New Venezuela flag divides nation

[ECH1969]

Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez has officially unveiled the country's controversial new flag.

The opposition has condemned the new flag as illegitimate saying there was no proper consultation. Mr Chavez used the 200th anniversary of Venezuela's first flag to present the new one to the general public.

Ordinary Venezuelans caught a first glimpse of their new flag at a large military parade. Soldiers carrying the flag goose-stepped past the podium of Mr Chavez who himself hoisted the new banner.

But on the other side of Caracas, around 1,000 opposition members were demonstrating against the new national symbol. They say they cannot accept the changes because they were not consulted and spokesman Oscar Perez said the opposition would go on using the old banner.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4800202.stm

[asthmaticeog]

1. "Goose-stepped?" Subtle. nt

[Spider Jerusalem]

34. I doubt it's supposed to be insulting.

The term "goose step" refers to a particular style of marching used on ceremonial parade, with the knees unbent and leg at full extension being at almost 90 degrees to the body. It was first used by the Prussians in the 17th century, but many armies still use it; the Russians, for one (Russian soldiers marching in goose step in the image below).

[damntexdem]

2. "Divides nation!" An opposition rally of 1000, a nation divided.

Now, how many people were at the official parade?

[NYC]

3. Change of direction.

A white horse on the national coat of arms which appears on the flag now faces left instead of right.

Old flag:

New flag:

[LA lady]

4. 8 instead of 7

They also added a star.

[NYC]

5. Thanks for pointing that out.

I really can't see the change in direction because the picture of the new flag is so small.

Welcome to DU. :hi:

[killbotfactory]

6. What a monster

How can the brave people of Venezeula tolerate such a dictatorial monster that is crushing their freedom?

[eridani]

38. An extra star and the horse changed direction?

Jeebus! I thought at first it was something like the new Iraqi flag the occupation imposed a couple of years ago, brilliantly using a color scheme similar to the Israeli flag. This hardly counts as a change at all.

Why the 8th star? Another province? Recognition of indigenous people? Whassup with that?

[NYC]

43. Info. re eighth star.

The Venezuelan government celebrated Flag Day on Sunday with a new national flag, which has eight stars instead of seven in the central blue stripe, representing the eight states which came together to form the nation in the 19th century.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-03/13/content_4297105.htm

Makes me wonder where the eighth star has been all this time.

Apart from the addition of a star, the new law, approved by Venezuelan legislators on March 7, also changed the national coat of arms to show a horse, previously galloping right looking left, to gallop left without a twisted neck, as well as added symbols representing Venezuela's indigenous people and Venezuelans of African descent.

It also added the name "The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela" to one of the scrolls on the coat of arms

Nice to hear the horse no longer has a twisted neck.

This may not be the best source, but I'm on dial up, and it was the first one I found. I'm still curious about the eighth star.

More on eighth star:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-ven22.html

Venezuela's yellow, blue and red flag has had seven stars since 1863, representing the original seven provinces that rose up against the colonial power Spain.

Chavez has suggested adding an eighth star to represent the early 19th century eastern province of Guayana, which was initially loyal to Spain but then joined an independent Venezuela.

Bolivar himself proposed a flag with eight stars in 1817 that was used for several years. "It's the Bolivarian star," Chavez said.

Chavez also said he thought the white horse on the coat of arms -- which appears in the upper left corner of the official flag -- looked odd running to the right while craning its neck in the opposite direction.

He claimed historical drawings show the national image was intended to have a horse that ''trotted freely to the left."

[IndianaGreen]

7. The newly elected National Assembly voted for the new flag

The opposition, which are nothing more than the elites, have no grounds to complain.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. See secret clause 37 of the Oligarch Codicile to the Ven. Const.

Nothing may be done without the written permission of Washington.

The BBC should be taken out and shot for this piece of blatant propaganda.

[rucky]

32. BBC is just "goose stepping" in line with the rest of the Western media.

nt

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[Texacrat]

21. Self delete

[IndianaGreen]

22. Does your mother know where you are?

n/t

[Texacrat]

23. I'm not going to continue this dumbass discussion

Just keep your nose clean and try to avoid threatening the lives of world leaders.

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[saigon68]

37. adios

Vaya con dios

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[Texacrat]

19. Self delete

n/t

[movonne]

12. If they are looking for a divided country just look here in American..I

see it everywhere..the war, the economy, jobs, ports, left and right, etc.

[Endangered Specie]

25. I cant believe people on DU would ignore minorities...

all things considered, it doesn't matter if they are really small or not, you have GOT to keep an eye on vast majorities who have all the power, no matter how 'friendly' they are.

[IndianaGreen]

26. Those "minorities" are very white, very rich, and very uncaring

They are the ones that had all the power and influence and exploited everyone else.

Feeling sorry for them is like feeling sorry for Texas oil men!

[Endangered Specie]

27. well, youd be suprised how quick the exploited

become the exploiters (Russian Revolution ring a bell?).

[IndianaGreen]

28. Russian revolution was betrayed by Stalin

Did you know that Soviet women enjoyed more abortion rights in 1920 than American women do in 2006?

Screw the Venezuelan elites, and screw the American elites as well!

[Endangered Specie]

30. Those that weren't shot, sent to work camps,or starved, you mean?

[northzax]

31. access to abortion is the marker you use?

cause you can get one fairly easily in North Korea or China.

Lenin betrayed his own professed ideals to destroy the bolshevik revolution, it was over before Stalin.

[Zynx]

40. Yay, they got abortion rights while they were slaughtered by the millions

by their government. Sounds like a great country to me. /sarcasm

[Solon]

29. The thing is that these people haven't had their rights trampled on...

As long as you don't view them as being entitled to be the de facto rulers of the nation. Other than losing power, losing land they stole from the Federal Government, without even bothering to get titles for it, and the money they no longer earn by running PDVSA for their own benefit, I really don't see why I should care about their "grievances".

[rucky]

33. see post #7 n/t

[rman]

36. You've also got to keep an eye on small minorities who have all the power

But back then when there was minority rule in Venezuela, virtually no-one was complaining about that.

I don't think anyone now is exactly "ignoring" the wealthy minority that's no longer in power.

[rman]

35. They never talked about division, or "tensions" when

the Venezuelen oligarchy was in power, even though there was division and tension.

[eridani]

39. I'd say that the "look and feel" pretty much stayed the same.

No one made a fuss here when extra stars were added for Alaska and Hawaii.

[meganmonkey]

41. This reminds me of the rallies here

against the war where there are 300,000 people marching, but the press pays more attention to the 1,000 counter protestors telling us we hate America. The main difference is that the majority supports the gov't there, and vice versa, whereas here, those 1,000 counter protestors run the country.

:shrug:

[Blue_Tires]

42. divides the nation?

how much of a difference is there?