List of peace activists

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
• Ruth Adler (1944–1994) – feminist, and human rights campaigner in Scotland
• 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 nuclear disarmament advocate, former mayor of Hiroshima
• Widad Akrawi (born 1969) – Danish-Kurdish peace advocate, organizer
• Stew Albert (1939–2006) – anti-Vietnam war activist, organizer
• Abdulkadir Yahya Ali (1957–2005) – Somali peace activist and founder of the Center for Research and Dialogue In Somalia.
• Bhimrao Ambedkar (1891-1956) Indian polymath, civil rights leader, revivalist of Buddhism in India.
• 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
• Mubarak Awad (born 1943) – Palestinian–American advocate of nonviolent resistance, founder of the Palestinian Centre for the Study of Nonviolence
• 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 pacifist, leader of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and 1946 Nobel peace laureate
• 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 (1921-2016) – prominent anti-Vietnam war protester, poet, author, anti-nuke and war
• Philip Berrigan (1923–2002) – prominent anti-Vietnam war protester, author, anti-nuke and war
• 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
• Fenner Brockway (1888-1988) - British politician and Labour MP; humanist, pacifist and anti-imperialist; opposed conscription - founded the No-Conscription Fellowship in 1914; first chairperson of the War Resisters' International (1926-34); founder member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and of the charity War on Want
• Elihu Burritt (1810–1879) – American diplomat, social activist

return to table of contents

C

• 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
• Lydia Canaan – first rock star of the Middle East, risked life to perform under military attack in protest of Lebanese Civil War^[1]
• 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
• Edvin Kanka Ćudić (born 1988) – Bosnian human rights and peace activist, founder and coordinator of Association for Social Research and Communications (UDIK)
• 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^[2][3]
• David Cortright – American anti-nuclear weapon leader
• Norman Cousins (1915–1990) – journalist, author, organizer, initiator
• Randal Cremer (1828–1908) - British trade unionist and Liberal MP (1885-95, 1900-08); pacifist; leading advocate for international arbitration. Co-founded the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the International Arbitration League; promoted the Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907; awarded Nobel Peace Prize (1903)
• Frances Crowe (born 1919) – anti-war and anti-nuclear power, draft counselor

return to table of contents

D

• George Maitland Lloyd Davies (1880–1949) Welsh pacifist and anti-war campaigner, chair of the Peace Pledge Union (1946-9)
• Rennie Davis (born 1941) – American anti-Vietnam war leader, organizer
• Mohammed Dajani Daoudi (born 1946) – Palestinian professor and peace activist
• Dorothy Day (1897–1980) – American journalist, social activist, and co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement
• Fran De'Ath (born 1949) - One of the first full-time members of the Greenham Common peace camp
• David Dellinger (1915–2004) – American pacifist, organizer, prominent anti-war leader
• Lanza del Vasto (1901-1981) - Catholic philosopher, poet, artist, and nonviolent activist
• Michael Denborough AM (1929-2014) - Australian medical researcher who founded the Nuclear Disarmament Party
• Alma Dolens (1876–?) – Italian pacifist and suffragist
• Phil Donahue - Former talk show host, former television host
• Muriel Duckworth (1908–2009) – Canadian pacifist, feminist and community activist, founder of Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace
• Élie Ducommun (1833–1906) – Nobel Peace Prize laureate
• Peggy Duff (1910–1981) – peace activist, socialist, founder and first General Secretary of CND
• Henry Dunant (1828–1910) – Founder of the Red Cross, and the joint first Nobel peace laureate (with Frédéric Passy)
• Mel Duncan(born 1950) – founding Executive Director of Nonviolent Peaceforce

return to table of contents

E

• Shirin Ebadi (born 1947) – Iranian lawyer, human rights activist, Nobel peace laureate
• Albert Einstein (1879-1955) – Scientist, Nobel Prize laureate in physics
• Daniel Ellsberg (born 1931) – American anti-war whistleblower, protester
• James Gareth Endicott (1898–1993) – initiator, organizer, protester
• Hedy Epstein (1924–2016) – Jewish-American antiwar activist, escaped Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport; active in opposition to Israeli military policies
• Jodie Evans (born 1954) – co-founder Code Pink, initiator, organizer, filmmaker

return to table of contents

F

• Michael Ferber (born 1944) - author, professor, anti-war activist
• Jane Fonda (born 1937) – American anti-war protester, actress
• Jim Forest (born 1941) – author, international secretary of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship
• Randall Forsberg (Ph.D) (died 2007) led a lifetime of research and advocacy on ways to reduce the risk of war, minimize the burden of military spending, and promote democratic institutions. Her career started at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in 1968.
• Tom Fox (1951–2006) – American Quaker
• Ursula Franklin (1921–2016) – German-Canadian scientist, pacifist and feminist, whose research helped end atmospheric nuclear testing.
• Comfort Freeman – Liberian anti-war activist
• Alfred Fried (1864–1921) – co-founder German peace movement, called for world peace organization
• Diana Francis (born 1944) - former president of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation

return to table of contents

G

• Arun Gandhi (born 1934) – Indian, organizer, educator, grandson of Mohandas
• Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) – Indian, writer, organizer, protester, lawyer, inspiration to movement leaders
• Eric Garris (born 1953) - founding webmaster of antiwar.com
• Leymah Gbowee (born 1972) - organizer of women's peace movement in Liberia, awarded 2011 Nobel Peace Prize
• Aviv Geffen (born 1973) - Israeli singer and peace activist
• 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
• Ben Griffin (born 1977) - former British SAS soldier and Iraq War veteran
• Woody Guthrie (1912–1967) – American anti-war protester and musician, inspiration
• Tenzin Gyatso (born 1935) – current Dalai Lama, peace advocate
• Gurmehar Kaur - Indian student and peace activist

return to table of contents

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
• George Harrison (1943-2001) – English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and music and film producer, achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of The Beatles. Religious and anti-war activist
• 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
• Tom Hayden (1939–2016) – Civil rights activist, anti-Vietnam war leader, author, California politician
• 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
• Paul David Hewson (born 1960) – Irish singer-songwriter, musician, venture capitalist, businessman, and philanthropist. Known by his stage name, Bono.
• 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
• Nobuto Hosaka (born 1955) is the current is the mayor of Setagaya in Tokyo. Hosaka campaigned and won the mayor’s job on an anti-nuclear platform in April 2011, just over a month after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
• Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910) – writer, advocate, organizer
• Kate Hudson (born 1958) is a British left wing political activist and academic who is the General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and National Secretary of Left Unity. She has been an officer of the Stop the War Coalition since 2002.
• Emrys Hughes (1894-1969) – Welsh socialist member of the British Parliament, where he was an outspoken pacifist
• Hannah Clothier Hull (1872-1958) - American Quaker activist, in leadership of WILPF in US
• John Hume (born 1937) - Irish Nobel Peace Prize and Gandhi Peace Prize recipient, former leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, and former MP for Foyle 1983-2005
• Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) – anti-war and anti-conflict writer

return to table of contents

I

• Daisaku Ikeda – Buddhist leader, writer, president of Soka Gakkai International, and founder of multiple educational and peace research institutions.
• Khawaja Zafar Iqbal – journalist, peace activist and researcher based in Kashmir

return to table of contents

J

• Jean Jaurès (1859-1914) – French anti-war activist, socialist leader
• Kirthi Jayakumar (born 1987) - Indian peace activist and gender equality activist, youth peace activist, peace educator and founder of The Red Elephant Foundation
• John Paul II – Polish Catholic Pope, inspiration, advocate
• Helen John – One of the first full-time members of the Greenham Common peace camp

return to table of contents

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
• Wahiduddin Khan (born 1925) - Indian Islamic scholar and peace activist
• Steve Killelea – initiated Global Peace Index and Institute for Economics and Peace
• Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) – prominent American anti-Vietnam war protester, speaker, inspiration
• Jonathan Kis-Lev – (born 1985) Israeli peace activist, author and artist, co-founder of the Hallellujah Dialogue Project
• Adam Kokesh (born 1982) – American activist, Iraq Veterans Against the War
• Ron Kovic (born 1946) – American Vietnam war veteran, war protestor
• Paul Krassner (born 1932) – American anti-Vietnam war organizer, writer, Yippie co-founder

return to table of contents

L

• 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
• George Lakey (born 1937) - American peace activist, co-founder of the Movement for a New Society
• Grigoris Lambrakis (1912–1963) – Greek athlete, physician, politician, activist
• George Lansbury (1859–1940) – British politician - Labour MP (1910-12, 1922-1940), Labour Party Leader (1932-5); campaigner for social justice and women's rights and against war and imperialism; Christian pacifist; opposed WW1; campaigned for unilateral disarmament and world disarmament in the 1920s and 1930s; president of the Peace Pledge Union (1937);
• 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
• Muriel Lester (1885–1968) – British social reformer, pacifist and nonconformist; Ambassador and Secretary for the International Fellowship of Reconciliation; co-founder of the Kingsley Hall.
• 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
• Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919) – German marxist and anti–war activist
• 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

return to table of contents

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
• Elizabeth McAlister (born 1939) - American former nun, co-founder of Jonah House, peace activist
• 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 activist against nuclear weapons testing, 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
• Howard Morland (born 1942) - journalist, nuclear weapons abolitionist
• 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

return to table of contents

N

• Abie Nathan (1927–2008) – Israeli humanitarian, founded Voice of Peace radio,^[4] met with all sides of a conflict
• Ezra Nawi (born 1952) – Israeli human rights activist and pacifist
• Paul Newman – American anti-war protestor, inspiration
• Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) – Anti-Nazi Lutheran pastor, imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau, vocal pacifist and campaigner for disarmament
• Georg Friedrich Nicolai (1874–1964) – German professor, famous for the book "The Biology of War"
• Philip Noel-Baker (1889–1982) – Nobel peace laureate, Olympic silver medallist, active campaigner for disarmament
• Sari Nusseibeh (born 1949) – Palestinian activist

return to table of contents

O

• 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

return to table of contents

P

• 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)
• Ron Paul (born 1935) - Author, physician, former U.S. congressman and Presidential candidate, anti-war activist, libertarian Republican.
• 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.
• Manasi Pradhan (born 1962) - Indian activist, Founder of Honour for Women National Campaign

return to table of contents

Q

• Ludwig Quidde (1858–1941) – German pacifist, 1927 Nobel peace laureate

return to table of contents

R

• 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.
• Justin Raimondo (born 1951) - author, anti-war activist, founder of Antiwar.com.
• 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 Congregationalist minister and Member of Parliament (1868-1888), known as "the Apostle of Peace" / "Apostol Heddwch", advocate of international arbitration, 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
  Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) - 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
• Murray Rothbard (1926-1995) - author, political theorist, historian, staunch opponent of military interventions
• Elisabeth Rotten (1882-1964) – German-born Swiss peace activist and education reformer
• Coleen Rowley (born 1954) – ex-FBI agent, whistleblower, peace activist, and the first recipient of the Sam Adams Award
• 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

return to table of contents

S

• 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.
• 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

return to table of contents

T

• 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

return to table of contents

U

• Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941) – English Anglo-Catholic writer and pacifist

return to table of contents

V

• 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

return to table of contents

W

• John Wallach (1943–2002) – journalist, founder of Seeds of Peace
• Alyn Ware (born 1962) – New Zealand peace educator and campaigner, global coordinator for Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament since 2002
• Christopher Weeramantry (born 1926) – President of the International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms, former Sri Lankan Supreme Court Judge
• Owen Wilkes (1940–2005) – New Zealand peace researcher and activist
• Jody Williams (born 1950) – American anti-landmine advocate and organizer, Nobel peace laureate
• Waldo Williams (1904-1971) - Welsh language poet, Christian pacifist and Quaker, opposed the Korean War and conscription, imprisoned for refusing to pay taxes which could fund war
• George Willoughby (1914-2010) - American Quaker peace activist, co-founder of the Movement for a New Society
• Brian Willson (born 1941) – American veteran, peace activist and lawyer
• Lawrence S. Wittner (born 1941) – peace historian, researcher, and movement activist
• Walter Wolfgang (born 1923) – German-born British activist

return to table of contents

Y

• Ada Yonath (born 1939) – Israeli Laureate of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2009, pacifist
• 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

return to table of contents

Z

• 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

return to table of contents

See also

References