Diane Nash born Chicago, IL May 15, 1938. Founded Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 1960; refused bail after arrest at Nashville nonviolent sit-in 1960, for which she was spokesperson; convinced Nashville mayor to desegregate lunch counters; dozens of arrests in Selma campaign which she led.
"Do you feel it is wrong to discriminate against a person solely on the basis of their race or color?" (photo alexiswllr7192.edublogs.org)
Rachel Conrad Nason (née Jones) born Conshohocken, PA June 2, 1899 (d. 1977). “Madam Human Rights.” American diplomat and expert on international organization 1945-69; Quaker; advisor to Eleanor Roosevelt drafting Declaration of Human Rights 1946-9; Executive secretary Young Friends Movement; co-founded Connecticut Council on International Relations, 1927; Committee on Cause and Cure of War report on Hitler’s territorial claims, 1932; congressional secretary League of Women Voters 1944-45 promoting UN; State Dept. Distinguished Service Award, 1968.
“[T]oo few men and even fewer women have the chance in their paid jobs to work at their convictions in any substantial way; I’ve had that chance.” (Friends Journal, Sept 15, 1969, p. 526; photo geni.com)
Ahlem Nasraoui born Sbeitla, Kasserine, Tunisia August 21, 1991. Leader of Arab Spring; maintains peace blog Peaceholics. Founded Creativo Club for peaceful protest through arts; founded Young Leaders Entrepreneurs. Celebrated International Women's Day 2014 with human chain peace symbol dedicated to "peace among women, their unity and strength and free will." (US Embassy Tunis, March 8, 2014)
“We also conveyed that violence is not a means of demonstrating masculinity or power. We showed how peace can be more powerful.” (ican, Dec. 1, 2017; photo linkedin)
Taslima Nasrin born Mymensingh, East Pakistan August 25, 1962. Bangladeshi doctor, poet, novelist, essayist; human rights activist. Exiled, 1994; expelled from India after seven months house arrest. Awarded UNESCO prize for nonviolence, 2004.
"I have defended women and the minority community that is being oppressed. I cried loudly for equality and justice, justice for all people whatever their religion or gender." (taslimanazrin.com)
"The diversity of our world's many languages, cultures and ethnicities is not a pretext for conflict, but is a treasure that enriches us all." (May 15, 2005 speech to women of Deauville; photo Wikipedia)
Maud Nathan born New York, NY October 20, 1862 (d. 1946). Pacifist suffragist. Co-Founded New York Consumers League, 1890; later headed national organization.
“War today is too costly, not only to the conquered, but to the conqueror as well. In destroying his enemies he destroys, at least in part, the source of his own wealth. One of the chief deterrents of war, then, is that very spirit of commercialism which is so often decried. . .” (“Industry the Peacemaker”, Pa. Arbitration & Peace Conference, May 18, 1908, p. 45; photo geni.com)
Lisalinda Salas Natividad born Guam March 31, 1971. Guahan social worker and peace activist; social work professor; President Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice; crossed Korean DMZ line 2017 in women’s peace protest.
“[There's a growing resistance movement to the military presence here, there also is. . . an additional growing movement in terms of addressing our issue of colonization and resolving our political status issues.” (Democracy Now, Aug. 11, 2017; photo womens peace fund)
Loreta Navarro-Castro born Malabon, Manila, Philippines March 28, 1948. Pioneer of national peace studies; founded Center for Peace Education; Secretary of Philippine Council for Peace and Global Education; principal of Miriam College. Promoted peace in Mindanao; created Zone of Peace, 1991. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.
"As peace activists we always try to call for a peaceful settlement of the armed conflict." (World People's Blog; photo Peace and Justice Studies Association, 2014)
Sushila Nayar born Kunjah, Punjab, India December 26, 1914 (d. 2001). Gandhi's physician; member of Gandhi's ashram; participated in nonviolent protests, jailed 1942-4; active in Gandhi's Noakhali campaign for religious harmony; participated in Bhave's Bhoodan movement; Indian Minister of Health, 1962.
"This was Satyagraha. To try to touch the opponent's heart and convince him of the correctness of your own thinking, of your own step. It required a bond of love, absence of anger or ill-will towards the opponent. If the opponent would not give you even an opportunity to convince him, you tried to get it by touching his heart through self-suffering." (Reminiscences of Kasturba Gandhi; photo mkgandhi.org)
Shiva Nazar-Ahari born Tehran, Iran June 10, 1984. Human rights activist repeatedly arrested 2001, imprisoned.
"When you find faith in people and believe in humanity and nothing else, that is when you commit your first crime." (letter to fellow prisoner, Tehran, Aug. 10, 2010; photo iranhumanrights.org)
Alice Wairimu Nderitu born Nairobi, Kenya January 9, 1968. Commissioner Kenya’s National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), 2009 resolving ethnic conflicts; instrumental in peace referendum, 2010; sole woman who negotiated Nakuru Peace, 2012; prison reformer; Joan Kroc WomenPeacemaker, 2012.
“[T]he bigger issues that lead to ethnic differences, [are] the ones you can’t see straight away. If you don’t deal with what’s under the surface, the real issues, then you won’t have real peace.” (Stephanie Chiu, “A Leopard’s Tale”, p. 39; photo inclusivesecurity.org)
Holly Near born Ukiah, CA June 6, 1949. Antiwar singer opposed Vietnam War, intervention in Central America, nuclear weapons, School of the Americas, domestic violence, death penalty; sang against Iraq War 2006 outside White House.
"My criticism of US policy is not a criticism of our young people in the military or their families. The best way to care for our children is to never send them off to fight. I do not want them to die for me. War is never good for children on any side of the battle."
Students in Ohio at Kent and Jackson State,
Shot down by a nameless fire one early day in May. . .
If you can die for freedom, so can I
("It Could Have Been Me" 1974)
Helen Knothe Nearing born Ridgewood, NJ February 23, 1904 (d. 1995). Gandhian disciple; nonviolent theosophist.
Kamala Kaul Nehru born Delhi, India August 1, 1899 (d. 1936). Indian nonviolent freedom fighter arrested for leading nonviolent protests. Wife of first Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, sister-in-law of internationalist nonviolence leader Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, mother of Indira Gandhi, and grandmother of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Led women's picketing Allahabad 1921; twice jailed; member of Gandhi's ashram; British refused her offer to be arrested as member of Working Party of Indian National Congress which launched civil disobedience campaign, Delhi Aug. 26, 1930.
"[T]he most effective way of gaining our freedom is through nonviolence. We will therefore prepare ourselves by withdrawing, so far as we can, all voluntary association from the British Government, and will prepare for civil disobedience. . . " (Jan. 28, 1930 independence pledge; photo Wikipedia)
Juanita Morrow Nelson born Cleveland, OH August 17, 1923 (d. 2015). Black peace activist 50 years; arrested 1943 sit-in; first Freedom Ride Journey of Reconciliation 1947; co-founded war tax resistance Peacemakers, 1948; held record 60+ years war tax refusal; arrested, tried Philadelphia 1959; charges dropped.
"I am not paying taxes because the overwhelming percentage of the budget goes for war purposes." (Liberation, Sept. 1960)
"I want a different world. I want utopia." (Recorder, Jan. 21, 2009; photo farmingforjustice.org)
Kara Nelson born Manchester, England November 24, 1919. New Zealand peace activist; teacher, pianist; as Kara Bang-bang member of world’s oldest hip-hop group; with Maynie Thompson led “Mum’s Army” 2 month Walk for or Life on Earth from Waikehe to parliament Auckland for nuclear free New Zealand 1984; protested at Greenham Common 1984, Germany 1985, and peace march across US 1986; French nuclear tests 1996; World Peace Walk 2009.
“You do have to do things that are dangerous. If you don’t do that, you’re not having a really happy life.” (Faithit, Oct. 11, 2015; photo sbs.com.au)
Lonnie Nelson born Seattle, WA August 20, 1932 (d. 2014). Communist labor leader; civic organizer; protested Vietnam War; supported Stockholm Peace Appeal. Founded Seattle Mothers for Police Accountability (MFPA); arrested 3 times for civil disobedience for Indian fishing rights, against Apartheid, and Medicare cuts.
"My love for each of you is there in my work"
(2009 poem "To All of You"; photo Communism in Washington State)
Orzala Ashraf Nemat born Kabul, Afghanistan May 24, 1977. Afghan human rights leader; founded Humanitarian Assistance for the Women and Children of Afghanistan (HAWCA) 1999.
“[A] true and long standing peace can only come to Afghanistan if the inner peace within the Afghan society is built. The inner peace within the Afghan society is required to be built by reconciliation; by addressing the crimes committed during war; by speaking and healing the wounds of war in the people’s minds. The people who lost their loved ones due to the acts of those who led the wars during all these decades. Silencing the past will only direct us to further darkness in the future.” (Copenhagen, Sept. 21, 2012; photo world fellows.yale.edu)
Binalakshmi Nepram born Imphal, Manipur, India October 19, 1974. Awarded Sean MacBride Peace Prize for disarmament work, 2011; founded Control Arms Foundation of India (CAFI), 2004; Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network (MWGSN), 2007.
"You cannot shoot an unarmed person. This goes for both the State and non State actors. . . nonviolence will win at the end." (Sangai Express, June 30, 2010; photo India Today, April 20, 2009)
Hattie Nestel (née Axelrod) born Philadelphia, PA January 25, 1939. Antinuclear activist. Leader of Shut it Down Affinity Group of women protesting against Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant; arrested many times.
“We can stop the nuclear industry, but we need to put our heads and our bodies on the line to do it.” (talk for Living in the Shadow Tour, Sept. 20-21, 2006; photo peacehq.tripod.com)
Kerry Nettle born Sydney, Australia December 24, 1973. Australian senator; Green Party environmentalist. Against nuclear weapons and power; critic of Israeli wars in Lebanon and Gaza; opposed US base in Australia and war in Afghanistan. Interrupted President Bush’s speech to oppose Iraq War and Guantanamo, 2003.
"But worst of all, the support for the aggressive imperial foreign policy of the US, particularly in the Middle East is threatening the interests of peace and stability for the whole world." (Green Left Weekly, March 31, 2004; photo Wikipedia)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
