago, illustrates this point.

Formed in 1965 and with leftist inclinations, the Botswana National Front adopted the black, green and gold colours and used the key as its voting symbol. While the BNF says the key represents freedom, the BDP has ridiculed the party saying the message behind the key is that a BNF government would imprison political opponents. The BNF slogan, 'kopano', which means unity, emanates from its historical mission to unite the BPP warring factions. Ironically, the party is generally seen, not only as being prone to disunity itself, but as being anti-opposition unity.

The orange colour, is generally associated with reform. Wynter Mmolotsi, the secretary general of the Botswana Movement for Democracy, a party that uses orange as its main colour, associates the orange with peace and democracy. The party slogan, 'Botswana wa rona,' is motivated by the ideal that Botswana belongs to all. The party claims that President Ian Khama runs the country as if he alone owns it.

Apparently, the Botswana Congress Party slogan, 'kgololo' which means freedom, was motivated by their belief that there was no freedom in the BNF from which party they split. By adopting the dove and a rainbow, both biblical images, it could be said the party had become too obsessed with peace after leaving the BNF under rather acrimonious circumstances in 1998.