World's best-known protest symbol turns 50
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- QBN
It started life as the emblem of the British anti-nuclear movement but it has become an international sign for peace.
- QBN0
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 commercialized.
- drgs0
what movement did it start as?
- drgs0
oh i just figured it out,
EC = editors choice, same posts from there are automatically translated here
- paraselene0
wow, i never knew the origins of the symbol. thanks, qoob.
- utopian0
Peace in the middle east...
- Spookyhome0
Neville Brody attempted a re-design in the early 80's. Just thoiught you'd like to know.
- richielau0
interestingly, i've never seen this symbol used much in japanese pop art. yet, all other american cultural symbols from baseball to hip hop is apparent in their culture
- rounce0
This symbol was in existence way before The Bomb was even dropped in '45. It was used by the SS in WWII on grave markings.
- Jaline0
http://www.designboom.com/contem…
"the anti-nuclear emblem or the peace sign is one of the most widely known symbols in the world. it was invented on the request of lord bertrand russel, head of the british ‘campaign for nuclear disarmament’ or CDN and sponsor of mass marches and sit-downs in london. the graphic symbol was designed by gerald holtom, a member of the CND movement, as the badge of the ’direct action committee against nuclear war’, for the first demonstration against aldermaston (a british research center for the development of nuclear weapons) in 1958. holtom, a professional designer and a graduate of the london royal college of arts, had originally considered using the christian cross symbol within a circle as the motif for the march, but various priests he had approached with the suggestion were not happy at the idea of using the cross on a protest march."
"the symbol was quickly adopted in the US when a friend of martin luther king jr., bayard rustin began using it during civil rights marches. the power of this symbol is emphasized by the fact that various far-right and fundamentalist american groups, during the 1970s, seriously considered forbidding it (they have spread the idea of satanic associations and condemned it as a communist sign). in south africa, under the apartheid regime, there was an official attempt to ban it. also anti-vietnam war protesters picked it up, and it was called ’the footprint of the great american chicken’ by many american soldiers during the vietnam war era.
deliberately never copyrighted, the symbol is still recognized in great britain as the logo for nuclear disarmament, but is known worldwide for peace and non-violence."
