Annot

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Overview

Annot Jacobi (née Anna Krigar-Menzel) born Berlin, Germany December 27, 1894 (d. 1981). German pacifist artist of Secessionist school. Opposed World War I; jailed 30 days for antiwar leaflets, 1916. Exiled to Norway, 1916-20. Joined German WILPF following the war. Nazis closed her Berlin art school for not expelling Jewish students, 1933. Exiled to US, where she became a Quaker, 1941. Oversaw distribution of American Friends Service Committee parcels to Germany, 1946. Honorary Chair of Puerto Rico SANE for starting its campaign against nuclear weapons, 1958.

Quotations

“Don’t forget: pacifism was much better developed in the Twenties, and yet we had World War II.” (Friends Journal, Jan. 15, 1976, p. 53)

Anohni

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Overview

Anohni (née Antony Hegarty) born Chichester, West Sussex, England October 24, 1971. Popular British singer of anti-war songs; War Child album 2005 benefit for Bosnian war children; protested fifth year of Iraq War 2008; 2016 album Hopelessness includes “Drone Bomb Me”.

Quotations

“It's a love song from the perspective of a girl in Afghanistan, say a nine-year-old girl whose family's been killed by a drone bomb. . . She is kind of looking up at the sky, and she's gotten herself to a place where she just wants to be killed by a drone bomb too." (“Ahnoni”, Rolling Stone, March 9, 2016; photo dallasvoice.com)

Margaret Anstee

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Overview

Margaret Joan Anstee born Chelmsford, Essex, England June 25, 1926. Diplomat. 41 years service to UN, 1952-93; rose to rank of Under-Secretary General, 1987. Director General of UN, Vienna, 1987-92. First woman to head UN peacekeeping mission, Angola, 1992.

Quotations

“[W]e have to assist the Angolans in finding peace because the present situation is such a dreadful one that it can't be allowed to continue. . . While we are talking here, people are dying and suffering in Angola.” (Abidjan, April 11, 1993; photo Wikipedia)

Karen Armstrong

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Overview

Karen Armstrong born Wildmoor, Worcestershire, England November 14, 1944. British religious historian; promotes compassion and interfaith dialog.

Quotations

"The world religions that developed during the first millennium BCE rejected this bellicose theology and preached empathy, compassion, even non-violence." (Guardian, Dec. 29, 2003; photo Charter for Compassion)

Emily Arnesen

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Overview

Emily Arnesen born Kristiania, Norway June 14, 1867 (d. 1928). Zoologist and educator; pioneer in international peace education; first president of Norwegian WILPF; co-founder WILPF Geneva 1919.

Quotations

“The inquiry has shown that there are people from different milieus in countries formerly at war with one another, who are now ready to co-operate in regard to international education against war.” (Vienna, June 1921, Report of Education Committee to Third WILPF Conference, p. 239; photo muv.uio.no)

Pat Arrowsmith

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Overview

Pat Arrowsmith born Leamington Spa, England March 2, 1930. British author and poet. Peace activist with Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; jailed 11 times, 1958-85. Organized first Aldermaston March, 1958; ran as peace candidate for Parliament, 1970, 1979. Sentenced to 18 months for leafleting soldiers against war in Northern Ireland, she appealed to European Human Rights Court.

Quotations

“People marched then because they were frightened of nuclear weapons. They were also worried about the fall-out from nuclear tests. . . Why we are marching to Aldermaston now is because we believe there are schemes to create a new generation of nuclear weapons.” (BBC Online, Apr. 7, 2004; photo teifidancer blog)

Berit As

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Overview

Berit Ås (née Skarpaas) born Fredrikstad, Norway April 10, 1928. Norwegian feminist politician; peace activist; started Women Strike for Peace Norway 1961; social psychology professor; parliament member 1973-7, founding Socialist Left party 1975; co-founded campaign "Women for Peace” 1980, a petition demanding end to nuclear arms race and using war industry to produce food for world's poor, got 500,000 signatures worldwide.

Quotations

“More power to women." (Robin Morgan (ed.): Sisterhood is Global)

“[Women] have an entirely different approach to questions about military power, war, and peace.” (“A Materialistic View” p. 357, cited by Cibreiro & Lopez Global Issues, p. 5; .photo kjonnsforskning.no)

Catherine Ashton

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Overview

Catherine Ashton born Upholland, Lancashire, England March 20, 1956. British diplomat. Active leader in Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), 1977-83. As Leader of the House of Lords, gathered approval of Treaty of Lisbon, 2007. First Vice President European Commission, 2010-14. First person to serve as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, dictating EU Foreign and Security Policy, 2009-14. Instrumental in normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia, 2013. Led successful negotiation with Iran on limiting nuclear production, 2013.

Quotations

“The only solution to the Syria crisis is a political one.” (addressing European Parliament, Oct. 23, 2013)

Margaret Ashton

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Overview

Margaret Ashton born Withington, Manchester, England January 19, 1856 (d. 1937). Suffragist; pacifist; opponent of WWI. First woman to serve as City Councilor, Manchester, 1908. Barred from attending Hague Women's Peace Conference, 1915. Founding member of WILPF. Organized peace rally, 1917; removed from city education committee for traitorous pacifism, 1917.

Quotations

“As women are still deprived from direct power to shape the destiny of this country, we must demand that our fellow men do their utmost to preserve peace and prevent the destruction of our communities. You are the only people who can prevent this crime from taking place. We are in contact with our sisters in Europe and America and we all believe that nothing can be gained from violence. We must appeal instead to reason and humanity.” (Hazel Roy’s reconstruction of Aug. 4, 1914 speech; portrait Spartacus educational)

Alexandra Asseily

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Overview

Alexandra Asseily born Russia June 5, 1937. Lebanese-British psychotherapist and author; leader of Guerrand-Hermès Peace Foundation; member of Ara Pacis Initiative Council for Dignity, Forgiveness, Justice & Reconciliation. Founded Centre for Lebanese Studies, Oxford; founded Garden of Forgiveness on Green Line of Battle, Beirut, 1998.

Quotations

"The greatest gift we can give our children is to become good ancestors, to take our grievances and to deal with them in our generations and not pass them down expecting our children to fight our battles for us." (Post & Courier, June 17, 2010; photo KAICIID Dialog Centre)

Natacha Atlas

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Overview

Natacha Atlas born Schaerbeek, Brussels, Belgium March 20, 1964. Singer of Jewish/Muslim heritage. UN Goodwill Ambassador, 2001. Boycotted Israeli apartheid, 2011.

Quotations

“The dialogue I want to set up is a dialogue among people—the real people whose lives are, and have been, irrevocably shaped by the conflict. A dialogue which acknowledges the incalculable human loss and tragedy on all sides while refusing to sit in judgement. A dialogue which is fuelled solely by the desire for the conflict and suffering to end. . . It is this kind of dialogue—a dialogue among people—which, I firmly believe, is the way forward. . . I have an unwavering faith in music as the universal means of communication—the fundamental means through which people can connect with each other on the most basic of levels: their shared humanity. . . As a Middle Eastern artist, it is my fervent hope that we can use our music to begin to build—and eventually cross—the bridges that the region so desperately needs.” (Creative Community for Peace, July 6, 2015; photo allyouneed.free.fr)

Marie-Hélène Aubert

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Overview

Marie-Hélène Aubert born Nantes, Brittany, France November 16, 1955. Literature professor and ecologist politician. Green Party deputy to National Assembly, 1997-2002; Assembly vice-president, 2001; Green Party member, European Parliament, 2002-08. Co-authored report on Polynesia nuclear tests, 1999; rapporteur on Kyoto Climate Protocol, 2000. Proposed nonviolent Civil Intervention for Peace.

Quotations

“The prevention of conflicts, their anticipation, and the monitoring of events seem to me essential elements, not only for the Civil Intervention of Peace but also in political action. This is a crucial issue for us.” (Oct. 2001, Irénées.net; photo linkedin)

Hubertine Auclert

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Overview

Hubertine Auclert born Tilly, Allier, France November 10, 1848 (d. 1914). French feminist; pacifist; tax refuser, 1880.

Quotations

"The peace of the world, harmony of society, welfare of humanity will exist only [with] women's suffrage." (from cartoon of men voting for war/women voting for peace, La Citoyenne #73, June-July 1883; photo 1910 wikimedia commons)

Colette Audry

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Overview

Colette Audry born Orange, Vaucluse, France July 6, 1906 (d. 1990). French novelist, film writer, and radical critic. Pacifist, feminist, militant socialist. Advocated negotiation rather than war in Algeria; close friend and subject of Beauvoir. Opposed Stalinism, militarism and World War II.

Quotations

“Anything is preferable to war.” (Beauvoir, Prime of Life, p. 284; photo snpview)

Anita Augspurg

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Overview

Anita Augspurg born Verden, Germany September 22, 1857 (d. 1943). German peace leader; Dr. jurisprudence; actress and photographer; co-founder of WILPF and first German woman's suffrage organization 1902; opposed death penalty and militarism; promoted nonviolence in Ruhr unrest, and reconciliation.

Quotations

"Womanly feelings were above all race hatreds and that German women stretched out their hands for friendship and international love." (New York Times, April 28, 1915)