ABOUT

Back from the Brink: Bringing Communities Together to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is a US-based grassroots coalition of individuals, organizations and elected officials working together on a multi-year campaign to rid the world of nuclear weapons and secure a set of common sense U.S. nuclear weapons policies that will make the world safer, healthier, and more just.

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 concerns about nuclear weapons from their constituents and feel no 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 for nuclear disarmament that demands real change.

Our five common sense policy solutions include steps the U.S. can take to immediately reduce the threat of intentional or accidental nuclear war while pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear armed states to eliminate all nuclear arsenals. (The U.S. – like Britain, China, France and Russia – is already obligated under Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to take concrete steps toward eliminating its nuclear arsenal.)

Setting upon this path would pave the way for the U.S. to join the 122 nations who voted to adopt the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which is modeled on existing treaties that outlaw other types of weapons considered inhumane, such as biological and chemical weapons, land mines, and cluster munitions. The TPNW makes it illegal under international law to “develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess, or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.”

Back from the Brink’s power and potential lies in a leadership and organizing model that enables advocates to educate and engage organizations and municipalities in their region as they seek support for the campaign’s policy solutions. Organizers are then able to use local endorsements and municipal resolutions to demonstrate to members of Congress that their constituents want them to take action on comprehensive nuclear weapons policy reform. City by city, state by state, we are disrupting deadly complacency in the U.S. about nuclear weapons and replacing it with a call to action.

We are asking everyone to join us – individuals and organizations, civic leaders and municipalities, counties and states, the public and private sector. Endorse Back from the Brink or organize a Back from the Brink campaign in your community. Together we can prevent nuclear war and build a safer, healthier, and more just world.