I was talking to a friend the other day and we were reminiscing about our youth and various events that were to the fore in those days. So I thought I may give you my view of some of them at the time, albeit remembered 40 years onward.
I progressed
through childhood to adulthood in the 70s and early 80s when CND was at its height.
But even as an impressionable youth, I never understood the logic behind the
CND campaign; at least not beyond the obvious for all of us that no-one wants
any war, let alone a nuclear one.
But you can’t
uninvent something.
So even if, in some utopia, you got all nations to agree to
get rid of their nuclear weapons in the now, someone would find a pretext for making
them again in the future and the arms race would start all over again.
Also, on
what planet did they expect to get Russia & China to give up their nuclear
weapons, when they saw them as essentially the only thing guaranteeing the
survival of their dictatorial regimes?
Or for the likes of North Korea to stop trying to get them?
And therefore, on
what planet would the USA, the UK, France etc do so unilaterally?
On what
plane of existence did they think ‘the West’ giving up their nuclear deterrent would
result in all other countries following suit in joyous harmony as opposed to laughing and knowing
they now had a strategic and blackmailing advantage?
Not the plane of existence
we inhabit on this earth for sure.
The whole thing
was a naïve emotion-based wishful thinking exercise on a level you would expect
from young children.
Worse, the child-like naivety and shallowness of thought was also
tinged with what we now see more openly & widely expressed in parts of
society, namely, a detestation for their own country, it’s history, its achievements
and its values.
So I wasn't a supporter at the time, and time has done nohting to change my mind.
