Rosa Clemente

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Overview

Rosa Clemente born South Bronx, NY April 18, 1972; vice-presidential candidate of Green Party 2008 winning 161,797 votes; journalist, nonviolent community organizer; opposed all US wars; arrested for Black Lives Matter protests Ferguson, Los Angeles, Baton Rouge.

Quotations

“Not only do you speak out—you act against power. . . That’s putting your body on the line. . . You’re putting your freedom on the line. . .” (Oct. 29, 2013, Latino Quote of the Day)

“[W]e now have to talk about creating departments of peace. And we have to also talk about withdrawing troops wherever they reside in other people’s homelands.” (Democracy Now, Oct. 3, 2008; photo 1nedrop.com)

Helena Cobban

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Overview

Helena Cobban born Abingdon, England October 31, 1952. British journalist; expert on Middle East and postwar justice. Quaker pacifist. Founded publishing company Just World Books, 2010.

Quotations

“[A]ll wars inflict terrible, long-lasting damage on all the residents of the war-zone—with the weakest members of society always suffering the most. There is no such thing as a ‘humanitarian’ war. In cases of conflict or bitter oppression, the very best way to mend broken relationships while building a solid basis for a better situation going forward is to use all nonviolent means possible to de-escalate tensions.” (worldbeyondwar.org/quotes; photo kabobfest.com)

Ruth Cohen

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Overview

Ruth Cohen born April 28, 1940 (d. 2003). Co-founder Women in Black Jerusalem 1988; protest placard was black hand lettered: “End the Occupation.”

Quotations

On her first protest at which police beat up a Palestinian, and they were spat on: "Awful and threatening." (Gila Svirsky website Chapter 1, 1996; photo Remembering)

“What began as a local protest against the Israeli occupation of the West Band and Gaza Strip has turndd into a model for women’s action adopted worldwide. Five and ahaalf years of putting one’s political view on the line every week has been an empowering experience for every woman who has participated, in Jerusalem, the vigil has shown many women with no feminists background the effectiveness of a feminist model of cooperative action and decision-making. Each individual in Women in Black knows that she can voice her opinion and make a difference.” (Ayala Emmett, Our Sisters’ Promised Land, p.220)

Marjorie Cohn

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Overview

11.01 cohn.jpg

Marjorie Cohn born Pomona, CA November 1, 1948. Professor of international human rights. Former president, National Lawyers Guild. Editor and author, United States and Torture, 2011. Publicly opposed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Argued humanitarian intervention in Kosovo and Libya violated international law.

Quotations

“[M]ilitary solutions to political and economic problems are no solution at all.” (“Killing Civilians to Protect Civilians in Syria”, Aug. 27, 2013; photo Thomas Jefferson School of Law)

Ada Colau

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Overview

Ada Colau Ballano born Barcelona, Spain March 3, 1974. Catalan activist, social reformer & politician. Organized protest against Iraq War; led nonviolent protests against housing evictions. Elected mayor of Barcelona, 2015.

Quotations

"I'm not powerful. I'm just a normal person and that's what worries them most. It just shows how much power normal citizens can have." (International Center on Nonviolent Conflict [ICNC], Feb. 25, 2014; photo wikipedia)

Clara Bewick Colby

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Overview

Clara Bewick Colby born Gloucester, England August 1, 1846 (d. 1916). American publisher, first official war correspondent, lecturer, and peace advocate. Founding editor of suffragist journal Women’s Tribune, 1883. Delegate to International Peace Conferences, London, 1899; The Hague, 1913. Spoke on peace at Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, 1915. Correspondent for International Peace Union. Vice-President, League of World Peace, 1915.

Quotations

“The mission of woman is to find and develop the woman in himself.” (Unity, Oct. 24, 1912; photo Wikipedia)

Clara Gilbert Cole

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Overview

Clara Gilbert Cole born December 4, 1868. (d. 1956). Suffragist, socialist, anarchist, antiwar poet, and pamphleteer. Volunteer nurse. Founded League Against War and Conscription, 1915; later founded No Conscription Fellowship. Arrested for non-conscription banner at Trafalgar Square, 1916; released to protest many times. Arrested for antiwar activity, Kettering, Northamptonshire, 1916; served 5 months prison. Arrested for unemployed protest, 1922.

Quotations

“I will nurse men for life, but not send them back to the trenches.” (Peace Pledge Union, The Men Who Said No)

“Men and Women of England, Arbitration finally settles all wars. If at the end of a war, why not at the beginning? If not at the beginning why not now? Demand terms of settlement from our Government as the German people are doing.” (protest sign, July 11, 1915, Ibid)

When the hand will not rise to smite, And the heart will refuse to fight, When munitions cannot be made, And we to shape Death shrink, afraid To see the gangrened flesh, erstwhile So white, and see the silent pile
This hour was active limb and brain, Then surely we shall end this pain.
They pray to God “to end this strife”, He waits for them to stay the knife.
The Alternative
Better barren women than children bred for war,
Better death in birth than manhood trained for murder; Better bleak wild country than shattered flesh and bone; Better voided earth before Primeval Sundown.
And better dead blank world if battles still must rage—
But best of all no war at all, And Peace in a Golden Age.

(“WHEN”; photo her husband’s portrait libcom.org)

Monique Coleman

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Overview

Monique Coleman born Orangeburg, SC November 13, 1980. African-American singer and actress; UN Youth Champion, 2010.

Quotations

"Don’t wait for governments or the United Nations or anyone else to solve our problems. You can make a difference through your own efforts and the time to start is now." (Mumbai, April 2, 2011; photo moniquecoleman.com)

Louise de Coligny

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Overview

Louise de Coligny born Châtillon-sur-Loing, France September 23, 1555 (d. 1620). Peacemaker consort of Prince William the Silent of Orange who persuaded her step-son Philip William of Orange to accept the Treaty of Antwerp 1609 starting the Twelve Years Truce in the Dutch War of Independence, granting Netherlands independent status and acceptance of trade in Indonesia. A humanist scholar, Louise was influenced by Grotius, whose classic Freedom of the Seas was published a month before the treaty.

Quotations

"It will be, Monsieur, a great good and an advancement for the glory of God if these people make a good decision." (letter to diplomat Duplessis-Mornay, Oct. 2, 1609, in Jane Couchman and Ann Crab, Women’s Letters Across Europe, p. 174, 2006; photo Wikipedia)

Lucie Colliard

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Overview

Lucie Colliard (née Parmelan) born St. Félix, Upper Savoy, France January 24, 1877 (d. 1961). Pacifist and socialist activist. Opposed World War; removed from her teaching position for her pacifism, 1917. Arrested and given two-year prison sentence for “anti-militarism,” 1918, but later pardoned. Joined French Communist Party, 1920. Led “The Beautiful Strike of Women” in Brittany, 1925. Treasurer of the Organizing Committee of the Rally against War & the Union Sacrée, 1935. Signed manifesto against war, 1938. Resisted German occupation; elected postwar deputy mayor of Clichy for her resistance to the Nazis.

Quotations

“[I would like] to create an understanding among socialists of all countries to impose conditions of peace on all governments.” (1914, in Humanité, Nov. 10, 1998)

Judy Collins

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Overview

Judy Collins born Seattle, WA May 1, 1939. Folk singer and songwriter; lifelong peace activist; UNICEF representative in Bosnia 1995; active in landmines campaign; arrested for Vietnam War protest 1973; arrested for Apartheid protest DC 1985; condemned Iraq War.

Quotations

I dream of Peace
I dream of flowers on the hill
I dream I see my mother smiling
When I close my eyes I dream of Peace

("Song for Sarajevo"; photo Wikipedia)

Ninon Colneric

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Overview

Ninon Colneric born Recklingshausen, Westphalia, Germany August 29, 1948. German Judge European Court of Justice 2000-6; Professor, co-Dean of China-Europe School of International Law (CESL).

Quotations

"[Our] generation who had witnessed the ruined Europe after the WWII, had a special devotion towards the European Integration. Because they believed the integration would finally bring peace to the continent." (China-EU School of Law, Sept. 2, 2009; photo CESL)

 

Elizabeth Rous Comstock

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Overview

Elizabeth Rous Comstock born Maidenhead, Berkshire, England October 30, 1815 (d. 1891). Quaker pacifist; minister; abolitionist; ran underground railroad in US; opposed Civil War.

Quotations

"Now we are able to love our enemies and 'overcome evil with good.'" (Letters, p. 284; image from Hanaford, Daughters of Amer., 1888, p. 414)

Judith Anne Cook

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Overview

Judith Anne Cook (née Cushing) born Manchester, England July 9, 1933 (d. 2004). British anti-nuclear leader; historical fiction writer; led 400 pram-pushing mothers in protest at Russian embassy London Nov. 1962; founded Voice of Women Dec. 1962; Quaker attender.

Quotations

“[W]e watched a programme that showed Russian and American tanks facing each other in Berlin, and the commentator interviewed an American colonel who recogned they’d be using nuclear weapons by next Tuesday. I was horrified. I sat down and wrote a letter to The Guardian—from the standpoint of an anxious mother. . . [to] express my fears and feelings of powerlessness.” (The Guardian, March 7, 1962; photo amazon.co.uk)