Malia Obama Campaigns For Nuclear Disarmament
G8 MEETING - Malia Obama, the eldest daughter of President Barack Obama, has been photographed wearing a T-shirt bearing the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament's symbol. The last time Malia Obama hit the headlines it was because her allergy to dog hair was complicating the first family's hunt for a puppy. This time, though, the 11-year-old may have unleashed a greater controversy.
While Barack Obama struggles to reinvigorate the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, his elder daughter has apparently launched her own campaign to educate the planet about nuclear weapons. She was snapped leaving a Rome ice-cream parlour today in a T-shirt bearing the CND symbol, one of the world's most recognisable and political logos. Given the intense sartorial scrutiny to which her parents have been exposed, it seems unlikely that the T-shirt was packed or pulled on by accident.
Since it was first sketched out by the British designer Gerald Holtom to accompany the Aldermaston march in 1958, the CND logo has become a universal peace symbol. Holtom, a conscientious objector during world war two, explained that his own anguish had informed his iconic design.
"I was in despair," he said. "Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya's peasant before the firing squad. I formalised the drawing into a line and put a circle round it."
In a public letter to Malia and her sisters last year, the US president said he hoped that his daughters would continued the family tradition of campaigning:
A CND spokesman expressed delight at seeing the logo on a member of the Obama's family:
"Perhaps Malia has been the driving force behind the administration's push towards a new disarmament deal? We'll get an 'I'd-rather-grow-up-than-blow-up' T-shirt in the post to her straight away."
- Guardian
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