For the 5th year running, the burning of American flags took place on July 3rd at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz. Organizers say they raise the burning flag up as a sacred symbol representing their highest ideals as Americans, and that the "American Flag is so great a symbol that it represents the right to burn it." Photos

Robert Norse comments, "Burning a flag in solidarity with the Honduran people on July 4th makes more sense to me than burning a flag as a celebration of the First Amendment. Divorcing flag-burning from its visceral ('Yanqui, go home!') content is a way of stripping the action of its force. Using constitutional arguments and hailing the First Amendment seems to me to be an attempt to dampen reactionary knee-jerk jingoism ('see, it's not so threatening'). But the point of a flag-burning in countries occupied by the U.S. or profiteering international corporations closely tied to U.S. guns and money IS to threaten ('get the fuck out!').

"Burn a flag on the 4th in front of the Honduran consulate in protest of continued U.S. support for the Honduran coup-sters. That's a real way of using the First Amendment in more than an empty symbolic way. Divorcing U.S. flag-burning from what it traditionally means is a way of concealing or ignoring important history."

previous coverage of flag-burnings: 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2005 | 2006 | 2008