DOCSLIB.ORG

Breaking Free from Nuclear

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Breaking Free from Nuclear 11 00 tt hh aa nn nn uu aa ll FRANK K. KELLY LECTURE ON HUMANITY’S FUTURE BBrreeaakkiinngg FFrreeee FFrroomm nnuucclleeaarr DDeetteerrrreennccee COMMANDER roBert green (Royal Navy, Ret.) building a more peaceful world free of nuclear weapons Frank K. Kelly Lecture ON HUMANITY’S FUTURE he Frank K. Kelly Lecture on Humanity’s Future was established by the Nuclear Age Peace TFoundation in 2002. The lecture series honors the late Frank K. Kelly, a founder and senior vice president of the Foundation, whose vision and compassion are perpetuated through these lectures. Each annual lecture is presented by a distinguished individual to explore the contours of humanity’s present circumstances and ways by which we can shape a more promising future for our planet and all its inhabitants. Mr. Kelly gave the inaugural lecture in 2002 on “Glorious Beings: What We Are and What We May Become.” The lecture presented in this booklet, “Breaking Free from Nuclear Deterrence,” the tenth in the series, was presented by Commander Robert Green (Royal Navy, Ret.) at Santa Barbara City College on February 17, 2011. The 2010 lecture was presented by Ambassador Max Kampelman on “Zero Nuclear Weapons for a Sane and Sustainable World.” The 2009 lecture was presented by Frances Moore Lappé on “Living Democracy, Feeding Hope.” The 2008 lecture was given by Colman McCarthy on “Teach Peace.” The 2007 lecture was delivered by Jakob von Uexküll on “Globalization: Values, Responsibility and Global Justice.” The 2006 lec - ture was presented by Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire on “A Right to Live without Violence, Nuclear Weapons and War.” The 2005 lecture was delivered by Dr. Robert Jay Lifton on “America and the Human Future: Surviving Vietnam, 9/11, and Iraq.” The 2004 lecture in this series was presented by Dame Anita Roddick on “Kind - ness as a Key to Humanity’s Future.” Professor Richard Falk gave the 2003 lecture on “American Civil Liberties and Human Rights Under Siege.” Frank lived a remarkable life. He was a science fiction writer (later inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame), a journalist, a soldier in WWII, a Nieman Fellow at Har - vard University, a speechwriter for Harry Truman, the assistant to the US Senate Major - ity Leader, vice president of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions and the author of 10 books. He co-founded the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in 1982. Beyond all of his achievements, Frank exhibited a remarkable faith in humanity and its future. He lived with a spirit of optimism and hope. He was a visionary advocate for humanity and inspired many people through his writing and teaching to take action on behalf of humanity. Frank’s life brought dignity to being human and his spirit will continue to inspire our efforts to create a more peaceful future. The Frank K. Kelly Lecture series is endowed to carry forward Frank’s vision. If you would like to support the series by adding to the endowment, or if you would like to learn about the unique opportunities to support a specific upcom - ing lecture, please let us know. We also invite you to explore the entire Frank K. Kelly Lecture series and the work of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation by visiting our website: www.wagingpeace.org. Special thanks to the James S. Bower Foundation. introduction By David Krieger, Foundation President he Frank K. Kelly Lecture on Peace and the abolition of Humanity’s Future honors nuclear weapons are the princi - tFrank King Kelly, one of the pal goals for which the Nuclear founders of the Nuclear Age Age Peace Foundation has edu - Peace Foundation. Frank died in cated and advocated for nearly 2010, just one day before his 96th three decades. We have been a birthday. He was a man of bound - voice of reason and conscience less optimism. He believed that and an instigator of thought and humanity has a great future and action on this critical issue. If that everyone deserves a seat at humanity is to have a great humanity’s table. future, it cannot afford contin - In 2011, we have seen images of ued complacency. It must the people of Tunisia, Egypt and awaken and engage in con - other countries in the Middle East fronting ongoing nuclear dan - taking to the streets demanding gers. Nuclear weapons are a change. They remind us that often genie that must be returned to it is necessary to stand up for the bottle. Peace is an imperative what one believes before it is pos - of the Nuclear Age. sible to claim one’s seat at human - Our lecturer is Robert Green, a ity’s table. The protesters in the retired British Royal Navy Com - Middle East have inspired many of us by their mander who now lives in Christchurch, New Zealand courage and commitment in demanding the depar - with his wife, Dr. Kate Dewes. During his service as a ture of long-time dictators. bombardier-navigator, Commander Green had opera - As Frank Kelly recognized, and as we all should, tional responsibility for nuclear weapons. He left the humanity’s future is threatened by nuclear arms, Royal Navy in 1982, after serving for 20 years. Since which are weapons of terrorism, whether in the that time he has been an ardent campaigner for a hands of terrorists or those of the leaders of great world free of nuclear weapons. He played an impor - nations. Nuclear weapons imperil civilization and tant role in obtaining the World Court’s Advisory the human species itself. The great challenge of the Opinion on the illegality of nuclear weapons. I had Nuclear Age is to abolish nuclear weapons. History the pleasure of working with him and Kate in the gives us some cause for hope. Middle Powers Initiative, a coalition of eight interna - In the 19th century, humanity triumphed by abol - tional civil society organizations seeking to encour - ishing institutionalized slavery. age middle power countries to put pressure on the In the 19th and 20th centuries, the women’s rights nuclear weapon states to fulfill their nuclear disarma - movement won its struggle and humanity triumphed. ment obligations under the Nuclear Non-Prolifera - In the 20th century, there were also great move - tion Treaty. ments for independence from colonialism and for Commander Green is one of the more intelligent human and civil rights, bringing new triumphs for and dedicated individuals working for a nuclear humanity, including the creation of the United weapons-free world. He is the author of The Naked Nations and the adoption of the Universal Declara - Nuclear Emperor and, more recently, Security with - tion of Human Rights. out Nuclear Deterrence . His concerns with nuclear In the 20th century, the Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet deterrence go to the very heart of the justification Union split apart and South African apartheid was for nuclear weapons. If deterrence is flawed, so is our overcome. Humanity triumphed. common security and that of our country and our These movements were led by courageous leaders, world. His topic is of vital importance to all of us who including Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, care about creating a safer and more secure future Mahatma Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Nelson Man - for humanity. dela, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., to name Following Commander Green’s Kelly Lecture, we only a few. have included in this booklet the “Santa Barbara But the 20th century also gave rise to two World Declaration, Reject Nuclear Deterrence: An Urgent Wars, to countless other wars, to the holocaust, and Call to Action.” This Declaration was created and to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. adopted at a Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Confer - In the 21st century, we must abolish nuclear ence on the Dangers of Nuclear Deterrence held in weapons before they abolish us, and find better Santa Barbara on February 16-17, 2011. ways to achieve security than by the force of arms. 1 2011 FRANK K. KELLY LECTURE ON HUMANITY’S FUTURE Breaking Free From nuclear Deterrence By Commander Robert Green, (Royal Navy, Ret.) hen David Krieger invited me being cleared to see top secret infor - to give this lecture, I discov - mation, and indoctrinated about the Wered the illustrious list of honor and heavy responsibility of this those who had gone before me – role, we were given our target: a mili - beginning with Frank King Kelly tary airbase on the outskirts of himself in 2002. I was privileged to Leningrad. We had to plan how to get meet him the previous year when my there undetected from somewhere in wife Kate Dewes and I last visited the Norwegian Sea. This meant choos - Santa Barbara. So I feel quite a ing the shortest route, over Sweden – weight on my shoulders. However, a neutral country with very capable air this is eased by an awareness of the defense. Our mission was to deliver a uplifting qualities of the man in ten-kiloton WE177 tactical nuclear whose memory I have the huge bomb, and then try to get back to our honor of speaking to you this carrier, or at least bale out over Swe - evening. den or Norway. When I discovered As I do so, I invite you to bear in there would not be enough fuel mind the following points made by because the target was at the limit of Frank in his inaugural lecture: our aircraft’s range, my pilot shrugged • “I believe that we human beings and said: “Well, Rob, if we ever have will triumph over all the horrible to do this, by then there won’t be any - problems we may face and over the bloody history thing to go back for.” So we submitted our flight plan, and which tempts us to despair.” celebrated our initiation into the nuclear elite.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Political Performance and the War on Terror
    The Shock and Awe of the Real: Political Performance and the War on Terror by Matthew Jones A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Matt Jones 2020 The Shock and Awe of the Real: Political Performance and the War on Terror Matt Jones Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies University of Toronto 2020 Abstract This dissertation offers a transnational study of theatre and performance that responded to the recent conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and beyond. Looking at work by artists primarily from Arab and Middle Eastern diasporas working in the US, UK, Canada, and Europe, the study examines how modes of performance in live art, documentary theatre, and participatory performance respond to and comment on the power imbalances, racial formations, and political injustices of these conflicts. Many of these performances are characterized by a deliberate blurring of the distinctions between performance and reality. This has meant that playwrights crafted scripts from the real words of soldiers instead of writing plays; performance artists harmed their real bodies, replicating the violence of war; actors performed in public space; and media artists used new technology to connect audiences to real warzones. This embrace of the real contrasts with postmodern suspicion of hyper-reality—which characterized much political performance in the 1990s—and marks a shift in understandings of the relationship between performance and the real. These strategies allowed artists to contend with the way that war today is also a multimedia attack on the way that reality is constructed and perceived.
    [Show full text]
  • Beyond War: Bin Laden, Escobar, and the Justification of Targeted Killing, 69 Wash
    Pace University DigitalCommons@Pace Pace Law Faculty Publications School of Law 2012 Beyond War: Bin Laden, Escobar, and the Justification of arT geted Killing Luis E. Chiesa Pace Law School Alexander K.A. Greenawalt Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty Part of the Human Rights Law Commons, International Humanitarian Law Commons, International Law Commons, Military, War, and Peace Commons, National Security Law Commons, and the Rule of Law Commons Recommended Citation Luis E. Chiesa & Alexander K.A. Greenawalt, Beyond War: Bin Laden, Escobar, and the Justification of Targeted Killing, 69 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1371 (2012), http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty/853/. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pace Law Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Beyond War: Bin Laden, Escobar, and the Justification of Targeted Killing Luis E. Chiesa* Alexander K.A. Greenawalt∗∗ Abstract Using the May 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden as a case study, this Article contributes to the debate on targeted killing in two distinct ways, each of which has the result of downplaying the centrality of international humanitarian law (IHL) as the decisive source of justification for targeted killings. First, we argue that the IHL rules governing the killing of combatants in wartime should be understood to apply more strictly in cases involving the targeting of single individuals, particularly when the targeting occurs against nonparadigmatic combatants outside the traditional battlefield.
    [Show full text]
  • Breaking Free from Nuclear Deterrence
    Tenth Frank K. Kelly Lecture on Humanity’s Future: Thursday 17 February 2011 Breaking Free from Nuclear Deterrence Commander Robert Green, Royal Navy (Retired) When David Krieger invited me to give this lecture, I discovered the illustrious list of those who had gone before me – beginning with Frank King Kelly himself in 2002. I was privileged to meet him the previous year when my wife Kate Dewes and I last visited Santa Barbara. Then it occurred to me: not only is this lecture the tenth; it is the first since Frank died last June, one day before his 96 th birthday. So I feel quite a weight on my shoulders. However, this is eased by an awareness of the uplifting qualities of the man in whose memory I have the huge honour of speaking to you this evening. As I do so, I invite you to bear in mind the following points made by Frank in his inaugural lecture: • “I believe that we human beings will triumph over all the horrible problems we may face and over the bloody history which tempts us to despair.” • Some of the scientists who brought us into the Nuclear Age made us realize that we must find ways of living in peace or confront unparalleled catastrophes. • A nun who taught him warned him he would be tested, that he would “go through trials and tribulations.” As President Truman’s speechwriter, Frank discussed the momentous decisions Truman had to make – including the one to drop the first nuclear weapons on Japan: • “When I asked him about the decision to use atom bombs on Japan, I saw anguish in his eyes.
    [Show full text]
  • Wrekin Syndicalists
    fi What We Stand For € The "free" world is not free; the "communist" norld i s not communist.' he' regect' both: one is becoming totalitarian; the other is already so. Their current power struggle leads inexorably to atomic war and the probable destruction of the human race. We charge that both systems engender servi- tude. Pseudo-freedom based on ec ' slavery is no better than pseudo-freedome onomic based on political slavery- The monopoly of power which is the state must .be eliminated. Government itself, as-well “as its» underlying ins ti tutions, perpetuates war, oppression, corruption, exploitation, and misery. We advocate a world-wide society of communi- tiee andA councils~ ' based on coo eration and" free agreement from the bottom-C Ffed‘eralism) inetead of coercion and domination from the top i-*(centralism). Regimentation' l rof people must _be replaced by regulation of things. ,_ -- i Freedom~witbout socialism is chaotic, but so- - cialism without freedom is-despotic- Lib- ertarianism is free socialism. 1 -3- I : The arrogance-of zmo-ontested power. Recently three men, arrested almost by mistake, under suspic- ion, were found first to be falsely posing as police. They were carrying a false police warrant card. Normally that would suffice to get them locked up. But that was not all. Police investigation showed that they had at home a number of other police warrant cards, of identific- ation cards for security services and for varying The Arrogance of uncontested power government ministries under a number of aliases. - Laurens Otter It also emerged that they had a number of confidential btate published: Wrekin Syndicalists, documents, from the Ministry of Defence and other Govern- (formerly Wrekin Libertarians mental departments; ans a number of other papers falsely L L College Farm House, purporting to be such state documents; and that they were lwellington, Salop.
    [Show full text]
  • Nuclear Deterrence to a Nuclear Weapons Free World
    Moving Beyond Nuclear Deterrence to a Nuclear Weapons Free World ISSUE NO. 2, 2013 Nuclear Abolition Forum Dialogue on the Process to Achieve and Sustain a Nuclear Weapons Free World The Nuclear Abolition Forum strives to foster debate on key legal, technical, institutional and political elements for achieving the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons under a Nuclear Weapons Convention or package of agreements, as well as the process to achieving this. To this end, the Forum offers a dedicated website and a periodical to facilitate dialogue between academics, governments, disarmament experts and NGOs on such elements. The Forum is a joint project of eight leading organizations on disarmament and nonproliferation issues. For more information about Nuclear Abolition Forum, visit abolitionforum.org. Nuclear Abolition Forum Dialogue on the Process to Achieve and Sustain a Nuclear Weapons Free World C/o World Future Council 100 Pall Mall, SW1Y 5NQ London, United Kingdom Tel.: +44 (0) 20 7321 3810 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7321 3738 Email: [email protected] abolitionforum.org © Nuclear Abolition Forum, April 2013 Cover: “Cat’s Cradle/String Theory” (oil on canvas, 36" x 48"), 2008, by Baila Goldenthal. Design by Jana Jedličková. Moving Beyond Nuclear Deterrence to a Nuclear Weapons Free World Nuclear Abolition Forum · Issue No. 2 CONTRIBUTORS Ward Wilson Christopher Ford Paul Quilès Bruno Tertrais Sheel Kant Sharma Manpreet Sethi Alyn Ware Kiho Yi Hiromishi Umebayashi Nobuyasu Abe Hirofumi Tosaki Bill Kidd John Ainslie Uta Zapf Jonathan Granoff Rob van Riet David Krieger Richard Falk Teresa Bergman GUEST CO-EDITORS Marc Finaud Paul Meyer Manpreet Sethi Alyn Ware EDITOR Rob van Riet Dialogue on the Process to Achieve and Sustain a Nuclear Weapons Free World NUCLEAR ABOLITION FORUM Issue No.
    [Show full text]
  • The Weird Nukes of Yesteryear
    The Cold War produced some oddball weapons. Here are three of them. The “Davy Crockett,” shown here mounted on a tripod at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, was the smallest nuclear warhead ever developed by the US. The Weird Nukes DOD photo end of a series of thermonuclear bombs initiated in 1950. This followed the Soviet detonation of an atomic bomb of Yesteryear in 1949, several years before Western By Norman Polmar and Robert S. Norris intelligence agencies expected such an event. y the time the Cold War reached some concern about whether they could It was the era of “bigger is better.” its height in the late 1960s, the be carried in aircraft, due to size. The The zenith of “big bombs” would be American nuclear arsenal had “Little Boy” dropped on Hiroshima seen on Oct. 30, 1961, when the Soviet grown to more than 31,000 tipped the scales at 9,700 pounds, and Union detonated (at Novaya Zemlya in Bweapons. The Army, Navy, Air Force, the “Fat Man” dropped on Nagasaki the Arctic) a thermonuclear bomb that and even the Marine Corps worked weighed 10,300 pounds. The immediate produced an explosion equivalent to to acquire weapons for the “nuclear follow-on bombs were about the same 58 megatons—the largest man-made battlefield,” whether in the air, on the size or smaller. explosion ever achieved. Soviet Premier ground, on water, or underwater. However, the development of ther- Nikita Khrushchev would later write Three of the more unusual—and in monuclear or hydrogen bombs led to in his memoirs: “It was colossal, just the end impractical—of these weapons much larger weapons, with the largest incredible! Our experts later explained were the enormous Mk 17 hydrogen US nuclear weapon being the Mk 17 to me that if you took into account the bomb, the Navy’s drone anti-submarine hydrogen bomb.
    [Show full text]
  • A Guide to the Family and Local History Resources Available at Oswestry Library
    A Guide to the Family and Local History Resources available at Oswestry Library 14/01/2019 1 Revision 6 Contents Parish Registers & Monument Inscriptions 3 Trade Directories 33 Shops and Occupants Living In Oswestry 35 Electoral Registers 43 Newspapers, Magazines & Periodicals held in Oswestry Library 47 BCA Hard Copy Newspapers held in Guild Hall 47 Newspapers Alphabetical Index to Marriages & Deaths & Subject Cards 51 Parish and Village Magazines & Newsletters 53 Quarter Sessions 55 Oswestry Town Council Archive 55 Maps and Plans Field Name Maps 56 Ordnance Survey Maps 58 Other Maps 58 Tithe Apportionments 58 Printed Material 58 Photographs, Postcards and Prints 59 Parish Packs 59 Local Places Information Folders 59 Local People Information Folders 68 Media List 69 Welsh Collection 70 Fees for Weddings and Funerals circa 1768 70 14/01/2019 2 Revision 6 REGISTERS An index to Parish, Non-conformist and Roman Catholic Registers & Monumental Inscriptions held at Oswestry Library can be found below. The index indicates whether the item is available in printed form and / or on microfiche and/or digital. Parish: The registers for Oswestry and its neighbouring parishes in England and Wales are available not only in printed volumes held in the rolling stack at the library and on microfiche, but have also been put online by FindMyPast up to the year 1900 and are free to view on all library computers. Non-conformist: To find out if a non-conformist chapel or church existed in a particular area consult one of the following held in the rolling stack: Kelly's Directory, which lists chapels and Roman Catholic Churches in each parish; b) Victoria County History of Shropshire Vol.
    [Show full text]
  • ASROC with Systems
    Naval Nuclear Weapons Chapter Eight Naval Nuclear Weapons The current program to modernize and expand U.S. deployed within the Navy (see Table 8.1) include anti- Naval forces includes a wide variety of nuclear weapons submarine warfare rockets (both surface (ASROC with systems. The build-up, according to the Department of W44) and subsurface launched (SUBROC with W55)), Defense, seeks "increased and more diversified offensive anti-air missiles (TERRIER with W45), and bombs and striking power.. increased attention to air defense . depth charges (B43, B57, and B61) used by a variety of [and] improvements in anti-submarine warfare."' The aircraft and helicopters, both carrier and land based (see plan is to build-up to a "600-ship Navy" concentrating Chapters Four and Se~en).~ on "deployable battle forces." Numerous new ships will The various nuclear weapons systems that are under be built, centered around aircraft carrier battle groups, development or are being considered for tactical naval surface groups, and attack submarines. New, more capa- nuclear warfare include: ble anti-air warfare ships, such as the TICONDEROGA (CG-47) class cruiser and BURKE (DDG-51) class  A new surface-to-air missile nuclear war- destroyers, will be deployed. New nuclear weapons and head (W81) for the STANDARD-2 missile, launching systems, as well as nuclear capable aircraft soon to enter production, carrier based forces, form a major part of the program. A long-range, land-attack nuclear armed As of March 1983, the nuclear armed ships of the U.S. Sea-Launched
    [Show full text]
  • Friend Or Ally? a Question for New Zealand
    .......... , ---~ MeN AIR PAPERS NUMBER T\\ ELVE FRIEND OR ALLY? A QUESTION FOR NEW ZEALAND By EWAN JAMIESON THE INSTI FUTE FOR NATIONAL SI'R-~TEGIC STUDIES ! I :. ' 71. " " :~..? ~i ~ '" ,.Y:: ;,i:,.i:".. :..,-~.~......... ,,i-:i:~: .~,.:iI- " yT.. -.~ .. ' , " : , , ~'~." ~ ,?/ .... ',~.'.'.~ ..~'. ~. ~ ,. " ~:S~(::!?- ~,i~ '. ? ~ .5" .~.: -~:!~ ~:,:i.. :.~ ".: :~" ;: ~:~"~',~ ~" '" i .'.i::.. , i ::: .',~ :: .... ,- " . ".:' i:!i"~;~ :~;:'! .,"L': ;..~'~ ',.,~'i:..~,~'"~,~: ;":,:.;;, ','" ;.: i',: ''~ .~,,- ~.:.~i ~ . '~'">.'.. :: "" ,-'. ~:.." ;';, :.~';';-;~.,.";'."" .7 ,'~'!~':"~ '?'""" "~ ': " '.-."i.:2: i!;,'i ,~.~,~I~out ;popular: ~fo.rmatwn~ .o~~'t,he~,,:. "~.. " ,m/e..a~ tg:,the~6w.erw!~chi~no.wtetl~e.~gi..~e~ ;~i:~.::! ~ :: :~...i.. 5~', '+~ :: ..., .,. "'" .... " ",'.. : ~'. ,;. ". ~.~.~'.:~.'-? "-'< :! :.'~ : :,. '~ ', ;'~ : :~;.':':/.:- "i ; - :~:~!II::::,:IL:.~JmaiegMad}~)~:ib;:, ,?T,-. B~;'...-::', .:., ,.:~ .~ 'z • ,. :~.'..." , ,~,:, "~, v : ", :, -:.-'": ., ,5 ~..:. :~i,~' ',: ""... - )" . ,;'~'.i "/:~'-!"'-.i' z ~ ".. "', " 51"c, ' ~. ;'~.'.i:.-. ::,,;~:',... ~. " • " ' '. ' ".' ,This :iis .aipul~ ~'i~gtin~e ..fdi;:Na~i~real..Sfi'~te~ie.'Studi'~ ~It ;is, :not.i! -, - .... +~l~ase,~ad.~ p,g, ,,.- .~, . • ,,. .... .;. ...~,. ...... ,._ ,,. .~ .... ~;-, :'-. ,,~7 ~ ' .~.: .... .,~,~.:U7 ,L,: :.~: .! ~ :..!:.i.i.:~i :. : ':'::: : ',,-..-'i? -~ .i~ .;,.~.,;: ~v~i- ;. ~, ~;. ' ~ ,::~%~.:~.. : ..., .... .... -, ........ ....... 1'-.~ ~:-~...%, ;, .i-,i; .:.~,:- . eommenaati6'r~:~xpregseff:or ;ii~iplie'd.:;~ifl~in.:iat~ -::
    [Show full text]
  • The Development of the British Conspiracy Thriller 1980-1990
    The Development of the British Conspiracy Thriller 1980-1990 Paul S. Lynch This thesis is submitted to the University of Hertfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. January 2017 Abstract This thesis adopts a cross-disciplinary approach to explore the development of the conspiracy thriller genre in British cinema during the 1980s. There is considerable academic interest in the Hollywood conspiracy cycle that emerged in America during the 1970s. Films such as The Parallax View (Pakula, 1975) and All the President’s Men (Pakula, 1976) are indicative of the genre, and sought to reflect public anxieties about perceived government misdeeds and misconduct within the security services. In Europe during the same period, directors Costa-Gavras and Francesco Rosi were exploring similar themes of state corruption and conspiracy in films such as State of Siege (1972) and Illustrious Corpses (1976). This thesis provides a comprehensive account of how a similar conspiracy cycle emerged in Britain in the following decade. We will examine the ways in which British film-makers used the conspiracy form to reflect public concerns about issues of defence and national security, and questioned the measures adopted by the British government and the intelligence community to combat Soviet subversion during the last decade of the Cold War. Unlike other research exploring espionage in British film and television, this research is concerned exclusively with the development of the conspiracy thriller genre in mainstream cinema. This has been achieved using three case studies: Defence of the Realm (Drury, 1986), The Whistle Blower (Langton, 1987) and The Fourth Protocol (MacKenzie, 1987).
    [Show full text]
  • The Gulfwatch Papers: History & Analyis of the First Gulf War, 1991
    EdinburghReview The GulfWatch Papers 87 Edinburgh Review, 22 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LF tei 031-650 4689 fax 031-662 0053 editor Murdo Macdonald co-editor Peter Kravitz assistant editor Kate Law encyclopaedia editor Ed Baxter cover Ann Ross Paterson production Pam O'Connor publicity Kathryn MacLean logo Alasdair Gray /f>r~~~~~\ © the contributor/T 992 ) The photographs in Delirious Documentaries appear courtesy of P. Greenaway/BR. subscription rates for 2 issues UK£I0 Europe and Rest of the World £ 12 North America $20 ISSN 02676672 ISBN 0 7486 6110 7 distributed in the UK by Edinburgh University Press typeset in Sabon by Koinonia Ltd, Bury printed by J. W. Arrowsmith, Bristol Subsidised by the Scottish Arts Council The editor regrets that the return of unsolicited material cannot be guaranteed Note: As from May 1992 Edinburgh Review will publish twice yearly; in May and November. As readers will be aware this reflects the recent rate of publication of the journal THE GULFWATCH PAPERS Alastair Hulbert and Alastair Mclntosh GulfWatch was a daily bulletin of news and information about the Gulf War, much of it differing from or extending what was presented through normal media channels. Gleaned from the GreenNet inter• national computer network, fax messages and even one telephone contact from inside Iraq, it was mailed out each day of the war to church and peace groups. Through computer networks and photo• copied redistribution by peace groups, it was read by many thousands of people internationally. Broadcasters used the information in Chicago and Montreal. Aid agencies as far away as New Zealand had it faxed to them.
    [Show full text]
  • The Hilda Murrell Murder
    A Thorn in Their Side The Hilda Murrell murder Robert Green with Kate Dewes New Zealand: Rata Books, 2011; 210 pp., index, photographs, p/b, 40 NZ dollars Once upon a time I used to know something about the Hilda Murrell case. At any rate, a piece about it without an author, therefore by me, is in Lobster 27. Seventeen years on from that piece, as I began reading Robert Green’s account of the death of his aunt (who was a kind of surrogate mother, his biological mother dying when he was 19), I would summarise my knowledge thus: she was murdered; it might have been about her opposition to nuclear power; or, more likely, the connection to the author, who had been a naval officer with some connection to the sinking of the Argentine ship the General Belgrano; recently someone who was 16 years old at the time was convicted of the murder, basically on DNA evidence. Which is to say I had remembered so little that I was almost new to the story. First, Green describes Hilda Murrell in some detail and takes us through his experience of the event and its immediate aftermath: the police investigation and the autopsy. He tell us that, on hearing of her death, he immediately suspected she had been ‘rubbed out’, as he puts it. This is very striking indeed. Not a politico, two years after leaving the Navy – and senior, too, a Commander – his response to hearing of the murder of his aunt isn’t, ‘Oh dear, I always knew living alone in rural isolation might go bad for her.
    [Show full text]