Peace Sign Flag (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmment)

Last modified: 2005-08-19 by antonio martins
Keywords: peace | peace sign | campaign for nuclear disarmament | holtom (gerald) | russel (bertrand) | aldermaston | rune | semaphore |
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• Description of the flag
• Origin of the flag
• Symbolism of the flag

• Pacifism

Description of the flag

The actual colors and sizes seem to vary. I’ve seen white on black (pictured) most often; others are white on blue, green on white, and pink on black. The most common proportions are 3:5.
Steve Kramer, 29 May 1996

Origin of the flag

The peace symbol has a convoluted and confusing history. It’s most notable appearance in modern times was its first use by the (U.K.) Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (C.N.D.) at their Aldermaston march in 1956. The C.N.D. meaning of the symbol is semaphore for "N" (the two diagonal lines) and "D" (the two vertical lines). About ten years later, the symbol was adopted as a general peace sign within the student anti-war movement. It became probably the single best known symbol of the youth culture of the sixties.
T.F. Mills, 09 Oct 1996

The “peace sign” was designed by Gerald Holtom in 1958. The frequently-repeated but mistaken belief that it was designed by Bertrand Russell probably stems from the fact that Russell was the pre