Symbol 24:7

24:7 ·
This is the anti-nuclear
emblem or
the peace sign. It
can be seen as composed of a
Tyr rune,
, lengthened upward, or by the
rune
, turned upside down. In Germany and Austria
it is often called the Todesrune, the rune of death, or an inverted life rune.
According to some sources
was conceived by placing
the signs N and D (for
Nuclear Disarmament) from the international marine flag signalling
system on top of each other, and circumscribing the combination with a
circle. Some state that
was invented by Lord Bertrand Russell.
S. T. Achen, however, claims that the symbol was designed by J. Holtom
at the request of Russell. In any case it was initially used as a
rallying sign at the 1958 demonstration against Aldermaston (a British
research center for the development of nuclear weapons).
The power of this symbol is emphasized by the fact that the South
African government, during the 1970s, seriously considered forbidding
it. They found it "anti-Christian" and
"pro-Communist." Achen, the late Danish semiotician, wrote
that
, ironically, was forbidden at times in some of
the communist countries.



