Catharine Sedgwick

Overview

Catharine Sedgwick born Stockbridge, MA December 28, 1789 (d. 1867). Publication of novel Hope Leslie showed a revised view of the Pequot War, sympathetic to the Indian view, 1827.

Quotations

"Virtue and intellect are not withheld from any branch of the human family; and the enlightened and accurate observer of human nature will admit that the difference of character among the various races of the earth, arises mainly from difference of condition." (Preface Hope Leslie; 1856 W. Coombe engrav., wikicommons pd)

Peggy Seeger

Overview

Margaret “Peggy” Seeger born New York, NY June 17, 1935. American folksinger and songwriter; denied passport for visits to China and Russia; song “Four Minutes to Midnight” for Greenham Common; “March With us Today’ 1961 for Aldermaston March; “Four Minute Warning”, “Brother Won’t You Join the Line” re nuclear exchange; “Ballad of the Unknown Soldier” 1969 re Vietnam.

Quotations

We're marching on Trafalgar Square, Oh yes, oh!
Today we're marching to declare that bomb has got to go!

That bomb it weighs a ton or so;
Can kill a million at one go.

Fall-out here and fall-out there;
And strontium 90 everywhere.

This overcrowded world is small;
But it's better than no world at all.

Oh dropping bombs is all the rage;
But I'd rather live to a ripe old age.

The Prince was born the other day;
The very first words I heard him say

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust;
If the bomb doesn't get you then the fall-out must.

(“The Bomb Has to got to Go!”, 1969; photo Alchetron)

Ingrid Segerstedt-Wiberg

Overview

Ingrid Segerstedt-Wiberg born Lund, Sweden June 18, 1911 (d. 2010). Swedish internationalist journalist; 12-year member of parliament 1958-70 quit when party wanted to join NATO; anti-Nazi; biographer of Hammarskjöld; headed Swedish UN Association; defended refugees; won suit in European Court of Human Rights against her government for US spying, 2006.

Quotations

"During the war I myself was involved in helping refugees. . . it was no easy task." (Guido Knopp, Hitler's Women, p. 248, 2003; photo sverigesradio.se)

Anna Seghers

Overview

Anna “Netty” Seghers (née Reiling) born Mainz, Germany November 19, 1900 (d. 1983). Anti-fascist author; Jewish; Communist. Co-founder of East German freedom movement. Arrested by Gestapo for anti-fascist novel Die Gefährten, 1932; exiled, 1933. Her novel The Seventh Cross was one of few contemporary pieces of art to depict concentration camps, 1939. The Outing of the Dead Girlsillustrated futility of both World Wars, 1946. Awarded Stalin Peace Prize, 1951. Wrote unpublished story “Stone Age” about Vietnam veteran.

Quotations

“In the very first month of the Hitler régime hundreds of our leaders had been murdered. . . A whole generation had to be annihilated. . . if we were to be destroyed on that scale, all would perish because there would be none to come after us. . . If we fight and fall, and another takes up the flag. . . and falls too. . . —that is natural, for nothing can be gained without sacrifice.” (The Seventh Cross, p. 140; photo wikipedia)

Mona Seif

Overview

Mona Seif born Cairo, Egypt March 12, 1986. Egyptian leader of Tahrir Square revolution 2011; arrested and maltreated; co-founded No Military Trials for Civilians 2011; cancer researcher; daughter of mathematician activist Laila Soueif; final nominee for Ennals Human Rights Defenders Prize 2013 lost because of anti-Israel tweets.

Quotations

“One of the rights that we, the young people of Egypt, have succeeded in seizing is the right to insult our own government and to insult anyone whose policies are bad for our people. We insist on this right. . . I have never called for nor celebrated attacks on civilians. My position is very clear: I support people’s right to resist occupation and I resist all attempts at portraying the siege of a predominantly civilian population by the world's 4th most powerful Army as one of 'equivalence'.” (Facebook, May 2, 2013; photo youtube.com)

Sanaa Seif

Overview

Sanaa Seif born Cairo, Egypt December 20, 1993. Egyptian student activist in Tahrir Square revolution that overthrew Mubarak 2011; daughter of activist Laila Souief, sister of Mona Seif, brother Alaa Fattah. Arrested for violating protest law, 2014; sentenced 3 years, pardoned 2015; two prison hunger strikes 2014 2½ months; 2013 documentary The Square was first Egyptian film nominated for Academy Award.

Quotations

“Wake up! Whether we protest in the street or stay at home, it’s all a disaster. We are in danger and frankly, I would rather be pulled in resisting than defeated and staying home.” (MADA, June 29, 2014; photo madamasr.com)

Margarethe Lenore Selenka

Overview

Margarethe Lenore Selenka (née Heinemann) born Hamburg, Germany October 7, 1860 (d. 1922). German peace leader; ethnologist; archaeologist; suffragist. Organized first worldwide women's peace demonstration and million signatures for arms control, 1899; protest against Boer War, 1901; founder of WILPF. Women's and peace movement fought "for the law against the practice of violence."

Toni Sender

Overview

Toni Sender (née Sidonie Sender) born Biebrich, Wiesbaden, Germany November 29, 1888 (d. 1964). German Jewish socialist pacifist. Actively opposed World War I. Editor-in-chief Frauenwelt, 1927. Socialist member of Reichstag, 1920-33. Exiled 1933; fled to US. Actively involved with UN, serving on Commission on the Status of Women and the Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). (photo toni-sender-akademie)

Irena Sendler

Overview

Irena Sendler (née Krzyżanowska) born Otwock, Poland February 15, 1910 (d. 2008). Catholic humanitarian social worker whose efforts helped save 2,500 Jewish children. Arrested in 1943, tortured and sentenced to death, but escaped. Honored by Yad Vashem as member of Polish Righteous Among the Nations, 1965.

Caroline Severance

Overview

Caroline Seymour Severance born Canandaigua, NY January 12, 1820 (d. 1914). Unitarian pacifist; abolitionist; suffragist. Instrumental in the founding of numerous women's organizations: Free Religious Association with Lucretia Mott, 1867; American Suffrage Association with Lucy Stone, 1869; Women's International Peace Association, 1871.

Quotations

"I am very proud of the work I have done in my life to better the world in which we live and to elevate the condition of humanity, whether black or white, rich or poor, male or female." (letter to Isabella Hooker, Aug. 17, 1869, in connhistory.org; photo http://bit.ly/wFAbOX)

Severine

Overview

Séverine (née Caroline Rémy de Guebhard) born Paris, France April 27, 1874 (d. 1929). French journalist, radical feminist, pacifist, anarchist and human rights advocate; opposed World War I and conscription; worked for rights of Algerian women; called Europe her fatherland; "Queen of the Dreyfusards" against anti-Semitism; led denunciation of Armenian massacre.

Quotations

"I am always on the side of the poor, in spite of their mistakes, in spite of their crimes." (portrait by Renoir, Wikipedia)

Janice Sevre-Duszynska

Overview

Janice Sevre-Duszynska born Kentucky January 17, 1950. Catholic woman priest; peace activist; arrested twice 2016 for peace protests at Pentagon; arrested for Rivers of Blood protest at Capitol 2017; arrested 2015 for nonviolent protests at Vatican and D.C.

Quotations

“The measure of a healthy society is how we treat the marginalized. How we can care for them in a just and humane manner when 56% of the federal budget goes to the Pentagon for its 800+ military bases and the killing? That fills the pockets of the weapons manufacturers!” (Sep. 26, 2016, Pace e Bene; photo diane dougherty’s blog)

May Wright Sewall

Overview

May Wright Sewall born Greenfield, WI May 27, 1844 (d. 1920). American suffragist and peace leader through World War I; organized International Conference of Women Workers to Promote Permanent Peace 1915; sailed on Ford's peace ship to stop war 1915-16.

Quotations

"[W]omen. . . believe in the solidarity of humanity. . . They see in the maintenance and enlargement of the present standing armies of the world a menace to the highest civilization." (April 25, 1899 letter on behalf of 1.25 million women commending Russian Tsar's peace effort; photo gutenberg.org)

Giuliana Sgrena

Overview

Giuliana Sgrena born Masera, Piedmont, Italy December 20, 1948. Italian war correspondent in Algeria, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan; pacifist opposed Iraq War; kidnapped Baghdad 2005; released, but shot and wounded by US soldiers; Stuttgart Peace Prize 2005.

Quotations

“For my whole life, I have fought and written on behalf of the weakest." (BBC, March 5, 2005; photo Wikipedia)

Huda Sha'arawi

Overview

Huda Sha’arawi born Minya, Egypt June 23, 1879 (d. 1947). Pioneering Muslim feminist. Poet and author; Egyptian nationalist. Organized largest women’s protest against British rule, March 1919. Led women’s pickets of Parliament, January 1924.

Quotations

“[I]f men’s ambition has created war, the sentiment of equity, innate in women, will further the construction of peace.” (Leila Rupp, “Constructing Internationalism,” American History Review, Dec. 1994, p. 1552; photo kalamu.com)

Oksana Shachko

Overview

Oksana Shachko born Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine January 31, 1987. Ukrainian artist. Co-founded FEMEN, 2008; took part in first topless protest, Kiev, 2009; arrested in Simferpol, Crimea for topless protest.

Quotations

"STOP PUTIN'S WAR" (2014; photo imgacarde.com)

Alice Shaffer

Overview

Alice Shaffer born Chicago, IL August 5, 1905 (d. 1997) "Champion of the world's children." Quaker social worker; director of Berlin Quaker center 1939 aiding refugees; first UNICEF worker in Latin America 1947-62.

Quotations

"Love, food, shelter, and the development of the mind, body, and spirit are well recognized essentials for children." (letter from Guatemala, in Leonard Kenworthy, Living in the Light, vol. I, p. 215, 1984)

Doria Shafik

Overview

Doria Shafik Regai born Tanta, Egypt December 14, 1908 (d. 1975). Egyptian feminist leader; editor; founded Daughters of the Nile, 1949; protest in parliament, 1951; 10-day fast for life brought vote, 1954.

Quotations

"No one will deliver freedom to women, except woman herself." (Feb. 1951, in al-Ahram, March 1, 2001; photo IFOR nonviolence library)

Ghada Shahbender

Overview

Ghada Shahbender born Cairo, Egypt March 27, 1963. Egyptian pre-Tahrir organizer; poet. Co-founded anti-corruption reform group Shayfeencom ("We are watching you"), 2005; first recipient of James Lawson Award for nonviolence, 2012.

Quotations

Deep hurt is deep love
love equals forgiveness too:
I now forgive you

(Haiku for love and forgiveness; photo fsi.stanford.edu)

Donna Shalala

Overview

Donna Shalala born Cleveland, OH February 14, 1941. Served in Iran as Peace Corps volunteer, 1962-64; US Secretary of Health and Human Services, 1993-2001; University of Miami president, 2001-present.

Quotations

"Violence is not some mysterious bacterial infection or inexplicable new disease; rather, it is a phenomenon for which we are responsible, and we can prevent it. It is time we stopped the denial and claimed our power to halt the bloodshed and save lives." (Health Affairs, 1993; 2009 photo Wikipedia)