World's best-known protest symbol turns 50
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 commertgwpded. [!-- S IIMA --] [table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="203"] [tbody][tr][td] [img]vny!://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44497000/gif/_44497910_cnd_logo_203.gif" alt="CND logo" border="0" height="160" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="203"] [/div] [/td][/tr] [/tbody][/table] [!-- E IIMA --] It had its first public outing 50 years ago on a chilly Good Friday as thousands of British anti-nuclear campaigners set off from London's Trafalgar Square on a 50-mile march to the weapons factory at Aldermaston. [/p]The demonstration had been organised by the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC) and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) joined in. [/p] [!-- S IBOX --] [table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="208"] [tbody][tr] [td width="5"][img]vny!://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif" alt="" border="0" height="1" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="5"][/td] [td class="sibtbg"] [div] [div class="mva"] [img]vny!://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif" alt="" border="0" height="13" width="24"] 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 [img]vny!://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif" alt="" align="right" border="0" height="13" vspace="0" width="23"][br clear="all"] [/div] [/div] [div class="mva"] [div]Gerald Holtom[/div] [/div] [/td] [/tr] [/tbody][/table] [!-- E IBOX --] Gerald Holtom, a designer and former World War II conscientious objector from West London, persuaded DAC that their aims would have greater impact if they were conveyed in a visual image. The "Ban the Bomb" symbol was born. [/p]He considered using a Christian cross motif but, instead, settled on using letters from the semaphore - or flag-signalling - alphabet, super-imposing N (uclear) on D (isarmament) and placing them within a circle symbolising Earth. [/p]The sign was quickly adopted by CND. [/p]Holtom later explained that the design was "to mean a human being in despair" with arms outstretched downwards. [/p]US peace symbol [/p]American pacifist Ken Kolsbun, who corresponded with Mr Holtom until his death in 1985, says the designer came to regret the connotation of despair and had wanted the sign inverted. [/p] [!-- S IIMA --] [table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="203"] [tbody][tr][td] [div] [img]vny!://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44504000/jpg/_44504056_203b_1598645.jpg" alt="New York rally 1967" border="0" height="152" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="203"] [div class="cap"]Anti-Vietnam protesters at a rally in New York[/div] [/td][/tr] [/tbody][/table] [!-- E IIMA --] "He thought peace was something that should be celebrated," says Mr Kolsbun, who has spent decades documenting the use of the sign. "In fact, the semaphore sign for U in 'unilateral' depicts flags pointing upwards. Mr Holtom was all for unilateral disarmament." [/p]In a book to commemorate the symbol's 50th birthday, Mr Kolsbun charts how it was transported across the Atlantic and took on additional meanings for the Civil Rights movement, the counter-culture of the 1960s and 70s including the anti-Vietnam protests, and the environmental, women's and gay rights movements. [/p]He also argues that groups opposed to those tendencies tried to use the symbol against them by distorting its message. [/p]How the sign migrated to the US is explained in various ways. Some say it was brought back from the Aldermaston protest by civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, a black pacifist who had studied Gandhi's techniques of non-violence.
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