Vimala Thakar

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Overview

Vimala Thakar born Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, India April 15, 1921 (d. 2009). Gandhian social activist and spiritual leader. Active in Vinoba Bhave’s land gift movement.

Quotations

On her social activism: “I am a lover of life, and as a lover of life, I cannot keep out of any activity of life. If people are hungry for food, my response is to help feed them. If people are hungry for truth, my response is to help them discover it. . . I love all life." (“Awakening to Total Revolution”, EnlightenNext; photo Eddymumu.blog)

Rita Thapa

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Overview

Rita Thapa born Kathmandu, Nepal January 18, 1952. Peacemaker. Served as mediator during Maoist insurgency, 2001. Founded Nagarik Aawaz (“The Voice of the Citizen”) for conflict transformation and peacebuilding, 2001. Arrested for protest calling for establishment of new government and new constitution, 2011. Ashoka Fellow, 1998; Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

Quotations

“Prolonged post conflict transitions such as ours mean heightened corruption, impunity, increased abuse of human rights, (especially women’s human rights!) and instability in terms of economy and security. . . Transitional justice, reparation work, and peace dividends—much spoken of in the past 7 years, are still far off from being actualized and experienced.” (quote & photo nagarikaawaz)

Maj Britt Theorin

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Overview

Maj Britt Theorin born Göteborg, Sweden December 22, 1932. Founder of World Women MPs for Peace, 1985; UN delegate, 1976-94; International Peace Bureau president, 1992-2000; member European Parliament, 1999-2004; Swedish Minister of Disarmament.

Quotations

"The Cold War is over, but nuclear weapons and the strategy to use them remain. Why?" (Teaching Tolerance; photo Transnational.org)

Charlize Theron

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Overview

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Charlize Theron born Benoni, Transvaal, South Africa August 7, 1975. Actress. As 2008 UN Messenger of Peace, focused on violence against women and promoted anti-HIV campaign.

Quotations

"Violence against women and children was something that wasn't going to go away, and as a matter of fact it has just gotten worse. . . I think we're at a time where people just want to join together and cause change. People don't want to live like this anymore." (UN, Nov. 17, 2008; 2012 wikipedia photo by Gage Skidmore)

Marianne Thieme

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Overview

Marianne Thieme born Ede, Netherlands March 6, 1972. Politician. Co-founded the Party for the Animals, seeking a society of sustainability and compassion, 2002; elected to Dutch House of Representatives, 2006. Opposed Dutch paramilitary program in Afghanistan, 2011.

Quotations

“We are a new political movement based on compassion, durability and respect to man, animals, nature and environment.” (Spectrum Magazine, Sept. 2007; photo Wikipedia)

Adrienne Thomas

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Overview

Adrienne Thomas (née Hertha Strauch) born St. Avold, Alsace-Lorraine June 24, 1897 (d. 1980). German author. Published antiwar novel Katrin Becomes a Soldier, translated into 16 languages, 1930. Her works were banned by Nazi regime; went into exile, 1933. Escaped from internment at Gurs, 1940.

Quotations

“But what is victory worth if it means millions dead and millions crippled? And those who came back had to wade through rivers of comrades’ blood, will they be able to talk about ‘victory’ at all?” (Catherine Becomes a Soldier, p. 100; 1934 photo Wikipedia)

Anna Braithwaite Thomas

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Overview

Anna Braithwaite Thomas born Banbury, Oxfordshire, England August 6, 1854 (d. 1947). Anglo-American Quaker peace leader; minister and author; recorded wartime relief Germany, Austria and Hungary in First World War.

Quotations

"Work was begun with the deliberate intention of obeying the commands of Christ in the treatment of one’s enemies, and it has met with a success that is out of all proportion to the efforts put forth. If nothing had resulted but our own hearts being kept soft and tender during those terrible years and comforted in sore trial by the continual sense of the divine guidance, many of us would have felt amply repaid; but in addition we had the joy of constantly seeing wrongs righted, tears wiped away, desolate homes made bright and sad-eyed little children won back to smiles and gladness. Here was indeed a rich reward. But even this was not all. After the war, came the discovery that the work of the Committee, as it became known in Germany had kept alive a belief in the power of good will and the possibility of a better world." (St. Stephen's House: Friends' Emergency Work in England 1914 to 1920, 1920)

Ellen Thomas

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Overview

Ellen Thomas (née Benjamin) born Brooklyn, NY January 24, 1947. American peace activist. Founded Proposition One against nuclear weapons, 1990; maintained Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil at White House 1984-2002. Sentenced to 3 months prison for camping in Lafayette Park, 1984.

Quotations

“Our vigil is dedicated to the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction, as a first step towards peace.” (prop1.org/1601intr.htm#AntiNucVig; photo Proposition One)

Helen Thomas

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Overview

Helen Thomas born Winchester, KY August 4, 1920 (d. 2013). American journalist and author; critic of Iraq War and Israeli occupation.

Quotations

"Why does he [the president] want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?" (Jan. 6, 2003 White House briefing)

"In 2003, the U.S.-Iraqi war, claiming it had weapons of mass destruction and ties to Al Qaida terrorist networks—all lies. The individual invasion has been going on for eight years at a horrendous cost. Thousands of Americans and Iraqis were killed." (World of Progress, April 1, 2011; photo Wikipedia)

M. Carey Thomas

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Overview

Martha Carey Thomas born Baltimore, MD January 2, 1857 (d. 1935). Feminist; president of Bryn Mawr College; reviver of Quaker Peace Testimony; co-founder of International Federation of University Women, 1919.

Quotations

"All aggressive warfare. . . is an international crime, greater than any other whatsoever, and that any nation judged guilty of such crime shall be held by us to be an outlaw among nations." (1924 Bok Peace Prize proposal, in Lape, Ways of Peace, p. 151; photo Wikipedia)

Marlo Thomas

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Overview

Marlo Thomas born Detroit, MI November 21, 1943. Antiwar actress; co-founder of Ms. Foundation, 1973; awarded Helen Caldicott Award for Nuclear Disarmament.

Quotations

"The fundamental criteria of feminism has been for women to help other women. So it is impossible not to acknowledge—and feel a responsibility for—women around the globe who are living neither free nor safe." (Ms. Fdn. for Women, Mar. 8, 2011; photo by Alan Light, 1989)

Mary Frame Thomas

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Overview

Mary Frame Thomas (née Myers) born Montgomery County, Maryland October 28, 1816 (d. 1888). Quaker (later Methodist) doctor. Radical nonresistant abolitionist; prison reformer; suffragist. Founded utopian nonviolent commune, Marlborough, OH, 1841. Editor of women's journal Lily, 1857. President, American Women's Suffrage Association, 1880-85. Raised daughter Julia Irvine, who became president of Wellesley College, 1894-99. (photo spydersden)

Dorothy Thompson

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Overview

Dorothy Thompson born Lancaster, NY July 9, 1893 (d. 1961). Internationalist newswoman; founded American Friends of Middle East 1951; founded W.O.M.A.N. (World Organization of Mothers of All Nations), 1946. Opposed nuclear weapons and Cold War. Spoke against Korean War, advocating Quaker peace negotiation.

Quotations

"Gentlemen, we would relieve you of your fears. But first you must lay aside your guns. You cannot talk to the mothers with planes and atomic bombs. . . Then we will show you that the healing power of the world is not where you search for it. . . but in the emotion of the ideal—the unquenchable faith in life, the indestructible power of love." ("A Woman’s Manifesto." Ladies’ Home Journal, Feb. 1947, in Peter Kurth, American Cassandra, p. 407, 1990)

"Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict." (quote and photo Wikipedia)

Maynie Thompson

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Overview

Maynie Thompson born New Zealand May 2, 1919. “Quicksilver,” world’s oldest hip-hop dancer; peace activist. Led “Mum’s Army” on two-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; peace march across US, 1986. French nuclear tests, 1996; World Peace Walk, 2009.

Quotations

“It's very much an ethical thing and a philosophical thing. They're saying the only way to deal with violence is more violence—and we're saying we've got to put an end to it." (New Zealand Herald, Oct. 1, 2001)

Mildred Thompson

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Overview

Mildred Thompson born Atlanta, GA November 27, 1891 (d. 1975). Historian; internationalist; only woman delegate to London Allied Conference on Education, 1944; drafter of UNESCO Charter, 1945; Dean of Vassar College, 1923-1947.

Quotations

"Any activity for the planning for peace has engaged the interest and devotion of women. Therefore a conference the purpose of which was to aid education in the countries to be liberated as a means toward building peace, would naturally fall within the province of women's interests and qualifications." (Litoff & Smith, What Kind of World Do We Want?, p. 116; photo Vassar Col.)

Sally-Alice Thompson

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Overview

Sally-Alice Thompson born Missouri October 15, 1923. Peace activist. Member, Raging Grannies and Vets for Peace Albuquerque. Took part in Great American Peace March, 1986, US-Soviet International Peace Walk, 1987. Went on dozen marches against Iraq-Afghan wars. Protested at President Bush’s ranch, Crawford, Texas, 2005. Walked from Albuquerque to Sante Fe for campaign finance reform, 2014. Opposed Vietnam War.

Quotations

“This atavistic practice [of war] has always been horrible, but technology makes it even more destructive and savage. It is time for humanity to become civilized.” (worldbeyondwar.org/quotes; photo commondreams.org)

Emily Thornberry

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Overview

Emily Thornberry born Guildford, Surrey, England July 27, 1960. Labour Party politician, member of Parliament 2005; shadow Foreign Secretary 2016; human rights lawyer; leader Stop the War Coalition against Iraq War 2003; longtime supporter of CND questioned Trident missile; condemned war on Libya “reckless”; moved ending support of Yemen War 2016; condemned US missile strike on Syria 2017.

Quotations

"For Donald Trump to be taking unilateral action without consulting anyone else, I am concerned is simply going to escalate an already dreadful and tragic war. . . What we do not need is any more bombing, what we do not need is any more war.” (Telegraph, April 7, 2017 photo newstatesman.com)

Christiana Thorpe

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Overview

Christiana Ayoka Thorpe born Freetown, Sierra Leone August 16, 1955. Former nun of St. Joseph; leader of West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) promoting peace after 10-year civil war. Minister of Education, 1994; first woman to head Electoral Commission, 2005.

Quotations

"[C]ompetent women placed in positions of authority can turn things around for the better in a relatively short period." (International Foundation for Electoral Systems, November 21, 2013; photo Sierraconnection.com)