Dr. Joseph McCabe and Peter Metz speak at the Needham Select Board meeting held at the Select Board Chambers of Needham Town Hall on April 15, 2025. (Photo credit: The Needham Channel)
Last month, Needham Town Meeting approved its second Back from the Brink resolution by a clear voice vote majority. In 2019, the Needham Town Meeting passed its first resolution supporting the initiatives of Back from the Brink, becoming one of the early municipal supporters. Massachusetts now has 21 cities and towns supporting Back from the Brink.
The effort was led by Dr. Joseph McCabe, a Needham Town Meeting member and board member of the Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility. Needham residents and anti-nuclear activists Patricia Ferrone and Peter Metz also presented at Town Meeting in support of this citizens’ petition.
This new 2025 resolution addresses measures in both the Massachusetts Legislature and in the U.S. Congress. Specifically, it “urges Needham’s State Senator, Rebecca Rausch and our State Representative, Josh Tarsky, to cosponsor Senate Resolution S. 1649, which states that it shall henceforth be the policy of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to pursue whatever measures may be found necessary and appropriate to protect the citizens of the Commonwealth from the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons and to contribute in whatever ways it can, as a Commonwealth, towards the total elimination of these weapons from all countries, in line with the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Resolution S. 1649 urges all Massachusetts members of the House of Representatives to co-sponsor H. Res. 317, which calls upon the United States federal government to adopt the policy provisions of the ‘Back from the Brink’ platform. S. 1649 also calls on the U.S. Senators from Massachusetts to introduce a companion resolution in the United States Senate.”
Furthermore, the new Needham measure specifically “urges our representative in the U.S. House, Jake Auchincloss, to cosponsor H. Res. 317.”
The scattered “no” votes came largely from Town Meeting members who were resistant, on principle, to having such a “larger-than-Needham” issue come before Town Meeting. This was also the principal reason for opposition in 2019.
This year, the group made the point that while Needham is very laudably taking local action against the existential threat of climate change, the only action the town could take against the existential threat of nuclear war was to “speak out” to our national leaders; that it had a duty to its citizens to do so.
Read the full text of the measure as passed
This effort was aided by the local community TV channel, which aired a four-minute interview news story. The story was distributed via email to the approximately 250 Town Meeting members prior to consideration of the measure. The citizens’ petition was also well-reported in advance of Town Meeting by the Needham Observer, a free, independent, non-profit news service operated by a volunteer group of journalists and engaged community members.
If other municipalities would like, members of this effort are available to advise and assist them in passing similar new local measures. Please reach out to Joe McCabe (chaimmccabe@gmail.com) and Peter Metz (pmetz@alum.mit.edu).
Back from the Brink also has resources available for passing local resolutions on our Advocacy Tools page.
