Confucius said that "symbols rule the world." I'm afraid I have to agree.
The Finnish air force has recently revamped its logo, removing the swastika that has featured on it since 1918. The swastika found its way onto the air force logo thanks to Swedish Count Eric von Rosen, who used the swastika as a personal good luck charm (swastika means “well-being” in Sanskrit). If the Swastika had no Nazi connotations when it was adopted by the Finns in 1918, Eric von Rosen did subsequently become a personal friend of Hitler, something which the Finnish air force is concerned may affect young Finns’ attitudes towards the military. There are also fears that the swastika symbol might antagonize their Russian neighbours, or deter support from Finland’s western allies.
Finland was able to use the swastika symbol for so long, despite the fact that in the West it is now synonymous with Nazism, and has even been banned in Germany, because it is a symbol that dates back thousands of years. A museum in Kiev even shows a small ivory figurine marked with swastikas, dating back 15,000 years. In Asia, it has particular significance in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jaism. Some hope that proof of this long history predating Nazism can revive the swastika as a positive symbol, and take it away from fascists.
However, symbols, like words, change their meaning. The word “egregious”, today defined as outstandingly bad, used to mean remarkably good. In the same way, the Nazis hijacked the swastika, relating it to the so-called Aryan lineage from which they claimed to be descended. Holocaust survivor Freddie Knoller says, “For the Jewish people the swastika is a symbol of fear, of suppression, and of extermination.” It seems therefore to simply be the respectful thing to do to recognize that the swastika is no longer seen a symbol of good luck in the West.
I do not expect the swastika to be wiped from Indian culture, because it is a symbol of great cultural and religious significance. But in the same way, it seems bizarre for the Finns to have defended their usage of a symbol for so long that was effectively gifted to them by a Swedish count.
There is an expression we use a lot in Great Britain, which I have recently learned is a taboo in the US. The expression “call a spade a spade” is completed in England with the phrase “not a gardening tool”. However, this expression is avoided in the US for fear it may be confused as a racial slur. Cultural differences are clearly indicative of what is acceptable to say in each country, just as the swastika will continue to be seen as a symbol of Nazism in the Western world.
The question that we ask ourselves today is whether we should remove existing, non-Nazi swastikas from architecture among other things. It definitely seems improbable that we will be applying new swastika designs in the future.
I see a parallel in the recent tearing down of statues around the world. In London for example, the statue of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill was graffitied with the words "was a racist." (However, few people spoke out when said Prime Minister appeared on the new design for five-pound notes, or when the British government encouraged President Trump to reinstall a bust of Churchill in the Oval Office. This raises many questions, one of which is of course why it took an international civil rights movement for people to care about whether we celebrate the life of Winston Churchill – but that’s a story for another day.) That statue is decades old, but people took more issue with its existence than with the homage to Churchill in their wallets and in the White House. The statue in London's Parliament Square was vandalized because attacking statues was the watchword — but symbols are not just confined to statues.
Flags are another example of controversial symbols remaining in existence today. Just last month, Mississippi became the last state to remove the Confederate battle emblem from its flag. While for some, the Confederate flag symbolises racism and slavery, defenders of the flag argue that it represents wartime sacrifice and Southern heritage.
Regardless of how we read its symbolism when it was adopted by Mississippi in 1894, the Confederate flag has undeniably been adopted by white supremacists over the years. It was the same flag that was used by supporters of segregation laws, flown by the KKK at lynching parties, and waved by Dylan Roof during a racially motivated mass shooting. So now the new governor or Mississippi is looking to design a new flag, one he says will unite the State. All this goes to show how the cultural significance of symbols evolves. In my opinion, their current meaning should be what justifies or condemns their existence in modern society.
This is an extended article, originally published by TheLatest.com