Ellen Diederich

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Overview

Ellen Diederich born Dortmund, Germany March 26, 1944. German “peace worker” for over 50 years; set up Peace Tent at Nairobi 1985 for dialogue of women enemies; drove Peace Bus 12,000 miles, to Greenham Common, Nevada test site; protested El Salvador war; women’s peace marches 1981-3; active in ecofeminist peace group Women in Life on Earth; established International Women's garden and International Women's Peace Archive 1990 at Oberhausen, Ruhr.

Quotations

“War is man-made. Peace, too.” (her motto)

“War does not solve problems, war is the problem. Violence begets violence and hatred, which in turn generates violence and hatred.” (memoir Krieg löst keine Probleme; photo hinter-den-schlagzeile)

Amke Dietert-Scheuer

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Overview

Amke Dietert-Scheuer born Brake, Lower Saxony, Germany May 14, 1955. Green Party member of German Bundestag 1994-9, 2002; scholar of Turkish, lectured Istanbul; member of Amnesty International concern for Kurdish refugees; development consultant.

Quotations

On Bosnia: "These internal refugees need to be dealt with first. They still have people living in tents. In the present situation, things simply aren't ready for the refugees to return." (Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 11, 1996; photo moenchengladbach.hopto.org)

Maria Dietz

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Overview

Maria Dietz (née Hilgers) born Düsseldorf, Germany February 7, 1894 (d. 1980). Teacher; pacifist; activist in world peace organization of mothers and teachers, 1930s; worked to ban war toys, and promote international understanding. Co-founded political organization Christian Social People's Party, 1945; two-term member of German parliament, 1949-57. (photo http://bit.ly/JQmdGU)

Martine Bonny Dikongue

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Overview

Martine Bonny Dikongue born Yaoundé, Cameroon December 15, 1960. Economist; nonviolent conflict resolution trainer; peacemaker in post-genocide Rwanda; speaks 12 languages. Developed "Méthode Coulombe," white dove method of cultural reconciliation, 1997. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

Quotations

"My dream is to see all people smiling. Not because they have to, but because it comes from within." (quote & photo World People’s Blog)

Ding Zilin

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Overview

Ding Zilin born Shanghai December 8, 1936. Chinese philosophy professor at People’s University; dissident founder Tiananmen Mothers protesting 125 deaths 1989, including her son; frequently arrested for nonviolent protests.

Quotations

“From these countless, bloody facts, I have reached this conclusion: the 1989 student movement and people's movement were patriotic movements concerned with democracy and fighting corruption. They were not, as the government has said, counter-revolutionary rebels.” (Rebecca McKinnon interview, CBS, June 2, 1999; photo cnn.com)

Lia Diskin

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Overview

Lia Diskin (aka Leonor Beatriz Diskin Pawlowicz) born Buenos Aires, Argentina October 27, 1950. Gandhian disciple and professor. Created Gandhi Network; began Gandhi Day Sao Paulo, 1982. Founded Palas Athena Association for a culture of peace, 1972. Received Jamnalal Bajaj Gandhi Award, 2010.

Quotations

“[T]he most valuable discovery human beings can make this century might be finding out the value of the word ‘we.’” (Diskin and Roizman, Peace, How to Make It, 2002; photo escolhaacalma.org.br)

Abigail Disney

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Overview

Abigail Disney born North Hollywood, CA January 24, 1960. Filmmaker; peace activist; produced Pray the Devil Back to Hell documentary about women’s peacemaking in Liberia, 2008; PBS “Women, War & Peace” 2011; founded Peace is Loud 2008 featuring women peacemakers; trip to Dem. Repub. Congo 2011 to support women peacemaking; Sri Lanka 2012 to start Sri Lankan Women’s Agenda on Peace; joined Ahava boycott 2012; crossed Korean demarcation line in appeal for peace 2015; International Advocate for Peace award 2011.

Quotations

“[W]ar is a totalizing, uncivilized experience.” (Brainy Quote)

“When men talk about war, the stories and terminology vary—it's this battle, these weapons, this terrain. But no matter where you go in the world, women use the same language to speak of war. They speak of fire, they speak of death, and they speak of starvation. . . I think if we understand better the impact of war on women and children, we might be more careful about the wars we start.” (Forbes interview, Aug. 19, 2010)

“Peace comes because people make a decision to stop fighting.” (Jesica Berns interview, Oct. 2013; photo alchetron)

Beulah Marie Dix

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Overview

Beulah Marie Dix born Kingston, MA January 24, 1876 (d. 1970). American pacifist playwright, author, and screenwriter. Wrote several antiwar plays opposing WWI: “Across the Border”, 1914, and “Moloch”, 1915. Antiwar pieces for American School Peace League: “A Pageant of Peace”, 1915, “The Enemy”, 1915,“Where War Comes”, 1916. Children’s books include The Glorious Game and Clemency.

Quotations

On “Moloch”: “[I] tried to show how endless and purposeless war really is when stripped of its imaginary glamour; how it changes men’s very natures and bequathes a legacy of hate to little children.” (May 15, 1915, Chicago Daily News in Women Staging War, Maria Beach, 2004, p. 67; photo Wikipedia)

Dorothea Dix

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Overview

Dorothea Dix born Hampden, ME April 4, 1802 (d. 1887). American prison reformer, teacher and humanitarian; advocated care of the insane; superintendent of Union nurses in Civil War.

Quotations

"In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman."

"I come to present the strong claims of suffering humanity. I come to place before the Legislature of Massachusetts the condition of the miserable, the desolate, the outcast. I come as the advocate of helpless, forgotten, insane, and idiotic men and women." (Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusetts, Jan. 19, 1843; photo Unitarian Universalists)

Assia Djebar

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Overview

Assia Djebar (née Fatima-Zohra Imalayen) born Cherchell, Algeria June 30, 1936 (d. 2015). Algerian novelist and filmmaker; portrayed terrible violence of Algerian War for independence with the nonviolent alternative proposed by Camus. Received Neustadt International Prize for Literature in recognition of her body of work, 1996; awarded Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, 2000.

Quotations

“[T]his geology stained red with blood. What magma of sounds lies rotting there? What stench of petrifaction seeps out? I grope about, my sense of smell aroused, my ears alert, in this rising tide of ancient pain. Alone, stripped bare, unveiled, I face these images of darkness. . . How are the sounds of the past to be met as they emerge from the well of bygone centuries? . . . What love must still be sought, what future be planned, despite the call of the dead?” (1985, in Ben Salem, “I shall Intervene,” 2011)

El-Ghalia Djimi

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Overview

Djimi el Ghalia born Agadir, Morocco May 28, 1961. Western Sahara nonviolent human rights activist. “Disappeared” in Moroccan custody, 1987-91. Vice-president of Sahrawi human rights organization ASVDH.

Quotations

“Despite this climate of grave violations of human rights, crimes against humanity and war crimes, Sahrawi society is evolving to claim these legitimate rights by peaceful means. Faced with barbarity we find that the relentless pursuit of peace and human dignity is fully respected.” (Rome, Nov. 26, 2006; photo territoriosocupadosminutoaminuto.blogspot.com)

Jody Dodd

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Overview

Jody Dodd born November 9, 1957. WILPF leader; War Resisters League.

Quotations

"I am outraged at the news that Bush has made an agreement to provide India with nuclear materials/technology! India is outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and therefore it is in violation of International Law, the NPT and US Law for the US to do so. This action will only further to advance global proliferation and weaken the NPT." (letter to Sen. Spector, March 2, 2006; photo WRL)

Hedwig Dohm

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Overview

Hedwig Dohm (née Schlesinger) born Berlin, Germany September 20, 1831 (d. 1919). German Jewish writer, pioneering feminist, Socialist.

Quotations

"I hate Hate." (Vienna, in Wider den Haß, vol. 17, p. 10, 1915)

"War is Cannibalism. The cannibal is literally saturated with the flesh of his fellow men, as the war feeds the countless mouths of the cannon, the yaw insatiable for human food." ("The Abuse of Death." 1917; c. 1870 photo de.Wikipedia)

Alma Dolens

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Overview

02.18 dolens.jpg

Alma Dolens (née Teresita Pasini) born Perugia, Italy February 18, 1876 (d. unknown). Leading Italian peace advocate; feminist; journalist. Organized first Italian women's peace organization, 1908. Opposed Italian war against Libya, 1911. WILPF founding member, 1915.

Quotations

“The enemy is not at the border; it is all around us: it is poverty, tuberculosis, unemployment.  The cure for these diseases is the end of formidable and costly weaponry.” (Brussels, Jun. 2, 1914, in Sandi Cooper, Patriotic Pacifism, 1991, p. 211; photo International Women’s Day http://bit.ly/ygwcWz )

Alma Dolens (née Teresita Pasini) born Perugia, Italy February 18, 1876 (d. unknown). Leading Italian peace advocate; feminist; journalist. Organized first Italian women's peace organization, 1908. Opposed Italian war against Libya, 1911. WILPF founding member, 1915.

Quotations

“The enemy is not at the border; it is all around us: it is poverty, tuberculosis, unemployment.  The cure for these diseases is the end of formidable and costly weaponry.” (Brussels, Jun. 2, 1914, in Sandi Cooper, Patriotic Pacifism, 1991, p. 211; photo International Women’s Day http://bit.ly/ygwcWz )

Alma Dolens (née Teresita Pasini) born Perugia, Italy February 18, 1876 (d. unknown). Leading Italian peace advocate; feminist; journalist. Organized first Italian women's peace organization, 1908. Opposed Italian war against Libya, 1911. WILPF founding member, 1915.

Quotations

“The enemy is not at the border; it is all around us: it is poverty, tuberculosis, unemployment.  The cure for these diseases is the end of formidable and costly weaponry.” (Brussels, Jun. 2, 1914, in Sandi Cooper, Patriotic Pacifism, 1991, p. 211; photo International Women’s Day http://bit.ly/ygwcWz )

Agnes Dollan

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Overview

Agnes Dollan (née Moir) born Glasgow, Scotland August 16, 1887 (d. 1966). Pacifist feminist and suffragette; Socialist politician; public antiwar protests throughout World War I; led local Women's International League 1915; co-founded Women's Peace Crusade 1916; jailed in rent protest 1917.

Quotations

"If the government could afford £30,000,000 for warships it can afford to finance work for the unemployed." (election speech, Dec. 4, 1921; photo radicalglasgow.blog)

Kate Donnelly

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Overview

Kate Donnelly born New Haven, CT September 29, 1952. Nonviolence trainer and teacher; publisher. Participant and chronicler of Women and Life on Earth Conference, 1979, and Women's Pentagon Action, 1980. Led War Resisters League (WRL) campaign against war toys; edited WRL Handbook for Nonviolent Action, 1989. Recipient War Resisters League Award, 2001.

Quotations

"Let's face it—without intelligent, compassionate youth, there's not much hope for our planet, never mind our 'movement.'" (quote and photo Peace Women Across the Globe)

Jean Donovan

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Overview

Jean Donovan born Westport, CT April 10, 1953. (d. 1980). Catholic lay worker beaten, raped and murdered by Salvadoran National Guard.

Quotations

“The Peace Corps left today and my heart sank low. The danger is extreme and they were right to leave. . . Now I must assess my own position, because I am not up for suicide. Several times I have decided to leave. I almost could, except for the children, the poor bruised victims of adult lunacy. Who would care for them? Whose heart would be so staunch as to favor the reasonable thing in a sea of their tears and helplessness? Not mine, dear friend, not mine.” (quote and photo Wikipedia)