Article ID: CBB703224603

‘Treatment Not Trident’: Medical Activism, Health Inequality and Anti-Militarism in 1980s Britain (2019)

unapi

In 1985, Britain’s chief group of medical anti-nuclear weapons activists, the Medical Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons (MCANW), launched its ‘Treatment, Not Trident’ (TNT) campaign. TNT called on the Thatcher Government to cancel the acquisition of the Trident nuclear weapon system and divert those funds to the National Health Service and foreign aid instead. Using TNT, this article makes some more general observations about key aspects of the history, nature and ideologies of medical activism in relation to anti-militarism and health inequality. Alongside a conceptualisation of ‘medical activism’, it offers an examination of chief ways in which the strategic mobilisation of health and welfare priorities, and a growing interest in developing nations enabled MCANW to reach a larger audience. Moreover, higher levels of professionalisation, politicisation and inclusivity contributed to TNT’s success, making it a crucial moment in the development of both MCANW and medical activism in general.

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Authors & Contributors
Webster, Charles
Begley, Philip
Clark, Peder
Davies, Stephen M.
Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds
Maar, Henry Richard, III
Concepts
Medicine and politics
Medicine
Political activists and activism
Public health
Nuclear weapons; atomic weapons
Health care
Time Periods
20th century, late
21st century
20th century
20th century, early
Places
Great Britain
United States
Wales
Scotland
Japan
Soviet Union
Institutions
National Health Service (Great Britain)
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
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