WIPHALA, THE NATIVE INDIAN ANDEAN NATIONAL FLAG

A woman with a Wiphala

After the events occurred in Catalonia last October, 14, The Grandma decided to take some days of relax to think about present and future. During these thirty days, she has been reading her favourite author, Salvador Espriu, one of the best writers in Catalan Literature.

Salvador Espriu was a writer who lived the Spanish Civil War and the Post War under the Francoist dictatorship. It was very difficult for him to survive in the middle of a big cultural repression and the continuous loss of civil rights that was that dictatorship. He couldn't exile and he started an internal exilium creating an own world called Sinera (Arenys, his real town, read from right to left) to try to survive and resist those dark years.

The Grandma thinks that those dark times have never disappeared in the Spanish society and nowadays they are clearer than ever. The struggle is hard but the prize is freedom and a society based in respect, tolerance and common effort. This struggle is very important and it is not a time to renounce but to fight, persevere and win.

During this month, The Grandma has been also a direct witness of terrible events occurred in Hong Kong, Ecuador, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, Libya, Kurdistan and Bolivia. The reasons are the same -control of power by the upper social classes and slavery and resignation of poor ones-, but the targets are different -lithium in Bolivia, oil in Libya, Kurdistan and Venezuela, copper in Chile, control of population in Hong Kong or economic dependence and lawfare in Brazil and Catalonia.

The Grandma loves diversity and multiculturalism without forgetting the origin of ancient cultures. One of them, the Native American Andean population is a great example of suffering the effects of foreign colonisations and answering to them with a great resilience being proud of their culture and history.

Today, she wants to talk about the Wiphala, an important symbol of some native peoples of the Andes, in homage to all these countries that are suffering the avarice of the US with the hypocritical consent of the EU. At the end, it is only a question of resisting or serving.

Before talking about the Wiphala, The Grandma has read a new chapter of Katherine Mansfield's The Garden Party and Other Stories.

The Wiphala is a square emblem, commonly used as a flag, representing some native peoples of the Andes that include today's Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and parts of Argentina, Chile and Colombia.

The suyu wiphalas are composed of a 7 × 7 square patchwork in seven colours, arranged diagonally. The precise configuration depends on the particular suyu represented by the emblem. The colour of the longest diagonal line (seven squares) determines which of the four suyus (regions) the flag represents: white for Qullasuyu, yellow for Kuntisuyu, red for Chinchaysuyu, and green for Antisuyu. There is also an alternate pattern for the Wiphala for Antinsuyu. Additionally a Wiphala also exists for Tupac Katari and the Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army.

Wiphala

Article 6, section II of the 2009 Bolivian constitution establishes the Wiphala as the dual flag of Bolivia, along with the red-yellow-green tricolor.

In modern times the Wiphala has been confused with a rainbow flag which is wrongly associated with the Tawantinsuyu (Incan Empire). There is debate as to whether there was an Inca or Tawantisuyu flag. There are 16th and 17th-century chronicles and references that support the idea of a banner attributable to the Inca. However, it represented the Inca himself, not the empire. Also its origins are from symbols and mural designs found in several civilizations of the Andes with thousands of years of history.

The Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden, holds a Wiphala that is dated through a C-14 test to the 11th century. It originates from the Tiwanaku region, and is part of a collection based on a kallawaya medicine man's grave.

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The seven colors of the actual Wiphala reflect those of the rainbow. According to the Katarista movement, whose interpretation is promoted by the Bolivian authorities, the significance and meaning for each color are as follows:

Red: The Earth and the Andean man.

Orange: Society and culture.

Yellow: Energy and strength.

White: Time and change.

Green: Natural resources and wealth.

Blue: The Cosmos.

Violet: Andean government and self-determination.

The Aimara wiphala is a square flag divided into 7 × 7 (49) squares. The seven rainbow colors are placed in diagonal squares. The exact arrangement and colors varies with the different versions, corresponding to the suyus or Tupac Katari. It is very prominent in marches of indigenous and peasant movements in Bolivia.

This rainbow squares flag is used as the pan-indigenous flag of Andean peoples in Bolivia and has recently occasionally been adopted by Amazonian groups in political alliance.

Bolivian president Evo Morales established the Qullasuyu wiphala as the nation's dual flag, along with the previous red, yellow, and green banner in the newly ratified constitution. The Wiphala is also officially flown on governmental buildings.

More information: Chile Today

The most important thing is the indigenous people 

are not vindictive by nature.

We are not here to oppress anybody -but to join together

and build Bolivia, with justice and equality.

Evo Morales