Red Won Campaign Launches -- Is New Zealand Really Ready For A Black Flag?

Organisers of the Red Won Campaign have launched an online petition to stimulate debate and to convince the New Zealand Government to re-evaluate whether the black, white and blue Silver Fern flag design is in fact the best and most popular choice as the Preferred Alternative for the Second Flag Referendum to be held in March.

While the Black variant of Kyle Lockwood's design topped the recent referendum results, it was only by a slim margin. The Red Silver Fern version won more First Preference votes, and by the end of the second preferential count it was still leading the Black variant by almost 20,000 votes. It was only after the Third and Fourth Preference votes were counted that the Black version came out as the 'victor', and some observers have questioned whether this result only occurred because of the late addition of the Red Peak design as a fifth contender in the vote. The Red Won campaigners have suggested that had Red Peak not been added to the voting papers, and had the 'Keep Our Flag' supporters who are opposed to flag change not abstained or cast invalid protest votes, the result would likely have been quite different.

Red Won Organiser Robert Huisman says "There are plainly more New Zealanders who believe the Red version of the Silver Fern design is the better of the two. Even those people who are planning to vote against flag change in the Second Referendum owe it to themselves to support our campaign because if the 'unthinkable' happens and New Zealand does vote to change the flag, do they really want to have this dull and sombre black version, or would they rather have the brighter more colourful red version of the design, which at least retains the colours of the existing flag?

The reasons Kiwis want a flag change are probably as varied as there were initial contenders for the new design competition. Some want to get rid of the Union Jack and the appearance that we're still merely a British colony while others want a new design that better represents our country's individuality. Whatever the reason, the change to a new flag isn't a step to be taken lightly, and it's certainly not something thatÕs likely to be repeated in our lifetime. It's our opinion that the view that any flag change must be better than none, is simply wrong, and so the Government has got to take the chance now to make sure that we get it right.

We can see that many people probably voted for the Black version on the back of a wave of patriotism after the All Blacks won the World Cup in October, but there's no reason why a country's national colour has to be represented on their flag. The Netherlands have the oldest red, white and blue flag in the world, but their national colour orange, of which they're intensely proud, is not on the flag at all. Likewise there are virtually no legitimate national flags worldwide that contain as much black as the proposed Black Silver Fern flag, and there's a good reason for that -- it just doesnÕt stack up as a vibrant colour to represent a country. It's time the Government stood back and thought this through a little more, and maybe gave everyone another chance to choose between the Black and the Red versions."

Huisman goes on to say "... we're hearing people say that the Black Silver Fern design is '... a flag I can live with...' The problem is we don't want a flag we can just live with, we've had one of those representing us in some form for almost 150 years. We suggest that we need a flag that the majority of New Zealanders are proud of. We a need a livelier, more vibrant and confident flag as our national symbol, not just any flag that has a silver fern and the Southern Cross.

Red Won is calling on all Kiwis to take this one-time opportunity to clearly indicate to the Government that the red Silver Fern design, which has been used and seen around the world for a number of years already, is the one that should deb the Preferred Alternative in the upcoming Second Referendum.

Click here for the on-line petition: http://tinyurl.com/RedWon-Petition

Click here to see the First Referendum results: http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/2015_flag_referendum1/results-by-count-report.html

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