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Political colours are colours used to represent a political ideology, movement or party, either officially or unofficially. [1] They represent the intersection of colour symbolism and political symbolism. Politicians making public appearances will often identify themselves by wearing rosettes, flowers, ties or ribbons in the colour of their political party. Parties in different countries with similar ideologies sometimes use similar colours. As an example the colour red symbolises left-wing ideologies in many countries (leading to such terms as "Red Army" and "Red Scare"), while the colour blue is often used for conservatism, the colour yellow is most commonly associated with liberalism and right-libertarianism, and Green politics is named after the ideology's political colour. [2] [3] The political associations of a given colour vary from country to country, and there are exceptions to the general trends, [2] [3] for example red has historically been associated with Christianity, but over time gained association with leftist politics, while the United States differs from other countries in that conservatism is associated with red and liberalism with blue. [2] [3] Mass media has driven a standardisation of colour by political party, to simplify messaging, while historically the colour a candidate chose to identify with could have been chosen based on other factors such as family or regional variations. [4] [5]
Black is primarily associated with anarchism [6] (see anarchist symbolism); black is a lack of colour, and anarchism is a lack of a state. It is used in contrast of national flags, to instead represent universal anarchism. [6] Black is also used to a lesser extent to represent ideologies on the opposite end of the spectrum: fascism (see blackshirts and Schutzstaffel) and jihadism (see Black Standard). [2]
The colours black and red have been used by anarchists since at least the late 1800s when they were used on cockades by Italian anarchists in the 1874 Bologna insurrection, and in 1877 when anarchists entered the Italian town Letino carrying red and black flags to promote the First International. [7] During the Spanish Civil War the CNT used a diagonally half strip of black and red, with black representing anarchism and red representing the labour movement and the worker movement. The flag was quickly adopted by other anarchists, with the second colour used to distinguish specific anarchist philosophies: anarcho pacifism with white, green anarchism with green, anarcho-syndicalism and anarcho-communism with red, mutualism with orange, and anarcho-capitalism with yellow, while black alone typically represents 'anarchism without adjectives'.
During the golden age of piracy, the black flags of pirates such as Blackbeard and Calico Jack became popular symbols of piracy. The flags represented death and no quarter to those who did not surrender. The black flag of the jolly roger, used by Calico Jack, turned into a popular and recognisable symbol of pirates, particularly of pirates of the Americas. [8] [9] The skull and bones also became a hazardous symbol to display poisons such as cyanide, Zyklon B and other toxic substances. The black flag of piracy would later influence the symbols of anarchism, such as the symbols of the Makhnovshchina and the Kronstadt rebellion. The rise of internet piracy led to the symbols of the golden age of piracy becoming widely adopted, becoming the symbols of pirate sites such as the Pirate bay. Black becoming a colour to represent pirate parties.
Black was also used by some anti-racist and Black nationalist parties, such as the Black Panther Party in the United States and the Popular Unity in Brazil.
Blue is usually associated with centre-right or conservative parties, [2] originating from its use by the Tories (predecessor of the Conservative Party) in the United Kingdom. [16] Blue is used by many international organisations of centre right and conservative parties, such as the International Democrat Union, the Democrat Union of Africa, the Asia Pacific Democrat Union, the Caribbean Democrat Union (together with red), the European Democrat Union, the European People's Party, the European Conservatives and Reformists Party.
Brown has been associated with Nazism, and in particular the Nazi Party in Germany, because of the Sturmabteilung (SA), whose members were called "brown shirts". They were modelled on Benito Mussolini's blackshirts, and the colour of their shirts was chosen because many brown uniforms intended for the colonial troops in Germany's African colonies were cheaply available after the end of World War I. In Europe and elsewhere, the colour brown is sometimes used to refer to fascists in general. [34]
Brown has also been used to refer to the general far-right rather than exclusively Nazism and/or fascism. The French political term "red–green–brown alliance" denotes an alliance between leftists ( red ), Islamists ( green ), and the far right ( brown ). [35] [36] Just like its National Socialist context, the colour brown was chosen to refer to the far-right on account of its association with the Nazi Sturmabteilung. [37] [38] There have been slight variations of the red–green–brown alliance which have also used the colour brown to indicate the far-right. In Russia, for example, the metonym "red-brown" was coined to refer to a unification of communists (red) and the far-right (brown). [39]
Green is the colour for environmentalist, [44] agrarian, [45] and Islamist political parties and movements (see green in Islam). [2]
Magenta is a colour that started being used in the 21st century to replace yellow for some liberal and centrist parties and organisations in Europe. [58] It is not to be confused with the socialist or social democratic use of the colour pink.
Orange is the traditional colour of the Christian democratic political ideology and most Christian democratic political parties, which are based on Catholic social teaching and/or neo-Calvinist theology.[ citation needed ] Christian democratic political parties came to prominence in Europe and the Americas after World War II. [59] [60] Orange less frequently represents various kinds of populist parties. Such is the case in Austria, Germany, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Turkey. [61]
Pink is sometimes used by social democratic parties, such as in France and Portugal. The more traditional colour of social democracy is red (because social democracy is descended from the democratic socialist movement), but some countries have large social democratic parties alongside large socialist or communist parties, so that it would be confusing for them all to use red. [68] In such cases, social democrats are usually the ones who give up red in favour of a different colour. Pink is often chosen because it is seen as a softer, less aggressive version of red, in the same way that social democracy is more centrist and capitalistic than socialism.
Although purple has some older associations with monarchism, it is the most prominent colour that is not traditionally connected to any major contemporary ideology. As such, it is sometimes used to represent a mix of different ideologies, or new protest movements that are critical of all previously existing large parties and minor parties.
Red is often associated with the left, especially socialism and communism. [2] The oldest symbol of socialism (and by extension communism) is the red flag, which dates back to the French Revolution in the 18th century and the revolutions of 1848. Before this nascence, the colour red was generally associated with Christianity due to the symbolism and association of Christ's blood. The colour red was chosen to represent the blood of the workers who died in the struggle against capitalism. [78] All major socialist and communist alliances and organisations—including the First, Second, Third and Fourth Internationals—used red as their official colour. The association between the colour red and communism is particularly strong. Communists use red much more often and more extensively than other ideologies use their respective traditional colours.
Saffron is traditionally associated with Hinduism, Hindutva and the Hindu nationalist movement. [83] Saffron was chosen because in Hinduism, the deep saffron colour is associated with sacrifice, religious abstinence, quest for light and salvation. Saffron or "Bhagwa" is the most sacred colour for the Hindus and is often worn by Sanyasis who have left their home in search of the ultimate truth.
White is today mainly linked to pacifism (as in the surrender flag). [2]
Yellow and gold are the colours most strongly associated with right-libertarianism and liberalism. [2] [3] [91] [92]
In Germany, colours are commonly used by media and politicians as signals of political affiliation; this public practice helps them reach the increasing number of unaffiliated voters. [98] [99] [100] [101]
Colour schemes used by major political parties in Germany include the following:
Purple is a color similar in appearance to violet light. In the RYB color model historically used in the arts, purple is a secondary color created by combining red and blue pigments. In the CMYK color model used in modern printing, purple is made by combining magenta pigment with either cyan pigment, black pigment, or both. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purple is created by mixing red and blue light in order to create colors that appear similar to violet light.
Magenta is a purplish-red color. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located precisely midway between blue and red. It is one of the four colors of ink used in color printing by an inkjet printer, along with yellow, cyan, and black to make all the other colors. The tone of magenta used in printing, printer's magenta, is redder than the magenta of the RGB (additive) model, the former being closer to rose.
The national flag of Germany is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: black, red, and gold. The flag was first sighted in 1848 in the German Confederation. The flag was also used by the German Empire from 1848 to 1849. It was officially adopted as the national flag of the German Reich from 1919 to 1933, and has been in use since its reintroduction in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.
A rainbow flag is a multicolored flag consisting of the colors of the rainbow. The designs differ, but many of the colors are based on the seven spectral colors of the visible light spectrum.
Orange is the colour between yellow and red on the spectrum of visible light. The human eyes perceive orange when observing light with a dominant wavelength between roughly 585 and 620 nanometres. In traditional colour theory, it is a secondary colour of pigments, produced by mixing yellow and red. In the RGB colour model, it is a tertiary colour. It is named after the fruit of the same name.
The Social Democrats is a social democratic political party in Denmark. A member of the Party of European Socialists, the Social Democrats have 50 out of 179 members of the Danish parliament, Folketing, and three out of fourteen MEPs elected from Denmark.
The national flag of the Portuguese Republic, often referred to as the Portuguese flag consists of a rectangular bicolour with a field divided into green on the hoist, and red on the fly. A lesser version of the country’s national coat of arms stands in the middle of the Portuguese armillary sphere and shield, centered over the colour boundary at equal distance. The flag was announced in 1910, following the 5 October 1910 revolution, inspired by the colours of the Republican Party and the design of radical conspiratorial society Carbonária.
There are two flags in official use in the Serbian Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, the Flag of Vojvodina and the Traditional flag of Vojvodina. Two flags are given the equal status in the Provincial Assembly Decision on the Appearance and Usage of Symbols and Traditional Symbols of AP Vojvodina adopted in 2016.
This article gives information on liberalism worldwide. It is an overview of parties that adhere to some form of liberalism and is therefore a list of liberal parties around the world.
Starting with the 2000 United States presidential election, the terms "red state" and "blue state" have referred to US states whose voters vote predominantly for one party—the Republican Party in red states and the Democratic Party in blue states—in presidential and other statewide elections. By contrast, states where the vote fluctuates between the Democratic and Republican candidates are known as "swing states" or "purple states". Examining patterns within states reveals that the reversal of the two parties' geographic bases has happened at the state level, but it is more complicated locally, with urban-rural divides associated with many of the largest changes.
In German politics, a traffic light coalition is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' traditional colours, respectively red, yellow, and green, matching the colour sequence of a traffic light (Ampel). So far, the only instance of a traffic light coalition on a federal level in Germany has been in Olaf Scholz' cabinet between 2021 and its collapse over disagreements in November 2024.
Political symbolism is symbolism that is used to represent a political standpoint or party.
The national colours of the Federal Republic of Germany are officially black, red, and gold, defined with the adoption of the West German flag as a tricolour with these colours in 1949. Germany was divided into West Germany and East Germany from 1949 to 1990, and both Germanies retained the black, red, and gold colors on their respective flags. After German reunification in 1990, the united Germany retained the West German flag, thus retaining black, red, and gold as Germany's colors.
Purple is a common term in politics used to describe governments or other political entities consisting of parties that have red and blue as their political colours. It is of particular note in three countries. In the politics of the Netherlands and Belgium, purple is the term for a government coalition of social democrats and liberals, excluding christian democrats. It is derived from the combination of the colour of the social democrats (red) and liberals (blue).
The flag of the Second Spanish Republic, known in Spanish as la tricolor, was the official flag of Spain between 1931 and 1939 and the flag of the Spanish Republican government in exile until 1977. Its present-day use in Spain is associated with the modern republican movement, different trade unions and various left-wing political movements.
Color symbolism in art, literature, and anthropology is the use of color as a symbol in various cultures and in storytelling. There is great diversity in the use of colors and their associations between cultures and even within the same culture in different time periods. The same color may have very different associations within the same culture at any time. Diversity in color symbolism occurs because color meanings and symbolism occur on an individual, cultural and universal basis. Color symbolism is also context-dependent and influenced by changes over time. Symbolic representations of religious concepts or articles may include a specific color with which the concept or object is associated.
In politics, a rosette is a fabric decoration worn by political candidates to identify themselves as belonging to a particular party. The rosette, worn on the chest or suit jacket, will show the colour or colours of the political party that the candidate represents. Rosettes are worn by campaigning politicians in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and some other countries.
The color blue has been important in culture, politics, art and fashion since ancient times. Blue was used in ancient Egypt for jewelry and ornament. In the Renaissance, blue pigments were prized for paintings and fine blue and white porcelain. In the Middle Ages, deep rich blues made with cobalt were used in stained glass windows. In the 19th century, the color was often used for military uniforms and fashion.
[The party colours in the UK] are red for Labour, yellow (gold) for the Liberal Democrats, blue for Conservatives, and green for Greens. This particular alignment of colours with the political spectrum tends to be taken for granted in much of the world [...].
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