If You Love This Planet

It must be understood that this film was released in a particular historical context with a particular objective. It was part of a world-wide campaign to prevent NATO from deploying medium range nuclear missiles in Europe. The Soviet Union had deployed similar missiles in Eastern Europe in the 1970's and this was perceived as a danger to the people of Western Europe against which the missiles were directed. NATO then decided to deploy similar missiles in Western Europe directed at Eastern Europe.

At the time thousands of people were organized to try to prevent this. There were riots in West Berlin. There was a months-long campaign to try to prevent the deployment of Cruise Missiles in Britain. IN the Netherlands the parliament agonized over whether to go ahead with deployment. Cities world-wide declared themselves nuclear free zones. This film was released right into the middle of this uproar. Its purpose was clear.

When the missiles were ultimately deployed anyway the whole anti-nuclear campaign folded up its tents and disappeared. My opinion is that the Soviet funding evaporated once it was clear that NATO was not going to be deterred from countering the Soviet deployment by domestic political pressure. Today the same Helen Caldecott defends the Iranians' right to develop Uranium enrichment technology.

I would like to believe that the people responsible for this film were, like so many others at that time, unwitting dupes of the Soviet Union rather than actually being their paid agents. This was never about protecting humanity from nuclear weapons. None of these people ever complained about Soviet weapons. It was part of an effort to shift the balance of world power in favor of the Soviet Union. Fortunately it failed and even more fortunately the Soviet Union is no more.

The film is a good example of effective propaganda. It will frighten an uninformed viewer. As a more informed viewer, I was outraged by it rather than spurred to action, because I saw that the antinuclear campaign was only directed at missiles in the free world and not at those in the Soviet Union.

Watch it as a cautionary experience of the power of propaganda.

David in Ottawa