Red, Gold and Green in modern society

Amongst contemporaries of African descent, the red, gold and green represents a number of things.

It represents smoking cannabis in some circles, due to Rastafarianism and the negative stereotype portrayed by the media, many people shun the colours as a result of that.

It also represents being tough, contemporaries respect this and most look up to Rastafarians in their communities. And is often mentioned in rap and reggae music.

'And if Selassie saw you he would say
"Blood take off the red gold and green"
Them man are soft just like ice cream'   ---  Skepta, Shutdown.

'Shoot a man accurate through a seem,

Everyday I will rep the red, gold and green
Red, gold and green
Red, gold and green'   ---  Karma Chameleon, Culture Club.

Skepta, Shutdown

                                       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQOG5BkY2Bc

Karma Chameleon, Culture Club.

                                       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcA9LIIXWw

Rastafari and it's links to Africa

Rastafari is an Abrahamic belief  which developed in Jamaica during the 1930s after the coronation of Haile Sellaise I as the emperor of Ethiopia (he was also the last emperor of Ethiopia).

Followers of Rastafari worship Haile Sellaise I much like how Christians worship Jesus Christ, and how Muslims worship the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh*).

The name Rastafari comes from Haile Sellaise I's first name, Tafari (full name Tafari Makonnen), and his title, Ras (direct translation is head, means prince or chief in Ethiopia).

Many aspects of Rastafari has origins in Ethiopian culture, the flag also adopts colours ans symbols from Ethiopia's culture and history.

Rastafarian flag

The Rastafarian flag directly adopted the flag of the Abyssinian empire and. With the green, yellow, red and the Lion of Judah. The Lion of Judah represents Haile Sellaise I on the flag.

Pan-Africanism

The Ethiopian colours are also used as Pan-African colours. Pan-African colours refers to two different sets of three colours: the red, yellow and green (adopted from the Ethiopian flag) and the red, black and green, adopted and used by UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League.


Official flag of the UNIA

Pan-Africanism is the principle or advocacy of the political union of all the inhabitants and descendants of Africa.

What do the colours actually mean?

The colours on the African flags each has it's own meaning.


RED - Represents the blood spilled during slavery, the fight for independence and/or blood spilled during civil strife.


GOLD/YELLOW - Represents the Sun.


GREEN - Represents the land of the country.

BLACK - Represents the colour of the native people's skin.

BLUE - Represents the sky.

The following are more African countries with these same colours on their official national flags.

National flag of Guinea

National flag of Mali

National flag of Togo

National flag of Senegal

National flag of Mozambique



National flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo



National flag of Burkina Faso

South Africa is unique in this case because of the diversity of it's land, natural minerals and people.



National flag of South Africa

In South Africa's case, a few of the colours have different meanings.

GOLD - Represents South Africa's vast gold reserves and overall natural wealth.

WHITE - Represents the white people of South Africa.

Introduction

Hello, my name is Noah Rynne, a student from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. My blog is about the many flags of Africa, what they mean and the similarities they share.

Many African countries use similar designs and colours in their national flags, this is no coincidence. During the scramble for Africa, every part of the continent was conquered by the European powers, except for two, Liberia (a nation made up of freed slaves from the USA) and a country
called Abyssinia, officially known today as Ethiopia.

National flag of Ethiopia - የኢትዮጵያ ብሔራዊ ባንዲራ

Ethiopia was one of the only four African members of the league of nations and was also a founding member of the United Nations. Following the independence of many African countries after WWII, the African Union was set up in Ethiopia and it's headquarters is still found in Addis Ababa.

Following their independence, many African nations admired the refusal of the Ethiopians to bow to European rule, and the use of Ethiopia's Pan-African colours in many of their flags is a direct result of this.

Ghana was the first nation in Africa to adopt the red, gold and green on their flag following their

independence from British rule in 1957.





National flag of Ghana

Below is a video discussing in detail Ethiopia's victory against colonialism in the first Italo-Ethiopian war.

                                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLlc3LQK0bw