List of peace activists

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This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated diplomatic, philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usually work with others in the overall anti-war and peace movements to focus the world's attention on what they perceive to be the irrationality of violent conflicts, decisions, and actions. They thus initiate and facilitate wide public dialogues intended to nonviolently alter long-standing societal agreements directly relating to, and held in place by, the various violent, habitual, and historically fearful thought-processes residing at the core of these conflicts, with the intention of peacefully ending the conflicts themselves.

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A

B. R. Ambedkar Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar.jpg
B. R. Ambedkar
Uri Avnery UriAvnery.jpg
Uri Avnery

B

Medea Benjamin Medea Benjamin 1.JPG
Medea Benjamin
James Bevel Rev.Jim Bevel 003.jpg
James Bevel
Elise M. Boulding Elise Boulding, a digital interpretation of a known portrait.jpg
Elise M. Boulding
Jose Bove Jose Bove Europe Ecologie 2009-06-03 (cropped).jpg
José Bové
Caoimhe Butterly Caoimhe Butterly (cropped).jpg
Caoimhe Butterly
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C

Helen Caldicott DrHelenCaldicott.jpg
Helen Caldicott
Montserrat Cervera Rodon Montserrat Cervera Rodon.png
Montserrat Cervera Rodon
Judy Collins Judy Collins by Bryan Ledgard 2 (cropped).jpg
Judy Collins
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D

Dorothy Day Dorothy Day 1916.jpg
Dorothy Day
David Dellinger David Dellinger mug shot.jpg
David Dellinger
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E

Abdul Sattar Edhi Abdul Sattar Edhi.jpg
Abdul Sattar Edhi
Hedy Epstein HedyEpstein.png
Hedy Epstein
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F

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G

Mahatma Gandhi Mahatma-Gandhi, studio, 1931.jpg
Mahatma Gandhi
Emma Goldman Emma Goldman seated.jpg
Emma Goldman
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet on the 2006 United States Congressional Gold Medal 2006 Tenzin Gyatso Congressional Gold Medal front.jpg
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet on the 2006 United States Congressional Gold Medal
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H

Vaclav Havel Vaclav Havel.jpg
Václav Havel
Brian Haw Brian Haw sits quietly.jpg
Brian Haw
Jessie Wallace Hughan Hughan-jessie-1898.jpg
Jessie Wallace Hughan
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I

Daisaku Ikeda DaisakuIkedaTokyoMay2010.jpg
Daisaku Ikeda
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J

Kirthi Jayakumar Kirthi Jayakumar.jpg
Kirthi Jayakumar
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K

Tawakkol Karman Tawakkol Karman (2019) II.jpg
Tawakkol Karman
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr NYWTS.jpg
Martin Luther King Jr.
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L

Henri La Fontaine HenriLaFontaine.jpg
Henri La Fontaine
John Lennon JohnLennonpeace.jpg
John Lennon
Bertie Lewis Butch Lewis.jpg
Bertie Lewis
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M

Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela 1994.jpg
Nelson Mandela
Rigoberta Menchu Rigoberta Menchu 2009 cropped.jpg
Rigoberta Menchú
Alaa Murabit Dr. Murabit (cropped).jpg
Alaa Murabit
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N

Abie Nathan Abie Nathan1961.jpg
Abie Nathan
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O

Billboard displaying Yoko Ono's artwork Imagine Peace Imagine Peace - Yoko Ono - Hornsey Road, London - 2022 - monochrome.jpg
Billboard displaying Yoko Ono's artwork Imagine Peace
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P

Medha Patkar Medha p.jpg
Medha Patkar
Peace Pilgrim Peace Pilgrim-1980-Hawaii.jpg
Peace Pilgrim
Abbe Pierre ABBE PIERRE-24x30-1999.jpg
Abbé Pierre
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Q

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R

Coleen Rowley Coleen rowley 1786.JPG
Coleen Rowley
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S

Carl Sagan Carl Sagan Planetary Society.JPG
Carl Sagan
Teresa Sarti Strada Teresa Sarti.jpg
Teresa Sarti Strada
Albert Schweitzer Albert Schweitzer 1955.jpg
Albert Schweitzer
Cindy Sheehan Cindy Sheehan at White House.jpg
Cindy Sheehan
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T

Thich Nhat Hanh Thich Nhat Hanh 12 (cropped).jpg
Thích Nhất Hạnh
Leo Tolstoy L.N.Tolstoy Prokudin-Gorsky.jpg
Leo Tolstoy
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U

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V

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut 1972.jpg
Kurt Vonnegut
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W

Jody Williams JodyWilliams1.jpg
Jody Williams
Mien van Wulfften Palthe Frederika Wilhelmina van Wulfften Palthe-Broese van Groenou by Floris Arntzenius (1896).png
Mien van Wulfften Palthe
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X

Y

Cheng Yen Dharma Master Shih Cheng Yen.jpg
Cheng Yen
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Z

Angie Zelter Angie Zelter.jpg
Angie Zelter
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See also

Notes

    Citations

    Sources

    Further reading

    Related Research Articles

    The War Resisters League (WRL) is the oldest secular pacifist organization in the United States. The organization is celebrating its centennial from the founding date of October 19 into 2024.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Peace walk</span>

    A peace walk or peace march, sometimes referred to as a peace pilgrimage, is a form of nonviolent action where a person or group marches a set distance to raise awareness for particular issues important to the walkers.

    <i>Peace News</i> British pacifist magazine started in 1936

    Peace News (PN) is a pacifist magazine first published on 6 June 1936 to serve the peace movement in the United Kingdom. From later in 1936 to April 1961 it was the official paper of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU), and from 1990 to 2004 was co-published with War Resisters' International.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's International League for Peace and Freedom</span> Civil society organization

    The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make known the causes of war and work for a permanent peace" and to unite women worldwide who oppose oppression and exploitation. WILPF has national sections in 37 countries.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">International Peace Bureau</span> International organization devoted to peacekeeping

    The International Peace Bureau, founded in 1891, is one of the world's oldest international peace federations. The organisation was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910 for acting "as a link between the peace societies of the various countries". In 1913, Henri La Fontaine was also awarded the Prize "[For his work as] head of the International Peace Bureau". As of 2012, eleven other Nobel Peace Prize laureates have been members of the IPB.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Women Strike for Peace</span>

    Women Strike for Peace was a women's peace activist group in the United States. In 1961, nearing the height of the Cold War, around 50,000 women marched in 60 cities around the United States to demonstrate against the testing of nuclear weapons. It was the largest national women's peace protest during the 20th century. Another group action was led by Dagmar Wilson, with about 1,500 women gathering at the foot of the Washington Monument while President John F. Kennedy watched from the White House. The protest helped "push the United States and the Soviet Union into signing a nuclear test-ban treaty two years later". Reflecting the era in which the group's leaders had been raised, between the First-wave feminism and the Second-wave feminism movements, their actions and pleas leaned towards female self-sacrifice rather than towards their own self-interests. However, they pushed the power of a concerned mother to the forefront of American politics, transforming the mother from a "passive victim of war to active fighter for peace".

    Anti-nuclear organizations may oppose uranium mining, nuclear power, and/or nuclear weapons. Anti-nuclear groups have undertaken public protests and acts of civil disobedience which have included occupations of nuclear plant sites. Some of the most influential groups in the anti-nuclear movement have had members who were elite scientists, including several Nobel Laureates and many nuclear physicists.

    Margaret P. Arrowsmith was a British author and peace campaigner. She was a co-founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in 1957.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Peace movement</span> Social movement against a particular war or wars

    A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peace. Some of the methods used to achieve these goals include advocacy of pacifism, nonviolent resistance, diplomacy, boycotts, peace camps, ethical consumerism, supporting anti-war political candidates, supporting legislation to remove profits from government contracts to the military–industrial complex, banning guns, creating tools for open government and transparency, direct democracy, supporting whistleblowers who expose war crimes or conspiracies to create wars, demonstrations, and political lobbying. The political cooperative is an example of an organization which seeks to merge all peace-movement and green organizations; they may have diverse goals, but have the common ideal of peace and humane sustainability. A concern of some peace activists is the challenge of attaining peace when those against peace often use violence as their means of communication and empowerment.

    During the Cold War (1947–1991), when the Soviet Union and the United States were engaged in an arms race, the Soviet Union promoted its foreign policy through the World Peace Council and other front organizations. Some writers have claimed that it also influenced non-aligned peace groups in the West.

    The Women's Peace Society was an organized movement that focused on demilitarization in the United States and iniquity of violence. The Women's Peace Society was an active organization for fourteen years, being founded in 1919 and evolving into a separate peace movement-Women's Peace Union of the Western Hemisphere- in 1933. The Women's Peace Society was created on September 12, 1919, in the United States when a group of women that included Fanny Garrison Villard, Elinor Byrns, Katherine Devereaux Blake, and Caroline Lexow Babcock resigned from the executive committee of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom because they found "a fundamental lack of unity in the membership as a whole and in the executive committee". The leader of the group, Fanny Garrison, Villard sought to bring importance to humanitarian issues and raise awareness for the importance of all lives after the deadly consequences of World War I.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Alyn Ware</span> Educator and campaigner

    Alyn (Alan) Ware is a New Zealand peace educator and campaigner in the areas of peace, non-violence, nuclear abolition, international law, women's rights, children's rights and the environment. He has served as the Global Coordinator for Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament since it was founded in 2002.

    This is a list of lists of activists.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-war movement</span> Social movement opposed to a nations status of armed conflict

    An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term anti-war can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts, or to anti-war books, paintings, and other works of art. Some activists distinguish between anti-war movements and peace movements. Anti-war activists work through protest and other grassroots means to attempt to pressure a government to put an end to a particular war or conflict or to prevent it in advance.

    The Boston Women's Heritage Trail is a series of walking tours in Boston, Massachusetts, leading past sites important to Boston women's history. The tours wind through several neighborhoods, including the Back Bay and Beacon Hill, commemorating women such as Abigail Adams, Amelia Earhart, and Phillis Wheatley. The guidebook includes seven walks and introduces more than 200 Boston women.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Women Cross DMZ</span> Non-profit organization

    Women Cross DMZ (WCDMZ) is a non-profit organization mobilizing women around the world to promote peace in Korea, as well as denuclearization and demilitarization of the Korean Peninsula. Founded in 2014 by Christine Ahn, a Korean American peace activist, the advocacy and education organization of feminists, lawyers and peace activists calls for a formal end to the Korean War and the replacement of the armistice agreement with a peace agreement. In 2015, WCDMZ made international headlines when it organized a historic crossing of the heavily armed De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) that separates North Korea from South Korea at the 38th parallel.