World's best-known protest symbol turns 50
Out of context: Reply #10
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- Jaline0
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"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."