Zehava Gal-On

Overview

Zehava Schnipitzky Gal-On born Vilnius, Lithuania January 4, 1956. Israeli politician. Member of the Knesset (Israeli legislative body), 1999-present; member of human rights organization B'Tselem, supporting evacuation of West Bank, and right of return. Served five-day prison term for organizing demonstration against the demolition of Qalqilyah homes; opposed second Lebanon war, 2006; opposed Gaza invasion, 2014.

Quotations

"War has not defeated terrorism anywhere. That is why you have to conduct a parallel diplomatic process." (Al-Monitor, July 23, 2014)

"We want the only possible peace: Peace on the basis of the '67 lines and a division of sovereignty in Jerusalem." (Haaretz, July 24, 2014; photo Haaretz)

Sonia Gandhi

Overview

Sonia Gandhi (née Maino) born Lusiana, Italy December 9, 1946. Nonviolent Indian leader of Congress Party, 1998; United Progressive Alliance, 2004.

Quotations

"Violence seeks to impose and overwhelm, which is why its victories are transitory. Non-violence seeks to engage and persuade, which is why its results are enduring." (Speech to UN on first International Day of Nonviolence, Oct. 2, 2007; photo 2007 wikicommons pd)

Svetlana Gannushkina

Overview

Svetlana Gannushkina born Moscow March 6, 1942. Russian mathematician; human rights activist. Peacekeeper in Karabakh War, aiding refugees' return, 1988; helped victims of Chechen wars, 1994. Co-founded Memorial Human Rights Center, 1993, which won Nansen Prize, 2004. Openly protested seizure of Crimea and Donetsk area, 2014. Received Sakharov Freedom Prize, 2007; Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2010.

Quotations

"Russia has no policy for Northern Caucasus; there are actions and convulsive moves aimed at preservation, and in some cases—at restoration of the empire, by acting with bayonets only, as the empire did. It results not in success, but in terrible, irreplaceable and unforgivable victims."(March 27, 2010, Chechen Republic; photo todayus.com)

Shukrije Gashi

Overview

Shukrije Gashi born Pristina, Kosovo, Yugoslavia May 22, 1960. Mediator; poet; journalist; lawyer. Director of Partners Center for Conflict Management Kosovo; imprisoned two years for advocacy for Kosovo.

Quotations

"I am convinced that genuine reconciliation can happen and does happen if and when disputing individuals who see each other as enemies have the opportunity to meet face-to-face and are led by knowledgeable persons who allow them to see the other as a fellow human being." (quote & photo Ara Pacis Initiative on Forgiveness)

Fatima Gazieva

Overview

Fatima Gazieva born Kazakhstan December 14, 1950. Chechen peacemaker. Co-founded Echo of War (Ekho Voiny); joined life chain protest against war, 1995; participated in Russian and Chechen women's Peace March from Moscow to Grozny, 1995; abducted and released the next day, 2004. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

Quotations

"This is the will of God. He has granted me life so that I can help the least privileged victims of war. I have no right to betray them. They are waiting for me." (Quote and photo World Peoples Blog)

Rosa Genoni

Overview

Rosa Genoni born Tirano, Italy June 18, 1867 (d. 1954). Famous Italian style designer took unusual Italian stand against war; WILPF delegate to heads of state to end World War 1915; got Pope's support.

Quotations

"Alas! In Italy they [the women] do not think only of peace. Everybody desires it perhaps, but first of all they think of the national interest." (June 5, 1915, Women at the Hague, p. 221; photo fashionbeyondfashion.wordpress.com)

Kristalina Georgieva

Overview

Kristalina Georgieva born Sofia, Bulgaria August 13, 1953. Bulgarian environmental economist; official nominee for UN Secretary General 2016; Vice-President World Bank; European of Year 2010 for work as European Humanitarian Commissioner in relief of Haiti earthquake 2010, and Pakistan floods 2010.

Quotations

“What we are seeing is a much more fragile world. In which natural disaster risk and conflict are increasingly overlaid. And where the big trends of climate change and population growth are compounded by extremism. . . Humanitarians are the first ones to have to pick up the pieces when things go wrong. . . So humanitarians are rather like 'mine canaries'—they are the first to feel the heat when things go wrong.” (European Commission, May 27, 2014; photo yaLibnan)

Masha Gessen

Overview

Masha Gessen born Moscow January 13, 1967. Russian-American activist and journalist; chronicler of nonviolent protests. (photo: openlettersmonthly.com)

Natalia Ghermova

Overview

Natalia Ghermova (née Snegur) born Chișnău, Moldava, USSR March 20, 1969. Moldavan diplomat; official nominee for UN Secretary General 2016; Foreign Minister 2013-16; chief negotiator for joining European Union.

Quotations

“[R]educing the current tensions among some of the main international actors, would be key for resolving conflicts, ensuring the respect of human rights and tackling the challenges of extreme poverty, growing humanitarian crises and climate change.” (Time, July 20, 2016; photo house of flags)

Nella Giacomelli

Overview

Nella Giacomelli born Lodi, Lombardy, Italy July 2, 1873 (d. 1949). “The Red Meteor” anarcho-pacifist newspaper editor and journalist; wrote for French anti-militarist paper Rompete de File (1907-13); opposed Great War, especially Italian intervention; issued May Day manifesto to women against war, resulting in house arrest 1916; collaborated in single issue of paper War and Peace, Milan 1919; co-founder of anarchist paper New Humanity 1920. Arrested 1921, 1928.

Quotations

On New Humanity: “[It is] a mild name, almost evangelical, out of tune, some say, with the quick breath of a society in turmoil, with the jolting events, the threat of violent action and the bold daring of this time that we live in. . . [it] represents the greatest human protest against secular human suffering.” (Wikipedia Umanitá Nova; photo 24Emilia)

Marija Gimbutas

Overview

Marija Gimbutas born Vilnius, Lithuania January 23, 1921 (d. 1994). Feminist; archaeologist; showed that Old Europe society was matriarchal and peaceful.

Quotations

"There is no evidence of territorial aggression, and the total absence of lethal weapons implies a peaceful coexistence." (Civilization of the Goddess, p. 48; 1989 photo Wikipedia)

Vilma Glucklich

Overview

Vilma Glücklich born Vágujhely, Hungary August 9, 1872 (d. 1927). Internationalist and pacifist leader; suffragist, feminist; physics educator; led first Hungarian protest against World War I 1914; founding member and International Secretary of WILPF, 1922-25.

Quotations

"[The World War] destroyed in an hour all. . . our life's labor." (Edith Wynner, Modern Peace Leaders, p.330, 1985; photo onb.ac.at)

Emma Goldman

Overview

Emma Goldman born Kovno, Russian Lithuania June 27, 1869 (d. 1940). Pacifist anarchist feminist editor and orator; arrested 1917 for draft resistance; jailed 18 months; deported 1919.

Quotations

"The history of progress is written in the blood of men and women who have dared to espouse an unpopular cause, as, for instance, the black man's right to his body, or the woman's right to her soul." ("What I Believe." New York World, July 19, 1908; photo Wikipedia)

"The contention that a standing army and navy is the best security of peace is about as logical as the claim that the most peaceful citizen is he who goes about heavily armed." ("Patriotism." Anarchism and Other Essays, 1917)

"All wars are wars among thieves who are too cowardly to fight and who therefore induce the young manhood of the whole world to do the fighting for them." ("Address to the Jury", Mother Earth, July 1917; photo Wikipedia)

Raisa Gorbachev

Overview

Raisa Gorbachev (née Titarenko) born Rubtsovsk, Siberia January 5, 1932 (d. 1999). Russian first lady, 1988-1991; delivered commencement speech at Wellesley College on women's role in society, 1990.

Quotations

"No war, not even to punish an aggressor, is a good thing. . . The calamity of war, wherever, whenever and upon whomever it descends, is a tragedy for the whole of humanity." (I Hope, 1991; 1989 photo Wikipedia)

Rosalia Gwis-Adami

Overview

Rosalia Gwis-Adami born Edolo, Italy July 30, 1880 (d. 1930). Italian peace leader; novelist and journalist; co-founded pacifist Society of Young Italian Women 1909; supported European unity and League of Nations.

Quotations

"There are not two moralities—one for nations and one for individuals." ("Peace and Education." 1902; photo University of Chicago)