Burning flags as a political expression

Earlier today, Kurdistan’s flag and the headquarters of a Kurdish party was set on fire — to contextualise this incident better — it was in response to a political remark made by a Kurdish official (who later retracted his comments) about a militia group in Iraq. Flag burning is very commonplace in Iraq, whether as an aggressive gesture or to make a politicised statement. Throughout the years, we’ve seen the flags of Israel, United Kingdom, and United States torn or set ablaze as a political expression of dissatisfaction.

While it’s widely accepted that flags are often set ablaze to convey a political message, sadly we lack mature discussions on the complexity of this expression. The only meaning derived in this context is to instigate a reactionary response — in fact, it is an expression with the sole purpose of acquiring meaning through assertiveness.

In the Kurdish context, it evokes emotion and reaction because of Kurdistan Region’s historic treatment by Iraq’s central government, including the multiple genocidal and ethnic cleansing campaigns perpetuated against the Kurds under the Baathist regime.

These incidents, which are staged, and designed to evoke reaction or provoke, are instigated by elements of Iraq’s fabric that can only thrive through destabilisation, sectarianism and chaos. This ‘fabric’ of Iraq seems to be unable to express itself in words without resorting to violence, and this is likely to be shortsightedness on their part or in actuality the absence of political…