Abolishing War: The Promise of Peace from the UN at 75
Date: Monday, September 21 from 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM
Join us in celebrating International Day of Peace! This talk will look at the promise made by the founding of the United Nations 75 years ago to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” and what our current militarized world order means for peace and security.
The speaker will highlight some of the century-old organizing against war by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and will connect current disarmament activism—such as efforts to abolish nuclear weapons and prevent the development of killer robots—to ongoing work for the abolition of police, prisons, and war as well as feminist, queer, and antiracist actions for equality and justice.
Speaker: Ray Acheson
Ray Acheson is the Director of Reaching Critical Will, the disarmament programme of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. WILPF was founded in 1915 to challenge militarism, patriarchy, and capitalism as root causes of war. Ray continues this work today by bringing an intersectional feminist approach to disarmament and antiwar work at the United Nations and beyond. Ray represents WILPF on the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for highlighting the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and for working with governments to negotiate and adopt the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Ray also works to prevent the development of fully autonomous weapons with the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots; to end the use of explosive weapons in populated areas with the International Network on Explosive Weapons; and to challenge the international arms trade and war profiteering. Ray has an Honours BA in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Toronto and an MA in Politics from The New School for Social Research, and is currently a Visiting Researcher at Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security.
Reaching Critical Will
Reaching Critical Will is the disarmament program of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, founded in 1915 to challenge militarism, patriarchy, and capitalism as root causes of war. Ray continues this work by bringing an intersectional feminist approach to disarmament and antiwar work at the United Nations and beyond. Ray represents WILPF on the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for working with governments to negotiate and adopt the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Co-sponsors
Read Center for International and Intercultural Education, the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, and the School of Peace and Conflict Studies
