To the Editor:
It’s not every day you get the chance to hear from someone who has received a Nobel Peace Prize; it’s even more rare to hear from someone who’s received the honor twice!
Dr. Ira Helfand is a member of the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapon, ICAN, the recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, and immediate past president of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize.
As we approach the 77th anniversary of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Dr. Helfand will deliver a lecture, “The Russian Invasion of Ukraine and the Growing Danger of Nuclear War,” at the Chilmark library at 5 pm on July 27. The event is part of the Chilmark Library Summer Speaker Series, and is free to attend.
On July 29 at 7:30, at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center in Vineyard Haven, Dr. Helfand will deliver brief remarks following a screening of “The War Game,” Peter Watkins’ nuclear war docudrama, which was intended for broadcast on the BBC in 1965, and was infamously pulled at the 11th hour. Tickets are available at the door and at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center website.
The war in Ukraine represents the onset of a “new nuclear age,” and serves as a terrifying reminder of the real possibility and existential consequences of a nuclear war.
For those interested in learning about the threats posed by nuclear weapons and what we can do about it, I encourage you to attend one or both of these upcoming events.
Brennan W. Tierney
Chilmark