Bit Teatergarasjens Podcast

The 28th of October a solid majority in the UN decided to mark 2017 the year to start negotiations of nuclear disarmament. 123 votes where for the decision, 16 blank and 38 votes were against. Norway, clinging to the image as a peace-nation, voted against the initiative. This has sparked criticism from politicians and civil society actors both within Norway, but also from international actors. Soka Gakkai International, a Japanese lay Buddhist movement with a special emphasis on peace activism, organized in September an international exhibition in Bergen to rekindle Norway’s earlier position to lead the way towards a world free of nuclear arms. Michael Hertzberg is associate professor at the University of Bergen. He defended his PhD-thesis in 2016 on political Buddhism in Sri Lanka, where Buddhist monks went into politics to abort the Norwegian peace facilitation in the country. In the autumn 2016 he worked as a consultant for Soka Gakkai International to host the exhibition Everything You Treasure in Bergen