Mary Wilhelmine Williams

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Overview

Mary Wilhelmine Williams born Stanislas County, CA May 14, 1878 (d. 1944). Professor of Latin American studies. Suffragist founder of California National Women’s Party; pacifist WILPF member. Feminist editor of Equal Rights, 1935-36.

Quotations

On WWII: “This andro-centric, man-ruled world which is now destroying itself is a disgrace to all humanity. . . Women should. . . secure a partnership in world management on a fifty-fifty basis. . .” (Equal Rights, June 1942, p. 47, in Katharine Moreno, “Transnational Pan-American”, p. 78; photo novalynx.com)

Serena Williams

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Overview

Serena Williams born Saginaw, MI September 26, 1982. Tennis star named UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador 2011; supported Ghana health team 2006 and school in Kenya 2008; relief for Haiti earthquake 2010.

Quotations

"I have just been blessed immensely, and as long as I can help others, to give back, I think that matters most." (Ghana, Nov. 6, 2006, Vaccination News)

Sharon A. Williams

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Overview

Sharon A. Williams born Cardiff, Wales March 14, 1951. Professor of international law; judge. Served as Canadian member of Permanent Court of Arbitration, 1991-97; presided over Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal (ICTY), 2001-03.

Quotations

“[T]he acts of torture committed by Milan Simić were barbaric and shocking.” (ICC v. Simic, Oct. 12, 2002; photo Int. Assn. Proced. Law; photo ICTY)

Shirley Williams

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Overview

Shirley Williams born London, England July 27, 1930. Daughter of pacifist Vera Brittain; co-founder internationalist Social Democratic Party 1981; Labour Minister of Education 1976-9: helped draft constitutions of South Africa, Russia, Ukraine as Harvard professor; leader in effort to reduce nuclear weapons.

Quotations

"It is only within such a multi-lateral framework that we can hope to negotiate international agreements covering arms control and disarmament and to grapple effectively with the poverty of the Third World." (Limehouse Declaration, Jan. 25, 1981; 1972 photo The Guardian)

Corinne Willinger

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Overview

Corinne Willinger born Bronx, NY October 17, 1927. Granny for peace whose 78th birthday present was protest at NY recruitment center 2005; led war toy protest at Toys-R-Us New York 2006.

Quotations

“[T]he actions of this government have endangered us all, condemned innocents to prison, conducted persecution and torture, lied, trampled on our constitutional rights, and remained secretive about its functions. And how they committed the worst crime to justify these despicable actions: the invasion of a sovereign country thousands of miles from our shores.” (Granny Peace Brigade: Actions 2005-06; photo youtube)

Lillian Willoughby

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Overview

Lillian Willoughby born Iowa January 29, 1915 (d. 2009). Quaker peace leader; tax resister. Founded Movement for A New Society, 1971; spent one week in jail for blocking Philadelphia courthouse in anti-Iraq War protest, 2003.

Quotations

"I am approaching my 90th year. . . I had high hopes of leaving this earth confident that the people on it knew more about nonviolence and conflict resolution. . . Even after 9/11 we had a window of opportunity to do just that. By working with the United Nations and the World Court we could have helped build a stronger world community, a community of fairness and justice for all, where compassion, understanding, forgiveness, imagination, sharing and courage are valued and practiced." (to court Philadelphia 2004; Wiki bio; 2004 photo http://bit.ly/GObJdY)

Elizabeth Wilmshurst

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Overview

Elizabeth Wilmshurst born August 28, 1948. Professor of International Law; British negotiator of statute of International Criminal Court. Resigned from Foreign Office in protest of illegality of Iraq War, 2003.

Quotations

“I regret that I cannot agree that it is lawful to use force against Iraq without a second Security Council resolution. . .
I cannot in conscience go along with advice. . . which asserts the legitimacy of military action without such a resolution, particularly since an unlawful use of force on such a scale amounts to the crime of aggression.” (letter of resignation; photo BBC news)

Cairine Wilson

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Overview

Cairine Wilson (née McKay) born Montreal, Canada February 4, 1885 (d. 1962). First female Canadian senator, 1930-1962; president of Canadian League of Nations Society, 1938-44; first Canadian female delegate to UN, 1949. Opposed Munich Agreement, 1938; welcomed Jewish refugees.

Quotations

"As women we wish to use our powers to redress existing evils and in every respect to promote legislation which will benefit the greatest number." (Nov. 6, 1930, Montreal Star, Scottish Canadian Politicians; photo Wikipedia)

Diane Wilson

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Overview

Diane Wilson born Spindrift, TX October 17, 1948. Shrimp fishing captain; self-styled "eco-outlaw"; Vietnam veteran medic. Began environmental protests, 1998; protest fast against Bhopal leak; arrested for posting banner on Dow Chemical tower, sentenced to 120 days jail, 2002; co-founder of Code Pink, protest against Iraq War; protest US Senate, BP meeting London, 2010.

Quotations

"Shouldn't we be as serious about making peace as some people are about making war? . . .I'm just gonna stop eatin'. I'm just a shrimper who's gonna stop eatin' to stop the war." (Interview with Medea Benjamin, 2006; photo noonewatching)

Florence Wilson

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Overview

Mary Florence Wilson born Lancaster, PA January 29, 1884 (d. 1977). Internationalist; sole female member of WWI peace delegation, 1919; librarian of The Inquiry, 1917, and the League of Nations, 1919.

Quotations

"A library that will so express the civilization and culture of the various countries that the peoples of the world will better understand each other and, through understanding, will be at peace." (Lib. Journal, Dec. 15, 1922)

Francesca Wilson

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Overview

Francesca Wilson born Newcastle-on-Tyne, England January 1, 1888 (d. 1981). Quaker relief worker; offered aid to Belgian children in England, 1914; France, 1916; Serbs in Corsica, 1917, and Tunisia, 1918; Serbia, 1919. Fed Austrian children, 1919; famine relief to Russia, 1922; children in Spanish Civil War, 1937-38; Spanish in France, 1939; Polish refugees in Hungary, 1940. Assisted UNRRA in postwar Germany.

Quotations

“How important every peasant and every starving child to the Sisters who nursed and fed then! Perhaps it is necessary to have this in war-time to redress the balance a little and to remind us that in the end delicate things outlast the coarse, that love is stronger than the waters that try to quench it and a child’s laughter is still heard when the roar of battle subsides.” (In the Margins of Chaos, 1945, p. 291; photo quakerstrongrooms.org)

Mary Louise Defender Wilson

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Overview

Mary Louise Defender Wilson born Shields, ND October 14, 1930. Native American (Dakota) activist; teller of stories of understanding other cultures.

Quotations

"The entire life I've come through so far with our stories has helped me relate to, communicate with, and respect other people because I relate to, communicate with, and respect my own culture." (1999 NEA fellowship photo North Dak. Studies)

Theodora Wilson Wilson

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Overview

Theodora Wilson Wilson born Kendal, Cumbria, England January 13, 1865 (d. 1941). English absolute pacifist; Quaker. Leader of war resisters. Author of 62 books, novels, and religious stories. Early member of Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR); founding member of WILPF. Founder and editor of The New Crusader, which produced an “Affirmation Against War”, leading to the No More War Movement, 1921. Newspaper The Woman’s Dreadnought described her 1916 antiwar novel The Last Weapon, A Vision as “the most powerful peace book yet published,” and was confiscated by government as subversive, 1917.

Quotations

“Does no one read history? Don’t they know that this war has been sown from other wars and that it will sow another?” (Those Strange Years, 1937)

Alice Ames Winter

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Overview

Alice Ames Winter born Albany, NY November 25, 1865 (d. 1944). Novelist; head of national women's club GFWC, 1920-24. Only woman adviser to successful Washington Naval Disarmament Conference, 1921.

Quotations

"If it were possible to poll all the women of the United States, is there any one subject on which they would be discovered to be of a single mind? Probably only—the will to Peace." (Swarth. Col. Peace Col.; photo GFWC)

Renate Winter

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Overview

Renate Winter born Vienna, Austria March 8, 1944. International lawyer and judge; expert on juvenile rights. International judge on UN Mission in Kosovo, 2000-02; judge to Appeals Chamber of UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, which established the crimes of recruiting child soldiers and forced marriages, 2002. President of Special Court, Sierra Leone, 2008-10.

Quotations

“My youngest [defendant] was so small, he couldn’t even carry a Kalashnikov.” (A Life Worth Living, Dec. 16)

“If women cannot lobby for better status in peacetime, we have no chance whatsoever of getting them better status during or after a war. If we cannot achieve that women are not viewed as objects but as subjects, then we have no chance to tell soldiers at war how to behave correctly.” (Vienna, April 6, 2006, building_peace_empowering_women; photo intlawgirls)

Jeanette Winterson

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Overview

Jeanette Winterson born Manchester, England August 27, 1959. Antiwar author, journalist, professor.

Quotations

“My view remains as it has always been; that war is a failure. There are no ‘just wars,’ and no ‘justified wars.’ Bush and Blair failed the Iraqi people and they have failed their own people.” (blog, Jan. 9, 2006; photo bookfans.net)