This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated diplomatic , philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usually work with others in the overall anti-war and peace movements to focus the world's attention on the irrationality of violent conflicts, decisions, and actions. They thus initiate and facilitate wide public dialogues intended to nonviolently alter long-standing societal agreements directly relating to, and held in place by, the various irrational, violent, habitual, and historically fearful thought-processes residing at the core of these conflicts, with the intention of peacefully ending the conflicts themselves.
A
Jane Addams (1860–1935) – American, national chairman Woman's Peace Party , president Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Eqbal Ahmad (1933/34–1999) – Pakistani political scientist, activist
Martti Ahtisaari (born 1937) – former president of Finland, active in conflict resolution
Tadatoshi Akiba (born 1942) - Japanese pacifist and anti-nuclear weapons advocate, former mayor of Hiroshima
Widad Akrawi (born 1969) – Danish-Kurdish peace advocate, organizer
Stew Albert (1939–2006) – anti-Vietnam war activist, organizer
Ghassan Andoni (born 1956) – Palestinian physicist, Christian, advocate of non-violent resistance
Annot (1894-1981) – German artist, anti-war and anti-nuclear activist
José Argüelles (1939–2011) – New Age author
Suzanne Arms (born 1945) – anti-Vietnam war activist, draft counselor
Klas Pontus Arnoldson (1844–1916) – Swedish pacifist, Nobel peace laureate, founder of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society
Émile Arnaud (1864–1921) – French peace campaigner, coined the word "Pacifism"
Vittorio Arrigoni (1975–2011) – Italian reporter, anti-war activist
Arik Ascherman (born 1959) – Israeli-American rabbi and defender of Palestinian human rights.
Pat Arrowsmith (born 1930) – British author and peace campaigner
Uri Avnery (born 1923) – Israeli writer and founder of Gush Shalom
Ali Abu Awwad (born 1972) – Palestinian peace activist from Beit Ummar , founder of al-Tariq ("the way")
B
Joan Baez (born 1941) – prominent American anti-war protester, inspirational singer
Emily Greene Balch (1867–1961) – American, a leader of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Ernesto Balducci (1922–1992) – Italian priest
Archibald Baxter (1881–1970) – New Zealand pacifist, socialist, and anti-war activist
Harry Belafonte (born 1927) – American anti-war protester, performer
Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo (born 1948) – East Timorese bishop, Nobel peace laureate
Medea Benjamin (born 1952) – co-founder Code Pink , author, organizer
Meg Beresford (born 1937) – British activist, European Nuclear Disarmament movement
Daniel Berrigan (born 1921) – prominent anti-Vietnam war protester
Philip Berrigan (1923–2002) – prominent anti-Vietnam war protester
James Bevel (1936–2008) – prominent American anti-Vietnam war leader, organizer
Vinoba Bhave (1895–1982) – Indian, Gandhian, teacher, author, organizer
Janet Bloomfield (1953–2007) – peace and disarmament campaigner, chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Vera Brittain (1893–1970) – British writer, pacifist
José Brocca (1891-1950) - Spanish activist, international delegate War Resisters International , organiser of relief efforts during Spanish Civil War
Hugh Brock (1914 - 1985) - lifelong British pacifist and editor of Peace News between 1955 and 1964
Elihu Burritt (1810–1879) – American diplomat, social activist
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Helen Caldicott (born 1938) – physician, anti-nuclear activist, revived Physicians for Social Responsibility , campaigner against the dangers of radiation
Hélder Câmara (1909–1999) – Brazilian archbishop, advocate of liberation theology , opponent of military dictatorship
Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) – American industrialist and founder of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Jimmy Carter (born 1924) – American negotiator and former US President, organizer, international conflict resolution
Pierre Cérésole (1879–1945) - Swiss engineer, founder of Service Civil International (SCI) or International Voluntary Service for Peace (IVSP)
Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) - American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist
Noam Chomsky (born 1928) - American linguist, philosopher, and activist
Ramsey Clark (born 1927) – American anti-war and anti-nuclear lawyer, activist
Helena Cobban (born 1952) – British peace activist, journalist, author
William Sloane Coffin (1924–2006) – American cleric, anti-war activist
James Colaianni (born 1922) – author, publisher, first anti-Napalm organizer
Judy Collins (born 1939) – inspirational American anti-war singer/songwriter, protester
Alex Comfort (1920-2000) – British pacifist and conscientious objector and author of The Joy of Sex
Tom Cornell – American anti-war activist, initiated first anti-Vietnam War protest
Jeremy Corbyn (born 1949) – British politician, socialist, long-time anti-war, anti-imperialism and anti-racism campaigner
Rachel Corrie (1979–2003) – American activist for Palestinian human rights[1] [2]
David Cortright – American anti-nuclear weapon leader
Norman Cousins (1915–1990) – journalist, author, organizer, initiator
Frances Crowe (born 1919) – anti-war and anti-nuclear power, draft counselor
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Arun Gandhi (born 1934) – Indian, organizer, educator, grandson of Mohandas
Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) – Indian, writer, organizer, protester, lawyer, inspiration to movement leaders
Leymah Gbowee (born 1972) - organizer of women's peace movement in Liberia, awarded 2011 Nobel Peace Prize
Everett Gendler (born 1928) - Conservative rabbi, peace activist, writer
Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) – American anti-war protester, writer
Arthur Gish (1939–2010) – American public speaker and peace activist
Danny Glover (born 1946) – American actor and anti-war activist
Emma Goldman (1869–1940) – Russian/American activist imprisoned in the U.S. for opposition to World War I
Amy Goodman (born 1957) - journalist, host of Democracy Now!
Paul Goodman (1911-1972) - writer, psychotherapist, social critic, anarchist philosopher and public intellectual
Mikhail Gorbachev (born 1931) – Russian anti-nuclear activist during and after Soviet presidency
Wavy Gravy (born 1936) - American entertainer and activist for peace
Dick Gregory (born 1932) – American comedian, anti-war protester
Woody Guthrie (1912–1967) – American anti-war protester and musician, inspiration
Tenzin Gyatso (born 1935) – current Dalai Lama, peace advocate
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H
Otto Hahn (1879–1968) – German chemist, discoverer of nuclear fission , Nobel Laureate, pacifist, anti-nuclear weapons and testing advocate
Jeff Halper (born 1946) – American anthropologist and Israeli peace activist, founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
Judith Hand (born 1940) – biologist, pioneer of peace ethology
Thích Nhất Hạnh (born 1926) – Vietnamese monk, pacifist and advocate of nonviolence
G. Simon Harak (born 1948) – American professor of theology, peace activist
Keir Hardie (1856–1915) – Scottish socialist, co-founder of Independent Labour Party and Labour Party
Václav Havel (1936–2011) – Czech nonviolent writer, poet, and politician
Brian Haw (1949–2011) – British activist, initiated and long time participant of the Parliament Square Peace Campaign
Wilson A. Head (1914–1993) – American/Canadian sociologist, activist
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) – rabbi, professor at Jewish Theological Seminary, civil rights and peace activist
Sidney Hinkes (1925–2006) – pacifist, priest in the Church of England
Emily Hobhouse (1860–1926) – British welfare campaigner
Abbie Hoffman (1936–1989) – American anti-Vietnam war leader, co-founder of Yippies
Margaret Holmes , AM , (1909–2009) – Australian activist during the Vietnam War , member Anglican Pacifist Fellowship
Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910) – writer, advocate, organizer
Emrys Hughes (1894-1969) – Welsh socialist member of the British Parliament, where he was an outspoken pacifist
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) – anti-war and anti-conflict writer
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K
Tawakkol Karman (born 1979) – Yemini journalist, politician and human rights activist. Shared 2011 Nobel Peace prize.
Helen Keller (1880–1968) – deafblind writer, speech "Strike Against The War" Carnegie Hall, New York 1916
Kathy Kelly (born 1952) – American peace and anti-war activist, arrested over 60 times during protests. Member and organizer of international peace teams.
Bruce Kent (born 1929) - Former Catholic priest. Prominent anti-nuclear campaigner with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and president of the International Peace Bureau
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890–1988) – Pashtun independence activist, spiritual and political leader, lifelong pacifist
Steve Killelea – initiated Global Peace Index and Institute for Economics and Peace
Adam Kokesh (born 1982) – American activist, Iraq Veterans Against the War
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) – prominent American anti-Vietnam war protester, speaker, inspiration
Ron Kovic (born 1946) – American Vietnam war veteran, war protestor
Paul Krassner (born 1932) – American anti-Vietnam war organizer, writer, Yippie co-founder
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Henri La Fontaine (1854–1943) – initiator, organizer, Nobel Peace Prize winner
William Ladd (1778–1841) – early American activist, initiator, first president of the American Peace Society
Bernard Lafayette (born 1940) – American organizer, educator, initiator
Grigoris Lambrakis (1912–1963) – Greek athlete, physician, politician, activist
George Lansbury (1859–1940) – politician, campaigner for social justice, women's rights and world disarmament
André Larivière (born 1948) – ecologist and anti-nuclear activist
Bryan Law (1954–2013) – Australian non-violent activist.
John Lennon (1940–1980) – British singer/songwriter, anti-war protestor
Sidney Lens (1912–1986) – American anti-Vietnam war leader
Bertie Lewis (1920–2010) – RAF airman who went on to become a U.K. peace campaigner
Thomas Lewis (1940–2008) – American artist, anti-war activist with (Baltimore Four and Catonsville Nine)
James Loney (born 1964) – peace worker, kidnap victim
Staughton Lynd (born 1929) – American anti-Vietnam war leader
Bradford Lyttle (born 1927) – prominent American pacifist , writer, presidential candidate, and organizer with the Committee for Non-Violent Action
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M
Wangari Maathai (1940–2011) – Kenyan environmental activist, Nobel peace laureate
Norman Mailer (1923–2007) – American anti-war writer, war protestor
Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) – South African statesman, leader in anti-apartheid movement and post-apartheid reconciliation, founder of The Elders , inspiration
Mairead Maguire (born 1944) – Northern Ireland peace movement, Nobel peace laureate
Bob Marley (1945–1981) – Jamaican, inspirational anti-war singer/songwriter, inspiration
Colman McCarthy (born 1938) - American journalist, teacher, lecturer, pacifist, progressive, anarchist, and long-time peace activist
Eugene McCarthy (1916–2005) – U.S. presidential candidate, ran on an anti-Vietnam war agenda
John McConnell (1915–2012) – founder Earth Day, and U.N peace proclamation
George McGovern (1922–2012) – U.S. Senator, presidential candidate, anti-Vietnam war agenda
Keith McHenry (born 1957) – co-founder of Food Not Bombs
David McTaggart (1932–2001) – Canadian anti-nuclear testing activist, co-founder Greenpeace International
Rigoberta Menchú (born 1959) – Guatemalan indigenous rights, anti-war, co-founder Nobel Women's Initiative
Chico Mendes (1944–1988) – Brazilian environmentalist and human rights advocate of peasants and indigenous peoples
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) – monk and poet, inspirational writer, philosopher
Kizito Mihigo (Born in 1981) - Rwandan Christian singer, genocide survivor, dedicated to Forgiveness, Peace and Reconciliation after the 1994 genocide
Barry Mitcalfe (1930–1986) – a leader of the New Zealand movement against the Vietnam War and the New Zealand anti-nuclear movement
Sybil Morrison (1893-1984) – British pacifist active in the Peace Pledge Union
Alaa Murabit (born 1989) – Libyan Canadian physician and human rights advocate for inclusive peace and security
John Middleton Murry (1889-1957) – British author, sponsor of the Peace Pledge Union, and editor of Peace News from 1940 to 1946
A. J. Muste (1885–1967) – American pacifist, organizer, anti-Vietnam War leader
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Phil Ochs (1940–1976) – American anti-Vietnam war singer/songwriter, initiated protest events
Paul Oestreicher (born 1931) – Canon emeritus of Coventry Cathedral , Christian pacifist, active in post-war reconciliation
Yoko Ono (born 1933) – Japanese anti-Vietnam war campaigner in America and Europe
Carl von Ossietzky (1889–1938) – German pacifist, Nobel peace laureate, opponent of Nazi rearmament
Laurence Overmire (born 1957) – poet, author, theorist
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Olof Palme (1927–1986) – Swedish prime minister, diplomat
Frédéric Passy (1822-1912) - French economist, peace activist and joint winner (together with Henry Dunant) of the first Nobel Peace Prize (1901)
Linus Pauling (1901–1994) – American anti-nuclear testing advocate and leader
Miko Peled (born 1961) – Israeli peace activist, author of the book The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine
Concepcion Picciotto (born 1945?) – anti-nuclear and anti-war protestor, White House Peace Vigil
Peace Pilgrim (1908–1981) – walked the highways and streets of America promoting peace
Lindis Percy (born 1941) - nurse, midwife, pacifist, founder of the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases (CAAB)
Joseph Polowsky (1916-1983) - American GI, advocate of better relations between the U.S. and Soviet Union between 1955 and 1983.
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Ludwig Quidde (1858–1941) – German pacifist, Nobel peace laureate
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Jim Radford - British Social, Political and Peace activist, Britain's youngest D-Day veteran, folk singer and co-organiser of the first Aldermaston March in 1958.
Abdullah Abu Rahmah – Palestinian peace activist.
José Ramos-Horta (born 1949) – Head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau , Nobel peace laureate
Michael Randle (born 1933) – British peace activist and co-organiser of the first Aldermaston March
Jeannette Rankin (1880–1973) – first woman elected to the U.S. Congress, lifelong pacifist
Marcus Raskin (born 1934) – American social critic, opponent of the Vietnam war and the draft
Dahlia Ravikovitch (1936–2005) – Israeli poet and peace activist
Henry Richard (1812–1888) – Welsh minister known as "the Apostle of Peace" / "Apostol Heddwch", was secretary of the Peace Society for forty years (1848–84).
Lewis Fry Richardson (1881–1953) – mathematician, physicist, pacifist, pioneer of modern mathematical techniques of weather forecasting and their application to studying the causes of war and how to prevent them
Adi Roche , (born 1955) chief executive of the charity Chernobyl Children International
Nicholas Roerich - Russian visionary artist and mystic, creator of the Roerich Pact and Nobel Peace Prize candidate.
Romain Rolland (1866–1944) - French dramatist, novelist, essayist, anti-war activist
Óscar Romero (1917-1980) – Venerable Archbishop of San Salvador
Marshall Rosenberg (1934–2015) — Creator of nonviolent communication theory
Elisabeth Rotten (1882-1964) – German-born Swiss peace activist and education reformer
Arundhati Roy (born 1961) – Indian writer, social critic and peace activist
Jerry Rubin (1938–1994) – American anti-Vietnam war leader, co-founder of the Yippies
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) – philosopher, logician, mathematician, outspoken advocate of nuclear disarmament
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Carl Sagan (1934–1996) - opposed escalation of the nuclear arms race
Mohamed Sahnoun (born 1931) - Algerian diplomat, peace activist, UN envoy to Somalia and to the Great Lakes region of Africa
Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989) – Nuclear physicist, human rights activist and pacifist.
Bernie Sanders (born 1941) – U.S. Presidential candidate, peace activist, and democratic socialist.
Ed Sanders (born 1939) – American poet, organizer, singer, co-founder of anti-war band The Fugs
Mark Satin (born 1946) – anti-war proponent, draft-resistance organizer, writer, philosopher
Jonathan Schell (1943–2014) – American writer and campaigner against nuclear weapons, antiwar activist
Sophie Scholl (1921–1943) – Christian pacifist, active in the White Rose non-violent resistance movement in Nazi Germany
Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) – German/French activist against nuclear weapons and nuclear weapon testing whose speeches were published as Peace or Atomic War . Co-founder of The Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy
Molly Scott Cato (born 1963) – green economist, Green Party politician, pacifist and anti-nuclear campaigner
Pete Seeger (1919–2014) – anti-war protestor, inspirational singer/songwriter
Jeff Sharlet (1942–1969) – anti-Vietnam war soldier, journalist
Gene Sharp (born 1928) – founder of the Albert Einstein Institution , writer on nonviolent resistance
Cindy Sheehan (born 1957) – American anti-Iraq and anti-Afghanistan war leader
Martin Sheen (born 1940) – anti-war and anti-nuclear bomb protestor, inspirational American actor
Nancy Shelley OAM (died 2010) – Quaker who represented the Australian peace movement at the UN in 1982.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) – writer, poet, nonviolent philosopher and inspiration
Dick Sheppard (1880–1937) – Anglican priest, Christian pacifist, started the Peace Pledge Union
David Dean Shulman (born 1949) – Indologist, defender of Palestinian human rights.
Toma Sik (1939–2004) – Hungarian-Israeli peace activist
Jeanmarie Simpson (born 1959) – American feminist, peace activist
Ramjee Singh (born 1927) – Indian activist, philosopher and Gandhian
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born 1938) – President of Liberia , shared 2011 Nobel Peace Prize with Tawakkol Karman and Leymah Gbowee in recognition of "their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work."
Samantha Smith (1972–1985) – young advocate of peace between Soviets and Americans
Myrtle Solomon (1921-1987) – British General Secretary of the Peace Pledge Union and Chair of War Resisters International
Cornelio Sommaruga (born 1932) - Swiss diplomat, president of the ICRC (1987 to 1999), founding President of Initiatives of Change International
Donald Soper (1903-1998) - British Methodist minister, president of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and active in the CND
Benjamin Spock (1903–1998) – anti-Vietnam war protester, writer, inspiration
Cat Stevens (born 1948) – British singer-songwriter, convert to Islam, and humanitarian
Bertha von Suttner (1843–1914) – Czech-Austrian pacifist, first woman Nobel peace laureate
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Kathleen Tacchi-Morris (1899–1993) – founder of Women for World Disarmament
Tank Man – Stood in front of tank during 1989 China protest
Eve Tetaz (born 1931) – retired teacher, peace and justice activist
Thomas (1947–2009) – initiated, long-time participant, White House peace vigil
Ellen Thomas (born 1947) – long-time participant, White House peace vigil
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) – American writer, philosopher, inspiration to movement leaders
Sybil Thorndike (1882-1976) – British actress and pacifist. Member of the Peace Pledge Union who gave readings for its benefit
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) – Russian writer on nonviolence, inspiration to Gandhi, Bevel, and other movement leaders
André Trocmé (1901–1971), with his wife Magda (1901–1996) – Protestant pacifist pastor, saved many Jews in Vichy France
Benjamin Franklin Trueblood (1847–1916) – 19th century writer, editor, organizer, initiator
Barbara Grace Tucker – Australian born peace activist, long time participant of the Parliament Square Peace Campaign
Desmond Tutu (born 1931) – South African cleric, initiator, anti-apartheid, inspiration
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Jo Vallentine (born 1946) – Australian politician and peace activist
Mordechai Vanunu (born 1954) – Israeli whistleblower
Lanza del Vasto (1901–1981) – Gandhian, philosopher, poet, nonviolent activist
Stellan Vinthagen (born 1964) Swedish anti-war and nonviolent resistance scholar-activist
Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) – American anti-war and anti-nuclear writer and protestor
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Peter Yarrow (born 1938) – American singer/songwriter, anti-war activist
Adam Yauch (1964–2012) – Musician, Buddhist, advocate for peace
Neil Young (born 1945) – singer/songwriter, anti-war advocate, other causes
Edip Yüksel (born 1957) – Kurdish-Turkish-American lawyer/author, Islamic peace proponent
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Alfred-Maurice de Zayas (born 1947) – historian, lawyer in international law and human rights, vociferous critic of military interventions and the use of torture
Howard Zinn (1922–2010) – historian, writer, peace advocate
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See also
References
Opposition
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aspects of war
Agents of
opposition
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