Flags

DAILY BYTE

As my kids do the counting it’s “just one more sleep” before the kick-off of the largest sporting showpiece (or any showpiece for that matter) that this country has ever staged. A friend was in Sandton yesterday for the Bafana Bafana parade and described it as “high-voltage electricity being conducted through faces, smiles, yellow shirts and vuvuzelas.” Wherever you are in this country right now, the excitement is palpable. Certainly here in Durban, the summer humidity has been replaced with the thick air of expectation. What a moment for us to savour and enjoy!

One of the clear signs of this World Cup consciousness has been the proliferation of flags everywhere. Flying from car aerials, adorning car wing-mirrors, fluttering from people’s fences, covering shops and malls. They are everywhere. One guy on the news last night had his hair professionally dyed in the colours of the South African flag. Of course, it’s not just the South African flag that is in evidence, but many of the flags of the other nations competing in the World Cup as well.

To all of this I’d like to make two responses.

Firstly, on a positive note, all of this flag waving is certainly adding to the buzz and the anticipation of this massive event. Furthermore, the inclusion of flags from other participating nations is one expression of the welcome being extended to all those who are visiting our shores for this tournament. I celebrate every expression of welcome that we as South Africans can extend to our foreign guests, and pray that they would truly be overwhelmed by the warmth and exuberance of our African hospitality. This is certainly a moment for us to be bold in flinging wide our arms and demonstrating to the world our African understanding of ubuntu – which declares that it is only when we share and affirm our common humanity that we truly come alive as the people we’ve been created to be. If waving flags from different countries does that, then I’m all for it.

But there’s a second response to all this flag-waving that I’d like to share, not to be a killjoy, but to challenge us to think more deeply about these things. And that is to say that national flags, by definition, are symbols of exclusive nationalistic identity. National flags draw very sharp lines between those who identify with the flag and those who don’t. People often have an emotional attachment and a deep sense of loyalty to their flag, precisely because it’s theirs, because it symbolizes their country and their sense of belonging to it. Flags often stir in people a sense of national pride and patriotism, which clearly can be a positive thing.

The problem arises when this pride and patriotism creates an impassable divide between ourselves and others, causing us to see them more as ‘foreigners’ than ‘friends’. There’s little doubt that flags can do this. It’s no coincidence that whenever countries go to war, soldiers always march into battle under their flag. It commands their allegiance, their loyalty and often their very lives.

That’s why, when someone suggested that our church put up a whole lot of flags for this World Cup, I said ‘No.’ For one thing, it would require every single flag of every nation in the world to be included if there were to be any theological integrity to such a move. For another, it’s dangerous using inherently exclusive symbols to try to convey a sense of inclusivity, because the very symbol itself highlights our differences rather than our commonality. Finally, within a faith context especially, our highest allegiance is to God alone. This is why it is so problematic having national flags flying within church sanctuaries, as it confuses what should really be a clear position – that our loyalty, our allegiance, and our very lives belong to God alone, above that which even our country can command from us.

So what does all this say to our exuberant participation in the World Cup and the waving of flags in particular? Is it wrong to wave our flags? To this I would say, “No! Wave your countries’ flag if you want, and be sure to do so with passion and pride.” This is what I plan to do. But in doing so, let’s be sure to remember that our primary identity is not a nationalistic one as citizens of one or other particular country, but that our primary identity is that we are members of the human family, all of us children of God together. And if you’re into the flag-waving thing, be sure to find a few flags from other nations this World Cup and wave them for good measure.