Poster exhibit comes to Walpole Library

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Residents of Walpole and surrounding towns will have a chance to see a unique poster exhibit that is being staged at the Walpole Public for the month of November.
The theme of the exhibit is “Ban the Bomb” and features anti-nuclear posters from several countries. The posters are from a collection of more than 6,300 of Stephen Lewis. He is a long-time activist in the labor movement, and the former Treasurer of his union.

President Obama made a visit to Japan this year and laid a wreath at a memorial for Hiroshima, the first city to ever have an atomic bomb dropped on it. (The second atomic bombing followed a few days later on the city of Nagasaki). No atomic or nuclear bombs have been used since. Aside from President Obama’s visit and the occasional mention of the Cuban missile crisis or a threat from North Korea to use a nuclear bomb, the main news coverage of atomic weapons over the past many years has been about Iran’s alleged attempt to develop a bomb, recently resulting in an agreement not to pursue the Bomb.

It comes as great concern that some experts in the field believe the world is in a precarious situation of the possible use of nuclear weapons. Tensions are high between the US and Russia as the US incorporates countries that border Russia, into NATO, a military alliance. Russia in turn is moving troops to its borders of these countries. Last year, investigations revealed that some US troops staffing our nuclear weapons arsenal were negligent in their performance. Some were removed from that command. Intelligence reports say some terrorist groups are intent on obtaining nuclear weapons. And the nuclear weapons of today are many times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during WWII.

Lewis hopes that his exhibit will remind people of the dangers and horrors of nuclear testing and usage. He believes “an educated public is the best deterrent to the continued possession and testing of nuclear weapons”. In this regard, people may want to seek out the recently-released documentary, “Command and Control.”