Lynn Gottlieb

Overview

Lynn Gottlieb born Bethlehem, PA April 12, 1949. Jewish Rabbi led Fellowship of Reconciliation peace initiatives; founded Jewish nonviolence group; only rabbi in Cairo to support lifting Gaza blockade 2010.

Quotations

"[A]s a person committed to nonviolence, I view the use of militarism by states or non-state actors to ensure security or resist occupation as a self-defeating strategy that promotes more violence and suffering and does not, in the end, result in well-being or peace for beleaguered populations." (Mondoweiss, Jan. 11, 2010; photo gazafreedommarch.org)

Heide Gottner-Abendroth

Overview

Heide Göttner-Abendroth born Langewiesen, Thuringia, Germany February 8, 1941. German feminist, student of matriarchy. Organized Societies of Peace conference, 2005; Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

Quotations

"Matriarchy presents us a well-balanced, egalitarian and peaceful society without wars of conquest and the rule of dominance. I am convinced that matriarchy is needed for a humane world." (1000peacewomen; photo Wikipedia)

Olympe de Gouges

Overview

Olympe de Gouges (née Marie Gouze) born Montauban, Tarn, France May 7, 1748 (died by guillotine 1793). "Angel of Peace"; revolutionary feminist author and pamphleteer; authored Declaration of the Rights of Women, 1791; human rights advocate; wrote anti-slavery play; opposed death penalty.

Quotations

"Woman is born free and remains equal to man." (Art. 1 of Declaration; photo ladiesroom.fr)

Jorie Graham

Overview

Jorie Graham (née Pepper) born Brooklyn, NY May 9, 1950. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. Harvard professor. Her collection of anti-war poetry Overlord portrayed Iraq War invasion in light of Normandy, 2005.

Quotations

Because there is no way to get the killing to end.

(“Omaha”, Overlord, 2005, p. 28)

we are among those left at the end—oh lucky few—how very special we are

in our seats, ticket in hand—among

the survivors—worth the price of admission.

(“Copy”, Overlord, 2005, p. 74; photo 92y.org)

Martha Graham

Overview

Martha Graham born Pittsburgh, PA May 11, 1894 (d. 1991). "Mother of Modern Dance." Her one political production was the three-part anti-war piece "Chronicle," 1936. The first segment "Spectre 1914" recalls the blood of World War I; next, "Steps in the Street" shows the grief; the last section "Prelude to Action" demonstrates hopeful resistance to war.

Quotations

"Chronicle does not attempt to show the actualities of war; rather does it, by evoking war's images, set forth the fateful prelude to war, portray the devastation of spirit which it leaves in its wake, and suggest an answer." (original program notes, 1936; photo Wikipedia)

Tracy Grammer

Overview

Tracy Grammer born Homestead, FL April 8, 1968. American folk singer, protested Iraq War and war toys.

Quotations

"Wave the flag and watch the news, tell us we can count on you. Mom and dad are marching too; children, step in line." (Hey Ho, Avalon, 2004; photo tracygrammer.com)

Dorothy Granada

Overview

Dorothy Granada born Los Angeles, CA December 8, 1930. Nonviolent Filipina/Chicana nurse; 40-day international fast for life against nuclear weapons, 1983; part of group to protest disappeared Guatemalans, 1985; "lived on the tracks" of Concord weapons depot in Nuremberg protest, 1987; awarded FOR Peace prize, 1997; decade-plus efforts for Nicaraguan women.

Quotations

"Blessed are the poor and their friends, who together are building the beloved community where there will be no hunger, no violence, where the earth and all God’s creatures will live in peace and joy!" (Summit, NJ, Nov. 1, 2001; photo episcopalchurch.org)

Joanne Grant

Overview

Joanne Grant born Utica, NY March 30, 1930 (d. 2005). Civil rights historian; filmmaker; journalist. Worked with W.E.B. DuBois at NAACP, 1959; co-founded SNCC, 1960. One of the first visitors to Communist China, 1957; also made friendship visits to USSR and Cuba.

Linda Gray

Overview

Linda Gray born Santa Monica, CA September 12, 1940. Nonviolent activist actress, opposed to war; decade as UN Goodwill Ambassador 1998-2007, including mission to Nicaragua on children's health; chaired UNFPA's Face to Face Campaign, to raise awareness of women denied basic human rights, including reproductive health care and family planning.

Quotations

"My role is to meet people, listen to what they have to say and see what we can do to help." (NNDB.com; photo pressofatlanticcity)

Elizabeth Gray Vining

Overview

Elizabeth Gray Vining born Germantown, Philadelphia, PA October 6, 1902 (d. 1999). Quaker; tutor to future emperor of Japan, 1946-50; committed civil disobedience against Vietnam War and Apartheid.

Quotations

"There is a spark of the Divine in every human soul draws together people of all races, all creeds, all nations, all classes.  That is why war is evil, and social injustice unendurable, why religion is incomplete without service." (http://bit.ly/xwpbd4; photo Wikipedia)

Juliette Greco

Overview

Juliette Gréco born Montpellier, France February 7, 1927. French singer and actress. “Muse of the Existentialists.” Member of Movement of Peace; sponsor of Committee for Education for Nonviolence and Peace. Arrested by Gestapo for resistance, 1943. Sang in Chile in opposition to dictator Pinochet.

Quotations

“[I have always yearned for revolution]: bloodless, peaceful and beginning with the human spirit.”

“. . . I don't take orders well and I'm not very obedient.” (The Guardian, Feb. 9, 1999; photo gettyimages.org)

Rosario Green

Overview

Rosario Green Macías born Mexico City, Mexico March 31, 1941. Economist; professor; politician. UN Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, 1994. Special Advisor to UN Secretary General for Human Rights and Refugees, 1995. First chair of UN office to implement Beijing conference call for gender equality, 1996. First woman Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 1998-2000. Served as Mexican Ambassador to East Germany and Argentina.

Quotations

“[W]omen are peace-loving creatures. . . women have a lot to contribute to this peace culture, not only by the transmission of peaceful values, but also by transmitting other values that have to do with democracy, with the sharing of power, with fairness of treatment. Peace is more than the absence of war. Peace is the only possibility that exists for all humanity.” (UN Secretariat News, Summer 1995, p. 6; photo elporvenir.com)

Jean Brooks Greenleaf

Overview

Jean Brooks Greenleaf born Bernardston, MA October 1, 1832 (d. 1918). Suffragist leader; witnessed damage of war, New Orleans, 1865.

Quotations

On Susan B. Anthony: "Thank God for such women!" (Feb. 2, 1908; photo http://bit.ly/yyIZLd)

Lynne Greenwald

Overview

Lynne Greenwald born Erie, PA August 3, 1949 (d. 2014). American anti-nuclear activist; protested Vietnam War inside Pentagon. Arrested for climbing onto missile, Great Falls, MT, sentenced to six months while pregnant, but released after one month,1982; led protests against missile carrying White Train; arrested for cutting three fences into Naval Base Kitsap, Bangor, WA, served 6 months prison, 2009.

Quotations

"It is important to note that while our circle of resisters have a wonderful network of supporters, we also remember all prisoners, everywhere, who daily suffer under this system of injustice." (disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com, January 23, 2012; photo disarmnowplowshares)

Mary Gregory

Overview

Mary Gregory (née Foster) born St. Paul, MN August 7, 1930 (d. 2005). American peace activist; potter and counselor. Protested nuclear testing, Nevada, 1950s. Anti-Vietnam War activist. Founding member, Clamshell Alliance, 1976. First arrest earned 3 months in jail, 1977.

Quotations

“I feel the Seabrook clear power plant would pose a clear and present danger to my children.” (Portsmouth Herald, Sep. 4, 1976)

Mary Grew

Overview

Mary Grew born Hartford, CT September 1, 1813 (d. 1895). Leading Garrisonian nonviolent abolitionist woman public speaker and editor; delegate to World's Anti-Slavery Convention London 1840; feminist; 23 years president of Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Assn.; 34 years Secretary of Female Anti-Slavery Society; opposed Mexican War; opposed talk of war over Oregon; saw Civil War caused by "Slave Power" in spite of 30 years efforts of abolitionists to end slavery peacefully.

Virginie Griess-Traut

Overview

Virginie Griess-Traut born Colmar, Lorraine, France October 18, 1814 (d. 1898). Leading French woman pacifist. Spent 25 years in utopian socialist Fourierist colony, Algeria, 1849-74. Member of International League for Peace Freedom, 1869. Published Manifesto of Women against war, Geneva, 1877. Proposed international arbitration committee to ensure Afghan independence, 1885. Member of French Society for Arbitration, 1889; Committee of the Society of Peace, 1889. Chaired Association of Women for Peace; Vice-President, Society for Peace through Education. Promoter and benefactor of International Peace Bureau, the first peace information clearing house, Geneva, 1891.

Quotations

“We, the women of all countries, we, who form the half of the contingent of Nations, we, whom the laws of men have excluded from those councils in which of old, the voice of our mothers made the cause of peace to triumph, we to whom barbarous war spares neither death nor the most cruel outrages . . . we, whose mission on earth is conciliation, peace and devotion, we whom a longer silence would render accomplices of this detestable waste of human lives and of riches, the devastation of entire countries—we protest with all our energy against war, that odious abuse, that offense; against the voluntary abandonment of the effectual and peaceful method of 'international arbitration.'” (Manifesto of Women Against War, 1877, in Global Fund for Women, CLIO, June 15, 2009; photo charlesfourier.fr)

Susan Griffin

Overview

Susan Griffin born Los Angeles, CA January 26, 1943. Eco-feminist author. Condemned violence, including war, particularly civilian deaths. Published A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War, 1992.

Quotations

“These days I sense in myself a muted, almost inexplicable unease. The cause is not just global warming and a frail economy, but a shadowy sense that right now, just under the skin of public awareness, something terrible is occurring. . . bombs kill more civilians than terrorists. . . The fear of being attacked together with a sense of powerlessness disables our empathy with those that are being maimed and killed now. But the tide can be turned. Once we acknowledge the mutual danger we are in, the sleeping power of civilians all over the world can rise to stop these attacks, which are aimed in the end at all of us.” (Transforming Terror: Remembering the Soul of Terror, 2011, pp. 9, 15; photo susangriffin.com)

Nanci Griffith

Overview

Nanci Griffith born Seguin, TX July 6, 1953. Folk musician. Supported anti-landmine campaign, 2000. Her song “Clock Without Hands” revisited Vietnam and Cambodia, 2001. Opposed Iraq War; criticized endless war, 2005.

Quotations

Almost a century the blood has flowed
We've killed our men of peace around this ball
And refused to hear their ghosts
We spend our destinies in deeds of hate
Humanity upon this ball
Is just a bloody fall from grace

We've killed our men of peace around this ball
And refused to hear their ghosts
We spend our destinies in deeds of hate
Humanity upon this ball
Is just a bloody fall from grace
And we all ride on
(We all ride)
This big blue ball of war

(“Big Blue Ball of War”; photo lyrics.wikia)

Angelina Grimke

Overview

Angelina Grimké Weld born Charleston, SC February 20, 1805 (d. 1879). Garrisonian abolitionist; nonviolent pacifist; Quaker women's rights speaker.

Quotations

“If a law commands me to sin I will break it; if it calls me to suffer, I will let it take its course unresistingly.” (Appeal to the Christian Women of the South, 1836; photo http://bit.ly/JVGeMj)