Peace Sign:
The Most Awesome Symbol
50
years has passed. Another 100 will pass and there is always going to be someone who wonders
what that mark stands for. It started life as the emblem of the British
anti-nuclear movement but it has become an international sign for peace, and arguably
the most widely used protest symbol in the world. It has also been adapted,
attacked and commercialised. Many people have speculated on just what the
symbol represents; some religious zealots even claim it signifies Christ on the
cross with arms broken, or a Teutonic rune representing death and despair. But
the truth is not so mysterious.
What does it mean?
One of the most widely
known symbols in the world, in Britain it is recognised as standing for nuclear
disarmament —and in particular as the logo of the Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament (CND). It was designed from the naval code of semaphore, and the symbol
represents the code letters for ND which means Nuclear Disarmament.The circle,
representing the concept of total or complete, surrounds the N and D signifying
total or complete nuclear disarmament.
In the United States and
much of the rest of the world it is known more broadly as the peace symbol. It
was designed in 1958 by Gerald Holtom, a professional designer and artist and a
graduate of the Royal College of Arts. He showed his preliminary sketches to a
small group of people in the Peace News office in North London and to the
Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War, one of several smaller
organisations that came together to set up CND.
The Direct Action
Committee had already planned what was to be the first major anti-nuclear
march, from London to Aldermaston, where British nuclear weapons were and still
are manufactured. It was on that march, over the 1958 Easter weekend that the
symbol first appeared in public. Five hundred cardboard lollipops on sticks
were produced. Half were black on white and half white on green. Just as the
church’s liturgical colours change over Easter, so the colours were to change,
“from Winter to Spring, from Death to Life.” Black and white would be displayed
on Good Friday and Saturday, green and white on Easter Sunday and Monday.
The first badges were
made by Eric Austin of Kensington CND using white clay with the symbol painted
black. Again there was a conscious symbolism. They were distributed with a note
explaining that in the event of a nuclear war, these fired pottery badges would
be among the few human artifacts to survive the nuclear inferno. These early
ceramic badges can still be found and one, lent by CND, was included in the
Imperial War Museum’s 1999/2000 exhibition ”From the Bomb to the Beatles”.
Later, in a letter,
Holtom also admitted that the symbol reflected his mood at the time. “I was in despair,” he
wrote. “Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in
despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of
Goya’s peasant before the firing squad. I formalized the drawing into a line
and put a circle around it.”
American journalist and
playwright Herb Greer adds support for the Holtom explanation. He reported, “I
was actually there on and before the first Aldermaston march for which it was
created. I visited Holtom, I saw the original sketches and discussed it with
him.”
Ken Kolsbun, author of the
book Peace: The Biography of a
Symbol, reported that Holtom expressed regret in not designing
the peace symbol with the joyful lifting of arms towards the sky. For most of
Holtom’s life he would draw only the upright peace symbol. Holtom requested
that the upright peace symbol be placed on his tombstone in Kent, England. If
we take a look on the picture of his tombstone, we’ll see that his
wish was unfortunately ignored.
While it appears
reasonable that the modern day peace symbol comes from Gerald Holtom, this
logic fails to address the fact that the symbol has been used for
evil both in modern times and for thousands of years.
This same symbol was used
by Hitler’s 3rd Panzer Division from 1941 to 1945. The image on the left
is the regimental 3rd Panzer Division symbol. Soviet, Polish, and Hungarian
citizens, having suffered from the Nazi massacres, undoubtedly struggled with
Holtom’s use of the symbol as a thoughtful way to communicate peace. The symbol
can also be found on some of Hitler’s SS soldiers’ tombstones.
Another flaw in the
Holtom creation story is the use of the symbol as an anti-Christian symbol by
the Saracens as early as 711 A.D.For the Saracens, the image placed on their
shields symbolized the breaking of the Christian cross. For some the broken
cross was equated to a satanic symbol known as the raven’s craw or witch’s
foot. While Holtom may not have known the historical meaning of the peace
symbol, Bertrand Russell was a historian and member of the Fabian Society. A
1970 article in the American Opinion
magazine claimed Russell knew the historical occult meaning and intentionally
selected an “anti-Christian design long associated with Satanism.”
The fifth and final Roman
emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Nero (born Lucius Domitius Ahenabarbus
37 – 68 AD), is remembered in history for persecuting Christians. Nero’s rule
was so wicked he even had his mother executed. The First Roman-Jewish War (66 –
70 AD) started during his reign and today the term “Nero Cross” is the symbol
of the “broken Jew” or “broken cross.” The most famous person believed to be
crucified by Nero was the Apostle Peter. To symbolize humility and unworthiness
in comparison to Christ, Peter requested that he be crucified with his head
toward the ground. As a result of Peter’s death the upside down cross was used
by early Christians as a positive symbol for peace.
The symbol of the upside
down cross changes its meaning when the person on the upside down cross is no
longer Peter but Jesus. Anti-religious and satanic groups use the “Nero Cross”
or inverted “Latin Cross” to symbolize everything opposite of Christianity.
Today this is clearly illustrated by “black metal” or heavy metal music lyrics
and imagery that communicate anti-Christian sentiments. In addition to
musicians, film makers have reinforced the notion that the upside down cross is
an anti-Christian symbol as illustrated by The Omen in 1976 and The Exorcism of Emily Rose in 2005.
The symbol has also
been used to communicate support for communism. Bertrand Russell once said:
“There is no hope in anything but the Soviet way.” Governments–both those who
supported communism and those opposed to it–have perceived benefits in aligning
the peace symbol with communist ideology. For people like Bertrand Russell, the
author of the 1927 essay Why I Am
Not Christian, the symbol represented not only a pro-communism
meaning but peace without God.
CND has never registered
the sign as a trademark, arguing that “a symbol of freedom, it is free for
all”. It has now appeared on millions of mugs, T-shirts, rings and nose-studs.
Bizarrely, it has also made an appearance on packets of Lucky Strike
cigarettes.A decade ago, the sign was chosen during a public vote to appear on
a US commemorative postage stamp saluting the 1960s.The symbol that helped
define a generation of baby boomers may not be as widely used today as in the
past. It is in danger of becoming to many people a retro fashion item, although
the Iraq war has seen it re-emerge with something like its original purpose.
“It is still the dominant
peace sign,” argues Lawrence Wittner, an expert on peace movements at the
University at Albany in New York.”Part of that is down to its simplicity. It
can be used as a shorthand for many causes because it can be reproduced really
quickly – on walls on floors, which is important, in say, repressive
societies.”
And can its success be
measured? Fifty years on, wars have continued to be waged and the list of
nuclear-armed states has steadily lengthened.But the cup is half-full as well
as half empty.
“There are many ways in
which nuclear war has been prevented,” says Mr Wittner. “The hawks say that the
reason nuclear weapons have not been used is because of the deterrent. But I
believe popular pressure has restrained powers from using them and helped
curbed the arms race.And the symbol of and inspiration for that popular
pressure, says Mr Wittner, is Mr Holtom’s graphic.
“Today because many people carry the symbol without
understanding the history, we miss an opportunity to address historical uses
and move forward to reclaim the symbol for good.When you see the peace symbol,
I encourage you to see the person displaying it as communicating a message of
love.If you display the peace symbol, my recommendation is point the arms of
the peace symbol toward the sky to honor Holtom’s wish, address historical
objections, and communicate love of all people.”Dave Dionisi, Teach Peace Foundation
Information and
images sources : 1 2 3 4 5
6
From Fun Guerilla @ http://funguerilla.com/peace-sign-the-most-awesome-symbol-ever/#1
For more information
about peace see http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.com/search/label/peace
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