Ray Acheson

Ray Acheson (they/them) is an activist and writer. They are the author of
Abolishing State Violence: A World Beyond Bombs, Borders, and Cages
(Haymarket Books, 2022), which analyses the connections between police,
prisons, surveillance, borders, war, nuclear weapons, and capitalism and
highlights ongoing organizing efforts for their abolition. They also wrote
Banning the Bomb, Smashing the Patriarchy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021),
which offers a first-hand account about the work of activists and diplomats to
outlaw nuclear weapons and challenge the nuclear orthodoxy.

Ray is the Director of Reaching Critical Will, the disarmament program of the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the world’s oldest
feminist peace organization. They also serve on the steering group of the
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which won the 2017
Nobel Peace Prize for its work to ban nuclear weapons. Ray provides analysis
and advocacy at the United Nations and other international forums on
matters of disarmament and has written and spoken extensively about
weapons and war, offering an intersectional feminist and queer perspective
on these issues.

Ray has an Honors BA from the University of Toronto in Peace and Conflict
Studies and an MA in Politics from The New School for Social Research. They
are currently a Visiting Researcher at Princeton University's Program on
Science and Global Security.