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Marada Party (Lebanon)

المرده, Tayyar Al-Marada

Last modified: 2013-12-10 by zoltán horváth
Keywords: marada | zgharta | pi | nu | text: greek (black) | text: greek (green) | text: arabic (white) | tree: cedar (green) | cedar (green) | ring: black | christian | maronite | sword (white) | lightning bolts: 2 (golden) | cross | compa |
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المرده, Tayyar Al-Marada, Al-Marada, "Giants," Marada Brigades, Marada Movement, Zgharta Liberation Army

[Marada Party (Lebanon)]
[Marada Party (Lebanon)]
 
 
image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 30 Mar 2007
image by Eugene Ipavec, 05 May 2007
 
 


See also:

Introduction

In today's New York Times, under the title "Anti-Syrian Alliance Claims Victory in Lebanese Election," one finds the following:

"...the election also brought out old militia symbols and flags that had not been seen for years in Lebanon. In the Maronite Catholic mountain town of Zgharta, east of Tripoli, it is the flag of the powerful local Franjieh clan's Marada, or Giants, a stylized evergreen tree outlined by yellow lightning bolts and an upthrust sword whose hilt becomes a Christian cross."

"prometevsberg," 20 Jun 2005

The Maronite Christian "Northern Marada Brigade" was organized by ex-President Suleiman Franjieh, and was also known as the "Zgharta Liberation Army," after Franjieh's hometown.
Bill Garrison, 16 Feb 2007

The Marada Brigades were a Maronite Christian militia, currently operating as a pro-Syrian political party in Lebanon. From Wikipedia:

The Marada Brigade was named after the legendary Marada warriors of the early Middle Ages. At its height it had about 3,500 full-time members. The Marada Brigade was the personal militia of Suleiman Franjieh, president of Lebanon at the outbreak of the war. They were also known as the "Zgharta Liberation Army" after Franjieh's home town of Zgharta.

Eugene Ipavec, 14 May 2007

From the Cedarland website:

After the Battle of Yarmuk, Caliph Umar appointed the Arab Muawiyah, founder of the Umayyad dynasty, as governor of Syria, with his sphere of influence covering much of the surrounding region. Muawiyah garrisoned troops on the Lebanese coast and had the Lebanese shipbuilders help him construct a navy to resist any potential Byzantine attack. He also stopped raids by Lebanese Maronites and Maronites from Jurjumah by paying a financial tribute. Concerned with consolidating his authority in Arabia and Iraq, Muawiyah negotiated an agreement in 667 with Constantine IV, the Byzantine emperor, whereby he agreed to pay Constantine an annual tribute in return for the cessation of Maronite incursions. In 685 the Maronites rebelled against the Emperor and become known as the "Marada" which means "rebels."

Eugene Ipavec, 15 Jun 2007


Description

Green flag with large lower-case serif cursive black π, enclosed in a thick black ring charged with three green inward-pointing triangles at bottom and both sides and green upper case serif "N" (probably upper-case Greek ν [nu]) on top.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 30 Mar 2007

A different flag also appears in photos on the party website. The two flags seem to be used together – they appear side by side in some photos. Maybe one is the party flag and the other that of the eponymous militia?
The second flag is white with a red/blue shield bearing a golden/green cedar tree and a white sword, all on a white field. The party site offers a link titled "flag," but all that is there is a large logo.
The party website also gives a rather new-agey explanation of the symbolism of the π / compass flag:

Circle:
Compass:
Green color:
Unshakable loyalty
Right direction
Eternity of life
Evolving dynamism
Clear decision
Versatility of nature
Genuine relations
Safety value
Promise of prosperity
Eternity of being
Genuine legacy
Power of giving
Color of safety
Bounty flow

Eugene Ipavec, 14 May 2007

Trusting Wikipedia, the name of this entity in Arabic is "تيار المردة", but the inscription on the red part of the logo (the heraldic chief of this shield-shaped element) seems to read "الـَرده" (to my untrained eyes).
António Martins-Tuválkin, 16 May 2007

The characters read "Al-Marada." "Tayyar" (the word before al-marada) means "current," but not in the sense of "new" – it refers to a current as in water, in other words a movement. The same word is used for the FPM, the Future Movement, etc.
anonymous, 18 Oct 2007

An explanation of the elements on the El Marada flag can be read here:

The Sword: Symbol of justice
Lighting: Creativity and sharpness
Red Color: Symbol of Sacrifice
Green Color: Cedar of Lebanon
Blue Color: Blue Horizon

Valentin Poposki, 18 Sep 2008


Variant

[Marada Party (Lebanon)]
image by Eugene Ipavec, 25 Feb 2012

Some time ago (in April 2010) I stumbled across a photo of a variant flag of this party: a horizontal banner of its arms (being used as a normal flag, not vertically.)
Eugene Ipavec, 25 Feb 2012


Emblems

[Marada Party Emblem (Lebanon)]
[Marada Party Emblem (Lebanon)]
 
 
image by Eugene Ipavec, 05 May 2007
image by Eugene Ipavec, 27 Apr 2007