Betita Martinez

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Overview

Elizabeth "Betita" Martínez born Washington, DC December 12, 1925. Radical Chicana leader and author; opposed US intervention in Central America; opposed "humanitarian" bombings of Kosovo and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the first UN employees, working under Ralph Bunche on the UN's successful decolonization, 1946-50. Headed New York office of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); took part in SNCC's Freedom Summer, Mississippi, 1964; first Chicana to visit North Vietnam. Peace and Freedom Party candidate for California governor, 1982; co-founded Institute for MultiRacial Justice, 1997; Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

Quotations

"[B]uilding a multi-racial, multi-national, multi-lingual, multi-class movement is our best hope...for preventing illegal and inhuman assaults on the world's most vulnerable people. For holding back the most powerful, most frightening empire ever seen. For transforming society into a world of peace with justice for all living creatures." ("Why 'Anti-War' has to be 'Anti-Racist' too," Z Magazine, in Colours of Resistance Archive; photo Latinopia.com)

Nela Martinez

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Overview

Nela Martínez Espinoza born Colloctor, Cañar, Ecuador November 24, 1912 (d. 2004). Defender of international human rights. Co-founded Alianza Femenina Ecuatoriana (Ecuadorian Women's Alliance), 1937. Communist leader of Glorious May Revolution, overthrowing dictator Carlos Arroyo del Rio, 1944. First woman in Ecuadorian parliament, 1944-45. Joined World Council for Peace, Paris, 1949. Co-founded Frente Continental de Mujeres por la Paz y Contra la Intervención (Women's Continental Front for Peace and Against Intervention), 1984. Opposed nuclear weapons. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

Quotations

“Quito was taken by the people without even a single violent action. I was moved by the presence of the women who were there day and night with their children, carrying them on their backs or holding them by their hands. That powerful symbol was enough to enable us to liberate those persecuted and confined as political prisoners. It was not necessary to resort to repression to gain peace.” (Peace Women Across the Globe: Martinez; photo fotosimagines)

Alice Masaryk

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Overview

Alice Masaryk born Vienna, Austria May 3, 1879 (d. 1966). Czech humanitarian, sociologist; founded first national social work school 1928; “First Lady of Czechosovakia” 1922-35; nurse in WWI, of which she disapproved; imprisoned Vienna 9 months for treason, as daughter of Thomas Masaryk (first Czech President); first President Czech Red Cross 1919; exiled 1939-45, 1949ff.

Quotations

“Forget, for an instant, to think of yourself in order to find your real self in thinking of others.” (to Red Cross, July 15, 1921, Ruth Mitchell bio, p. 119; photo radio praha)

Emma Mashinini

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Overview

Emma Thandi Mashinini born Rosettenville, Johannesburg, South Africa August 21, 1929. Headed South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission 1986; union leader arrested 1981 held 6 months solitary; president of Mediation and Conciliation Centre Johannesburg.

Quotations

"I have always resented being dominated. I resent being dominated by a man, and I resent being dominated by white people. . . It is just trying to say, 'I am human. I exist. I am a complete person.'" (Strikes Have Followed Me All My Life, p. 24, 1993; photo panmacmillan.com)

Rebecca Masika Katsuva

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Overview

Rebecca Masika Katsuva born Democratic Republic of Congo May 26, 1966 (d. 2016). “Mama Masika.” Victim of multiple wartime rapes; set up refuges for rape victims, South Kivu.

Quotations

“I decided that I had to do something empowering for myself and for other women. To help women move from the state they are in today and reconnect with the women they were before. We wanted to show them that just because they have been raped, this is not the end. They can start again like me. Despite everything I went through, I am still standing and they can do it as well.” (Oct. 10, 2013, 7th Front Line Defenders Dublin Platform; photo frontlinedefenders)

Caroline Atwater Mason

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Overview

Caroline Atwater Mason born Providence, RI July 10, 1853 (d. 1939). Prolific author; raised a Quaker; lifelong pacifist who opposed World War I.

Quotations

"[T]oday the greatest war of history is being waged with a total disregard to human life and a ferocity unparalleled in the annals of war; nations seem to have returned to primitive barbarism."

"For love in the end and not hate shall prevail." (World Missions and World Peace, pp. 2, 261, 1916) Photo umn.edu)

Yayori Matsui

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Overview

Yayori Matsui born Kyoto, Japan April 12, 1934 (d. 2002). Japanese journalist and women’s rights activist. Founded Asian Women in Solidarity, opposing sex tourism, 1976. Founded Violence Against Women in War Network, 1998. Sponsored Women's International War Crimes Trial, Tokyo, 2000. At the time of her death, involved in planning for Women’s Museum of War and Peace, Tokyo, opened 2005.

Quotations

“The only answer to globalisation is the globalisation of solidarity.” (Nikita Desai, “Dynamics of Dissent”, Purdue thesis, 2007, p. 102; photo Wikipedia)

Muriel Matters

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Overview

Muriel Matters born Bowden, Adelaide, Australia November 12, 1877 (d. 1969). British militant suffragist; international speaker; actress and Montessori teacher. Organized English suffrage caravan, 1908. Imprisoned one month for chaining herself to ladies’ grille in parliament, 1908. Distributed pamphlet “Votes for Women” via balloon, 1909. Spoke against WWI with her speech “The False Mysticism of War”, 1915.

Quotations

“Love of humanity at large does not involve a denial of love to those nearest to us. Love international does not involve a denial of patriotism but really secures it. Some of us are convinced that humanity is above nationality.”

“Thus love is the liberator, war the enslaver.” (June 30, 1915; photo Muriel Matters Society)

Elizabeth May

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Overview

Elizabeth May born Hartford, CT June 9, 1954. Canadian environmental activist lawyer. Founded anti-nuclear Small Party, 1980; sued to prevent government application of Agent Orange, 1982; founded Sierra Club of Canada, 1989. Leader of Green Party, 2006; first Green Party member of Parliament, 2011.

Quotations

"We will raise holy hell!" (against nuclear power, Sept. 2005; photo Wikipedia)

May Sabe Phyu

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Overview

May Sabe Phyu born Yangon, Burma August 5, 1976. Kachin peace leader. Founded Kachin Peace Network, 2012; Director, Gender Equality Network. Arrested and acquitted for peace protests.

Quotations

“To me, peace is equality and justice. If there is no equality and justice, there will not be peace. When I say equality, it’s across everything—it’s across women and men, it’s ethnic and religious differences, it’s across nationality—if we are able to live equally in our society with fairness and justice, this is what we call a peaceful society.” (interview, Nov. 17, 2014, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security; photo awiu)

Judith Ann Mayotte

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Overview

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Judith Ann Mayotte (née Moberly) born Wichita, KS January 25, 1937. American humanitarian leader; former nun and theology professor. Special Adviser to US State Department on Refugees, 1994; Chair, Women’s Refugee Commission. Lost a leg from sack of grain dropped from plane, South Sudan, 1993. Received World Citizenship Award of Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, 2009.

Quotations

"I have walked in so many war zones and so many refugee situations. I hope never again to see someone freshly blown up by a land mine. What I have seen. . . there has to be a way for that not to happen.” (Disposable People?: The Plight of Refugees, 1992)

"Conflict is part of life. How do you prevent conflict from tipping over into violence?"

"We've got to deal with preventive action, and to make prevention a cornerstone of our foreign policy. If we don't, we're going to have one refugee crisis after another." (Johns Hopkins Magazine, April 1997; photo It’s Ethics Stupid)

Marie Mayoux

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Overview

Marie Mayoux (née Josephine Bourgon), Lesterps, Cherente, France April 24, 1878 (d. 1969). French Socialist internationalist and anarcho-syndicalist teacher's union organizer. Began first pacifist opposition to World War I; she and husband tried for inciting desertions, 1917, sentenced to 6 months prison, increased to two years on appeal.

Quotations

"Enough Blood!" (manifesto, July 1, 1917; photo ephemanar.net)

Rosa Obermayer Mayreder

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Overview

Rosa Obermayer Mayreder born Vienna, Austria November 30, 1858 (d. 1938). Feminist; musician and artist; opposed World War I; first chairperson of WILPF, 1919.

Quotations

"General military service, as it exists on the continent of Europe, is the worst form of slavery with which a free humanity has ever been burdened. Through it, all men become the bondmen of their State." (Survey of the Woman Problem, 1913, p. 102; photo Ariadne Projekt)

Mary McAleese

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Overview

Mary McAleese (née Leneghan) born Ardoyne, Belfast, Northern Ireland June 27, 1957. Second woman president of Ireland, 1997, who made her goal "Building Bridges" to create peace.

Quotations

"My own vision is a global vision—one of reconciliation of all classes and creeds—nonetheless, I know those words are meaningless unless we work one heart at a time." (Kennedy School Bulletin Archives, Spring 1999; photo Wikipedia)

Elizabeth McAlister

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Overview

Elizabeth McAlister born Orange, NJ November 17, 1939. Leader of Vietnam War opposition; opposed all subsequent wars (Central America, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan); 25 years Good Friday vigil at Pentagon; Catholic nun; wife of Philip Berrigan; co-founder of Jonah House Baltimore, 1973; activist, Plowshares nonviolent movement against nuclear weapons. Arrested many times; imprisoned for 3 years, 1983.

Quotations

"I don't believe there is a better way to live than this life of nonviolent civil resistance." (Am. Univ., Jan. 22, 2000; Jim Haber photo nukeresister.org)

Carolyn McAskie

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Overview

Carolyn McAskie born Glasgow, Scotland December 15, 1946. Diplomat. Canadian diplomat, High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and Maldives, 1986-89. Emergency Relief Coordinator, 1999-2001; UN Humanitarian Envoy for humanitarian crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, 2003. Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, 1999-2004; led UN Peacekeeping Burundi, 2004-06. UN Assistant Secretary General for Peacebuilding, heading new UN Peacebuilding Commission, 2006-08.

Quotations

“Peace talks are nearly always amongst those who fought the war, whereas they should be among those who will build the peace, the peacebuilders; and women are an important component of that. Women also need to be represented in post-conflict planning and governance to make sure that women's issues are addressed. The basic concept here is that if women aren't at the table, the chances of their issues being addressed are very low.” (quote and photo SGI Quarterly, Jan. 2011)

Jewell Jackson McCabe

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Overview

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Jewell Jackson McCabe born August 2, 1945 Washington DC. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizer for Northeast US; founder and first President of National Coalition of 100 Black Women 1981.

Quotations

"[B]ehind every great effort and achievement in society goes a Black woman or a group of Black women being unrecognized." (New York Times, Oct. 26, 1981; photo dom.com)

Mary Ann McClintock

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Overview

Mary Ann McClintock (née Wilson) born Philadelphia, PA March 28, 1822 (d. 1884). Quaker nonviolent resister. Co-founded Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, 1833. Along with Jane Hunt, Lucretia Mott, Martha Coffin Wright, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, organized Seneca Falls Convention, 1848. Helped draft Declaration of Sentiments later signed at Seneca Falls Convention.

Quotations

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal. . . ” (Declaration of Sentiments; photo amazon.com)