International Day of Peace Event
September 21, 2021 - 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM
Abolishing War: The Promise of Peace from the UN at 75
A Virtual Talk featuring Ray Acheson, Direction of Reaching Critical Will
In Celebration of the International Day of Peace, this talk will look at the promise made but he 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.
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Title: Abolishing war: the promise of peace from the UN at 75
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 militarised world order means for peace and security. The speaker will highlight some of the century-old organising 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.
Bio: Ray Acheson is the Director of Reaching Critical Will, the disarmament program 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 Honors 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.
Sponsored by:
The Read Center for International and Intercultural Education
The Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality
The School of Peace and Conflict Studies