January 23

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1885 Agatha Harrison born Sandhurst, England (d. 1954). Quaker; friend of Gandhi; WILPF founder; leader of Indian Conciliation Group for Indian independence; UN observer, 1950; mediator for Vietnam peace. Led Women's Peace Crusade for Parliament of Peacemakers, 1929.

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

  • 1945 Janet Bruin born Philadelphia, PA (d. 1996). Swiss-American; second generation WILPF member; editor of WILPF publication Pax et Libertas.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1985 Yvonne Klein arrested in Albany, GA for picketing a civil defense exercise.

  • 1995 Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy promoting an end to nuclear weapons founded by Rebecca Johnson, co-chair of 2017 Nobel Peace Prize-winning ICAN.

  • 2007 Women Speak Out: Peace in 2007 workshop held at World Social Forum, Nairobi.

  • 2015 Kathy Kelly began three month federal prison sentence for nonviolent drone protest at Whiteman AFB.