Russell-Einstein Manifesto: how much has been learned
Posted by: isiria, in PEACE, not war, political structure, war and violence
The Russell-Einstein Manifesto was issued in London on July 9, 1955 by Bertrand Russell in the midst of the Cold War. It highlighted the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and called for world leaders to seek peaceful resolutions to international conflict. The signatories included 11 pre-eminent intellectuals and scientists, most notably Albert Einstein, days before his death on April 18, 1955.
The manifesto called for a conference where scientists would assess the dangers posed to the survival of humanity by weapons of mass destruction (then only considered to be nuclear weapons). Emphasis was placed on the meeting being politically neutral. It extended the question of nuclear weapons to all people and governments. One particular phrase is quoted often, including by Rotblat upon receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995:
- Remember your humanity, and forget the rest.
A few days after the release, philanthropist Cyrus Eaton offered to sponsor a conference - called for in the manifesto - in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Eaton’s birthplace. This conference was to be the first of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, held in July 1957.
Background
The first detonation of a nuclear weapon took place on July 16, 1945 in the desert north of Alamogordo, New Mexico (see: History of nuclear weapons). On August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped “Little Boy” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, and three days later, “Fat Man” on Nagasaki. At least 100,000 civilians were killed outright by these two events (see: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki).
On August 18, 1945, the Glasgow Forward published the first known recorded comment by Bertrand Russell on atomic weapons, which he began composing the day Nagasaki was bombed. It contained threads that would later appear in the manifesto:
- The prospect for the human race is sombre beyond all precedent. Mankind are faced with a clear-cut alternative: either we shall all perish, or we shall have to acquire some slight degree of common sense. A great deal of new political thinking will be necessary if utter disaster is to be averted.
After learning of the bombing of Hiroshima and seeing an impending nuclear arms race, Joseph Rotblat, the only scientist to leave the Manhattan Project on moral grounds, remarked that he “became worried about the whole future of mankind.”
Over the years that followed Russell and Rotblat worked on efforts to curb nuclear proliferation, collaborating with Albert Einstein and other scientists to compose what became known as the Russell-Einstein Manifesto.
Press conference, July 9, 1955
The manifesto was released during a press conference at Caxton Hall, London. Rotblat, who chaired the meeting, describes it as follows:
- “… It was thought that only a few of the Press would turn up and a small room was booked in Caxton Hall for the Press Conference. But it soon became clear that interest was increasing and the next larger room was booked. In the end the largest room was taken and on the day of the Conference this was packed to capacity with representatives of the press, radio and television from all over the world. After reading the Manifesto, Russell answered a barrage of questions from members of the press, some of whom were initially openly hostile to the ideas contained in the Manifesto. Gradually, however, they became convinced by the forcefulness of his arguments, as was evident in the excellent reporting in the Press, which in many cases gave front page coverage.”
Russell had begun the conference by stating:
- “I am bringing the warning pronounced by the signatories to the notice of all the powerful Governments of the world in the earnest hope that they may agree to allow their citizens to survive.”
[source: Wikipedia]
Our future?
I find it quite mind boggling that 52 years later we as a species have not only made no progress in getting any closer to eliminating weapons of mass annihilation, we have done the reverse. Biological and chemical weapons are still being developed (and have been used); conventional weapons have become much more sophisticated and lethal (e.g. land mines and cluster bombs); nuclear weapons have proliferated, both in terms of size and number (including more countries having them), and the US, the ultra aggressive warring overlord, has successfully over the last two decades laid a foundation with its space war programs for a new international arms race.
Given the massive amount of people working on refining the lethal nature of these different weapon systems, the quality of brainpower available for this purpose and the seemingly unabated desire for war and other forms of terror, I am not sure what it will take for the intentions of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto to become a reality. This pessimism seems even more warranted by the fact that war and related form of violence and aggression cannot be simply isolated and treated as a single issue. They are part of a much bigger human behaviour pattern and its underlying supporting value systems that have led to such cultural expressions as the evolution of a greed based economy, the destruction of our natural environment or an ethical self-understanding based on hierarchical structures.
Fortunately though solutions in highly complex systems do not come from applying formal logic; instead they often emerge unforeseen and spontaneous from the chaos, uncertainties and unpredictabilities that are part and parcel of the vagaries certainly of human life. Because of the complex interrelationships in systems like human societies or natural ecological environments, solutions can and do arise in many areas, many different situations and over long periods of time. Since the Manifesto we have not only seen the rise of more lethal and destructive weapon systems, we also have witnessed the evolution of anti-war, environmental and global justice movements. They might be part of a slowly changing mass-consciousness; events like Live Earth would not have been possible 50 years ago (not just because the technology wasn’t available). Therefore, as long as we KEEP ACTING against the forces of systemic terror and destruction, we will add to the pool of possibilities for positive change and keep alive the potential for our species to reconnect to the wisdom of the web of life.
America is one of the worst militaristic nations in history. And its wars, like most wars, are driven by economic interests and the power and greed of the industrial military complex. Bob Dylan’s Masters of War is about these connections, about the brutality of the language of big money, translated into orders by politicians who serve their self-interests that happen to intersect with the interest of those who build the weapons and put them in the hands of the ignorant to kill the innocent. War is about blood and lies and deceit in the name of money, and Masters of War tells this story.
AVAAZ.org is a new, net-based, international, progressive campaign group. It was launched at the end of January 2007 with a virtual peace march campaign where over 90,000 people from over 160 countries expressed their desire for peace in Iraq. AVAAZ’s next campaign is an international, multilingual video campaign calling for world leaders to tackle climate change. Coming soon - Stay tuned.
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