Marie-Hélène Lefaucheux (née Postel-Vinay) born Paris, France February 26, 1904 (d. 1964). Leader of women's resistance movement against Hitler; only French woman delegate to the first General Assembly of the UN, 1946-59. Helped create the UN commission on women, and served as chair, 1948-53.
Vera Lengsfeld born Sondershausen, Thuringia, Germany May 4, 1952. Civil rights activist; politician. As peacemaker, co-founded Pankow Peace Circle, a nonviolent resistance organization opposed to the East German regime, 1981. Expelled from Socialist Unity Party for protesting the housing of Soviet nuclear warheads in East Germany. Arrested and detained by the Stasi for carrying sign quoting East German constitution ("Every citizen has the right to express his opinion freely and openly"), 1988; deported for one year. 15-year member of Reichstag, 1990-2005. Awarded Aachen Peace Prize, 1990. Protested the Gulf War, 1991.
Annie Lennox born Aberdeen, Scotland December 25, 1952. Pop singer; led anti-HIV campaign; protested Gaza War, 2009; petitioned for human rights in Burma.
"Ask yourself: Have you been kind today? Make kindness your daily modus operandi and change your world." (http://bit.ly/Ugbrhd; 2010 photo wikicommons pd)
Muriel Lester born Leytonstone, Essex, England December 9, 1893 (d. 1968). "Mother of World Peace"; pacifist writer and lecturer; Socialist; settlement worker. Opposed World Wars I & II as early member of Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1914; friend of Gandhi; interned by British in Trinidad, repatriated to Holloway prison in England, 1941.
"The job of the peacemaker is to stop war." (1951, Richard Deats; photo levellers.wordpress)
Denise Levertov born Ilford, Essex, England October 24, 1923. Poet; anti-Vietnam War; compiled and edited antiwar poetry anthology Out of the War Shadow, 1967.
showing forth
the human power
not to kill, to choose
not to kill. . .
for the continuing act of
nonviolence, of passionate
reverence, active love.
(conclusion of "What it Could Be"; photo: arlindo-correia.com)
Patricia Lewis born April 11, 1957. Irish-British nuclear physicist. Executive Director, Verification Technology Information Centre (VERTIC), London, 1987-97; head of UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDR), 1997-2008. Blix Commission on Proliferation, 2004-06; Center for Nonproliferation Studies Monterey Institute of International Studies, 2008-12.
“[W]e can prevent man-made deaths in the 21st century. . . [willingness to use ] is the essence of nuclear deterrence; it no longer exists, if it ever did. We can say the same thing to war. Why can’t we look to abolish war?” (International Ecumenical Peace Convo, Kingston, 2013; photo chathamhouse.org)
Sabine Lichtenfels (née Kleinhammes) born Münster, Germany December 27, 1954. Theologian and peace activist. Conducted social experiment in peace community building, Herrenberg, Baden, 1983-86. Co-founded nonviolent Tamera Peace Research Village, Alentejo, Portugal, 1995. Led 50 people on peace pilgrimage to Palestine, 2005, and to Colombia, 2010. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.
“If we want to see a nonviolent Earth, we have to bring together the peace knowledge which is created and collected in many places on the globe for the construction of tangible peace models. The necessary globalization of peace can happen if young people worldwide can learn to build community, to resolve conflicts, and to offer nonviolent resistance successfully.” (The Global Campus// Creating Peace Knowledge for the Future; photo sabine-lichtenfels.com)
Sara Lidman born Missenträsk, Sweden December 30, 1923 (d. 2004). Swedish novelist. Visited Hanoi in protest of Vietnam War. Early critic of apartheid; arrested in Johannesburg, Feb. 1961. Endorsed Russell War Crimes Tribunal, 1966. Opposed Iraq War and nuclear weapons.
“There are villains in this world. But also wonderful people. If you meet one last of the kind, it will last a lifetime.” (Your Servant Hear, 1977; 1960 photo wikicommons)
Jutta Limbach born Berlin, Germany March 27, 1934. Democratic Socialist jurist and law professor. First female president of German Federal Court, 1994-2002; argued for rights of minorities.
“To change the world in the spirit of human rights, we must dream more deeply and be more awake in our actions. The commitment to the inviolability of human dignity in our Basic Law is the normative idea that will challenge us to do so.” (speech at Canadian Embassy, Aug. 3, 2005; photo Wikipedia)
Astrid Ericsson Lindgren born Vimmerly, Sweden November 14, 1907 (d. 2000). Swedish nonviolent author.
"If I have given one single gloomy childhood a silver lining, then I have done something with my life after all." (Acceptance speech, Nov. 12, 1994; photo c. 1960 wiki.pd)
Anna Lindh born Enskede, Sweden June 19, 1957 (assassinated 2003). Swedish Foreign Minister 1998-2003, pushed European unity; opposed Iraq War and Israeli policy toward Palestinians; peacemaker in Macedonian crisis 2001; she had been active opponent of Vietnam War, Apartheid and arms race.
"Poverty does not make people terrorists, but terrorists can exploit the frustration it creates and use it as a breeding ground for violent ideas." (Helsinki, Dec. 4, 2002)
Anna Lindhagen born Stockholm, Sweden April 7, 1870 (d. 1941). Swedish Social Democrat politician, social reformer, suffragist; founded Sweden's Women's Peace Society 1898; delegate to founding of WILPF; active in Save the Children working with refugees after World War I; pioneer in urban gardening.
"We need more justice and beauty in the world, greater organization and justice in the workplace. Only that is worth striving for." (Carlson plaque Stockholm; photo Wikipedia)
Evelin Lindner born Hameln, Lower Saxony, Germany May 13, 1954. “Global citizen.” Norwegian psychologist and peace advocate; MD, PhD. Leader in humiliation studies; founded Better Global Understanding, 1993. Published Making Enemies: Humiliation and International Conflict, 2006.
“The world is shrinking and more people are coming to realize that we're one family who must jointly take care of this planet.” (interview, SIETAR Japan Newsletter, Fall 2006, p. 26; photo Wikipedia)
Barbara Lochbihler born Obergünzburg, Bavaria, Germany May 20, 1959. Peace activist. WILPF Secretary General, 1992; head of Amnesty International Germany, 1999-2009; member of European Parliament, representing Green Party, 2009-present. Organized WILPF Women's Peace Train from Helsinki to Beijing, 1995. Criticized war in Chechnya.
"[O]vercoming poverty and exclusion remains the fundamental challenge in our struggle for human rights and sustainable peace." (“A Forward-Looking Retrospective”, Listening to Women For a Change, p. 9; photo peoplecheck.de)
Ellen Margrethe Løj born Godesby, Denmark October 17, 1948. Danish peacemaker; delegate to UN, 2001-7; ambassador to Israel, 1987-92; UN Special Representative to Liberia, 2007.
"The core message of that landmark text 1325: sustainable peace is possible only with women's full participation, their perspectives, their leadership, their daily, equal presence and whatever is needed to make and keep the peace." (June 9, 2010, Global Open Day for Women & Peace, Monrovia Informer; photo EU at UN)
Mary Anna Longstreth born Philadelphia, PA February 9, 1811 (d. 1884). Quaker absolute pacifist headmistress who founded Quaker girl's school Philadelphia 1829 at age 18; ran it until 1877; promoted Hampton Academy for Indians and Blacks; co-founded world’s first Women's Medical College Philadelphia 1850.
"I thought it right to impress upon my students the duty of considering the poor, relieving the distressed, and instructing the ignorant. . ." (quote and photo, Memoir, frontispiece, p. 182, 1886)
Kathleen Lonsdale (née Yardley) born Newbridge, Ireland January 28, 1903 (d. 1971). Eminent physicist; Quaker; president of WILPF and Pugwash Conference; led peace mission to USSR, 1951.
"To love one's neighbor as one's self is the only practical politics; it is, indeed, a condition of survival." ("Removing the Causes of War", p. 56; 1928 photo Wikipedia)
Marie Lous-Mohr born Mandal, Norway February 19, 1892 (d. 1973). Norwegian nonviolent resister; International President of WILPF, 1952-56. Spent two years in Nazi concentration camp for disobeying Nazi teaching instructions.
“We have learned that no sacrifice is too great or great enough in building an enduring peace.” (July 1945, Dalecarlia, Sweden WILPF meeting, in Randall, Improper Bostonian, p. 417; photo http://bit.ly/JpMziR)
Margaret Bright Lucas born Rochdale, Lancashire, England July 18, 1818 (d. 1890). Quaker absolute pacifist, suffragist, and temperance leader. First president of World’s Women Christian Temperance Union, 1885. President, Women’s Peace and Arbitration Association. Vice-president of Peace Society.
“In politics, my principle is that women should work for women until they receive justice.” (May W. Sewell, Congress of Representative Women, 1894, p. 400; photo congregationallibrary)
Sylvie Lucas born Luxembourg June 30, 1965. As president of UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), dealt with global financial crisis and peacebuilding, 2009.
"The Council is in a unique position to forge closer ties among all relevant actors, so as to maximize the UN’s potential to serve the needs of humanity." (Jan. 15, 2009; photo UN)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
