Elizabeth Maria Molteno

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Overview

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Elizabeth Maria Molteno born Beaufort West, Cape Colony, South Africa September 24, 1852 (d. 1927). South African educator, suffragist and feminist; strong public opponent of Boer War; friend of Gandhi, who called her "peacemaker", aiding his satyagraha campaign; friend of Olive Schreiner; supported conscientious objection in World War I; opposed racial segregation.

Quotations

"Open your hearts—your souls—to your brethren of colour." (Indian Opinion, Jan. 7, 1914; photo Wikipedia)

Biserka Momcinovic

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Overview

Biserka "Biba" Momcinovic born Zagreb, Yugoslavia December 9, 1946. Croatian peacemaker. Signed Antiwar Campaign Charter declaration affirming that, despite cultural differences, people can work together, 1991; actively intervened to protect Serbs from Croatian actions in Balkan war; organized two anti-war protests against Iraq war in Enough of Wars campaign. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

Quotations

"Peacebuilding is the first prerequisite for development, along with respect for human rights." (quote and photo World People's Blog)

Patricia Monaghan

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Overview

Patricia Monaghan born Brooklyn, NY February 15, 1946 (d. 2012). Quaker poet, author, spiritual activist; professor.

Quotations

“[W]ar's hold on humanity is very deep, because if we were acting rationally we would certainly never be talking about using nuclear weapons. War excites people. Killing people is exciting and powerful. Unless and until we can begin to deal with the addictive process of war, we'll never stop going to war.” (Elizabeth Glixman interview, E bookreviews, July/Aug.2006)

“To make peace among oursekves, we must make peace within, embrace our varied heritages: the hated and the loved, the rejected and the cherished.” (The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog, p. 132; photo patricia.momaghan.com)

Vicki M. R. Monague

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Overview

Vicki M. R. Monague (spirit name Mzhakdo Kwe) born Midland, Ontario, Canada March 24, 1981. Canadian Beausoleil First Nation environmental activist. Spearheaded effort to prevent building of proposed landfill over Alliston aquifer, 2009. Protested nuclear shipment on Great Lakes, 2011. Led 17-day, 822-kilometer Water Walk around Georgian Bay, 2013. Opposed nuclear dump, Lake Huron, 2015.

Quotations

“For hundreds of years the Great Mother has given us life from the smallest insects to the biggest animals and trees. We need to honour her for what she has given us. . . We need to ensure the water is here for future generations. Everyone has a role to play and it’s not too late to make a connection.” (June 25, 2013, Anishinabek News)

"I won't back down no matter what they do to me and I will come back stronger to fight this atrocity." (on arrest, Aug. 7, 2009, Barrie Examiner; photo youtube.com)

Simonne Monet-Chartrand

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Overview

Simonne Monet-Chartrand born Montreal, Canada November 4, 1919 (d. 1993). Canadian peace leader; feminist; social reformer; opposed Second World War, Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War and Gulf War. Co-founded pacifist organization La Voix des Femmes, 1960; organized peace train, Ottawa, 1962; co-founded Movement for Nuclear Disarmament. Published Hope and the Challenge of Peace, 1988.

Quotations

On being called a fanatic: "Christ was a fanatic and that anybody who ever accomplished anything for his country was a fanatic." (Ottawa Citizen, Nov. 2, 1979, p. 20; photo literature.org)

Gertrude Mongella

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Overview

Gertrude Mongella born Ukerewe Island, Lake Victoria, Tanzania September 13, 1945. Secretary General of UN Conference on Women, Beijing 1995; UN Undersecretary for women 1995-6; diplomat High Commissioner to India 1991-2; first President Pan-African Parliament 2004-9; cabinet minister 1985-90, educator.

Quotations

"Women will change the world when they lead it, but they will change it with men as their partners." (D. B. Rao, Status of World’s Women, p. 7, 1999; photo bongocelebrity.com)

Patricia Montandon

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Overview

Patricia Montandon (née Clay) born Merkel, TX December 26, 1928. Peace activist; founded Children as the Peacemakers, 1982; Banner of Hope for children killed in war; opposed Gulf War and nuclear warfare. 

Quotations

"These children represent thousands of others like your children and grandchildren who want to grow up in peace." (Oh, The Hell of It, p. 137)

Dora Montefiore

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Overview

Dora Montefiore (née Dorothy Fuller) born Tooting, London December 20, 1851 (d. 1933). British feminist; Socialist leader. Actively opposed World War I, advocating general strike against war, and hiding to avoid arrest; refused taxes in Boer War and suffrage protest, 1906; barricaded house against collectors, who sold her possessions; arrested for suffrage protest in House of Commons, 1906. Edited Australian newspaper opposing conscription, 1911; arrested for kidnapping in her rescue of 300 starving Irish children, Dublin, 1912.

Quotations

"I had already, during the Boer War, refused willingly to pay income tax, because payment of such tax went towards financing a war in the making of which I had had no voice." (From a Victorian to a Modern, 1927; photo Wikipedia)

Maria Montessori

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Overview

Maria Montessori born Chiaravalle, Ancona, Italy August 31, 1870 (d. 1952). Pioneer in peace education and research; lifelong opponent of war and militarism, promoted League of Nations and UNESCO; first Italian woman doctor 1896.

Quotations

"Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war."

"True peace. . . suggests the triumph of justice and love." (Peace & Education, p. 7, 1943; 1913 photo Wikipedia)

Eleanor May Moore

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Overview

Eleanor May Moore born Victoria, Australia March 10, 1875 (d. 1949). Pacifist; WILPF leader. Founding member and international secretary of Sisterhood of International Peace, 1915; author of The Quest for Peace, 1949. Opposed WWI conscription and the atomic bomb.

Quotations

On sisterhood: "[B]y every means in their power to bring the humanising influence of women to bear on the abolition of war, and the substitution of international justice and arbitration for irrational methods of violence." (Australian Women's Register, WILPF; 1927 photo Australia.gov)

Mandy Moore

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Overview

Mandy Moore born Nashua, NH April 10, 1984. Singer/songwriter; actress. UN Goodwill Ambassador against malaria; led campaign to get mosquito nets in Africa.

Quotations

"The fact that thousands of people around the country came together so quickly to help protect families on the other side of the world is overwhelming, and so inspiring." (Nothing but Nets campaign, Jan. 24, 2011; photo Wikipedia)

Queen Mother Moore

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Overview

Queen Mother Moore (née Audley Moore) born New Iberia, LA July 27, 1898 (d. 1996). "Queen Mother" of 1972 All African Women’s Conference, Dar es Salaam; radical civil rights leader and humanitarian; President World Federation of African People; founding president Universal Association of Ethiopian Women; petitioned UN 1957 for reparation for slavery 1963; arrested many times for anti-racial protests.

Quotations

"Those who seek temporary security rather than basic liberty deserve neither." (Black History Pages)

"You have to enjoy struggle, you have to make it fun." (Tony Menelik Van Der Meer, http://bit.ly/1srjUPU; photo readthinkteach.com)

Caroline Moorehead

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Overview

Caroline Moorehead born London, England October 28, 1944. British human rights journalist and author. Chronicled tales of pacifists and war resisters in Troublesome People: The Warriors of Pacifism, 1987; wrote biographies of Bertrand Russell and Martha Gellhorn; told the stories of Magda Trocmé of Chambon and French women resisters.

Quotations

"There is a stubbornness, and obduracy about pacifism that can be infuriating; it can also be heroic, admirable." (Troublesome People; photo World People's Blog)

Denise Moran

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Overview

Denise Moran Savineau born Paris, France September 11, 1885 (d. after 1946). Journalist. French critic of colonial treatment of women based on experience as administrator (Tchad, 1934; official report, 1938). Ran forum of World Committee of Women against War and Fascism, 1935. Active in Resistance to Nazi violence.

Quotations

“We recognize customs which are most opposed, and try to let them evolve, protecting the individual on one hand, and assuring the maintenance of the family on the other. . . it’s an imbroglio—At least we should avoid it, as far as we are concerned: Specify our aim, to define family authority and individual freedom, to achieve a balance.” (Report on the condition of the family in French West Africa, and condition of women, Cahiers d’Etudes Africaines, pp. 187-88, n. 44; photo of her book Tchad)

Elsa Morante

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Overview

Elsa Morante born Rome, Italy August 18, 1912 (d. 1985). Author. Published her essay “For and Against the Atom Bomb”, 1965. Wrote stage musical “The World Saved by Children”, 1968. Contrasted the horrors of war as she experienced the underground in World War II with world history in History: A Novel, 1974.

Quotations

“The United States proceeds with its escalation against Vietnam, in which the strategy of total war is followed, with three alls (kill all, burn all, destroy all).” (History, p.734; photo celeb-true.com)

Hannah More

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Overview

Hannah More born Bristol, England February 2, 1745 (d. 1833). Proto-feminist English playwright. First female abolitionist; member of Clapham Sect, an organization for social reform.

Quotations

"The means may differ, but the end's the same; Conquest is pillage with a nobler name." ("Slavery", 1788)

"Love never reasons, but profusely gives; it gives like a thoughtless prodigal its all, and then trembles least it has done too little." (Percy, 1777; 1821 portrait by Pickersgill, Wikipedia)