AMHERST — Russia’s attacks in Ukraine this year have not just killed tens of thousands of people and devastated many Ukrainian cities and towns; they’ve also renewed the terrifying prospect of nuclear war.
But as Russian President Vladimir Putin threatens the use of tactical nukes on the battlefield, a grassroots organization started in Massachusetts is gearing up its campaign to find a way to revamp U.S. weapons policies — with the hope our country could lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war.
Back from the Brink (BftB), an organization started in 2017 by two men in the Pioneer Valley, has enlisted support from hundreds of municipalities and states, elected officials, varied organizations and others across the country for a five-point program that calls for, among other things, ending the U.S. president’s sole authority to launch nuclear weapons, and canceling plans to upgrade the country’s nuclear arsenal.
On Sunday, Dec. 4, at The Drake in Amherst, from 5 to 7 p.m., the organization will honor numerous local and regional legislators, as well as a busy activist, for their support for Back from the Brink. The event also aims to raise money to increase the group’s outreach efforts in 2023.
Specifically, the Dec. 4 fundraising reception will honor U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, state Sen. Jo Comerford, state Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, and Sister Mary Caritas, the former president of Mercy Medical Center.
Back from the Brink was started by Sean Meyer, a longtime anti-nuclear weapons activist and organizer in Shutesbury, and Dr. Ira Helfand of Northampton, a key figure in the national group Physicians for Social Responsibility.
But as Meyer explained during a recent phone call, the group counts on a wide range of people from different organizations, including the Union of Concerned Scientists and Physicians for Social Responsibility, to do its work. Much of that is what he calls “contributed labor,” in which people working different jobs devote a certain amount of time during their work week to Back from the Brink with their organizations’ approval.
Volunteers on many levels are also vital for the group’s work, he said.
Meyer himself worked for years as a manager of strategic campaigns at the Union of Concerned Scientists and spent some of those working hours in more recent years on the Back from the Brink campaign; he’s now a paid consultant for the group.
“We’re at a point where we really need to commit more resources to the organization, to hire a director, a communications person and more full-time staff to expand our efforts,” he said.
He likens Back to the Brink to the Nuclear Freeze movement of the 1980s, when U.S. citizens and organizations mobilized on a broad front to demand that the U.S. and the former Soviet Union commit to halting the nuclear arms race.
“We believe nuclear weapons can be addressed on the local level by giving people a sense of agency,” Meyer said. “If you have local legislators, local communities, different organizations, students and other individuals calling for (new weapons policies), you have the means to bring the issue to congress.”
Given the day-to-day concerns people have, it can be hard to get traction on a theoretical issue such as nuclear war, he noted. Yet given how many people have now seen their lives disrupted by climate change — something once considered a theoretical problem, too — “it’s worth considering how much worse things could be in a nuclear war,” Meyer said.
There are some hopeful signs. The Dec. 4 event will honor McGovern for introducing a bill in Congress to consider the Back to the Brink proposals, and Comerford and Sabadosa will be honored for introducing a similar resolution at the state level. Caritas in turn will be recognized for her work to promote Back to the Brink locally, especially by getting the Springfield and Holyoke city councils to endorse the campaign.
With enough ground-level support, Meyer said, more pressure can be applied at the federal level, ideally to make significant changes to U.S. nuclear policies, including the president’s sole authority to launch nuclear weapons.
“Are we really OK about letting one person and a few advisers make that decision?” Meyer said. “I’m not — and I think a lot of other people aren’t, either.”
For more information on Back to the Brink, visit preventnuclearwar.org. Click on “news and updates” for more details on the Dec. 4 fundraising reception and to register for the event.
Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.