>>NEW!

October 2023: Urge your local, county and state elected officials to sign this Back from the Brink-organized letter to President Biden, calling for President Biden to (1) send an observer delegation to the 2nd Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) to be held in New York City in late November AND (2) to initiate negotiations with all nuclear weapons states toward a verifiable, time-bound agreement to eliminate all nuclear weapons from the planet. Your local, county and state elected officials includes mayors, governors, city councilors, county commissioners, state senators and state representatives.

Use this link to take action today.

Back from the Brink: The Call to Prevent Nuclear War is a national grassroots campaign that brings local communities together to build the public support and political will needed to fundamentally change U.S. nuclear weapons policy and prevent nuclear war.

The threat of nuclear war is real and growing, yet many people are unaware of the danger, or the harmful here-and-now impacts of developing and maintaining our nuclear arsenal. Others may be concerned but don’t feel as if they have any say on the issue or a meaningful way to get involved and make a difference. As a result, policymakers don’t hear many concerns about nuclear weapons from their constituents and feel little pressure to act.

Back from the Brink aims to change this equation by helping give everyone a voice on the issue and providing a way to build a politically powerful and diverse constituency demanding real change.

Read more about the campaign here.

For more information, questions or to join, contact Ronnie Fellerath-Lowell, Pax Christi USA’s Back from the Brink organizer at rlowell@paxchristiusa.org.

“I plead for disarmament and for the prohibition
and abolition of nuclear weapons.” 
Pope Francis, 2017 World Day of Peace Message

TAKE ACTION – PASS A RESOLUTION IN YOUR CITY: Get your local government (state, city, town or county) to adopt publicly a Back from the Brink: The Call to Prevent Nuclear War resolution. Click here for organizing and advocacy tools.

In the United States, city and local anti-nuclear resolutions are a way for us to make our voices heard, to publicly call attention to the nuclear threat to all of us, and to change public opinion toward banning nuclear weapons. While decisions about nuclear weapons require federal legislation, the threat affects all of us. Likewise, it is our tax dollars that pay for nuclear weapons. These are tax dollars that could go to our local governments for needed health, education and infrastructure needs. In pursuing city and town resolutions, we need to make legislators and residents more aware of what our tax dollars are buying versus what these tax dollars could fund locally.

The Back from the Brink Campaign is a joint effort that Pax Christi USA invites each Pax Christi regional and local group to join. All members can be involved. While some members may visit individual legislators or lobby at legislative sessions, other members can give vital support by writing, emailing, and telephoning.

Pax Christi USA will keep members informed of each group’s chosen level of government and the progress they are making throughout the year. That way, members will be able to encourage each other.

  • Choose a legislative level of government to approach, for example, Montgomery County in Silver Spring, MD.
  • Let Pax Christi USA know that you are joining our Back from the Brink Campaign and which government entity you will approach. Share periodic progress reports with Pax Christi USA.
  • Frame a Back from the Brink resolution. This can be the same or similar to one other groups have used or one being currently pursued at your chosen level of government.
  • Identify one or more legislators or councilpersons who might be in agreement with the resolution. Ask each one to propose and/or co-sponsor the resolution in their legislative body.
  • Develop a strategy for reaching out to the elected members of the legislative body you have chosen. Visit, write, and telephone other legislators to support the sponsored resolution. Persevere; this may take sustained effort.
  • Seek partners. There are other peace, faith, policy and science groups who support bans on nuclear weapons. Find local groups and coordinate with them. For example, in Montgomery County, Silver Spring, MD, the initiative to approach the Montgomery County Council came from Peace Action and Back from the Brink. Pax Christi–St. John the Baptist in Silver Spring has been supporting Montgomery County Councilmember Tom Hucker’s anti-nuclear resolution. At this point four of nine council members are supportive. The efforts to increase the number of council supporters continues.

For more information, questions or to join, contact Ronnie Fellerath-Lowell, Pax Christi USA’s Back from the Brink organizer at rlowell@paxchristiusa.org.

RESOURCES FOR FURTHER ENGAGEMENT:

  • To watch the webinar on “Local ways to end nuclear weapons,” click here.
  • To see how a Pax Christi USA local group is passing a Back from the Brink resolution, click here.
  • For more on Pax Christi USA’s work on nuclear disarmament, click here.