Orange as a political colour by Manuela Schmöger Abstract Until recently, orange has never been a prominent political colour in most European countries. An old tradition is the orange deriving from the house of Oranje. The current Dutch parties use the colour only in combinations with other colours. However, it is a prominent colour of the Protestants in (Northern) Ireland, and even the Catholic Sinn Fein uses the colour nowadays, combined with white and green, though. Another group are centrist/christian-democratic parties that recently have adopted orange, e.g. the German CDU or the French MoDem. However, some parties have used orange already in the 1970ies, like the Swiss CVP or the Por - tuguese PSD. The Humanist Parties (an international movement with roots in Argentina) prominently display orange since the 1980ies. More recently, several of the Pirate Parties have been using the colour orange, e.g. the German and Italian branches. A massive usage of orange has occurred during the protests in Ukraine in 2004/2005, thus properly called “Orange Revolution”. The c urrent “ oran ge wave” is probably due to two main factors: orange is consid - ere d neu tral and it can be used for showing international links, in particular in the Eu ropea n context. 1. Int ro du ct ion We all know the “classical” political colours, like red for socialists and communists, green for agrarians and environmentalists, black for fascists. But in an international context most colours are not coded the same way in all (or most) countries. First we have to attempt a definition of “political colour”. There are two main aspects in this: the internal and the external aspect. The external aspect is, how a particular party is colour-coded by others, e.g. by the media. This colour-coding can be part of the language, like “the Blacks” (die Schwarzen) for the German CDU and CSU; or it can be part of graphics (e.g. pie diagrams) showing election results. Many of these exter - nal colour attribu tio ns a re d ifferent from the actual colour usage of the party itself, Fig. 1: Resul ts of the US presid ential elections, 2012, showing the internal aspect. The German CDU and CSU do not prominently use black as their Republican success in red and Democratic success in blue 1. colour (and ne ver have) . Nor do the US Republicans use red, but elections results nowadays show Republican success in red and the Democrats in blue (fig. 1). In this pape r I want to focus on the internal aspect, i.e. colours actually used by the party, even if different from the colour customarily attributed to it. In particular, Proc eedin gs 25th International Rotterdam, The Netherlands 4 -10 August 2013 paper 31/ 1 of th e Co ngress of Vexillology ©’s Manuela Schmöger, 25th ICV Rotterdam, The Netherlands and FIAV I want to focus on the colour(s) used on flags, of course. I chose orange as my topic for two reasons: • it has become suddenly and surprisingly popular over the last about 10 years; • it is the royal and national colour of the Netherlands, where this ICV is hosted. The colour orange (like any other political colour) can be displayed (fig. 2) • as logo • on placards • on websites • on flags • on sashes, ribbons, buttons • o n cl othing Fig. 2A: M emb ers of t he Ger - Fig . 2B: Advert ising m aterial m an HP with o range flags, 3 of the Slovenian Zares party • in party stalls orange clothin g and orange placards 2 2. T he Dutch connection @ .?. Th e o rigina l orange Even the fi rst maj o r use of orange in a flag in Europe was on a political flag, on the flag of the Dutch rebels (Geuzen) in the battle of Den Briel, 1572. The famous Prinsen - vlag with its orange upper str ipe referred to the leader of the rebellion, William, Pr ince o f Orange (Oranje). Although at that time there was no real connection be - tween the colour orange and the Principality of Orange in Southern France (or the Fig. 3: D utch P rinsenvlag 5 house of Oranje-Nassau), it seemed a straightforward choice 4. @.@. The Netherlands in modern times I n the 1 930ie s th ere was quite some support for returning to the “true” colours of the nat ional fla g, i.e. orange -white-blue. This was particularly advocated by the radical ri ght, a nd this finally led to the official decree of red-white-blue as national flag in 19 3 7. T he ra dic al right at t he tim e consisted mainly of two Nazi-inspired parties, the NSB Fig. 4A : fl ag o f th e N SB , F ig . 4 B: flag of the NSN A P, 1931 - 3 6 6 1931 -4 5 7 (Nat ionaal-So cialis tisch e Be we ging) (fig. 4A) and the NSNAP (Nationaal-Socialistische N ederlandsch e A rbe iders par tij) (fig. 4B). E ve n nowad ay s, th e us e o f o range is somewhat ambiguous in the Netherlands, or le t's say , it 's r ath er c ontext-sensitive. If used for supporting the royal house on Koninginnedag or the national football team, it's just the national colour. On the other hand, in politics the usage of orange, in particular in form of the Prinsenvlag might be offensive, as happened when in 2011 there was a display of that historical flag in a 10 11 Fig. 5A: flag of the NVU Fig. 5B: flag of the NA 8, 9 room of the PVV parliamentary group . So in its purer form, the orange-white-blue is now relegated to the extreme right. T w o ex am p les are the NVU (Ne derlandse Volks-Unie) (fig. 5A) and the NA (Nationale Alliantie) (fig. 5B). M o re m a in s t ream pa r tie s a re a bit more careful in using orange: it is okay as part of th e l o go, toget he r wi th white and blue, but not too prominently. This is the case for th e rig ht-liberal V VD (Vo lkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie) (fig. 6A) for instance. The orth od o x- ca lvi ni st SGP (S taatkundig Gereformeerde Partij) (fig. 6B) has a very special interpretation: the orange triangle in the logo symbolizes the relationship between 15 Fig . 6A: one version of the Fig. 6B: flag of the SGP 14 God, the Netherlands and the House of Oranje 12 . A right-wing split from the VVD, fla g of the VVD Proceed ing s 2 5th Internatio nal Rotter dam, The Ne the rlands 4 - 10 August 2013 paper 31/ 2 of th e C ong res s of Vexi llo log y ©’s Ma nuela S ch mög er , 2 5th ICV R otterdam, The Netherlands and FIAV Trots op Nederland, combines the red-white-blue with the orange-white-blue in a sh ield, sho wn on an orang e fl ag (fig. 6C). Other minor parties, like the Partij voor het 13 Noorden, also use a bit of orange . @.A. The Dutch heritage – Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland Fi g. 6C: fl ag of Trots op Nede rla nd 16 The B att l e o f the Bo yn e is the ref erence point for the Protestant community in North - ern Ireland. This battle was fought on 11 July 1690 between king William III and the de po sed king Jame s I I. Th e victorious Wi lliam was Protestant and from the Dutch rul - ing house of Orange-Nassau. From then onwards the colour orange was linked to the Protestant cause in Ireland. Ki ng Wi llia m as we ll a s th e victorious battles (Boyne and Aughrim) were officially commemorated and in 1795 a more popular institution of the Protestants, the Or - ange Order, was founded. Starting in July 1796, marches were held that already in - volved orange cockades 17 and later featured orange sashes, banners and flags 18 . The gen eral O range O rder flag is orang e, with a purple star in the lower fly and an English fla g in th e cant o n 19 ; a more complicated ve rsion (fig. 7 A) sh o ws k i ng William sur - Fig. 7 A: fla g o f t he Ora n g e F ig . 7B: m arc h ing banner o f ro u nded by t he E nglish, Sc o ttis h , U K and Ulster fla g . The pictu re of kin g William very Orde r 22 an Ora nge O rde r bra nch 23 oft e n feature s on ela b orate m arc h ing banners as w ell (fi g. 7 B ); the banners show a lot 20 of orange, usually in combination with blue, purple or red . Orange became part of the national tricolour of Ireland as well, representing the 21 Protestants . The Irish national colours are even part of the symbol of the staunchly R ep u b lic an an d C ath o lic Sinn Féin party, active both in the Republic of Ireland and No rth ern I rel an d. Recent ve rs ion s o f t he Sinn Féin flags show its symbols and slogans Fig. 7C : S inn Féin flags in all o n so lid ly c olo ure d gr ee n o r white or orange flags (fig.