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

Abstract

Summary 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.