November 30, 2008

Reviewed By Dr Mubashir Hasan
 

Many among us may not be aware today that a mere quarter of a century ago, the governments of the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, with vast support of majority of their peoples, were at the brink of annihilating each other.

The two superpowers had packed in their bombs and rockets, explosive power which equaled the power to blow up each man, woman and child on earth with four tons of dynamite. Giant American bombers, loaded with live nuclear weapons, were up in the air 24 hours of day and night heading towards targets in the USSR.

They were to turn back without dropping their load of bombs after reaching a prescribed point unless ordered to proceed further. Meanwhile submarines of the USSR naval fleet, armed with rockets carrying nuclear missiles, prowled the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to bomb targets in the United States. The world was in dire peril of a nuclear holocaust.

Bernard Lown, the cardiac physician famous all over the world for his invention of defibrillator, had assembled a group of doctors in Boston, Massachusetts. Calling itself Physicians for Social Responsibility the group dedicated itself to spreading consciousness among citizens about the perils of nuclear war.

Then, they took the big leap. Like a thunder of lightening or a call of a redeemer, three American doctors met three doctors from the Soviet Union in Geneva at the end of 1980. They agreed to found an antinuclear worldwide movement of physicians calling themselves International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). The American side was led by Bernard Lown and the Russians were led by Eugene Chazov, an eminent cardiologist of the USSR. They decided to engage millions of people worldwide in the name of struggle for human survival — as it truly was.

What the doctors from America and the Soviet Union had initiated was unthinkable in the political environment that prevailed in the early 1980s. The superpowers were mortally scared of each other and in the psyche of their people there was deep distrust. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists which maintained The Doomsday Clock was telling its readers that they were minutes away from a nuclear holocaust. ‘Every channel of communications has been constricted or shut down; every form of contact has been attenuated or cut’, the Bulletin said. Their confrontational relationship was founded on mutual suspicion and distrust.

The possibilities abounded in hundreds for any mishap, any misunderstanding in communications, any malfunctioning of weapon systems or a false assessment of rumours or events. Both states were planning the moves of ‘first strike’ or ‘second strike’. The doctrine that the nuclear bomb was a deterrence against the breakout of war lay in tatters. Planet Earth had reached the brink of annihilation.

The doctors had come out against nuclear proliferation and against nuclear weapons. Many among the public, especially in the intelligence agencies of the governments were suspicious. The IPPNW was out trying to shake the bedrock on which the security structure of the two nations was built. What were these doctors doing? Were they for or against their nation states? Where lay their loyalty? Were they agents of the other superpower, the agencies wondered? But this did not deter the doctors. They remained unwavered.

 

Giant American bombers, loaded with live nuclear weapons, were up in the air 24 hours of day and night heading towards targets in the USSR. Meanwhile, submarines in the USSR naval fleet, armed with rockets carrying nuclear missiles, prowled the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to bomb targets in the United States. The world was in dire peril of a nuclear holocaust.

 

They had occupied the highest possible moral ground. For them no other loyalty was greater than their loyalty to saving humanity, indeed life on earth. They stood like a rock. They were armed with irrefutable facts and figures of the devastation which nuclear bombs would cause. Millions and millions would be put to instant death. Hundreds of millions would be wounded.

Perhaps one in 10 doctors will be left in cities with almost no facility to help those who survive. Air, water and food will be contaminated, so will be the ground on which they walk and the houses they live in. The nuclear winter will set in, making the planet unlivable for centuries to come.

The views expressed by medical professionals are respected in all societies. The IPPNW built a formidable case against the proliferation of nuclear weapons and they were credible people. The organisation grew at a phenomenal rate and its membership comprised of 136,000 doctors all over the world. It held annual congresses in Washington (1981), Cambridge (England, 1982), Amsterdam (1983), Helsinki (1984) and Budapest (1985). A million people came out on the streets of New York to protest against nuclear weapons.

Public opinion polls showed that a large percentage of Americans were against the use of nuclear weapons. The whole world was electrified by the IPPNW’s message. The views of the leadership in the governments of the USSR and United Stated could not remain unaffected.

President Ronald Reagan, who was to be a candidate for a second term in the election of 1984, must have realised that the campaign launched by the doctors was proving to be effective in swaying away supporters of his stand as a Cold War warrior. In a shrewd move, more than a year before his election date, out of all the platforms available to him, he chose the platform of IPPNW to indicate that he was not unaware of the implications of a nuclear war.

In a message to the IPPNW’s Congress in 1983, he spoke of his efforts to negotiate reduction in nuclear weapons with the Soviets, adding that ‘nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.’ According to Bernard Lown, ‘Most striking about the message was its warm tone and embrace of the essential agenda of our movement.’ It was a tremendous victory for the doctors of the world.

The situation in Moscow was somewhat different. In view of the authoritative nature of the Soviet state and a societal set up different from that of the United States, one may not be far wrong in surmising that the leadership of the Soviet doctors had in all probability tacit approval for its contact with the leadership of the US doctors. It showed nevertheless that the government leaders in Moscow recognised the dangers of the nuclear holocaust more than the politicians in Washington. Moscow understood the nature of the agenda of IPPNW better than Washington did.

On one occasion Eugene Chazov, the co-chairman of IPPNW sought permission to address the central committee of the Communist Party on the nuclear issue. He submitted the draft of the speech for prior approval which was rejected by Mikhail Suslov, the guardian of the ideological purity of the Party. In Suslov’s view it was too defeatist, too negative and antimilitary.

Chazov won his appeal against the rejection. After Chazov delievered the speech, in which he outlined in detail the terrible devastation any American attack would cause, the Soviet ruler Leonid Brezhnev thanked him saying that for the first time the hall in which they were meeting had heard some sense on the nuclear issue.

 

In a message to the IPPNW’s Congress in 1983, Ronald Reagan spoke of his efforts to negotiate reduction in nuclear weapons with the Soviets, adding that ‘nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.’ According to Bernard Lown, ‘Most striking about the message was its warm tone and embrace of the essential agenda of our movement.’ It was a tremendous victory for the doctors of the world.

 

The IPPNW triumphantly marched from one success to another. In 1984 the doctors received the UNESCO Peace Award, and in 1985 Bernard Lown and Eugene Chazov received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPPNW. What the unity of the doctors of the world under the able leadership of Lown and Chazov achieved in a non-violent and peaceful manner was once the domain of saints and prophets.

The story, as told by Bernard Lown, is a trail blazer in some important and crucial ways for future generations. The group that gathered in his house was convinced that the cause before them was great as it embraced the entire human community. They had facts and figures to prove it. They were able to present it in a manner which political leaders or their bands of advocates could not refute.

The question was: could they mobilise enough political pressure upon the ruling elite in America to change their course. Even more awesome was the task of influencing the leadership of the Soviet Union in favour of the cause espoused by its doctors.

With flawless organisational and diplomatic skill they chalked out their course and went to the people. It was relatively easy in America which afforded more freedom of expression than most countries of the world.

The question of how to win the support of Russian doctors was far more problematic. In a masterly fashion Bernard Lown and his colleagues mobilised resources and gathered public support not only in the United States but also in Europe. They successfully negotiated their path through deep and treacherous political and military minefields, leaving a splendid record of influencing states and societies.

The epic tale of Lown and Chazov winning the IPPNW’s battles in the Kremlin is a classic. It was a unique achievement that shall remain unrepeatable in the future. They had to be the ones to achieve this victory as they are highly respected throughout the world and their word could not be taken lightly — especially when the case they made was irrefutable. But the task of bringing about change in the minds of leaders wielding awesome power as was the case in Moscow was substantially more than about convincing an individual leader.

Their freedom to decide is far from absolute as they all wear political shackles. They cannot act unless they have the support of the power structure.

All successful persuaders require first and foremost access to the leaders at the helm of power. They have to have the skill to persuade and they have to have immense patience and dedication. The team led by Lown and Chazov showed that they had all these attributes and theirs is a highly fascinating story as told in Prescription for Survival.

The book gives rise to the question as to why the prescription offered by IPPNW cannot be used to win the ongoing struggles for peace and justice, harmony, food, medical care and education for the multitudes of impoverished and oppressed humanity. Why can’t the prescription of Dr Lown be administered to the war-mongering ruling elites of India and Pakistan.

As Noam Chomsky says ‘the remarkable physician and peace activist Bernard Lown, whose courageous efforts have forged a path that might save the species from suicide, if enough people can muster the kind of will and determination and hard headed optimism that he has so impressively demonstrated, and eloquently recorded here.’ In his preface to the book, the historian Howard Zinn expresses in highly laudable terms his views about the struggle recounted within.

At the very end the author himself says, ‘The memoir is ultimately a call for action.’


 

Prescription for Survival: A doctor’s journey to end nuclear madness
By Bernard Lown
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, US
Available with amazon.com
ISBN 9781576754825
438pp. $35