THE conversation on symbols of peace started, as so many do in Egypt, in a coffee-house. This one in downtown Cairo in a spacious pedestrian passage is noted for the array of naïve paintings on all its walls, inside and out. It also conveniently has an Internet café, which came in useful to check some points in our exchange. The pictures include one of white bird bearing a twig from an olive tree in its beak: a ‘dove of peace' maintained the Europeans, while the Egyptians argued that it was a ‘pigeon of peace', pointing out that doves in Egypt are not white, while some pigeons are. On reflection, the Europeans thought that the iconic dove, although it represented love, devotion, loyalty and innocence in the Old World, might actually have been a pigeon. Would a dove have had the staying power to fly from and to Noah's Ark, returning with the olive twig, signifying that the Great Flood had receded to Noah, bearing in mind the capacities of carrier and racing pigeons? Was the bird the medium and not the message of peace? The olive tree is of great antiquity in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions, where it has long been cultivated, significant in their civilisations and religions, emblematic today in Palestine. Olive oil has had a multiplicity of domestic and religious uses. The tree was the symbol of peace, the saying ‘to offer the olive branch' reflecting the tree's significance for thousands of years from the ancient and classical times until today. And an olive wreath is today part of the UN logo. But even if it was a misnomer or mistranslation, the white dove became an international symbol of peace, notably after Pablo Picasso's 1949 lithograph produced for the International Peace Congress in Paris. But another bird in the following decade became an enduring symbol of peace in Japan, having long been associated with happiness and long life, and that is the crane. They were made in origami form by and for a young girl, who was dying of leukaemia in Hiroshima in the 1950s, where she has been exposed to radiation from the atomic bomb dropped by America on the city on August 6, 1945. She and her friends aimed to make 1,000 origami cranes, the number representing good luck, but she died before they achieved their target Since then, origami cranes have been sent by and to the people of Hiroshima from people throughout the world. The city and its people, who suffered from the most extreme effects of war, are dedicated to peace a telling lesson that has not been learnt by the world's warmongers. The Peace Action Symbol, which has essentially become associated with the nuclear disarmament movement was also designed in the 1950s. It was first used in England and on April 4, 1958 on the seminal Peace Walk from London's Trafalgar Square to the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, but was adopted worldwide by nuclear disarmament campaigners and the 1960s anti-war movement. The distinctive stylised sign is the composite semaphore signal for the letters N and D standing for Nuclear Disarmament. The letter N is formed by a person holding two flags in an inverted V and the letter D is formed by holding one flag pointed straight up and the other straight down. Another well-known sign of peace, featuring in many films made in Hollywood in its heyday is the peace pipe, as used by some Native American tribes. The reed pipes were considered sacred, embodying honour and power, and were smoked in particular at the conclusion of peace treaties. The rainbow has often been associated with peace and was a conspicuous image in the massive anti-war demonstrations in the West opposing the war on Iraq. The peace flag of Italian origin consists of the seven bands of colour of the rainbow and also dates from the 1960s, usually then bearing the word pace (peace in Italian). Millions were produced in Italy and used there and throughout the world by people protesting the 2003 war on Iraq. On both sides of the Atlantic, demonstrators then always included members of pacifist groups, such as the Quakers (or Society of Friends), bearing rainbow banners stating ‘Blessed are the Peacemakers', lost then and still lost on the warmongers. Faraldi has lived in Upper Egypt and then Cairo, since 1991, working in higher education and as a researcher, writer and editor.
