As anyone with more than a few followers on Twitter will tell you, green is the color of the moment. More and more people are coloring their Twitter photos with a green tint in solidarity with the supporters of Iran’s defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.
The movement is being branded on-the-fly with the use of green in all kinds of protests from soccer players wearing green arm bands to striking images of hundreds of yards of green cloth snaking through the protesting crowds in Tehran, all picking up on Mr. Mousavi’s political party’s color. These images are being delivered to the world in real-time through tweets blogs and texting (as well as the traditional media) so sympathizers across the globe are staging protests in their home countries picking up the green brand along with laser-printed “where is my vote?” signs, so that short of the racial differences, the protests look like they could have been back in Iran.
But why green, where did it come from and why has it become such a powerful tool in branding this protest movement? A little research shows that the color green has been associated with Islam for centuries, in fact the decoration of mosques, the bindings of Qur'ans, the covers for the graves of Sufi saints, the flags of various Muslim countries all feature the color green. Qur’an says that the inhabitants of paradise will wear green garments of fine silk and even the crusaders would never use green on their armor so as not to be mistaken for Muslims in battle. Color theorists suggest that green represents life, renewal, abundance in nature and the environment. Green is also considered a restful color with a calming affect that comes from feelings of balance, harmony, and stability. Of course green has recently come to the forefront of the world’s pallet because of it’s association with the environmental movement and it has in fact become a noun as we all “go green”.
So, what does green mean to you?
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