Isabella Fyvie Mayo

Overview

Isabella Fyvie Mayo born London, England December 10, 1843 (d. 1914). Scottish novelist, poet, and suffragist. Anti-imperialist, anti-racist; pacifist; ethical anarchist; Tolstoyan, “soul-mate of Gandhi.” Co-founded Society for the Recognition of the Universal Brotherhood of Man, 1893. Protested conscription and Boer War.

Quotations

“Let not thy peace depend on the tongues of men; for whether they judge well of thee or ill, thou art not on that account other than thyself. Where are true peace and true glory? Are they not in God?” (By Still Waters, pseud. Garrett, 1883; photo geni.com)

Helena Maleno

Overview

Helena Maleno Garzón born El Ejido, Almeria, Spain August 1, 1970. Spanish journalist and human rights activist in Morocco. Founded Caminando Fronteras (“Walking Borders”) against trafficking of women, 2007, saving lives of thousands of migrants.

Quotations

“There is a war taking place at European borders. . . In this [war], there are. . . zones in which fundamental human rights have been [trampled].” (Fund for Global Human Rights, Dec. 17, 2017)

“I am calm and I am strong because I know that all I have done is defend the right to life of people who cross borders.” (Guardian, Jul. 10, 2018; photo twitter.com)

Blanche Maupas

Overview

Blanche Maupas (née Herpin) born Hudimesnil, Manche, France November 29, 1883 (d. 1962). Widow of soldier executed for refusing to attack as French artillery bombed his trenches; won 20-year fight for rehabilitation of his image. (photo actu.fr)

Selma Meyer

Overview

Sara Cato (Selma) Meyer born Amsterdam, The Netherlands July 6, 1890 (d. 1941). Dutch employment agency head; feminist; pacifist. Secretary, Pacifist Women’s League; WILPF affiliate. Aided refugees from Germany and Spanish Civil War. Co-founded National Peace Center (NVC), 1936. Joined World War II resistance; arrested, 1940. Died a prisoner, Berlin. (photo Wikipedia)

Rose Macaulay

Overview

Rose Macaulay born Rugby, England August 1, 1881 (d. 1958). Popular British author of war novels Non-Combatants and Others (1916), What Not: A Prophetic Comedy (1918); internationalist who promoted League of Nations, Mystery at Geneva (1922); sponsored Peace Pledge Union; pacifist pamphleteer.

Quotations

"You truly point out that war is only a symptom of the whole horrid business of human behavior, and cannot be isolated, and that we shall not, even if we abolish war, abolish hate and greed. So might it have been argued about slave emancipation, that slavery was but one aspect of human disgustingness, and that to abolish it would not end the barbarity that causes it. But did the abolitionists therefore waste their breath? And do we waste ours now in protesting against war?" (An Open Letter to a Non-Pacifist, p. 8, 1937; photo Spartacus Educational)

Svetlana Sotiroff MacDonald

Overview

Svetlana Sotiroff Macdonald born Geneva, Switzerland October 9, 1943. Canadian; Quaker pacifist; human rights lawyer; gay rights advocate.

Quotations

"'Love makes a family.' Whether a family is a loving and supportive place, or is a harmful place to bring up children, does not depend upon the gender of the parents." (Aug. 8, 2003, minute she quoted Feb. 1, 2005; photo MacDonald Evenden law firm ad)

Trine Pertou Mach

Overview

Trine Pertou Mach born Bredal, Denmark October 9, 1969. Danish politician; Socialist member of Parliament, 2012-15, foreign affairs committee; peace activist; expert on Middle East where she worked, 2001-06; headed international aid to poor ActionAid Denmark and TFF Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research; participant in Freedom Flotilla III for Gaza, 2015.

Quotations

“What is good for Europe mustn’t be bad for the rest of the world.” (ActionAid, Sep. 27, 2011; photo dr.dk)

Fidelma O'Kelly Macken

Overview

Fidelma O'Kelly Macken born Ireland February 28, 1942. First female judge appointed to the European Court of Justice, 1999-2004; Irish Supreme Court justice, 2005-12.

Chrystal Macmillan

Overview

Chrystal Macmillan born Edinburgh, Scotland June 13, 1887 (d. 1937). Internationalist barrister and suffragist; WILPF founding member 1915; one of women envoys to heads of state to stop war: drafted Women's Manifesto against war 1914.

Quotations

"We women of the world. . . appeal to you. . . to avert deluging half the civilized world in blood." ("Women's Manifesto for Peace", July 14, 1914; photo Wikipedia)

Mairead Maguire

Overview

Mairead Corrigan Maguire born Belfast, Northern Ireland January 27, 1944. Shared Nobel Peace Prize with Betty Williams for efforts of organization Women for Peace towards Irish reconciliation, 1976. Injured in protest against Israel's separation wall, 2007.

Quotations

"We must never doubt the power of nonviolence, which is the power of love in action." (Milan, Sept. 5, 2004; photo http://bit.ly/ctjwUy)

Anna Mahé

Overview

Anna Mahé born Bourgneuf-en-Retz, Lower Loire, France July 31, 1882 (d. 1960). French teacher and spelling reformer; imprisoned for article by an “antimilitarist mother’ 1910, but acquitted of crime; founder and managing editor of radical anarchist paper “l’anarchie” 1905-14.

Quotations

"Let us dismantle the pedagogy which is made to make slaves. Let us build a pedagogy that suits the brains of men." (l’anarchie, 1905)

Alice Mahon

Overview

Alice Mahon born Halifax, England September 28, 1937. Represented Labour Party as Member of Parliament, 1987-2005. Headed Committee for Peace in the Balkans, 1993; stood against NATO’s Kosovo bombing. Opposed Bush’s nuclear threat; opposed Iraq War, exposing US use of white phosphorus.

Quotations

"The lunatics have taken over the White House." (UK Mirror, March 11, 2002)

"[T]he invasion and occupation of Iraq have increased the risk of terrorism and made the world a more dangerous place." (trinicenter, November 21, 2003; photo BBC news)

Germaine Malaterre-Sellier

Overview

Germaine Malaterre-Sellier born Paris, France May 21, 1889 (d. 1967). French feminist and suffrage leader. As World War I nurse, carried on in spite of own injuries. Vice-President, Women’s Union for the League of Nations (UFSDN); Vice-President, International League for Moral Disarmament by Women; President of peace section, National Council of French Women. Member of Universal Peace Convocation. Chaired Peace Committee of International Council of Women. Supported World War II resistance.

Quotations

“Women who have given life must always have a horror of war.” (Leila Rupp, “Constructing Internationalism” AHR 1583; photo musea univ-angers.fr)

Judith Malina

Overview

Judith Malina born Kiel, Germany June 4, 1926. American pioneer in political theater; leader of "the beautiful non-violent anarchist revolution"; anarchist pacifist; arrested many times: 30 days in jail with Dorothy Day for anti-bomb protest 1958; active in War Resisters League and Women Strike for Peace; founded Living Theater 1947; "Paradise Now" 1968; anti-conscription "Not in My Name"; refused taxes for Vietnam.

Quotations

"I demand. . . total love, an end to all forms of violence. . . I demand it now!" (Arthur Marwick, The Sixties; photo rottentomatoes.com)

Edda Manga

Overview

Edda Manga Otalora born Bogota, Colombia September 11, 1969. Swedish historian; peace activist; anti-militarist; imprisoned in Gaza Freedom Flotilla 2010 when 9 were killed.

Quotations

“This was an attack in international waters by an unauthorized military force that attacked a peaceful humanitarian mission.” (Swedish News, Jun. 3, 2010)

“Just war has provided and still provides the legal basis for global power relations constructed on the differentiation of the global population.” (“Colonialism and Just War”, 2008; photo goteborgsfria.se)

Erika Mann

Overview

Erika Mann born Munich, Bavaria, Germany November 9, 1905 (d. 1969). German actress and writer; pacifist organizer and speaker. Chaired women’s peace conference, Munich, 1932. Won lawsuit against Nazi newspaper for calling her “a flatfooted peace hyena.” Exiled, 1933; opposed drift to war, 1937.

Quotations

“Now that freedom has vanished in so many places and peace is threatened from so many sides, the words peace and freedom have regained their radiance. The present demands from us a masterful love of peace.” (Vassar Misc. News, April 24, 1937; photo listal.com)

Elisabeth Mann Borgese

Overview

Elisabeth Mann Borgese born Münich, Germany April 24, 1918 (d. 2002). American-Canadian maritime law expert. Promoted Pacem in Maribus ("Peace in the Sea") conferences, 1970, leading to UN Law of the Sea Convention, 1982.

Quotations

"A thousand years is a short time when one thinks of the oceans. Humankind may still be on the path of slow but inexorable decline. If you asked about ten thousand years or a hundred thousand years from now I would envisage pacem in maribus, oceans of peace—without humans. Oceans would adjust to new climates and new species." (letter, Ideas for a Better World, Robert Muller, idea 3127; 1938 photo stanford.edu)

Rosa Manus

Overview

Rosa Manus born Amsterdam August 20, 1881 (d. 1943). Dutch feminist and pacifist; co-founded WILPF 1915; archivist founded IAV International Archive of Women 1935; visited women Latin America with Carrie Chapman Catt 1921-3; deported and died in Nazi concentration camp Ravensbrück.

Quotations

"Not even in Holland and maybe not anywhere in the world we shall ever be safe." (Leila Rupp, Worlds of Women, p. 59, 1997; photo historici.nl)

Margaret of Austria

Overview

Margaret of Austria born Brussels, Belgium January 10, 1480 (d. 1530). Regent of the Netherlands; poet and patron of arts and architecture; negotiated the Treaty of Cambrai, called the "Peace of the Ladies," with Louise of Savoy, 1529.

Quotations

"Here gentle Margot quietly is laid, Who had two husbands, and yet died a maid." (Epitaph, Bourg-en-Bresse, France; Coninxloo port. c. 1500, Wikipedia)

Maria of Castille

Overview

Maria of Castile (née Maria de Trastámara) born Segovia, Castile, Spain September 1, 1401 (d. 1458). Queen of Aragon. Peacemaker Regent of Aragon, 1420-23, 1432-58. Stopped battle by pitching tent in battlefield, 1428. Negotiated five-year truce between Castile and Catalonia, 1429.

Quotations

“[I]t was the thing we most desire in the world after the peace with Castile.” (Tortosa, 1434, Barcelona Univ. “La practica della pace”; portrait Wikipedia)