_The Strangest Dream
This is the story of Joseph Rotblat, the only nuclear scientist to leave the Manhattan Project, the U.S. government’s secret program to build the first atomic bomb. His was a decision based on moral grounds.
The film retraces the history of nuclear weapons, from the first test in New Mexico, to Hiroshima, where we see survivors of the first atomic attack. Branded a traitor and spy, Rotblat went from designing atomic bombs to researching the medical uses of radiation. Together with Bertrand Russell he helped create the modern peace movement, and eventually won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Featuring interviews with contemporaries of Rotblat and passionate public figures including Senator Roméo Dallaire, The Strangest Dream demonstrates the renewed threat of nuclear weapons and encourages hope through the example of morally engaged scientists and citizens.
How to Watch This Film: You are reading Roszak's The Making of A Counterculture this week and next. Roszak offers both a political critique and an account of the emergence of a particular kind of non-violent social resistance. He also critiques that resistance, which is something we will also discuss. For now, though, this films provides a glimpse into the social, political, and scientific context of the period Roszak is writing about. Understanding peace and non-violence, as practices and as political positions in any society requires understanding the contexts out which these things develop and within which they are practiced. In this case, North American political and scientific culture in the 1950's and 1960's. So watch for context. Rotblat is an invisible historical figure and a question to ask yourself as you watch this film and read Roszak is what techniques of knowledge are deployed to erase figures of contention and disagreement from official history. While the techniques are different in different societies, they all have ways of erasing dissonance and dissent in their official stories. Methodologically, this should remind us to always be skeptical of official stories, no matter how pleasant they sometimes are.
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This is the story of Joseph Rotblat, the only nuclear scientist to leave the Manhattan Project, the U.S. government’s secret program to build the first atomic bomb. His was a decision based on moral grounds.
The film retraces the history of nuclear weapons, from the first test in New Mexico, to Hiroshima, where we see survivors of the first atomic attack. Branded a traitor and spy, Rotblat went from designing atomic bombs to researching the medical uses of radiation. Together with Bertrand Russell he helped create the modern peace movement, and eventually won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Featuring interviews with contemporaries of Rotblat and passionate public figures including Senator Roméo Dallaire, The Strangest Dream demonstrates the renewed threat of nuclear weapons and encourages hope through the example of morally engaged scientists and citizens.
How to Watch This Film: You are reading Roszak's The Making of A Counterculture this week and next. Roszak offers both a political critique and an account of the emergence of a particular kind of non-violent social resistance. He also critiques that resistance, which is something we will also discuss. For now, though, this films provides a glimpse into the social, political, and scientific context of the period Roszak is writing about. Understanding peace and non-violence, as practices and as political positions in any society requires understanding the contexts out which these things develop and within which they are practiced. In this case, North American political and scientific culture in the 1950's and 1960's. So watch for context. Rotblat is an invisible historical figure and a question to ask yourself as you watch this film and read Roszak is what techniques of knowledge are deployed to erase figures of contention and disagreement from official history. While the techniques are different in different societies, they all have ways of erasing dissonance and dissent in their official stories. Methodologically, this should remind us to always be skeptical of official stories, no matter how pleasant they sometimes are.
(Please be patient, as this embedded video link may take moment or two to load.)
