Adi Roche

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Overview

Adi Roche born Clonmel, Tipperary, Ireland July 11, 1955. Peace activist and anti-nuclear advocate. Volunteer for Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament's peace education program, 1982. Irish representative on Great Peace Journey, 1983-85. Began work in Chernobyl, 1985; founded Chernobyl Children International which rescued over 22,000 children, 1991. Took part in first Mercy Mission airlift, 1995.

Quotations

“Chernobyl Children International (CCI). . . is founded on hope and courage: the hope that the children—one by one and heartbeat by heartbeat—will thrive; and the courage to envision and create a better world.” (CCI website about us; photo carlow-nationalist.ie)

Anita Roddick

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Overview

Anita Perilli Roddick born Littlehampton, Sussex, England October 23, 1942 (d. 2007). Nonviolent human rights activist; organized protest against Iraq War, London, 2003; founded Body Shop, promoting human rights and environmental issues, 1976; founded Children on the Edge for East Asian orphans, 2000.

Quotations

"The older you get, the more radical you become. There’s a Dorothy Sayers quote I love, 'A woman in advancing old age is unstoppable by any earthly force.'" (http://www.anitaroddick.com/aboutanita.php)

Ulla Roder

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Overview

Bodil Ulla Røder born Denmark August 24, 1954. Ploughshares protester, sprayed "USELESS" on British sub; disabled Mayfair nuclear raft Loch Goil 1999 for which Trident trio were tried and acquitted.

Quotations

"No more butchery—enough is enough." (Danish Peace Academy, May 1, 2001)

On cutting RAF Tornado bomber with bolt-cutters: "My job was done. No more will anyone face the horrors of war from that plane. One more war machine was disarmed. I felt a deep inner peace." (Trident Ploughshares, March 21, 2003; photo mortensenfilm.dk)

Henriette Roland Holst-van der Schalk

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Overview

Henriette Roland Holst-van der Schalk born Noordwijk, Netherlands December 24, 1869 (d. 1952). Dutch poet; friend of Gandhi; nonviolent Communist.

Quotations

Love is the sense of the life of the planets,
and human and animal. Nothing can disturb
Its rise within: This is the sure truth:
Perfect Love transcends everything.
(1918; 1921 port. M. deKlerk)

Eleonore Romberg

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Overview

Eleonore Romberg (née Hagspiel) born Münich-Ramersdorf, Germany June 19, 1923 (d. 2004). German sociology professor: independent Green party member of Bavarian parliament 1986-90; headed German WILPF; twice international leader of WILPF Vice pres. 1972-4, President 1986-92; Bavarian Peace Prize; International Peace Woman award 2004.

Quotations

On postwar life: "Never again war!"

"It was clear: Now a new life begins, it was a spirit of hope." (Wir Frauen, p. 23, summer 2003; photo barbara-lochbihler.de)

Esther Roper

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Overview

Esther Roper born Lindow, Cheshire, England August 4, 1868 (d. 1938). British suffragist opposed World War I; aided conscientious objectors; lifelong partner of pacifist Eva Gore-Booth; opposed violence in Ireland.

Quotations

"The executions at Kilmainham and Pentonville were the worst days’ work ever done by England to Ireland. Irish people who had taken no part in the revolt became permanently embittered and utterly alienated; before long the whole country was against English rule."(sligoheritage.com/archmark2.htm; photo Wikipedia)

Jaine Rose

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Overview

Jaine Rose born England September 3, 1969. Gloucestershire artist and weaver; self-styled witch. Founded Wool against Weapons Action (AWE); conceived 7-mile-long pink "peace scarf" against Trident missiles from Aldermaston to Burghfield, Berkshire, 2014.

Quotations

"I have been thinking about Peace. With a capital P. I have been trying not to be worthy, or self righteous, or so very dull. But the truth is, it's been 68 years since human beings dropped atomic bombs on other human beings, causing devastation in the most brutal way imaginable. It changed our world forever. We are still making these bombs. What more is there to say?" (Beeswax and Broomsticks, February 10, 2014; photo Woolagainstweapons)

Ethel J. Rosenberg

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Overview

Ethel Jenner Rosenberg born Bath, England August 6, 1858 (d. 1930). English artist. Pioneering speaker and writer of Bahá’i causes of peace, universal brotherhood, and gender equality.

Quotations

"If only a means could be found to break down the barriers of race, of creed, of prejudice, what a boon it would be to the world! . . .A practical bond of union is needed between East and West, some common meeting ground for the Christian, the Mohammedan, the Buddhist, etc.: which will create the sense of ‘brotherhood’ and make of it a realized experience." ("A Brief Account of the Bahai Movement", 1911, p. 16)

Agda Rossel

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Overview

Agda Rössel (née Viola Jägerstrom) born Gällivare, Sweden November 4, 1910 (d. 2001). Swedish diplomat; international head of Save the Children Federation during World War II; Swedish rep. to UN Human Rights Commission, 1951; first woman to head a UN delegation, Sweden, 1958.

Quotations

"We business and professional women, conscious of our increased responsibilities towards mankind in the light of this new [atomic] power, accept the challenge of it and make it our own." (Geneva, 1956; photo NSD)

Elisabeth Rotten

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Overview

Elisabeth Rotten born Berlin, Germany February 15, 1882 (d. 1964). Quaker pacifist; educational reformer; Swiss-German co-founder of WILPF and International Fellowship of Reconciliation. Started Quaker relief program in Germany, 1919. Internationalist observer at League of Nations; founded the League of Nations Institute for International Education, Geneva, 1921.

Leonie Rouzade

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Overview

Léonie Rouzade (née Camusat) born Paris, France September 6, 1839 (d. 1916). French feminist, socialist, writer of utopian novels.

Quotations

"Peace is the true right and interest of woman; having been prevented in participating in fighting, she can never be accused of cowardice." (1878 Int. Congress of Friends of Peace, in Sandi Cooper, Patriotic Pacifism, p. 52)

"If one gets rights for killing men, one should get more rights for having created humanity." (Bock & Thane, "Maternity and Gender Policies." European Journal of Women's Studies, Nov. 1995)

Maude Royden

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Overview

Agnes Maude Royden born Liverpool, England November 23, 1876 (d. 1956). Pacifist during World War I; first female Anglican priest; proposed a Peace Army, 1930s.

Quotations

"You cannot kill hatred and violence by violence and hatred." (Great Adventure, p. 11)

"Christians should be able to meet material force with spiritual power. It is horrifying to reflect that after nineteen hundred years, we are still unable to do it except in individual cases and on a small scale." (Consider the Days, p. 68; photo Roydenhistory.co.uk)

Clemence Royer

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Overview

Clémence Auguste Royer born Nantes, France April 21, 1830 (d. 1902). French feminist and pacifist, philosopher, scientific genius; active in International League of Peace & Freedom 1867; opposed conscription and standing armies in feminist journal La Fronde; condemned Boer War; insisted upon scientific education of women 1889.

Quotations

"If Europe wants to survive, instead of committing suicide, it had better prepare to defend itself against the anger of the world's peoples generated by British imperial conquests that turned proud peoples into servile colonies." (Sandi Cooper, von Suttner's Sisters, p. 7; photo Wikipedia)

Joan Ruddock

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Overview

Joan Ruddock (née Anthony) born Pontypool, Wales December 28, 1943. Chair of Committee for Nuclear Disarmament, 1981-5; member of parliament, 1987; first Junior Minister for Women, 1997; Minister for Energy & Environment, 2009.

Quotations

"I am a socialist feminist. But I am also active in the peace movement and in the struggle against nuclear war." (Nawal el Saadawi Reader, p. 279; photo Parl. Gp. For Energy Studies)

Dora Russell

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Overview

Dora Russell (née Black) born Thornton Heath, Surrey, England April 3, 1894 (d. 1986). Co-founder of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND); led Women's Peace Caravan to Moscow 1958; opposed conscription in World War I.

Quotations

"Marriage, laws, the police, armies and navies are the mark of human incompetence." (The Right to be Happy, 1927)

"We do not want our world to perish... Only by learning to love one another can our world be saved. Only love can conquer all." (Challenge to the Cold War, vol. 3, Ch. 14, 1985; photo Wikipedia from Spartacus Educational)

Barbara Rutting

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Overview

Barbara Rütting born Ludwigsfelde-Wietstock, Brandenburg, Germany November 21, 1927. German film actress and author; animal rights advocate. Star of two antiwar films: Canaris, 1954, and Lysistrata, 1961. Arrested in protest against Pershing missiles, Mutlangen, 1983. Early member of Green Party, 1982; resigned from party as pacifist after Green support of NATO bombing of Kosovo, 1999. Elected deputy of Green Party in Bavarian parliament, 2003-08; protested Greens' approval of Afghan military aid, 2005.

Quotations

"When many little people take many little steps in many little places, they can change the world!" (photo hinter-den-schlagseilen)

Hélène Ryckmans

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Overview

Hélène Ryckmans born Thysville, Democratic Republic of Congo May 20, 1959. Active peacemaker in Congo and development sociologist. Belgian President of World According to Women, 1996-2014. Chaired conference on Women, War & Peace, 2004. Green member of Senate, 2014. Nominated Woman of Peace, 2011.

Quotations

“Sociopolitical violence against women and girls in times of war or in times of 'peace' has increased in all continents. Rape as a weapon of war, recognized as a result of the exactions in the former Yugoslavia, is perpetuated in the different continents.” (“Population and Development”, p. 24; photo pour écrire la liberté)