Christina Aguilera born Staten Island, NY, United States December 18, 1980. Pop singer; Ambassador of World Food Program, 2010; Amnesty International campaign to stop genocide; song for Darfur.
See the nation through the people's eyes,
See tears that flow like rivers from the skies.
Where it seems there are only borderlines
Where others turn and sigh,
You shall rise, You shall rise.
(2010 photo wikicom pd)
Ada Aheroni (née Andrée Yadid) born Cairo, Egypt July 30, 1933. Israeli peace poet, novelist; founding president International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace (IFLAC) 1999.; photo Wikipedia)
My Palestinian sister,
Daughter of Abraham, like me,
Let us build a sturdy bridge
From your olive world to mine,
From my orange world to yours,
Above the boiling pain
Of acid rain prejudice
(“A Bridge of Peace”)
Peace is indeed a pregnant woman,
Peace is a mother.
(“Peace is Woman and a Mother”)
Inga-Britt Ahlenius born Karlstad, Sweden April 19, 1939. Swedish financial expert; UN Under-Secretary of Internal Oversight 2005; Auditor of UN mission in Kosovo 2003.
On shortcomings of United Nations: "I do not see any signs of reform in the Organization. . . Ultimately that is to the detriment of peace and stability in the world. This is as sad as it is serious." (June 14, 2010 report; photo radda-sverige.nu)
Krishna Ahooja-Patel born Amritsar, India March 15, 1929. Canadian professor. International Labour Office, 1969-86; UN official, 1987-90; International president of WILPF, 2001-04.
“September 11 globalized violence. We must globalize peace.” (Lisa Legatto interview, St. Mary's Univ. 1992; photo world-citizenshp.org)
Jessie Aitken (née Fraser) born Ecclesmachan, Linlithgow, Scotland April 14, 1867 (d. 1934). New Zealand peace activist, socialist, feminist; led Woman’s Anti-Conscription delegation to Prime Minister.
Nancy Ajram born Beirut, Lebanon May 16, 1983. Popular Middle Eastern singer. UNICEF Ambassador of Peace, 2009. Her song “A Message to the World” called for peace and love as the answer to war, 2005.
“My advice would be peace, peace, and peace.” (alarabiya, July 13, 2013; photo arabsong.net)
Umida Tukhtamuradovna Akhmedova born Parkent, Uzbekistan, USSR October 21, 1955. Uzbek photographer; Havel Human rights Prize, 2016; convicted of state slander, 2010.
“I cannot abide being what to do. . . I am not a politician or a member of the opposition. I am not a member of a party, a sociologist or a political scientist. I am just a person who cannot abide being told what to do in her art. And I will also talk about fear. When it takes control of you, fear is a really nasty emotion.” (Russian Reader, May 28, 2016; photo frontline defenders.org)
Nebahat Akkoç born Diyarbakir, Turkey February 23, 1954. Turkish Kurd human rights activist; teacher; opposed military coup 1980; jailed 12 days tortured 1994; founded women’s center KAMER 1997; Heinrich Böll Alice Klein Human Rights Prize 2015; Mevlana Kinship and Peace Award 2005, Amnesty International Ginetta Sagan Award 2004.
“We want a world without violence: We long for a world where all different forms of violence are acknowledged and no reasoning legitimizes the use of violence.” (“Imagining a New World”)
"While we women fight to free ourselves from violence, we gain new perspectives and experiences, and at the same time show that a new world is possible." (Heinrich Böll Kurzbiographie; photo radikal.com.tr)
Nadja Sadig Al-Ali born Germany December 2, 1966. Iraqi author; anthropologist; professor of gender studies, London. Opposed Iraq occupation; co-founded Act Together: Women's Action for Iraq 2000 opposing Iraq sanctions; member of London Women in Black.
“[T]he so-called war on terror has not only been disastrous in terms of its devastating impact on the populations of Iraq and Afghanistan, the infrastructures and quality of lives, and a drastic deterioration of women’s rights despite the rhetoric of democracy and women’s rights, but it has also let to new rifts and fragmentations in antiwar movements on the one hand and feminist movements on the other. . . I have been anti-sanctions, anti-war and anti-occupation.” (“A Feminist Perspective on the Iraq War", SOAS 2011; photo Wikipedia)
Shinjita Alam (née Hasina Akter) born Gandhabbapur, Lakshmipur, Bangladesh June 29, 1967. Muslim social worker and peace activist. Oversaw agricultural and job creation programs for Bangladesh Mennonite Central Committee. Started peace awareness committees, 2001. Developed conflict resolution programs for Bangladesh's Garo and Manipuri minority communities, 2006-07. Joined Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Women PeaceMakers Program, 2008.
“Real education makes a person a compassionate human being who cares for the betterment of us all. Education gives us power to change things.” (Ilze Dzenovska,“The Candle of Bangladesh”, p. 34; photo bd.linkedin.com)
Louisa May Alcott born Germantown, PA November 29, 1832 (d. 1888). Author; reformer; nonviolent abolitionist.
"When women are the advisers, the lords of creation don't take the advice till they have persuaded themselves that it is just what they intended to do. Then they act upon it, and, if it succeeds, they give the weaker vessel half the credit of it. If it fails, they generously give her the whole." (Little Women, ch. 41; 1857 photo wikicommons)
Claribel Alegría (née Clara Isabel Alegría Vides) born Estelí, Nicaragua May 12, 1924. Salvadoran-Nicaraguan poet and novelist. Nobel Literature Laureate, 2006. Lifelong dedication to nonviolence.
“[W]e are all very violent. The 20th century has been one of the most bloody centuries, terrible, the Holocaust, and Sarajevo. Oh my God! What do I hope for this next century? That the human race thinks deeply and puts aside hate, that we end all discrimination.” (Daniel Flores interview, Bomb, Winter 2000; photo es.literaturas.wiki)
Agnes Baldwin Alexander born Honolulu, HI July 21, 1875 (d. 1971). Internationalist proponent of universal friendship and language; Bahá’i leader who spread message of universal peace, equality of men and women, a world court to Hawaii, Japan and Korea; Esperanto teacher.
Frances Alexander born November 6, 1935, UK. English nurse and midwife; founded 5W (Women Welcome Women World Wide), 1984.
"When women join us, their families become international. And that, in a global village, is no bad thing." (Independent, March 6, 1999; photo 5W)
Jane Alexander (née Quigley) born Boston, MA October 28, 1939. Actress; leader of WAND; opposed Vietnam War.
"The amount of money awarded annually to our Defense Department was overkill by any standard. I thought that if just ten percent of that monstrous budget were dedicated to worldwide peace efforts we would be moving all the nations of the earth toward a more secure future." (Command Performance, p. 13; photo NNDB)
Jeanne Halbwachs Alexandre born Paris, France February 14, 1890 (d. 1980). French feminist; integral pacifist and socialist; opposed World War I. Advocated laying on tracks to stop draftee trains; supported peace initiative that led to foundation of WILPF, 1915.
“Women have come together [at the Hague] to demand their rights, but their claims are based on a more disinterested idea, the underlying feminism is the will to prevent war, for a just and better humanity.” (Cédric Weis, Archives du féminisme, Dec. 2004; photo BU-angers)
Lyudmila Alexeyeva born Yevpatoria, Crimea, USSR July 20, 1927. Russian human rights activist; Soviet dissident; archaeologist and historian. Co-founded Russian human rights organization Moscow Helsinki Group, 1976; exiled and relocated to US, 1977-93. Returned to Russia after dissolution of USSR, 1993; chairperson of Moscow Helsinki Group 1996. Visited Chechnya in protest of war, 1996; organized nonviolent protests, Moscow, 2009; protested Russian annexation of Crimea, 2014. Awarded Palme Prize, 2002; Sakharov Prize, 2009.
"I have said on many occasions and repeat that I am convinced the seizure of Crimea cast shame on my country. . . In the modern world it is shameful and stupid to be an occupier. You need to reach agreement, not fight." (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, Sept. 8, 2014; photo liviannamasso.wordpress)
Svetlana Alexeivich born Stanislau, Ukrainian SR May 31, 1948. Belorussian author. War’s Unwomanly Face about World War II, 1988; Zinky Boys portrayed brutality of Afghanistan war, 1992; Voices from Chernobyl, 1997. Received German Book Peace Prize, 2013; Nobel Literature Laureate, 2015.
On Russian action in Ukraine: "It is occupation, a foreign invasion." (Reuters, Oct. 8, 2015)
"All that we know about Woman is best described by the word 'compassion.' There are other words, too—sister, wife, friend and, the noblest of all, mother. But isn't compassion a part of all these concepts, their very substance, their purpose and their ultimate meaning? A woman is the giver of life, she safeguards life, so 'Woman' and 'life' are synonyms.” (War’s Unwomanly Face, Introduction; photo greanvillepost.com)
Mirra Alfassa born Paris, France February 21, 1878 (d. 1973). Follower of and successor to Indian spiritual leader Sri Aurobindo, dedicated to peace and global oneness. Known as The Mother by her disciples.
“I belong to no nation, no civilisation, no society, no race, but to the Divine.” (Feb. 1920, Japan, in Words of Long Ago, vol. II, p. 166)
“[A]ll the nations are essentially one and meant to express the Divine Unity upon earth through an organised and harmonious diversity.” (Aug. 15, 1954, Words of the Mother, vol. XIII, p. 43)
Aruna Asaf Ali (née Ganguly) born Kalka, Punjab, India July 16, 1908 (d. 1996). Socialist freedom fighter; "Grand Old Lady" of nonviolent independence movement; first mayor of Delhi; facilitated liberation of Goa; jailed in independence movement 1930, 1932, 1941; Nehru Peace Prize 1996, Lenin Peace Prize 1964.
"I had decided we would not beg for freedom—we would fight for it."
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
