The Arms Trade - Let’s Talk About Big Weapons

In this episode, we’re talking about big weapons: bombs and the weapon systems that convey them. We dive deep into the military industrial complex and explore what it will take to rein in both nuclear and conventional weapons on a global scale.

Bridget speaks with two of the leading activists and researchers on nuclear and conventional weapons, respectively:

Ray Acheson is a writer and organizer against war, militarism, and the arms trade, and in support of the abolition of the carceral system and other structures of state violence. They are the Director of Reaching Critical Will, the disarmament programme of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, which is the world's oldest feminist peace organization. And they also served on the steering group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. Find out more about Ray at rayacheson.com.

Bill Hartung is a Senior Research Fellow with the Quincy Institute, and a leading researcher and activist on U.S. major conventional weapons systems. He literally wrote the book on Lockheed Martin, which is the top defense company in the world. He has analyzed decades of US arms sales policies, and regularly offers expert insights to major US news outlets. You can stay on top of Bill’s work at quincyinst.org.

Disrupting Peace is a production of The World Peace Foundation. The show is produced by Bridget Conley and Emily Shaw. Engineering by Jacob Winik and Aja Simpson. Marketing and social media by Kelsey Henquinet. Show artwork by Simon Fung. 

Special thanks to Jeremy Helton, Lisa Avery, B. Arneson, Alex de Waal, and the team from the Tufts Digital Design Studio, including Kimberly Lynn Forero-Arnias, and Miles Donovan.

Find out more about the World Peace Foundation at worldpeacefoundation.org, and follow us on X at @worldpeacefdtn.