Further to what is said in the original column about the crow’s foot symbol (i.e. the bit inside the enclosing circle of the CND/peace symbol we’re all familiar with) being an ancient symbol of defeat, it’s maybe worth pointing out that it’s also an inverted version of the Nordic rune ‘Akiz’ or ‘Algiz’, which has the esoteric meaning of defence or protection. Upside-down, maybe it connotes the opposite of protection - vulnerability? In any case, runic symbolism was all the rage during the Third Reich (for example, the better-known lightning bolt runes badge of the SS), and the Akiz rune in particular is still employed by various neo-nazi organisations, so the John Birch society wasn’t that far off-beam in making the peace symbol/Nazi connection, though it begs the question of how and why (and indeed whether!)the original British designer hit upon the idea of using this runic symbol
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Having just re-read the original column, I see that I made an error in attributing the peace symbol/Nazi connection to the John Birch Society. Whoops. Hopefully, 10 000 people won’t now feel the need to post messages informing me of my egregiousness. It’s still a strange connection though.