50th Anniversary Of Pugwash Conferences

In July 1957, the first conference of scientists concerned at atomic weapons, from East and West, was held in Pugwash, a fishing village near Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Canada.

Subsequent Pugwash conferences have been held all over the world, and the conferences, and their main organiser, Prof Joseph Rotblat, were honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In a few weeks, nuclear scientists and disarmament experts will mark the 50th anniversary of the inaugural Pugwash conference by again meeting in its birthplace where they will discuss "Revitalising Nuclear Disarmament".

The Canadian Pugwash Group is calling on Canada to lead Nato countries toward denuclearisation, arguing that the alliance's policies are outdated and dangerous, as well as in breach of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

For a bit more reading, you could take a look at the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, issued in London on 9 July, 1955, which inspired the first Pugwash conference.

As human beings, we have to remember that, if the issues between East and West are to be decided in any manner that can give any possible satisfaction to anybody, whether Communist or anti-Communist, whether Asian or European or American, whether White or Black, then these issues must not be decided by war. Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise; if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.