Not another conference: A letter from Sir Nevill Mott on the proliferation of anti-nuclear disarmament splinter groups

While trawling through the papers relating to political activism it is difficult it is difficult to keep track of the myriad political groups and bodies that crop up - for instance, the many different groups campaigning against nuclear disarmament in the 1970s and 1980s: While groups like CND and Pugwash are fairly well known, there are much smaller less familiar groups, such as Scientists against Nuclear Arms (SANA), Medical Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons (MCANW),   World Disarmament Campaign, Teachers for Peace, Nuclear Warfare Tribunal -  and this doesn't include campaigns run by broader spectrum organisations such as Food and Disarmament International (FDI) and World Federation of Scientific Workers (WFSW). In a word: confusing.

However, it seems I was not alone in finding it difficult to navigate the various groups, as this letter to Wilkins from physicist Sir Nevill Mott attests.

Sir Nevill was dubious about attending a conference on nuclear disarmament for fear of “unstructured waffle”. He explains: “I think the invitation put me off. They don’t say what their foundation is, what its first conference achieved, when it begins, what the real objectives are, who’s funding it.”  Mott’s opinions were seemingly coloured by a recent experience at a local group meeting organised by a Vicar in a nearby parish where he was surprised by the attendance of hard-line CND. He states: “I was very repelled- they would not think about practical ways of stopping the arms race, no first use, oppose star wars- but just paraded their consciences for 2 weary hours”.

This is not to cast aspersions on the importance of these causes, or on to scientists like Maurice Wilkins, who was actively involved in many. As I have previously posted, the campaign to investigate the work done within the Microbiological Research Establishment at Porton Down led by the “Conference on Chemical and Biological Warfare” or the awareness campaign on the poison gas attack on the Kurds by Iraq by the International Scientists’ Congress were admirable feats. There are many more examples that will be included in the digitised papers of Maurice Wilkins and hopefully not many examples of “unstructured waffle”! 

A flyer for a Greenwich CND meeting from 1981: Maurice Wilkins was an active member of his local branch and  gave many talks on the dangers of nuclear weapons across the country.

KCL and the Foundations of Modern Genetics: The Library of Maurice Wilkins: Part 2

KCL and the Foundations of Modern Genetics: The Library of Maurice Wilkins: Part 2: In this second instalment regarding the personal library of Maurice Wilkins, I have selected a number of books from the collection and ...

'Ways out of the Arms Race": The Second International Scientists' Congress

During the 1980's, Maurice Wilkins spent a significant amount of time promoting and campaigning on disarmament and development issues. While maintaining his long running membership of British Pugwash, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), British Society for Social Responsibility in Science (BSSRS) and the World Federation of Scientific Worker's (WFSW), he also became honorary President of the Food and Disarmament International (FDI) organisation and an active member of scientists' against nuclear arms (SANA). It was the later that led to his involvement in the 'Ways out of the Arms Race' Second International Scientists' Congress held at Imperial College London, on the 2-4 December 1988. The conference aim was for imminent scientists from across the globe to discuss papers on nuclear, chemical and biological disarmament. It succeeded in doing so with the added benefit of providing political pressure by mobilising its attendance to protest on two concurrent political events: the abduction and imprisonment of the Israeli nuclear plant technician, Dr Mordechai Vanunu and the poison gas attacks by the Iraqi Army in Halabja in 1988. Evidence of the petitions and demonstrations are recorded in the papers of Maurice Wilkins which includes candid replies to him from representatives of the Israeli and Iraqi governments.


Campaign relating to Dr Mordechai Vanunu

Dr Mordechai Vanunu, was a former nuclear technician at the Negev Nuclear Research Center from 1976-1985. In 1986, whilst in Sydney, Australia, he met a Sunday Times journalist and revealed knowledge of the Israeli nuclear weapons programme before accompanying the journalist to London. It was during his time in London that the Israeli Government decided to capture Vanunu and hatched a plan to remove him from UK territory by getting an undercover Mosad agent to pretend to be an American tourist, named Cindy who Vanunu agreed to accompany to Rome. In Rome he was drugged and freighted back to Israeli where he was imprisoned for treason and confined for 18 years, including eleven years of solitary confinement.

 During the Congress, a demonstration was organised to the Israeli Embassy in London where a petition would be handed in asking for clemency for Mr Vananu. A significant number of the delegates signed the petition including fellow Nobel Prize winners, Dorothy Hodgkin and Joseph Rotblat.

The following summer, Wilkins received a reply from the Israeli Government's Ministry of Justice:

 

Campaign condemning gas attacks on Kurdish civilians

The Halabja massacre is now well known event due in part to the build up to the Second Iraq war and the fall of Sadam Hussain's regime. However, at the time of their occurence the international response was ambiguous with some international media coverage and western governmental officials siding with the official Iraqi line that no poison gas attacks were used against the Kurdish people. Wilkins sent a letter to the Iraqi ambassador in London and recieved a detailed reply with a number of attachments. The letter provides evidence of the divided media coverage and general lack of facts available allowing for passionate denial of any use of chemical weapons and a dismissal of the claims as part of an anti-Iraqi conspiracy. 

Example of the Second International Scientists' Congress petition against the Iraqi government after the chemical attack on the Kurdish city of Halabja.