Helene Brion

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Overview

Hélène Brion born Clermont-Ferrand, France January 27, 1882 (d. 1962). French feminist; socialist. Opposed World War I, for which she was fired from her teaching job and given a 3-year suspended prison sentence by military tribunal for "peace propaganda."

Quotations

"Women want women's rights! And Peace!"

"I am first and foremost a feminist. And it is because of my feminism that I am an enemy of war. . . War represents the triumph of brute strength, while feminism can only triumph through moral strength and intellectual values." (May 1918, K.Offen pp. 262, 481; photo http://bit.ly/GzCUpR)

Vera Brittain

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Overview

Vera Brittain born Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England December 29, 1893 (d. 1970). Pacifist author; Socialist; feminist; leader of British Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Quotations

"Pacifism is nothing other than the belief in the ultimate transcendence of love over power." (Humiliation with Honor, p. 9; photo Oxford U.)

Birgit Brock-Utne

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Overview

Birgit Brock-Utne born Oslo, Norway May 4, 1938. Scholar of peace; world authority on women and peace.

Quotations

"As women, we have to believe in ourselves and other women to have the strength, endurance, compassion, and passion to continue our struggle for a better, more humane, and truly peaceful future." (conclusion of Educating for Peace, 1985; photo Oslo Univ.)

Frederika Broeksmit

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Overview

Frederika Henriette Broeksmit born Charlois, Rotterdam, Netherlands August 14, 1875 (d. 1945). Dutch impressionist landscape painter and etcher. Pacifist founder of Si vis Pacem, para Pacem, which she represented at International Women's Congress, The Hague, 1915.

Quotations

“[I]ndependent action in the interest of Peace should be the first motive, and the moral duty incumbent upon those Neutrals who wish to start action, before the occasion for Mediation presents itself openly and fully.” (c. 1915, Si vis Pacem appeal; photo artindex.nl)

Emilia Broomé

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Overview

Emilia Broomé (née Lothigius) born Jönköping, Sweden January 13, 1866 (d. 1925). Founded Swedish Women's Peace Organization, 1898; WILPF leader; first woman in Swedish national legislature, 1914.

Quotations

“Sure that the growth of civilization will be able to overcome ancient barbarity, we look,forward confidently to the future, when respect for the right will be stronger than the inclination to violence, and the nations will no longer be divided against one another, but will stand together in peaceful and friendly cooperation.” (Advocate of Peace 1907, p. 101; photo http://bit.ly/y7cvEN)

Brigid Brophy

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Overview

Brigid Brophy, Lady Levey born London, England June 12, 1929 (d. 1995). British author and playwright. Feminist, pacifist, socialist pamphleteer, and social reformer. Waged vigorous public campaign against Vietnam War.

Quotations

On war: “[It is the result of nations'] unconscious lust to bring destruction on themselves by way of punishment.” (Black Ship to Hell, 1962, p. 40; photo vegansociety.com)

Margaret K. Bruce

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Overview

Margaret “Molly” Bruce (née Kitchen) born Batley, Yorkshire, England July 13, 1918 (d. 2012). Human rights activist. Lifelong UN employee, 1946-77. Secretary of Human Rights Commission under Eleanor Roosevelt during the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1946. Deputy Secretary General, responsible for organizing International Women's Year and first World Conference on Women, Mexico, 1975. (photo unhistory.org)

 

Gro Harlem Brundtland

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Overview

Gro Harlem Brundtland born Oslo, Norway April 20, 1939. Head of World Commission on Development and Environment 1983; three times prime minister of Norway, first woman and youngest ever; first woman to head World Health Organization 1998-2003; UN Special Envoy for Climate Change 2007; Charlemagne Prize 1994.

Quotations

"Women power is a formidable force." (Final address Beijing Women's Conference; photo WHO)

Christine Buchholz

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Overview

Christine Buchholz (née Bruchköbel) born Hamburg, Germany April 2, 1971. German peace activist. Co-founder of antiwar Left party; Leftist Member of Parliament, 2009. Opposed German arms exports and deployment of troops abroad.

Quotations

“NATO must be dissolved. Security cannot be created with the military but through social and global justice. War hurts hatred and nationalism. That is why the fight against war is closely linked to the fight against racism. Islamic hostility is the new racism and accompanying music of the so-called war on terror.” (christinebuchholz.de)

Carmel Budiardjo

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Overview

Carmel Budiardjo born London, England June 18, 1925. Human rights activist; founded TAPOL (Political Prisoner), 1973. Imprisoned Indonesia, 1968-71, exiled; recipient Right Livelihood Award, 1995; opposed wars in E. Timor and Aceh, Papua.

Quotations

"I just felt that I had to do something about the people whom I had left behind. I had a very strong sense of a kind of obligation." (Peace News, April 14, 2011; photo Right Livelihood)

Anna Bugge

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Overview

Anna Bugge-Wicksell born Egersund, Norway September 17, 1862 (d. 1928). Norwegian feminist and suffrage leader. Sweden's first woman diplomat; secretary of Swedish Peace Society. Traveled throughout Norway to promote women's suffrage, 1888. Advocated for international arbitration and reconciliation, 1890. Attended League of Nations inaugural session as alternate member, Geneva, 1920; became first woman to join its Permanent Mandates Commission, 1921.

Quotations

“I believe that position of women and children in the mandatory areas to be particularly helpless, and that the presence upon the Committee of one member, who can feel as a woman for other women as well as for children and who will make it her special business to care for and speak for that part of the native population, can be of great value.” (March 22, 1921 to Sec. Drummond, Carol Miller, Lobbying the League, p. 155; photo Wikipedia)

Frances Burney

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Overview

Frances Burney born King's Lynn, Norfolk, England June 13, 1752 (d. 1840). British novelist, playwright and diarist; described horrors of Napoleonic Wars.

Quotations

On seeing Napoleon on parade: "While all the pomp and circumstance of war animated others, it only saddened me." (Diary vol. III, p. 233, 1802; photo todayinliterature.com)

Mary Butts

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Overview

Mary Frances Butts born Parkstone, Dorset, England December 13, 1890 (d. 1937). British modernist author. Socialist, pacifist, social worker. Opposed first World War in National Council Against Conscription and National Council for Civil Liberties.

Quotations

On World War I: "[This is a] collective insanity that has come over the world…Not till the end of the war will there be any time for art or love or magic again. Perhaps never again." (from her diary, in Nathalie Blondel, “Mary Butts: Scenes from the Life”, New York Times, “Speed the Plough” 1923 story of shell-shocked soldier.)

“For watching death, and above all, after death; not death in battle, but death after battle, brings one to certain indifferences that are also a form of death.” (photo Treadwell’s)

Dorothy Buxton

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Overview

03.03 buxton crop.jpg

Dorothy Buxton (née Jebb) born Ellesmere, Shropshire, England March 3, 1881 (d. 1963). British humanitarian; Christian Socialist; Quaker pacifist. Denied exit to Hague Women's Peace Congress, 1915; founding member of WILPF. Opposed WWI with publication of news from the continent. Opposed postwar blockade of Germany with Fight Famine Committee, 1918, leading to co-founding of Save the Children, 1919. Protested about mistreatment of German civilians to Nazi leaders, 1935.

Quotations

On the food blockade of Germany: “[It is] dreadfully suggestive of the practice of placing women and children in front of the firing line. . . Our spurious patriotism, our moral indolence, all that tissue of pretenses which we call ‘civilisation’, has passed the death sentence on the child, but the child in its feebleness and its pain has passed sentence on our ‘civilisation.’” (Union of Democratic Control, May 1919 in Patrick Wright, Iron Curtain, p. 323; 1939 portrait by Arnold Gersti, BBC)