Hinda Kipnis born New York, NY September 20, 1931. Raging Granny Seattle; arrested 2015 for chaining herself in rocking chair with 5 other Grannies to block Seattle Terminal 5; protested World Trade Organization 1999.
“Oh, Y2K, the chips, the chips are falling
In nuclear plants, both here and ‘cross the sea.
Four hundred plus reactors are waiting.
It’s not yet known where me-eltdowns will be.”
(Seattle Raging Grannies songs Y2K; photo Trondheim king.no)
Auguste Kirchhoff (née Zimmerman) born Ansbach, Rhineland, Germany June 23, 1867 (d. 1940). German suffragist, feminist, pacifist and social reformer; publicly opposed World War; led German WILPF; after the war she promoted reconciliation with France and peace education; opposed anti-semitism, genocide and German nationalism.
"Before the outbreak of war, under the influence of the long period of peace, the view that toy soldiers, forts, swords, guns and fire-arms, amusing toys were harmless, might have been understandable and forgivable. But today, in the face under the heavy pressure of the terrible reality, a perennial terrible bloodbath, we must surely raise the question, perhaps in guilt, whether we should close our eyes to the ease with which one brings war toys to the child." (Christine Holzner-Rabe, bremer-frauenmuseum; photo c-auguste-kirchhoff.de)
Freda Kirchwey born Lake Placid, NY September 26, 1893 (d. 1976). Editor and publisher of The Nation 1937-1955; WILPF representative at UN 1955-9 supporting Universal Declaration of Human Rights and disarmament; pacifist in World War I; opposed nuclear weapons; critic of strategic bombing, as in Korean War.
"A force which subordinates everything to the job of killing the enemy becomes an enemy itself." (The Nation, 1952; photo African American Registry)
Elisabeth Kirkby born Bolton, England January 26, 1921. Actress; Australian politician; protested nuclear tests and Vietnam War.
"It is that nuclear weapons arsenal that is being tested in the South Pacific, and which is causing the genetic abnormalities. . . and we are part of the chain that is providing it." (NSW Legislature, Dec. 4, 1986)
"Men have never had the will to work for peace. This is another and even more important goal that women have set for themselves; they will have to pioneer in this field, too, if the world is to be safe for the men and women of the future." (Jocelynne Scott, Different Lives, p. 89; photo http://bit.ly/GzT1lK)
Sally Kirkland born Manhattan, NY October 31, 1944. Antiwar actress. Protested Vietnam War with first naked role on New York stage, “Sweet Eros”, 1968. Opposed Iraq War in Artists for Winning Without War. Hollywood parade for world peace, 2006.
“I wished to oppose my nakedness to the intimate realism of Vietnam, in itself only symptomatic of the corruption and hypocrisies of our time.” (people.com/people/archive, Apr. 4, 1988)
“I'm opposed to the Vietnam War, and you can't carry a gun on a naked body.” (Paul Rowlands interview, Nov. 27, 2013; photo TMZ)
Florence Ledyard Cross Kitchelt born Rochester, NY December 17, 1874 (d. 1961). Socialist; sole woman on League of Nations Health Committee, 1924-30; head of Conn. League of Nations Association, 1924-44; promoted Model League of Nations; associate of Jane Addams.
"I am more than ever convinced that the roots of both peace and war are economic. . . When, instead of fighting for the supplies which they so vitally need, the Nations will get together and apportion them so that each will get a share, the day of war will be over." (Boston Globe, Oct. 17, 1926; 1911 photo Schlesinger Lib.)
Mabel Hyde Kittredge born Boston, MA September 19, 1867 (d. 1955). Pacifist expert on homemaking; started school lunches NYC 1901; headed World War I child feeding program in France and Belgium for Hoover; Ford Peace ship 1915; co-founder of WILPF; mission to USSR 1920.
"It is not goodwill which distinguishes this Commission. . . It is the fact that scientific organisation has been made the servant of goodwill. The significance of that is like a kindly light on the battlefields of Europe. We have admired the organisation of war, its supreme technical efficiency. Here is an organisation created out of nothing over night by democrats, and its efficiency yields no point to the best disciplined institutions of the world. The larger message of the Belgian Relief Commission is that democracies have within them resources of ability which in our despondency we have attributed to autocracies alone. There is hope for freedom when such capacity is at its disposal." (The New Republic, July 31, 1915; 1918 photo flickr.com)
Flemmie Pansy Kittrell born Henderson, NC December 25, 1904 (d. 1980). African-American nutrition expert; professor of home economics. Credited with US Head Start program; introduced nutrition programs in many African and Asian countries. Served on WILPF International Executive Committee when policy refocused on issues of the Third World, colonial liberation, and racism, 1959-62.
"I’d like to think of myself as an international citizen. . . I have enjoyed knowing that human beings all over the world respond in predominantly the same ways to the problems they meet." (Aug. 29-30, 1977 Merze Tate interview in Wini Warren, Black Women Scientists in the United States, p. 168; photo Wikipedia)
Annette Klapstein born June 6, 1952. Attorney; environmental activist; arrested 2015 for chaining herself in rocking chair with six Raging Grannies to block Seattle oil terminal; arrested for direct action cutting Enbridge tar sands oil pipeline Leonard MN 2016.
“I have come to believe that our current economic and political system is a death sentence to life on earth, and that I must do everything in my power to replace these systems with cooperative, just, equitable and love-centered ways of living together. This is my act of love.” (Talk Nation Radio, Oct. 16, 2016; photo Washington’s Blog)
Naomi Klein born Montreal, Quebec, Canada May 5, 1970. Canadian journalist, author and activist; opposed globalization, G8, G20 and Iraq and Afghan Wars; critic of Israeli occupation.
"Politics hates a vacuum. If it isn't filled with hope, someone will fill it with fear." (The Nation, May 26, 2003)
"Peace is anti-capitalist. . . It is capitalism which wants war." (La Jornada, Dec. 18 2007)
"In places where daily life is like war, the people who are militantly confronting this brutality are the peace activists. Because we all want peace. But let's remember, it won't come without a fight." (The Nation, March 31, 2003; photo Wikipedia)
Sister Karen Klimczak born October 27, 1943 (d. 2006). Founded Buffalo Center for Nonviolence; murdered 2006.
"You leave your fingerprints on everything. We need to be people who leave imprints of peace wherever we go in our world." (Niagara Falls Reporter, April 25, 2006; photo Sisters of St. Joseph)
Molly Klopot (née Eisenstat) born Detroit, MI May 16, 1919. Co-founder Raging Grannies; arrested in Times Square protest 2005; chair New York WILPF 1998; co-founder Not in Our Name: We Pledge to Resist (NION) against Iraq War 2001; Clara Lemlich awardee 2013.
"We are at a very important point in the history of our country. It is our responsibility as patriots not to be silent." (at trial, April 20, 2006, New York Times, April 21, 2006)
“If you’re going to have a war on the world, you have to have a war on the people, you have to have a war on our civil liberties, you have to have a drive toward fascism. And we see that is what is happening.” (film by Gabrielle Zampanni, “Voices of Dissent”, p. 30; photo granny power)
Clasina Albertina Kluyver-De Jong Van Beek En Donk born Breda, North Brabant, Netherlands September 23, 1884 (d. 1974). Dutch antiwar activist and international relations expert. Feminist suffragist. Authored book on founding of the League of Nations, 1919; book on arbitration and conciliation, 1928. Took part in international women’s conference, 1913. Early staff of League of Nations foreign affairs. Dutch deputy to the League of Nations, 1929. Postwar head of UN department of Netherlands Foreign Ministry. Delegate of Anti-War League to International Women's Congress, where her amendment advocating including men in peacemaking was rejected, 1915.
“We must, however, not forget the existence of the numerous peace movements all over the world, consisting of men and women together. As we are aware of the fact, that the primary necessity we want for our peace movement is concentration of forces, I think, that anyone who takes the responsibility of starting a new action for peace, must have a very good reason to do so.” (Bericht Rapport, p. 162)
Helena Knapp-Meyer born London, England August 14, 1948. American professor of peace studies; author. Co-founded Nuclear Freeze, 1980; published Dangerous Peace-Making, 2003.
"Peace must be dared. Peace is inevitable. Every war will end." (Dangerous Peace-Making, 2003; photo Evergreen State College)
Elizabeth Knight born Northfleet, Kent, England August 31, 1869 (d. 1933). Pacifist, Quaker physician and suffrage leader. Arrested for suffrage protest to Prime Minister Asquith, 1908. Twice imprisoned for tax refusal. Arrested for leading suffrage protest at Parliament, 1913. Barred from attending International Women's Peace Conference, The Hague, 1915. Treasurer, Woman’s Freedom League, which opposed World War I and advocated nonviolent tactics, 1913-33.
Kathy Kohlhas Knight born December 29, 1938. Nonviolent Catholic activist; Director of Catholic Connection, Boston; opposed Vietnam War. (photo Bryn Mawr Col)
Anneliese Knoop-Graf born Kuchenheim, Germany January 30, 1921 (d. 2009). Leader of White Rose resistance group against Hitler, 1942-43.
"Everyone is called to do something." (Blieskastel, Feb. 21, 2005; 2007 photo de.Wikipedia)
Fay Honey Knopp born Bridgeport, CT August 15, 1918 (d. 1995). Quaker minister and peace activist. Gandhian pacifist; feminist; draft counselor; prison abolitionist; sexual abuse prevention pioneer. Founded Prison Research Education Action Program (PREAP), 1976. Organized Women Strike for Peace (WSP) protest against nuclear weapons, Geneva, 1962. Led Japanese Hiroshima survivors (hibakusha) on goodwill ambassadors' tour of US, 1964. Protested Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968. WSP delegate to Paris Peace Conference on Vietnam, 1971.
"It is the heart of life to have a real meeting with another human being." (circle.fundpeace.org/HONEYKNOPP.doc; photo ATSA)
Yuri Kochiyama (née Mary Yuriko Nakahara) born San Pedro, CA May 19, 1921. Interned in US concentration camp; lobbied for reparations; nominated for Nobel Peace Prize 2005; joined Puerto Rican nationalists' takeover of Statue of Liberty 1977.
"The biggest challenge for world peace for the present and future must be to stop U.S. imperialist policies." (July 15, 2005 interview; photo wthellokitty.tumblr.com)
Naomi Kodama born Japan December 26, 1998. Organized tsunami relief donations, 2005; fundraised for Nothing But Nets against malaria; multilingual UN Champion, 2011.
"It's kind of hard to celebrate your birthday if you see a tragedy." (KSDK.com, Nov. 10, 2011; photo nothingbutnets)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
