The truth about peacemakers presents an opportunity to educate people who are conditioned to fear peacemakers.
Sad but true, the corporate media is confusing people by reinforcing the notion that peacemakers are rock throwing and violent anti-government troublemakers. The pictures to the right are from a CBS 60 Minutes broadcast where the Pentagon is attempting to justify a new weapon system by showing "peace" people throwing rocks at soldiers.
The truth is the people in the pictures are US soldiers pretending to be peacemakers. History is filled with examples of pro-war forces actively confusing the public. One example is the COINTEL program that assigned FBI agents to infiltrate peace groups with the objective of making peacemakers appear violent and anti-God. For more information click here to view the rock throwers video and here for the COINTEL documentary.
Perhaps because I was once taught to hate peace people I can appreciate how good people become confused. Regardless of what military instructors told me, I kept remembering Jesus's Sermon on the Mount and his statement "blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God." Now that I am older and work as a full time peacemaker, I realize pro-war forces falsely portray peacemakers because they fear the groundswell for peace that can materialize when peacemakers unite.
My personal experience is that people who carry peace symbols are beautiful. For the people I've met, the peace symbol circle, vertical line, and downward sloping lines are a way to communicate that nonviolence can be a force more powerful than violence.
Unfortunately, for some people, the peace symbol does not represent nonviolence, love, or service to humanity. Understanding why a person dislikes the peace symbol or fears peacemakers is helpful to moving beyond the barriers that divide good people.
A
popular explanation of the peace symbol is that Gerald Herbert Holtom (1914 - 1985)
created this symbol on February 21,
1958.
At that time Holtom worked with the Direct Action Committee against Nuclear War. Holtom was a dedicated
peacemaker and graduate of the Royal College of Arts. During World War II he
worked on a farm in England as a conscientious objector. The
BBC quoted Holtom, "I drew myself: the representative of an
individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in
the manner of Goya's peasant before the firing squad."
Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970), a philosopher, historian,
mathematician, and a member of the Direct Action Committee against Nuclear War,
supported Holtom's claim. Russell wrote, “It was invented by a member of our movement
(Gerald Holtom) as the badge of the Direct Action Committee against Nuclear War,
for the 1958 Aldermaston peace walk in England. It was designed from the naval code of
semaphore, and the symbol represents the code letters for ND.'” The code ND for Nuclear Disarmament is shown on
the right. The circle,
representing the concept of total or complete, surrounds the N and D signifying
total or complete nuclear disarmament.
Ken Kolsbun, author of the book Peace: The Biography of a Symbol,
reported that
Holtom expressed regret in not designing the peace symbol with the joyful lifting of arms towards the
sky.
For most of Holtom's life he would draw only the upright peace symbol. Holtom's
wish that the peace symbol connotation of despair be changed to joy is
illustrated by the picture on the left.
Holtom requested
that the upright peace symbol be placed on his tombstone in Kent, England. As shown
by the picture of his tombstone, his wish was unfortunately ignored.
While it
appears reasonable that the modern day peace symbol comes from Gerald Holtom, this
logic fails to address the fact that the symbol has been used for thousands of years.
To my surprise, the peace symbol has negative connotations for some groups, and
we should keep that in mind. For example, this
same symbol was used by Hitler's
3rd Panzer Division from 1941 to 1945.
The
image on
the right is the regimental
3rd Panzer Division
symbol. Soviet, Polish, and
Hungarian citizens, having suffered from the Nazi 3rd Panzer Division massacres, undoubtedly
struggled with Holtom’s use of the symbol as a thoughtful way to communicate
peace.
Another flaw
in the Holtom creation story is the use of the symbol as an anti-Christian
symbol by the Saracens as early as 711 A.D.
For the Saracens, the image placed on their shields
symbolized the breaking of the Christian cross.
Rudolf
Koch's
Book
of
Signs
explains
the
downward
pointed
fork
shown
on
the
right
represents
the
death
of
man.
Placed
in
the
circle
the
symbol
means
the
total
death
of
all
people
which
is
the
exact
opposite
of
what Holtom
worked
to
prevent
with
the
Campaign
for
Nuclear
Disarmament.
While the death of man, pro-communism, and even anti-God arguments are not representative of the
majority of people that carry or wear a peace symbol, they can frustrate the
sincere efforts of peacemakers.
Additional examples of how the modern day peace symbol has been used in history
are described in the Teach Peace Moment, Peace Symbol
History.
Today
because many people carry the symbol without understanding the history,
we
miss
an
opportunity
to
address
historical
uses
and
move
forward
to
reclaim
the
symbol
for
good.
When you see
the peace symbol, I encourage you to see the person displaying it as communicating a message of love.
If you display the peace symbol, my recommendation is point
the arms of the peace symbol toward the sky to honor Holtom's wish, address
historical objections, and communicate love of all people.
One day I hope to meet Holtom's family in England and honor his wish to upright
the peace symbols on his tombstone. My thinking is this simple change of
uprighting the peace symbol can wipe away the
confusion currently used to divide people and could start a process of educating millions of people around the world to declare themselves as peacemakers.
Dave Dionisi, Teach Peace National Awareness (For sources and additional information,
click here).
For members in northern California, join us at a "Meet & Greet" on May 15th from 4 - 7 pm at the Yogurt Shack in Davis.
