Brian Tamaki’s recent call to ban the Palestine flag in New Zealand misses the mark. I don’t agree with it. Freedom of expression is one of the things that separates a free society from a police state, and we can’t just start picking and choosing which flags or symbols are allowed on our streets because a few people misuse them. There’s a big difference between a flag representing a people and one that explicitly supports a terrorist organisation. Conflating the two does more harm than good.
Flags are powerful. They can comfort, unite, provoke, or divide. For some people, the Palestine flag represents national identity or solidarity with civilians caught in conflict. That is very different from waving a Hamas or Hezbollah flag. The law should be precise. If someone is flying a Hamas flag in support of a proscribed terrorist group, then yes, that’s a crime and they should be arrested. But banning an entire flag because of how a few people misinterpret it? Yeah, nah, bro.
Freedom of expression isn’t an abstract idea. It’s how grievances get aired and debated without people resorting to violence. If we start banning symbols just because some don’t like them, where does it stop? Who decides next which flag, slogan, or piece of art is “off-limits”? Once you start banning symbols, you blur the line between protecting the public and suppressing dissent…