Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
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In British politics, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has been at the forefront of the peace movement in the United Kingdom and claims to be Europe's largest single-issue peace campaign.
Its logo, designed in 1958 by Gerald Holtom, became widespread outside of Britain during the 1960s as the "peace symbol". The peace symbol is based on the international semaphore symbols for "N" and "D" (for Nuclear Disarmament) enclosed within a circle. There is a common misconception that Bertrand Russell designed the logo, stemming from him being president of CND at the time.
In 1960 Bertrand Russell resigned from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in order to form a more militant group called the Committee of 100.
CND has several priority campaigns:
- "Scrap Trident": Against the UK's nuclear weapons
- "Missile Defence: The New Threat": Against the US Strategic Defense Initiative
- "No to NATO"
- "Stop the Plutonium Trade"
As well as campaigning against military actions that may result in the use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, in favour of nuclear disarmament by all countries and of tighter international regulation through treaties such as the NPT. The most famous and longest standing annual march is that from Trafalgar Square, London to the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Factory, held every Easter weekend, taking the whole four days to complete.
Prominent founding members of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament included Fenner Brockway, Canon John Collins, E. P. Thompson, Michael Foot, Victor Gollancz, Bertrand Russell, A. J. P. Taylor, and Dora Russell. Although many of its members, including religious groups that make up a significant minority of the active membership, are pacifist, the organisation itself is not. Much of CND's historical archive is at the Modern Records Centre University of Warwick and the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Along with the Stop the War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain it organised several anti-war marches under the main slogan "Don't Attack Iraq," including those on September 28, 2002 and February 15, 2003 in London.
See also
External link
- Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament home page (http://www.cnduk.org)