List Of Nonviolence Scholars And Leaders
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 what they perceive to be 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 violent, habitual, and historically fearful thought-processes residing at the core of these conflicts, with the intention of peacefully ending the conflicts themselves.
A
- Dekha Ibrahim Abdi (1964–2011) – Kenyan peace activist, government consultant
- David Adams (born 1939) – American author and peace activist, task force chair of the United Nations International Year for the Culture of Peace, coordinator of the Culture of Peace News Network
- Jane Addams (1860–1935) – American, national chairman of Woman's Peace Party, president of 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 (1937–2023) – former president of Finland, active in conflict resolution
- Robert Baker Aitken (1917–2010) – Zen Buddhist Rōshi and anti-war activist, anti-nuclear testing activist, and proponent of deep ecology
- 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) – American anti-Vietnam war activist, organizer
- Abdulkadir Yahya Ali (1957–2005) – Somali peace activist and founder of the Center for Research and Dialogue in Somalia
- B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) – Polymath, economist, jurist, social reformer, civil rights leader, political philosopher and revivalist of Buddhism in India
- Günther Anders (born Günther Siegmund Stern, 1902–1992) – German philosopher and a critic of nuclear weapons and nuclear deterrence
- Ghassan Andoni (born 1956) – Palestinian physicist, Christian, advocate of non-violent resistance
- Andrea Andreen (1888–1972) – Swedish physician, pacifist, and feminist
- Annot (1894–1981) – German artist, anti-war and anti-nuclear activist
- José Argüelles (1939–2011) – American New Age author and pacifist
- Émile Armand (1872–1963) – French anarchist and pacifist writer
- Émile Arnaud (1864–1921) – French peace campaigner, coined the word "pacifism"
- Klas Pontus Arnoldson (1844–1916) – Swedish pacifist, Nobel peace laureate, founder of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society
- Ya'akov Arnon (1913–1995) – Israeli economist, government official and pacifist
- Vittorio Arrigoni (1975–2011) – Italian reporter, anti-war activist
- Pat Arrowsmith (1930–2023) – British author and peace campaigner, co-founder of CND
- Arik Ascherman (born 1959) – Israeli-American rabbi and advocate for human rights in Israel and Palestine
- Steve Ashley (born 1946) — British singer-songwriter and peace campaigner
- Margaret Ashton (1856–1937) – British suffragist, local politician, pacifist
- Nafez Assaily (born 1956) – Palestinian sociologist and long-term advocate of nonviolence
- Julian Assange (born 1971) – founder of WikiLeaks, recipient of numerous prizes and awards, and one of only six people to be recognised with the Gold medal for Peace with Justice of the Sydney Peace Foundation
- Anita Augspurg (1857–1943) – German lawyer, writer, feminist, pacifist
- Uri Avnery (1923–2018) – 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 and proponent of nonviolence from Beit Ummar, founder of Taghyeer (Change) Movement
- Ayo Ayoola-Amale (born 1970) – Nigerian conflict resolution professional, ombudsman, peace builder and poet
B
- Anton Bacalbașa (1865–1899) – Romanian Marxist and pacifist
- Eva Bacon (1909–1994) – Australian socialist, feminist, pacifist
- Gertrud Baer (1890–1981) – German Jewish peace activist, and a founding member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
- Joan Baez (born 1941) – American anti-war protester, inspirational singer
- Matilde Bajer (1840–1934) – Danish feminist and peace activists
- Ella Baker (1903–1986) – African-American civil rights activist, feminist, pacifist
- 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 and peace activist
- Roger Nash Baldwin (1884–1981) – American pacifist, leader in Civil Liberties Bureau of American Union Against Militarism, supporting conscientious objectors to World War I; lifelong civil libertarian, co-founder of ACLU
- Edith Ballantyne (born 1922) – Czech-Canadian peace activist
- Mary Barbour (1875–1958) – Scottish socialist, a founder of the Women's Peace Crusade, local councillor and magistrate; involved in the Red Clydeside movement
- Daniel Barenboim (born 1942) – pianist and conductor, joint founder – with Edward Said – of the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra, citizen of Argentina, Israel, Palestine and Spain
- Christine Ross Barker (1866–1940) – Canadian pacifist and suffragist
- Ludwig Bauer (1878–1935) – Austro-Swiss writer and pacifist
- Archibald Baxter (1881–1970) – New Zealand pacifist, socialist, and anti-war activist
- Alaide Gualberta Beccari (1842–1906) – Italian feminist, pacifist and social reformer
- Yolanda Becerra (born 1959) – Colombian feminist and peace activist
- Henriette Beenfeldt (1878–1949) – radical Danish peace activist
- Harry Belafonte (1927–2023) – American anti-war protester, performer
- Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo (born 1948) – East Timorese bishop, Nobel peace laureate
- Pope Benedict XV (1854–1922, Pope 1914–1922) – advocated peace throughout WW1; opposed aerial warfare; promoted humanitarian initiatives to protect children, prisoners of war, the wounded and missing persons
- Medea Benjamin (born 1952) – American author, organizer, co-founder of the anti-militarist Code Pink
- Tony Benn (1925–2014) – British Member of Parliament, anti-war and anti-imperialism campaigner, one of the founders of the Stop the War Coalition
- Meg Beresford (born 1937) – British activist, European Nuclear Disarmament movement
- Daniel Berrigan (1921–2016) – American anti-Vietnam war protester, Jesuit (Catholic) priest, poet, author, anti-nuke and war
- Philip Berrigan (1923–2002) – American anti-Vietnam war protester, former Josephite (Catholic) priest, author, anti-nuke and war
- James Bevel (1936–2008) – American civil rights activist, anti-Vietnam war leader, organizer
- Vinoba Bhave (1895–1982) – Indian, Gandhian, teacher, author, organizer
- Albert Bigelow (1906–1993) – former US Navy officer turned pacifist, skipper of the first vessel to attempt disruption of the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons
- Lotte Binder (1888–1930) – Transylvanian pacifist feminist
- Doris Blackburn (1889–1970) – Australian social reformer, politician, pacifist
- Janet Bloomfield (1953–2007) – British peace and disarmament campaigner, chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
- Bhikkhu Bodhi (born 1944) – American Theravada Buddhist monk and founder of Buddhist Global Relief
- Kees Boeke (1884–1966) – Dutch educator, missionary and pacifist
- Beatrice Boeke-Cadbury (1884–1976) – English social activist, educator, Quaker missionary and pacifist
- Carl Bonnevie (1881–1972) – Norwegian jurist and peace activist
- Bono (born 1960) – Irish singer-songwriter, musician, venture capitalist, businessman, and philanthropist; born Paul David Hewson
- Charles-Auguste Bontemps (1893–1981) – French anarchist, pacifist, writer
- John Bosco (1815–1888) – Italian priest, educator and author, who devoted his life to disadvantaged youth; founded the Salesians of Don Bosco and developed the nonviolent Salesian Preventive System of teaching
- Elise M. Boulding (1920–2010) – Norwegian-born American sociologist, specialising in academic peace research
- Albert Bourderon (1858–1930) – French socialist and pacifist
- José Bové (born 1953) – French farmer, politician, pacifist
- Norma Elizabeth Boyd (1888–1985) – African American politically active educator, children's rights proponent, pacifist
- Heloise Brainerd (1881–1969) – American women activist, pacifist
- Sophonisba Breckinridge (1866–1948) – American educator, social reformer, pacifist
- Lenni Brenner (born 1937) – American civil rights activist, opposed to the Vietnam war and strong opponent of Zionism
- Pierre Brizon (1878–1923) – French politician and pacifist
- Vera Brittain (1893–1970) – British writer, pacifist
- José Brocca (1891–1950) – Spanish activist, international delegate War Resisters' International, organiser of relief efforts during the Spanish Civil War
- Hugh Brock (1914–1985) – lifelong British pacifist and editor of Peace News between 1955 and 1964
- Peter Brock (1920–2006) – British-born Canadian pacifist historian
- Fenner Brockway (1888–1988) – British politician and Labour MP; humanist, pacifist and anti-imperialist; opposed conscription and founded the No-Conscription Fellowship in 1914; first chairperson of the War Resisters' International (1926–1934); founder member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and of the charity War on Want
- Emilia Broomé (1866–1925) – Swedish politician, feminist and peace activist
- Brigid Brophy (1929–1995) – British novelist, feminist, pacifist
- Olympia Brown (1835–1926) – American theologist, suffragist, pacifist
- Elihu Burritt (1810–1879) – American diplomat, social activist
- Caoimhe Butterly (born 1978) – Irish peace and human rights activist
- Maria C. Buțureanu (1872–1919) – Romanian educator and feminist pacifist
- Charles Roden Buxton (1875–1942) – British Liberal and later Labour MP, philanthropist and peace activist, critical of the Treaty of Versailles
C
- Peter Ritchie Calder (1906–1982) – Scottish science journalist, socialist and peace activist
- Helen Caldicott (born 1938) – Australian 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 – Lebanese singer, first rock star of the Middle East, risked life to perform under military attack in protest of Lebanese Civil War
- Marcelle Capy (1891–1962), novelist, journalist, pacifist
- Angelo Cardona (born 1997), Colombian peace activist, pacifist
- Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) – American industrialist and founder of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- April Carter (born 1937) – British peace activist, researcher, editor
- Jimmy Carter (born 1924) – American negotiator and former US president, organizer, international conflict resolution
- René Cassin (1887–1976) – French jurist, professor, and judge, co-wrote the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Benny Cederfeld de Simonsen (1865–1952) – Danish peace activist
- Pierre Cérésole (1879–1945) – Swiss engineer, founder of Service Civil International (SCI) or International Voluntary Service for Peace (IVSP)
- Montserrat Cervera Rodon (born 1949) – Catalan anti-militarist, feminist, and women's health activist
- Félicien Challaye (1875–1967) – French philosopher and pacifist
- Émile Chartier (1868–1951) – French philosopher, educator and pacifist
- Simone Tanner Chaumet (1916–1962) – French peace activist
- Cesar Chavez (1927–1993) – American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist
- Helen Chenevix (1886–1963) – Irish suffragist, trade unionist, pacifist
- Ada Nield Chew (1870–1945) – British suffragist and pacifist
- Molly Childers (1875–1964) – Irish writer, nationalist, pacifist
- Noam Chomsky (born 1928) – American linguist, philosopher, and activist
- Alice Amelia Chown (1866–1949) – Canadian feminist, pacifist and writer
- Howard Clark (1950–2013) – British peace activist, deputy editor of Peace News and Chair of War Resisters' International.
- Ramsey Clark (1927–2021) – American anti-war and anti-nuclear lawyer, activist, former U.S. Attorney General
- Helena Cobban (born 1952) – British peace activist, journalist, author
- William Sloane Coffin (1924–2006) – American cleric, anti-war activist
- James Colaianni (1922–2016) – American author, publisher, first anti-Napalm organizer
- Judy Collins (born 1939) – American anti-war singer/songwriter, protester
- Alex Comfort (1920–2000) – British scientist, physician, writer, pacifist, conscientious objector and author of The Joy of Sex
- Alecu Constantinescu (1872–1949) – Romanian trade unionist, journalist and pacifist
- Jeremy Corbyn (born 1949) – British politician, socialist, long-time anti-war, anti-imperialism and anti-racism campaigner
- Tom Cornell – American anti-war activist, initiated first anti-Vietnam War protest
- Rachel Corrie (1979–2003) – American activist for Palestinian human rights
- David Cortright – American anti-nuclear weapon leader
- Norman Cousins (1915–1990) – American journalist, author, organizer, initiator
- Randal Cremer (1828–1908) – British trade unionist and Liberal MP (1885–1895, 1900–1908); 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 (1919–2019) – American pacifist, anti-nuclear power activist, draft counselor supporting conscientious objectors
- Edvin Kanka Ćudić (born 1988) – Bosnian human rights and peace activist, founder and coordinator of Association for Social Research and Communications (UDIK)
- Adam Curle (1916–2006) – Quaker peace activist; first professor of peace studies in the UK
D
- Margaretta D'Arcy (born 1934) – Irish actress, writer and peace activist
- Mohammed Dajani Daoudi (born 1946) – Palestinian professor and peace activist
- Thora Daugaard (1874–1951) – Danish feminist, pacifist, journal editor and translator
- George Maitland Lloyd Davies (1880–1949) – Welsh pacifist and anti-war campaigner, chair of the Peace Pledge Union (1946–1949)
- Rennie Davis (1941–2021) – American anti-Vietnam war leader, organizer
- Dorothy Day (1897–1980) – American journalist, social activist, and co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement
- John Dear (born 1959) – American priest, author, and nonviolent activist
- Élisabeth Decrey Warner (born 1953) – Swiss peace activist, founder of Geneva Call
- Siri Derkert (1888–1973) – Swedish artist, pacifist and feminist
- David Dellinger (1915–2004) – American pacifist, organizer, anti-war leader
- Michael Denborough AM (1929–2014) – Australian medical researcher who founded the Nuclear Disarmament Party
- Dorothy Detzer (1893–1981) – American feminist, peace activist, U.S. secretary of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
- Amanda Deyo (1838–?) – American Universalist minister, peace activist, correspondent
- Mary Dingman (1875–1961) – American social and peace activist
- Anita Dobelli (1865–?) – Italian peace activist and pacifist feminist
- Alma Dolens (1876–?) – Italian pacifist and suffragist
- Frank Dorrel – American peace activist, publisher of Addicted to War
- Ann Druyan (born 1949) – American documentary producer, vocal advocate for nuclear disarmament
- W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) – American socialist, historian, civil rights activist, peace activist and author
- Gabrielle Duchêne (1870–1954) – French feminist and pacifist
- Muriel Duckworth (1908–2009) – Canadian pacifist, feminist and community activist, founder of Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace
- Élie Ducommun (1833–1906) – Swiss pacifist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
- Peggy Duff (1910–1981) – British peace activist, socialist, founder and first General Secretary of CND
- Henry Dunant (1828–1910) – Swiss businessman and social activist, founder of the Red Cross, and the joint first Nobel peace laureate (with Frédéric Passy)
- Roberta Dunbar (died 1956) – American clubwoman and peace activist
- Mel Duncan (born 1950) – American pacifist, founding executive director of Nonviolent Peaceforce
- B. D. Dykstra (1871–1955) – Dutch American pastor, writer, newspaper editor, and pacifist
E
- Crystal Eastman (1881–1928) – American lawyer, suffragist, pacifist, journalist, co-founder of ACLU
- Shirin Ebadi (born 1947) – Iranian lawyer, human rights activist, Nobel peace laureate
- Anna B. Eckstein (1868–1947) – German advocate of world peace
- Abdul Sattar Edhi (1928–2016) – Pakistani philanthropist, created the world's largest ambulance network (EDHI)
- Nikolaus Ehlen (1886–1965) – German pacifist teacher
- Hans Ehrenberg (1883–1958) – German Jewish philosopher and Christian theologian
- Albert Einstein (1879–1955) – German-born American scientist, Nobel Prize laureate in physics
- Daniel Ellsberg (1931–2023) – American anti-war whistleblower, protester, leaked the Pentagon Papers
- Scilla Elworthy (born 1943) – British Quaker, founded the Oxford Research Group and Peace Direct; advised in setting up The Elders
- James Gareth Endicott (1898–1993) – Canadian missionary, initiator, organizer, protester
- Hedy Epstein (1924–2016) – Jewish-American antiwar activist, escaped Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport; active in opposition to Israeli military policies
- Gladys del Estal (1956–1979) – Basque ecological activist, shot dead by the Guardia Civil at a protest against the Lemóniz Nuclear Power Plant and the Bardenas firing range
- Dorothy Evans (1888–1944) – Hunger-striking British suffragette, secretary of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
- Jodie Evans (born 1954) – American political activist, co-founder of Code Pink, initiator, organizer, filmmaker
- Maya Evans – British peace campaigner, arrested for reading out, near The Cenotaph, the names of British soldiers killed in Iraq
F
- Mildred Fahrni (1900–1992) – Canadian pacifist, feminist, internationally active in the peace movement
- Andrew Feinstein (born 1964) – South African activist against the arms trade; first member of the South African Parliament to introduce a motion on the Holocaust
- Michael Ferber (born 1944) – American author, professor, anti-war activist
- Benjamin Ferencz (1920–2023) – American chief prosecutor at the Einsatzgruppen Trial
- Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919–2021) – American poet, painter, peace and social activist
- Hermann Fernau (born 1883) – German lawyer, writer, journalist and pacifist
- Solange Fernex (1934–2006) – French peace activist and politician
- Beatrice Fihn (born 1982) – Swedish anti-nuclear activist, chairperson of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)
- Genevieve Fiore (1912–2002) – American women's rights and peace activist
- Ingrid Fiskaa (born 1977) – Norwegian politician and peace activist
- Jane Fonda (born 1937) – American anti-war protester, actress
- Henni Forchhammer (1863–1955) – Danish educator, feminist and pacifist
- Jim Forest (1941–2022) – American author, international secretary of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship
- Randall Forsberg (1943–2007) – 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; career started at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in 1968
- Tom Fox (1951–2006) – American Quaker
- Diana Francis (born 1944) – British peace activist and scholar, former president of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation
- Ursula Franklin (1921–2016) – German-Canadian scientist, pacifist and feminist, whose research helped end atmospheric nuclear testing
- Marcia Freedman (born 1938) – American-Israeli peace activist, feminist and supporter of gay rights
- Comfort Freeman – Liberian anti-war activist
- Maikki Friberg (1861–1927) – Finnish educator, journal editor, suffragist and peace activist
- Alfred Fried (1864–1921) – co-founder of German peace movement, called for world peace organization
G
- Arun Manilal Gandhi (1934–2023) – Indian, organizer, educator, grandson of Mohandas
- Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) – Indian, writer, organizer, protester, lawyer, inspiration to movement leaders
- Alfonso García Robles (1911–1991) – Mexican diplomat, the driving force behind the Treaty of Tlatelolco, setting up a nuclear-free zone in Latin America and the Caribbean. Awarded 1982 Nobel Peace Prize
- Saadia Gardezi – Pakistani journalist and founder of Project Dastaan
- Eric Garris (born 1953) – American activist, founding webmaster of antiwar.com
- Martin Gauger (1905–1941) – German jurist and pacifist
- Leymah Gbowee (born 1972) – Liberian peace activist, organizer of women's peace movement in Liberia, awarded 2011 Nobel Peace Prize
- Aviv Geffen (born 1973) – Israeli singer and peace activist
- Everett Gendler (1928–2022) – American conservative rabbi, peace activist, writer
- Olive Gibbs (1918–1995) – British politician, founding member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and second to serve as its chair, 1964–1967
- Jeremy Gilley (born 1969) – as a result of Gilley's efforts, a General Assembly resolution was unanimously adopted by UN member states, establishing 21 September as an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on the UN International Day of Peace – Peace Day.
- Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) – American anti-war protester, writer, poet
- Igino Giordani (1894–1980) – Italian politician and cosponsor of the first Italian legislation on conscientious objection to military service, co-founder of the Catholic/ecumenical Focolare movement dedicated to unity and universal fraternity.
- Arthur Gish (1939–2010) – American public speaker and peace activist
- Bernie Glassman (1939–2018) – American Zen Buddhist roshi and founder of Zen Peacemakers
- Danny Glover (born 1946) – American actor and anti-war activist
- Vilma Glücklich (1872–1927) – Hungarian educator, pacifist and women's rights activist
- Emma Goldman (1869–1940) – Russian/American activist imprisoned in the U.S. for opposition to World War I
- Amy Goodman (born 1957) – American journalist, host of Democracy Now!
- Paul Goodman (1911–1972) – American writer, psychotherapist, social critic, anarchist philosopher and public intellectual
- Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–2022) – Russian anti-nuclear activist during and after Soviet presidency. In 1993 he launched Green Cross International and in 1995 initiated the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.
- Jean Goss (1912–1991) – French non-violence activist
- Hildegard Goss-Mayr (born 1930) – Austrian pacifist and theologian
- Dorothy Granada (born 1930) – American nurse, humanitarian, and peace and social justice activist who was the 1997 recipient of the International Pfeffer Peace Award
- Lorraine Granado (1948–2019) – American environmental, peace and social justice activist and organizer who co-founded the Colorado People's Environmental and Economic Network and Neighbors for a Toxic-Free Community in Denver
- Jonathan Granoff (born 1948) – Co-founder and President, Global Security Institute
- William Grassie (born 1957) – American nonviolence activist
- Jürgen Grässlin (born 1957) – teacher and activist against arms exports, especially of small arms (Heckler & Koch)
- Wavy Gravy (born 1936) – American entertainer and activist for peace
- Great Peacemaker – Native American co-founder of the Iroquois Confederacy, author Great Law of Peace
- Dick Gregory (1932–2017) – American comedian, anti-war protester
- Irene Greenwood (1898–1992) – Australian feminist, peace activist and broadcaster
- Richard Grelling (1853–1929) – German lawyer, writer and pacifist
- Ben Griffin (born 1977) – former British SAS soldier and Iraq War veteran
- Suze Groeneweg (1875–1940) – Dutch politician, feminist and pacifist
- Edward Grubb (1854–1939) – English Quaker, pacifist, active in the No-Conscription Fellowship
- Emil Grunzweig (1947–1983) – Israeli teacher and peace activist
- Gerson Gu-Konu, also Gerson Konu (1932–2006) – Peace and human rights activist from Togo
- J. Edward Guinan (1936–2014) – Founder of the Community for Creative Non-Violence
- Woody Guthrie (1912–1967) – American anti-war protester and musician, inspiration
- Tenzin Gyatso (born 1935) – 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and spiritual and formerly temporal ruler of Tibet and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile