December 13

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1885 Else von Hollander born Riga, Latvia (d. 1932). Founder of nonviolent Bruderhof movement, 1920; sister of Emmy; secretary to Eberhard Arnold.

  • 1890 Mary Frances Butts born Parkstone, Dorset, England (d. 1937). British modernist author. Socialist, pacifist, social worker. Opposed first World War in National Council Against Conscription and National Council for Civil Liberties.

  • 1894 Toini Hjelt Iversen born Helsinki, Finland (d. 1973). Teacher; founder of local Fellowship of Reconciliation, Finnish Peace Union, 1920; WILPF of Finland; assisted war refugees.

  • 1903 Ella Baker born Norfolk, VA (d. 1986). Nonviolent human rights activist; founder of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 1960; Southern Christian Leadership Council, 1957; Director NAACP, 1943-6; protested Ethiopian War, 1936; WILPF.

  • 1971 Leanne Wood born Rhondda, Wales. Welsh antiwar politician; probation officer. Socialist; feminist. First woman head of Plaid Cymru, Welsh nationalist party, 2012. Chaired Cardiff Stop the War Coalition, 2004-05. Arrested for protest against Trident missiles, Faslane Naval Base, 2007. Called for peace in Syria, 2013.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • Feast Day of St. Lucy of Syracuse (d. 304 AD). Sacrificed herself in love against violence; condemned to a brothel, soldiers couldn't move her. "You cannot bend my will to your purpose; whatever you do to my body, that cannot happen to me." (Ǽlfric's lives, Skeat tr.)

  • 1961 Simone Pacot and Marie Faugeron sentenced 6 months prison for nonviolent protest for French conscientious objectors.

  • 1982 3,000 Greenham women blockade to "Close the Base."

  • 1985 UN General Assembly implemented Nairobi Strategy for Advancement of Women.

  • 1998 African Women’s Anti-War Coalition Declaration, Dakar. “[We] recommend to all governments that they make a firm commitment to end conflicts worldwide and particularly in Africa.”

  • 2001 M. Robivioux launched "Enough (War), is Enough."

  • 2016 Kim Mir Yang arrested for protest at Jeju military base, South Korea.