Ray Acheson (they/them) is an organiser, activist, and writer. They are Director of Reaching Critical Will, the disarmament programme of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), the world's oldest feminist peace organisation. They served from 2008–2024 on the steering group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), 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 organises locally and globally against war, militarism, and the carceral system.

 

Ray is author of 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. They are also author of Abolishing State Violence: A World Beyond Bombs, Borders, and Cages (Haymarket Books, 2022), which explores connections between police, prisons, surveillance, borders, war, nuclear weapons, and capitalism and highlights ongoing organising efforts for their abolition. They write a monthly column at CounterPunch called Abolition Everywhere, .

​

Ray has an Honours 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. As part of their work with the Program, Ray has published a working paper Notes on Nuclear Weapons and Intersectionality in Theory and Practice, helped develop a curriculum resources project to counter racism and other structural discrimination in teaching and research on nuclear issues, and participated in a social impact campaign for the VR experience On the Morning You Wake (To the End of the World).​

​