Nobel Peace Prize Winner Headlines UT Austin Nuclear Disarmament Conference

Beatrice Fihn, the Swedish lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize-winning disarmament advocate, will present a public lecture at the University of Texas School of Law on March 21 to address the ongoing global threat of nuclear disaster. Fihn will join an international lineup of scholars, artists, and activists for two days of discussions at a conference on nuclear disarmament and environmental justice. The conference—titled “Disarming Toxic Empire”—will give special attention to the efforts of advocates who have long recognized that nuclear and environmental threats and injustices are intrinsically connected through legal, political, and economic structures of imperialism. Free and open to the public, these two days of panel discussions will bring fresh, transnational, and interdisciplinary approaches to peace, nuclear disarmament, and environmental justice. Participants will consider and contest the unjust, imperial histories and geographies of nuclear testing, production, storage, and weaponry, in sites ranging from the Navajo Nation and the Pacific Islands to Japan, North Africa, and Ghana. Fihn’s keynote address, “Mobilizing Civil Society to Prohibit and Eliminate Nuclear Weapons,” will reflect on her Nobel Peace Prize-winning work toward the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. As Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Fihn led the mobilization of civil society, diplomats, scientists, and legal experts in support of the treaty. The keynote event is sponsored by UT’s Swedish Excellence Endowment, the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation Excellence Endowment, and Texas Global. The next day, scholars and activists from around the world will explore historical and ongoing nuclear threats and landscapes, as well as artistry and activism created in response to nuclear toxicity. The conference will conclude with an evening performance by Eiko Otake at the CRASHBOX Theatre in Austin. Otake, a celebrated movement artist, will perform her piece A Body in Fukushima. “Disarming Toxic Empire” is hosted by the Sissy Farenthold Fund for Peace and Social Justice of the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice. It is a collaborative effort among many institutions at the University of Texas and beyond. To register for the conference and see a full list of conference co-sponsors and partners, visit the conference website. Early registration is encouraged.

Event Links

Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/2262456-0

Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2262456-2

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