Hippy Peace Symbol Still Meaningless Today as it was 50 Years Ago. Nukes Are Everywhere.
Today is the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Symbol.
If you’re like me, you have no idea how the symbol originated. You might be surprised to learn that it actually was designed with some meaning attached not just a faddish hippy thing.
It was designed by Gerald Holtem.
Originally, the symbol was for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (ND). It gets it’s design from the semaphore code letters for ND.
…the original sketches are preserved at the school of Peace Studies, at the Bradford University. They show a symbol that stood for ‘the death of man and the unborn child’ …it is said, that the reason for the symbol being upside down (D over N) is that semaphore is a military code and upside down symbolizes ‘anti-military’.the ends of the ‘arms’ and ‘legs’ thicken and splay out noticeably as they approach the circumference. the circle itself was thick – the thickening itself has two versions:
in one, all the straight strokes are thickened; in the other, only those in the lower half of the circle.
Eric Austin used white clay and painted it with the black symbol and distributed the symbols with a note explaining that in a nuclear war, the fired pottery badges would be one of the few things remaining made by humans.
The CND is still active today.
Peace.
I don’t get why the hand symbol points the opposite way… shouldn’t we be holding our hands upside down, or would that symbolise the anti-peace?
K8: always the deep thinker. I agree, but maybe that’s a gang sign?
Some people, when I was a kid, used to draw it as the Mercedes-Benz symbol by mistake. We didn’t know much from a Benz in Southeastern Pennsylvania, but I expect Benz owners knew peace a lot better than, say, troops deployed in ‘Nam.
Can the anniversary of the Flower Power flower and the Happy Face be far behind?
As Johnny Carson used to say, “I did not know that. That is weird, wild stuff!”
@Gretchen: Oh, Flower Power… kewl. Happy face yuck too commercial.
@Brian: Same here. Never to old to learn useless information.
try again. the so called peace sign had its origins in the dark ages as a satanic symbol. gerald holtem either copied the design or had no idea of its earlier origin.
@Ron: Satan is everywhere! Including this blog. I will now take over your machine and deliver my message to the universe.