Back from the Brink starts the new year believing more progress is possible building off of our successes in 2023: a growing network of community-based BftB Organizing Hubs (15 and counting); strong momentum for H. Res. 77, a key legislative vehicle to cultivate leaders in Congress; more BftB municipal resolutions being passed with many more in the works; and hundreds of local and state officials who have endorsed BftB and are getting more involved.
We also start the new year reminding ourselves of our core mission and theory of change — Bringing Communities Together to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Change is going to come from the ground up, from the grassroots, from “we the people.” And January is chock-full of opportunities for you to get involved, with whatever time you have to give.
Here’s a quick list of what’s ahead of us in January:
Attend the Next Local Organizing Meetup via Zoom on 1/16 (1 PM ET). Once a month, committed BftB activists and folks new to the campaign come together to discuss and share the work and advocacy happening around the country, hear from the campaign’s national team and BftB Hub leaders, and get energized. If you’re looking to get plugged in, this is a great way to do it. Join us via Zoom using this link.
H. Res. 77 — Can We Reach 50 Cosponsors by 1/31? There’s currently 43 cosponsors of H. Res. 77, the congressional BftB resolution which was introduced on January 31, 2023. Has your U.S. House Representative cosponsored? If not, let’s work together to make that happen. If they have, ask them to take more leadership and commit to being a stronger advocate for nuclear arms control and disarmament in 2024. Go to our H. Res. 77 Advocacy Resources page for tips and tools – inducing a new H. Res. 77 flyer – or reach out to Jeremy Love at jeremy@preventnuclearwar.org.
Organize & Educate — TPNW’s Third Anniversary and Annual Doomsday Clock Announcement. January 22nd marks the third anniversary of the entry-into-force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which has been ratified by 69 countries. This anniversary is a great hook for local organizing and media work. Activists from around the country will be hosting rallies and vigils, writing letters to the editor and op-eds, as well as asking their local, state, and federal elected officials who have endorsed BftB to speak out.
The following day, January 23rd, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists will be resetting the “Doomsday Clock” which now sits at 90 seconds to midnight. Every year, this announcement receives a lot of media attention and again serves as a tremendous hook for local media work and for reaching out to your local and state elected officials and members of Congress to demand they do more and speak out. You can also use this social media toolkit from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists to raise visibility of the announcement online.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose life of service, sacrifice, and activism we celebrate next week, famously said “the time is always right to do what is right.” In a similar spirit, President Obama said “change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
Indeed! Here’s to much success in 2024.
