For Immediate Release

January 16, 2003.   Contact: Kathryn C. Wood, 703-850-7646

Guide to the Flags and Symbols of

Recent “Anti-war” Demonstrations

in Washington, D.C.

     As a public service, the DC Chapter of FreeRepublic.com provides this guide to the flags and symbols displayed at recent public demonstrations in Washington DC. With so many, often-unfamiliar, flags, symbols, and messages displayed at these events, we feel this guide may be useful in better understanding upcoming similar events and the groups participating in them.

     All of the flags and symbols in this guide have been displayed at one or more of the various events billed as "antiwar" demonstrations, such as those held in Washington on Sept. 29, 2001, April 20, 2002, and Oct. 26, 2002.

Hezbollah flag

Flag of an Iranian-supported Islamist terrorist group operating out of Lebanon, Hezbollah (also spelled Hizbollah) carries out deadly attacks against civilians in the region. The group claimed responsibility for truck-bomb attacks in 1983 in Beirut Lebanon that killed 253 Americans, mostly US Marines and Embassy staff..           

Hezbollah flag and supporters. Washington, DC. 4/20/02.

Iraq flag

Flag of the Middle Eastern country bordering Jordan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Syria. Ruled since 1979 by a clan-based dictatorship headed by Saddam Hussein, Iraq precipitated the 1980-88 war with Iran, as well as the 1990-91 Gulf War.  Iraq remains in violation of numerous UN resolutions, related to Saddam Hussein's pursuit and possession of weapons of mass destruction. Iraq has been designated by the US Government as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Iraqi flag held high. Washington, DC. 10/26/02

Palestinian Authority flag

Flag of an organization created by a 1994 Israeli-Palestinian agreement (Oslo Accords) to exercise governmental authority over Palestinian-populated areas within disputed territories occupied since the creation of Israel by Jordan (1948-67) and then by Israel (1967-present). Palestinian Authority (PA)-controlled areas have been used as staging areas for numerous deadly attacks against civilians, including Americans.  PA-controlled areas were also the scene of public celebrations on September 11, 2001, when Islamist terrorists murdered 3,000 Americans and other nationals in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

PA flag, held and worn (American flag, trampled). Wash., DC . 4/20/02

International Socialist Organization (ISO) symbol

Fist symbol used by a US-based communist political group that, in its own words, "stands in the revolutionary tradition of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky". The ISO favors the confiscation of private property and the abolition of representative democracy in the United States. 

ISO Fist. Washington, DC. 10/26/02.

Anti-Semitic Symbols

Anti-Semitic symbols such as the Nazi swastika feature prominently at Wash. DC "antiwar" events, often positioned alongside the Star of David or superimposed onto the Israeli flag to create additional anti-Semitic symbols (also used on US flags to create anti-American symbols).

Anti-Semitic symbol at "antiwar" event. Washington, DC. 4/20/02.

A.N.S.W.E.R. acronym

"Act Now to Stop War and End Racism" is an organizational front group formed by the International Action Coalition (IAC), an organization headed by one-time Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Clark and others in the IAC are best-known for their public and courtroom defense of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, former Yugoslavian leader Slobodan Milosivec, Serbian war-crime-indictee Radovan Karadzic, Rwandan genocide-indictee Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, and convicted US cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. The IAC in turn, serves as a front group for the World Workers Party, a quasi-Stalinist organization that supports authoritarian regimes and communist dictatorships

A.N.S.W.E.R. front-group sign. Washington, DC. 10/26/02.

Revolutionary Communist Party, USA flag

The Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, chaired by a Bob Avakian, seeks to bring about a revolution that would introduce its "Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Program" for "destroying the old and creating the new".

RCP flag (partially obscured) and RCP tee-shirts. Wash., DC. 10/26/02.

Various Anarchist symbols

Symbols of various groups and ideologies seeking to eliminate organized government and civic life, including that of the United States. Sometimes violent, always incoherent.

Anarchist flags, masked people, topless women.

Washington DC, 10/26/02

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United States flag

Flag of the United States of America, a country, that, while not without fault, remains the greatest, freest nation in the history of the world and a beacon of liberty to all mankind.

The location of US flags at recent Washington "antiwar" events is often marked by smoke.