Thanks to those few brave vexilologists who accepted this challenge.
Challenge 52: L'État, C'est Moi
Design a flag that is inextricably associated with a cult of personality. When people see the flag, they instantly think of this charismatic leader. The cult of personality can be an official state-sponsored program, an opposition group, a violent resistance movement, a literal cult... but it needs a larger-than-life man or woman at its center, and that person needs a flag.
The Entries
1. Standard of the Marshal of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Brief History of the Marshal:
Josip “the Marshal” Simovic, an ATL protégé of Josip “Tito” Broz, rises high in the League of Communists of Yugoslavia; following the 1974 Constitution when Tito was proclaimed President for Life of the collective Presidency of the Republic, Simovic replaced him as Marshal. On Tito’s death in 1980 he was offered the position as sole President of the SFRY but publicly declined to change the constitution gaining him cult status throughout the country.
His role as 8th Chairman of the League and Marshal kept him prominent in the collective Presidency of the Republic throughout the 80s and the early 90s [OTL the Chairman was removed from the Presidency c88] and indeed enabled him to act as de facto President.
The Marshal continued the policies of Tito in the Cold War in maintaining the Non-Aligned Movement and furthered Yugoslav federal unity with the establishment of the Socialist Republics of Vojvodina and Kosovo; he was often held personally responsible by the Yugoslav media for the ousting of Nicolae Ceaușescu of Romania, Todor Zhivkov of Bulgaria, and Enver Hoxha of Albania in the Purple Revolutions [ATL term for Velvet Revolutions in the Balkans]. Though not personally responsible he was instrumental in the subsequent Balkan Economic Alliance with Bulgaria and Albania that resulted in the brief Socialist Balkan Federation in 1993.
Marshal Simovic’s death in 1998 led to heightened ethnic tensions that threatened civil war. Though this is currently avoided it did end in the dissolution of the Balkan Federation.
The Standard:
The Standard is essentially a modification of the Standard of Members of the Presidency.
It maintains the arms but imposed on a red background (from the League of Communists flag) with the red star replaced by a white on purple star to represent the Order of Yugoslavia awarded to the Marshal in 1977 (incidentally alluding to the Purple Revolutions). Prior to 1988 it was unofficial with the Marshal using the separate flags of the League and Members of the Presidency but with the constitutional changes under the Marshal’s “Purple Communism” it was officially adopted as his Standard.
- The Professor
2. The Mama Grizzly flag of the U.S. Liberty Party
During the second Obama administration, Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican Vice Presidential came to be the primary face and voice of the Tea Party Movement in the United States. By the 2016 election cycle rolled around, the movement had transformed itself into an organized political party, the Liberty Party, with Palin as its chairwoman. The Liberty Party is informally known as the "Grizzly Bear Party" (much as the Republican Party is known as the "Grand Old Party"), a moniker that reflects the key role played by Palin in the party's evolution. Mama grizzly is the term that Palin coined to refer to herself following the 2008 Presidential campaign. The party's "mama grizzly flag" was first flown by her supporters during the latter days of the Tea Party Movement's existance.
- Lord Grattan
3. La Pabellón Napoleónito
POD: Joseph Bonaparte is offered, and accepts, the crown of Mexico in 1820. (As was rumored to be offered in OTL) When he dies with no legitimate heir, the crown passes to another noble family. He does however have an unacknowledged but widely known illegitimate son, Alberto, who is ostracized and shunned by the Mexican aristocracy, eventually taking a woman of Nahua ancestry as his wife. Alberto's son, Alardo Tezcacoatl Napoleon, grows to manhood infused with his father's hatred for the imperial throne of Mexico and his mother's love for the indigenous peoples and their ways. A tall man at 6'2", he is both physically imposing and possessing of the personality of his ancestors. He is a natural leader, a trait he uses to great effect in the Peasants' Rebellion of 1876. Martyred in battle 12 years later, the great Tezcacoatl died just months shy of seeing his dream fulfilled with the declaration of surrender by the Emperor and the birth of the Mexiçotl Republic.
In a great irony, the man who led a rebellion against the empire of his grandfather became the founding father of a republic who idolized him to the point of adopting his personal banner as its flag.
Officially it is called The Flag of the Mexiçotl Republic, but it is known the world over as La Pabellón Napoleónito, Little Napoleon's Banner.
(More views of this flag, as well as a photo of Alardo Tezcacoatl Napoleon, can be seen HERE)
- Eigenwelt
Challenge 52: L'État, C'est Moi
Design a flag that is inextricably associated with a cult of personality. When people see the flag, they instantly think of this charismatic leader. The cult of personality can be an official state-sponsored program, an opposition group, a violent resistance movement, a literal cult... but it needs a larger-than-life man or woman at its center, and that person needs a flag.
The Entries
1. Standard of the Marshal of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Brief History of the Marshal:
Josip “the Marshal” Simovic, an ATL protégé of Josip “Tito” Broz, rises high in the League of Communists of Yugoslavia; following the 1974 Constitution when Tito was proclaimed President for Life of the collective Presidency of the Republic, Simovic replaced him as Marshal. On Tito’s death in 1980 he was offered the position as sole President of the SFRY but publicly declined to change the constitution gaining him cult status throughout the country.
His role as 8th Chairman of the League and Marshal kept him prominent in the collective Presidency of the Republic throughout the 80s and the early 90s [OTL the Chairman was removed from the Presidency c88] and indeed enabled him to act as de facto President.
The Marshal continued the policies of Tito in the Cold War in maintaining the Non-Aligned Movement and furthered Yugoslav federal unity with the establishment of the Socialist Republics of Vojvodina and Kosovo; he was often held personally responsible by the Yugoslav media for the ousting of Nicolae Ceaușescu of Romania, Todor Zhivkov of Bulgaria, and Enver Hoxha of Albania in the Purple Revolutions [ATL term for Velvet Revolutions in the Balkans]. Though not personally responsible he was instrumental in the subsequent Balkan Economic Alliance with Bulgaria and Albania that resulted in the brief Socialist Balkan Federation in 1993.
Marshal Simovic’s death in 1998 led to heightened ethnic tensions that threatened civil war. Though this is currently avoided it did end in the dissolution of the Balkan Federation.
The Standard:
The Standard is essentially a modification of the Standard of Members of the Presidency.
It maintains the arms but imposed on a red background (from the League of Communists flag) with the red star replaced by a white on purple star to represent the Order of Yugoslavia awarded to the Marshal in 1977 (incidentally alluding to the Purple Revolutions). Prior to 1988 it was unofficial with the Marshal using the separate flags of the League and Members of the Presidency but with the constitutional changes under the Marshal’s “Purple Communism” it was officially adopted as his Standard.
- The Professor
2. The Mama Grizzly flag of the U.S. Liberty Party
During the second Obama administration, Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican Vice Presidential came to be the primary face and voice of the Tea Party Movement in the United States. By the 2016 election cycle rolled around, the movement had transformed itself into an organized political party, the Liberty Party, with Palin as its chairwoman. The Liberty Party is informally known as the "Grizzly Bear Party" (much as the Republican Party is known as the "Grand Old Party"), a moniker that reflects the key role played by Palin in the party's evolution. Mama grizzly is the term that Palin coined to refer to herself following the 2008 Presidential campaign. The party's "mama grizzly flag" was first flown by her supporters during the latter days of the Tea Party Movement's existance.
- Lord Grattan
3. La Pabellón Napoleónito
POD: Joseph Bonaparte is offered, and accepts, the crown of Mexico in 1820. (As was rumored to be offered in OTL) When he dies with no legitimate heir, the crown passes to another noble family. He does however have an unacknowledged but widely known illegitimate son, Alberto, who is ostracized and shunned by the Mexican aristocracy, eventually taking a woman of Nahua ancestry as his wife. Alberto's son, Alardo Tezcacoatl Napoleon, grows to manhood infused with his father's hatred for the imperial throne of Mexico and his mother's love for the indigenous peoples and their ways. A tall man at 6'2", he is both physically imposing and possessing of the personality of his ancestors. He is a natural leader, a trait he uses to great effect in the Peasants' Rebellion of 1876. Martyred in battle 12 years later, the great Tezcacoatl died just months shy of seeing his dream fulfilled with the declaration of surrender by the Emperor and the birth of the Mexiçotl Republic.
In a great irony, the man who led a rebellion against the empire of his grandfather became the founding father of a republic who idolized him to the point of adopting his personal banner as its flag.
Officially it is called The Flag of the Mexiçotl Republic, but it is known the world over as La Pabellón Napoleónito, Little Napoleon's Banner.
(More views of this flag, as well as a photo of Alardo Tezcacoatl Napoleon, can be seen HERE)
- Eigenwelt
