NORTHAMPTON — In a perfect world, Dr. Ira Helfand would not earn recognition for his tireless advocacy for the elimination of nuclear weapons because they’d already be eliminated.
But until the day comes, the Northampton resident activist continues to be honored for calling attention to the dangers of nuclear war the world faces.
Helfand travels on Thursday to Morehouse College in Atlanta to receive the latest honor, this year’s Gandhi-King-Ikeda Community Builders Award, recognizing his work with the anti-nuclear war campaign Back from the Brink.
The award, presented by the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse, is given annually to a “person who promotes peace and positive social transformation through nonviolent means,” according to Morehouse College. “These individuals use their global leadership to affirm peace, justice, diversity, and pluralism.”
“I think the reason I was given the award was for my work with the Back from the Brink campaign,” said Helfand, who is also a member of the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its key role in the United Nations’ passage of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Helfand is also the immediate past president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, a group that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, and he served as president of medical staff and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.
Back from the Brink is a grassroots coalition of individuals, organizations and elected officials advocating for the elimination of nuclear weapons, along with safer nuclear weapons policies. The group was founded in Northampton in 2017 after the United Nations adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
“Most people understand that we’ve got a problem with climate change… but with a nuclear threat, which is as great and more immediate… this issue has kind of fallen off the national radar,” Helfand said.
“Back in the ’80s, everyone knew about this, everyone was terrified, and millions of people took political action, which led to huge changes in public policy,” Helfand said. “The primary goal is to re-create that public understanding, which will then lead directly to people taking action, as long as they see a vehicle for doing that. The campaign is meant to provide that vehicle.”
Back from the Brink has grown into a national movement, gaining the support of hundreds of organizations and U.S. elected officials, 70 municipalities and counties, and seven state legislative bodies.
U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Worcester, recently introduced a congressional resolution, HR 77, calling for the U.S to adopt the platform of the campaign. The resolution is co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, and members of Back from the Brink are encouraging U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren to introduce a companion resolution in the Senate.
“Wherever you’re sitting here in the beautiful valley, it’s hard to imagine that literally in a flash this could all be a pile of ashes,” Helfand said. “We really have to figure out how to make that leap of imagination.”
If nuclear war were to occur, Helfand said, “the whole world would be devastated, polluted, contaminated, depleted… and this is not like the plot of a grade B movie. This is the danger that’s hanging over us every day that we let these weapons continue to exist. And we should all be standing on the rooftops, demanding that our government do something about it.”
The Morehouse award is named after Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Daisaku Ikeda (a Buddhist philosopher, educator, peacebuilder, author and poet, according to his website). Past recipients have included civil rights icon Coretta Scott King, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela.
“I’m not like them. I mean I’m sitting on the dock here in Northampton,” Helfand said, “but I think what they’re doing is they’re focusing on the fact that individuals who are just normal people living normal lives can have a huge impact.”
Helfand referenced an old Yiddish proverb saying, “You’re not expected to solve the problem all by yourself, but neither are you permitted to step back from that portion of the solution which is yours to do.”
“I think that’s really the key here. None of us is going to do this by ourself. But if each of us does our part, I think we’ll succeed,” Helfand said. “And the Back from the Brink campaign was specifically designed to make it easy for individuals to take part in something.”