MAS party (Bolivia) (original) (raw)


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Movimento al Socialismo

(= Movement towards Socialism)

[[flag]](../images/b/bo}mas.gif)image by António Martins, 12 December 2017

See also:

About the party

Morales tried to establish an own party I.P.S.P. (Instrumento Político por la Soberanía de los Pueblos). But he failed being permitted to participate the elections for formal reasons. So he made a deal with a conservative former General and businessman, David Añez Pedraza, who led an unimportant party, MAS. Morales simply bought the name and the flag and integrated his own organization into MAS. So his socialist movement is probably the only one in the worldhaving a blue flag. (Source: Der Spiegel 18:2006: p.118 ff.; photo on p.123)
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 16 May 2006

"MAS" (from Movimento al Socialismo = Movement towards Socialism), by the way, may be interpreted as the Spanish word "mas", meaning "more".
António Martins, 20 December 2005

The winner of today’s Bolivian presidential election is Evo Morales of the Movimento al Socialismo — MAS, who will be the first Indian president of Bolivia. Many of his followers were waving the party flag; the Indian [Qullasuyu] flag is used a lot in there.
J. Patrick Fischer, 19 December 2005

About the flag

Many of Morales’ followers were waving a blue flag with black and white stripes at the edge. Proportions seem to be approx. 1:2. I checked their homepage, but wasn’t able to find information of the flag; their colours seem to be blue, black and white.
J. Patrick Fischer, 19 December 2005

The overall ratio specs seem to be indeed 4:(1+1+4+1+1).
António Martins, 12 December 2017

The final scenes of this party on line animation suggest that this is indeed the flag of MAS.
António Martins, 20 December 2005

Incorrect reports

I seen this flag and I’d say it is 3:5 or 2:3, not 1:2.
António Martins, 20 December 2005

Maybe back then this was so, or I just didn’t pay enough attention, but the MAS flags in use in recent years is definitely ~1:2; this can be ascertained by looking at the central, blue area: In a 1:2 flag it is a square (Canadian pale flag).
António Martins, 12 December 2017

Purple flag

[[flag]](../images/b/bo}mas!p.gif)image by António Martins, 12 December 2017

Even though our website correctly reported this flag in 2005 as blue, white, and black, the textual report was unexplainably illustrated, for 12 years, with an image showing the central panel in purple instead.
António Martins, 12 December 2017

Blue flag

[[flag]](../images/b/bo}mas!b.gif)image by António Martins, 12 December 2017

It is a blue 3-times width, — white — darkblue vertical tricolour of unknown ratio. (Source: Der Spiegel 18:2006: photo on p.123)
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 16 May 2006

I think this report results from a regular flag that had been wrapped around its staff as to hide the hoist side black and white stripes.
António Martins, December 2017

Blended Kuntisuyu-Bolivia flagoid

[[flag]](../images/b/bo}mas!k.gif)image by António Martins, 07 October 2017

This web banner at the website of the MAS chapter in La Paz, where a Kuntisuyu flag (yellow diagonal) is used, blending smartly with a Bolivian national flag.
António Martins, 07 December 2005

This interesting design is a flagoid(ersatz flag). Note that the suyu flagis cropped to 6/7ths, so that it matches with the three stripes of the flag of Bolivia. Why was the yellow-diagonal Kunti Suyu flag used, instead of the white-diagonal Qulla Suyu flag, since the latter is commonly associated with Bolivia and has indeed been meanwhile made a co-national flag? (Note how it is the latter, not the former, that shows, in toto and not as a flagoid, on the middle of the same web image.) I think the answer is two-fold:

  1. Because graphically the yellow diagonal works better as a way of blending the (cropped) 7×7 rainbow checker pattern into the middle-yellow horizontal tricolor pattern; and
  2. because, as said, the four suyu flags are all different “framings” of the same basic pattern and most viewers will not notice the difference nor will resent it. António Martins, 07 October 2017