On this day in 1955, Bertrand Russell, et al held a press conference in London. They originally reserved the lower, smaller room at Caxton Hall, a local community center. But as people started to arrive, Russell moved upstairs to the much bigger room to accommodate the press who were coming from around the world.

The Russell Einstein Manifesto was Albert Einstein’s last great public message to the world. He signed it nine days before he died. These were his last burning questions that he took with him to the grave.

Another of the authors was Joseph Rotblat, a nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan project until asking to leave on the grounds of personal conscience. Rotblat believed that scientists should always be concerned with the ethical consequences of their work and became one of the most prominent critics of the nuclear arms race, dedicating his life to campaigning against nuclear weapons.

Although the Russell–Einstein Manifesto was launched in July 1955, this was the result of several months of discussion between those who became the signatories. These visionaries’ words about the dangers of weapons of mass destruction read today with even greater depth than when they were first voiced in 1955. All the while we have moved closer to deciding which way we will go.

What can us ordinary people do? Make choices as we are being advised: find creative solutions to our conflicts without fighting or war. Become that change that we want so badly for the world. Be an inner and outer peacemaker. Make decisions to work for the good of the whole. We must get to know ourselves and where we may inadvertently be contributing to the conflicts around us.

Then get to work in one of the many arenas that are bringing together concerned citizens to be the change. Below is some information on “presidential first use of nuclear weapons,” including a short video on topic of  “Presidential First Use of Nuclear Weapons. Is it Legal? Is it Constitutional? Is it Just?” from a conference held November 4, 2017 at Harvard University.

You can also sign on to a movement directed at Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden asking him to pull us back from the brink of nuclear war.

The longer I work with my Imagined Einstein and this Party, the more I am convinced that they really have reached us from beyond the grave and are working with us for world peace, one person at a time, starting with ourselves. It is an honor to serve.

 

 

 

 

Russell Einstein Manifesto