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)

Elizabeth Pauline MacCallum

/

Overview

Elizabeth Pauline MacCallum born Marash, Turkey June 20, 1895 (d. 1985). First Canadian woman head of mission, Beirut 1954; Middle East expert; specialist at San Francisco conference on founding of UN and partition of Palestine; foresaw Kurdish discontent, and long conflict in Palestine.

Quotations

"The claims of the Jews were honourable and understandable. But weren't the claims of the Arabs just as honourable and understandable?" (1920s Foreign Policy Association study in Margaret Weiers, Envoys Extraordinary, p. 38, 1995; photo international.gc.ca)

Flora MacDonald

/

Overview

Flora Isabel MacDonald born North Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada June 3, 1926 (d. 2003). First woman Foreign Minister of Canada 1979; Pearson Medal of Peace 1999; President World Federalists of Canada; Chair International Development Research Centre 1992; Carnegie Commission on the Prevention of Deadly Conflict (1994-1999).

Quotations

"We must make a quantum leap in our ability and determination to prevent the deadliest forms of conflict because they are likely to become much more dangerous in the next several decades." (Exec. Summary of Carnegie Report, p. xlv; photo Parliament of Canada)

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

10.09 mach crop.jpg

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)

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)

Agnes Macphail

/

Overview

Agnes Macphail born Ontario, Canada March 24, 1890 (d. 1954). Pacifist politician; journalist. First female member of Canadian Parliament, 1921-40; first female member of League of Nations Disarmament Committee, 1929. Opposed World War I conscription.

Quotations

“The misery of being under observation and being unduly criticized is what I remember most.” (Judy LaMarsh, Memoirs of a Bird in a Gilded Cage, 1968; photo Wikipedia)

Marion Adams Macpherson

/

Overview

Marion Adams Macpherson born Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada May 16, 1924. Canadian ambassador to UN, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Denmark; first career woman diplomat, 1947. Active in Canadian leadership in UN peacekeeping, admission of China to UN, and Namibian independence.

Quotations

On her experiences at the UN, dealing with the Suez crisis, Cyprus war, and Rhodesian secession: "We worked very hard. I think probably that [my work at the UN] was the most fascinating five years, the most interesting work."

Joanna Macy

/

Overview

Joanna Rogers Macy born Los Angeles, CA May 2, 1929. Anti-nuclear activist; Buddhist scholar; expert on Gandhian development program. Peace Corps volunteer in India, Tunisia, and Nigeria, 1964-66.

Quotations

"For some of us, our love for the world is so passionate that we cannot ask it to wait until we are enlightened." ("Exploring Our Interconnectedness", In Context #34, p. 22, Winter 1993)

"There comes a time when all life on Earth is in danger. . . two powers have spent their wealth in preparations to annihilate each other, they have much in common: weapons of unfathomable destructive power, and technologies that lay waste our world. . . Now the time comes when great courage—moral and physical—is required. . . These weapons are. . . made by the human mind, they can be unmade by the human mind. . . They arise from our own decisions, our own lifestyles, and our own relationships. . . The weapons are compassion and insight. . . They are gifts for us to claim now in the healing of our world." (prophecy of Choegyal Rinpoche in "World as Lover; World as Self"; photo greatthoughtstreasury.com)

Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge

/

Overview

Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge born Magog, KwaZulu June 29, 1952. Quaker pacifist, negotiated end of Apartheid and new constitution; Dep. Minister of Defence 1999-2004 using army for peacekeeping in Africa; fired as Dep. Minister of Health 2007 after calling AIDS policy a disaster.

Quotations

"Women must be at the peace table. . . While wars do indeed begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men and women that the defences of peace must be constructed." (July 20, 2004: photo quakersintheworld.org)

Carmen Magallón

/

Overview

Carmen Magallón Portales born Alcañiz, Teruel, Aragon, Spain December 29, 1951. Spanish professor of physics and chemistry, specializing in women and peace, on which she wrote two books; Director Research Seminar Foundation for Peace 2003; president Spanish WILPF 2011; co-founder Zaragosa Women in Black; co-publisher of magazine En Pie de Paz; Nicaraguan Order of Peace Martin Luther King 2013.

Quotations

“It is not easy to unlearn violence. The transmitted history and international scene become news have paid the belief that violence is necessary to achieve certain goals. It is not like this. Violence is a drag on the development of free and democratic societies. And if it seems to achieve its objectives, these are contaminated beyond recognition.” (WILPF Spain directors; photo seipaz.org)

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)

Annapurna Maharana

/

Overview

Annapurna Maharana born Cuttack, India November 3, 1917 (d. 2012). Gandhian disciple. Joined Gandhi's march through the state of Orissa, 1937; imprisoned on three occasions during independence movement, 1932, 1942, 1944. Joined Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan marches, 1951; worked on famine relief efforts, 1966; aided refugees along India-Bangladesh border, 1970-71; undertook Chambal Valley padayatra to get outlaws to surrender, 1972-73; opened high school in Rayagod, Koraput, to educate tribal children, 1977. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

Quotations

"[T]here were many women who fought with their families to fight against the British Raj. Men had only one aim or goal to fight for the Britishers but women had to fight the society as well as the Britishers." (Pragyan Das interview, Odisha Review, February 2012; photo World People's blog)

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)

Asmaa Mahfouz

/

Overview

Asmaa Mahfouz born Egypt February 1, 1985. Sparked nonviolent Egyptian revolution via video blog calling for assembly at Tahrir Square, 2011. Co-founder of April 6 Youth Movement.

Quotations

"Do not be afraid." (The Atlantic, April 13, 2011)

"If you think yourself a man, come with me on 25 January. Whoever says women shouldn’t go to protests because they will get beaten, let him have some honor and manhood and come with me." (Democracy Now!, Feb. 8, 2011; photo http://bit.ly/JdnYCo)