Just what does that peace sign on your T-shirt/jacket/hat/button really mean? As I gear up for the Veterans For Peace national convention, which runs August 3-7, one of the events that will coincide with it is Hiroshima Day, August 6th. We (VFP) are coordinating a commemoration event along with others on Sunday the 7th, the last day of the convention. Usually it’s on the 6th but the event sponsors wanted us to be involved and since Saturday is chock full of workshops and meetings, they rescheduled it so we would be free to participate. Not only will the event reflect on Hiroshima and Nagasaki but also on Fukushima and the problems of nuclear power. That’s the background of why I started thinking about the peace symbol and its original meaning, Nuclear Disarmament.
Follow me after the Fleur-de-Kos
It all started back in 1957 with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an anti-nuclear organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It opposes military action that may result in the use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and the building of nuclear power stations in the UK.
CND was formed in 1957 and since that time has periodically been at the forefront of the peace movement in the UK. It claims to be Europe's largest single-issue peace campaign. Since 1958, it has organised the Aldermaston March, which is held over the Easter weekend from Trafalgar Square, London, to the Atomic Weapons Establishment near Aldermaston.
Gerald Holtom is credited with coming up with the design. From Wiki
The internationally recognized symbol for peace was originally designed for the British nuclear disarmament movement by Gerald Holtom in 1958. Holtom, an artist and designer, made it for a march from Trafalgar Square, London to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston in England, organised by the Direct Action Committee to take place in April and supported by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). Eric Austen (1922–1999) adapted Holtom's designs to ceramic lapel badges
The symbol is a combination of the semaphore signals for the letters "N" and "D," standing for "nuclear disarmament". In semaphore the letter "N" is formed by a person holding two flags in an upside-down "V," and the letter "D" is formed by holding one flag pointed straight up and the other pointed straight down. Superimposing these two signs forms the shape of the centre of the peace symbol. The original drawing by Gerald Holtom of the CND symbol is housed in the Peace Museum in Bradford, England.
That's a brief history of how it all started. Since then its been used by DFH and other disreputable types to indicate their desire to "Give Peace a Chance". However the original meaning still holds a very powerful message, "Ban the Bomb".
Roger Mayne, Aldermaston March, Turnham Green, 1958
Another aspect of the ND movement was the anti-nuke protest song. They include "Morning Dew", "The sun is burning", "What have they done to the rain?" and one of my favorites, "Fly little bird (to Hiroshima)".
Morning Dew
Walk me out
In the moming dew, my honey
Walk me out In the moming dew today
Can't walk you out
In the momlng dew, my baby
Can'! walk you out
In the morning dew today
Thought I heard
A young man moanin' Lord
Thought I heard
A young man moanin' Lord
You didn't hear
No young man moanin' Lord
You didn't hear
No young man moan today
Where have all the people gone
My honey
Where haye all the people gone
Today
Don't you worry
'Bout those people, baby
You'll never see those people
Anymore
Thought I heard
My baby cryin' mama
Thought I heard
My baby cryin' mama
You didn't hear
No baby cryin' mama
You didn't hear
No baby cry today
Walk me out
In the moming dew, my honey
Walk me out
In the morning dew today
Can't walk you out
In the morning dew, my baby
I’ll never walk you out
In the moming dew again
The sun is burning in the sky
Strands of clouds go slowly drifting by
In the park the lazy breeze
Are joining in the flowers, among the trees
And the sun burns in the sky
Now the sun is in the West
Little kids go home to take their rest
And the couples in the park
Are holdin' hands and waitin' for the dark
And the sun is in the West
Now the sun is sinking low
Children playin' know it's time to go
High above a spot appears
A little blossom blooms and then draws near
And the sun is sinking low
Now the sun has come to Earth
Shrouded in a mushroom cloud of death
Death comes in a blinding flash
Of hellish heat and leaves a smear of ash
And the sun has come to Earth
Now the sun has disappeared
All is darkness, anger, pain and fear
Twisted, sightless wrecks of men
Go groping on their knees and cry in pain
And the sun has disappeared
Just a little rain falling all around,
The grass lifts its head to the heavenly sound,
Just a little rain, just a little rain,
What have they done to the rain?
Just a little boy standing in the rain,
The gentle rain that falls for years.
And the grass is gone,
The boy disappears,
And rain keeps falling like helpless tears,
And what have they done to the rain?
Just a little breeze out of the sky,
The leaves pat their hands as the breeze blows by,
Just a little breeze with some smoke in its eye,
What have they done to the rain?
Just a little boy standing in the rain,
The gentle rain that falls for years.
And the grass is gone,
The boy disappears,
And rain keeps falling like helpless tears,
And what have they done to the rain?
Fly little bird to Hiroshima
On the way a load
Speak the magic word to Hiroshima
Let the sky explode
Hiroshima!
Hiroshima!
Shadow of a man at Hiroshima,
Where he passed the moon
In a wonderland at Hiroshima,
Where he died too soon
And the world remembers his name
Remembers the flame was Hiroshima...
Fly little bird to Hiroshima
On the way a load
Speak the magic word to Hiroshima
Let the sky explode
And the world remembers his name
Remembers the flame was Hiroshima
Hiroshima, Hiroshima,
Hiroshima was the flame!
Know his face, we know his name!
We're remembering the place was here!
Shadow of a man at Hiroshima,
Where he passed the moon
In a wonderland at Hiroshima
Where he died too soon
And the world remembers his name
Remembers the flame was Hiroshima
Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Hiroshima...
Hiroshima!
Hiroshima!