Peace Activists Research Articles

British Peace Activism and ‘New’ Diplomacy: Revisiting the 1899 Hague Peace Conference

This analysis provides a re-appraisal of the 1899 Hague Conference by looking more closely at how citizen activists—notably in Britain but also transnationally—used it as a forum through which to press their agenda onto politicians and diplomatists. In so doing, this assembly existed as a stepping-stone between the ‘old’ diplomacy of the nineteenth century and the ‘new’ diplomacy of the twentieth. Peace activists identified and harnessed a growing body of progressive public opinion—on both a domestic and international scale—in the hope of compelling governments to take the necessary steps towards realising their ambitions of peace, disarmament, and international arbitration. Although the tangible outcomes of the 1899 Conference were limited, the precedents it established not only paved the way for further advances in international law, but also facilitated ever closer public and press scrutiny of international affairs into the twentieth century.

Book Review: William Stringfellow: Essential Writings

William Stringfellow: Essential Writings. Selected with an Introduction by Bill Wylie-Kellermann. Modem Spiritual Masters Series. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2013. 256 pp. $22.00 (paper).Surprisingly little has been published about William Stringfeilow since he died in 1985, despite his seminal influence on such thinkers and activists as Walter Wink, Jim Wallis, and Elizabeth McAlister. Bill Wylie-Kellermann, a Methodist pastor and activist who serves an Episcopal parish in Detroit, has offered arguably the best introduction to date to the life and work of the radical Episcopal lawyer and lay theologian who articulated a biblical theology of the powers and served many of his generation as a prophetic voice against the ubiquitous forces of domination afflicting church, society, and politics. Wylie-Kellermann, who edited a longer Stringfeilow anthology two decades ago, more recently helped direct the project to reprint the works of his friend and mentor through Wipf and Stock.The introduction briefly sketches Stringfeilow s life, setting up the judiciously selected primary text excerpts to follow. Raised in New England by working class parents, Stringfeilow studied debate at Rhodes College and became a leader in ecumenical student Christian work. After earning a Harvard law degree, he spumed more lucrative prospects to practice street law in East Harlem, where he confronted the principalities of racism and poverty head on. During Karl Barths U.S. visit in 1962, the young attorney stunned the Swiss theologian and the audience at a panel discussion with his penetrating questions on the vocation of the churches amid the contemporary American political scene. A cradle Episcopalian, Stringfeilow immersed himself, often notoriously, in controversies that roiled the denomination in the 1960s and 70s: he defended his friend Bishop James Pike when brought up on heresy charges, and advised the first women ordained to holy orders. Racked by health problems and desiring to live a more monastic existence, in 1967 he moved with his partner, the poet Anthony Towne, to Block Island, Rhode Island, where he became a gadfly to local politicians. Stringfeilow and Towne sheltered the Jesuit peace activist Daniel Berrigan, who was pursued by the FBI for his role in the 1968 draft-records-buming protest in Catonsville, Maryland. Berrigan and Stringfeilow piloted an underground seminary to empower a radical discipleship of resistance and of the rehumanization of those on the margins. Such commitments shaped Stringfellows most systematic and influential treatise in moral theology, An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land (1974). He performed a public exorcism of the Nixon administration after the Presidents second inauguration, and his final book was a scathing critique of the ersatz bourgeois spirituality of the Reagan years. …

Book Review: Book Reviews

Illusions of Freedom: Thomas Merton and Jacques Ellul on Technology and Human Condition. By Jeffrey M. Shaw. Eugene, Ore.: Pickwick Publications, 2014. xiv + 193 pp. $23.00 (paper).andReturning to Reality: Thomas Merton's Wisdom for a Technological World. By Phillip M. Thompson. Eugene, Ore.: Cascade Books, 2012. xxii + 112 pp. $17.00 (paper).This year marks centenaiy of birth of famous Trappist monk, poet, and peace activist Thomas Merton. Often called most significant Catholic spiritual writer of twentieth century, Merton has acquired an increasing reputation as a wise and prescient commentator on many issues of contemporary life with gradual publication of his journals and letters beginning in early 1990s (a quarter-century after his untimely death in 1968, as stipulated by his literary estate). In anticipation of this Merton anniversary year a number of books have examined various aspects of Merton's life and work.Two of these focus on Merton's disparate writings on technology. Merton left no single comprehensive account of his philosophy of technology, but topic came up often in his letters and his extensive private journals. Jeffrey Shaw and Phillip Thompson each have skillfully woven disparate threads of Merton's philosophy of technology into a coherent fabric.Shaw discusses Merton alongside French Protestant philosopher and theologian Jacques Ellul (1912-1994), and pairing makes for a richer discussion than Thompson manages in his slimmer but also fine volume. Merton and Ellul never met and had no known correspondence, but Merton read Ellul enthusiastically and mentioned him several times in his journals.What excited Merton about Ellul's theory of technology was concept of technique, by which Ellul meant something beyond standard meaning of that word in English. In his most well-known book, La Technique (The Technological Society), Ellul defined technique as the totality of methods rationally arrived at and having absolute efficiency (for a given stage of development) in every field of human activity. Put differently, technique is that inherent characteristic of technology that enforces efficiency and technological progress at expense of natural world and of other, arguably higher, humanistic concerns. The classic example of this is Henry Ford's replacement of craftsmanship with efficient but mind-numbing and spiritually empty assembly-line work.Shaw's book began as a doctoral dissertation, and it retains both advantages and disadvantages of that genre. The advantages are its comprehensiveness and clear organization, with nicely self-contained chapters dedicated to a comparison of two men's worldviews; their theology, sociology, and politics of technology; and relationship between their philosophies of technology and their literary work. …

Nuclear Politics, Past and Present: Comparison of German and Japanese Anti-Nuclear Peace Movements

This article addresses the question of what has contributed to the difference between German and Japanese nuclear politics in the post-Fukushima era. Germany has decided to phase out nuclear energy, but Japan has done the opposite. The origin of this difference can be traced back to the development of the anti-nuclear peace movement in the early 1980s. West Germans turned against nuclear energy as well as nuclear weapons, whereas Japanese peace activists carefully avoided the nuclear energy issue because of their concern over U.S.-Japan relations. The West German peace movement in the following years was in a position to foster cooperation between East and West Germans, whereas the Japanese movement missed the chance to go beyond the Cold War mentality.

There ain't nothing like a Dame: a commentary on Lonsdale (1947) 'Divergent beam X-ray photography of crystals'.

Prof. Dame Kathleen Lonsdale was one of the two first female Fellows of the Royal Society, having originally been a student of that great British scientist and Nobel Laureate William Henry Bragg. She came to fame initially for her solution of the crystal structure of hexamethyl benzene, thus demonstrating that the benzene ring was flat, of considerable importance to organic chemistry, where it had been proposed before but without proof. This was at a time when the solution of crystal structures was in its infancy, and in its day this work was considered a triumph. As a rare example then of a female physicist, Lonsdale became interested in various aspects of the diffraction of X-rays, and in particular published an important paper on a form of diffraction in which a strongly divergent source was used rather than the usual highly collimated beam. The photographs thus obtained showed a series of arcs and circles, whose positions were so sensitive that they could be used to determine the quality of crystals such as diamond, and even to calculate their lattice dimensions, and hence carbon–carbon bond lengths, to hitherto extraordinary precision. Lonsdale also became known not just as a scientist but as a peace activist and an active member of the Society of Friends. This commentary was written to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

Peace activists in New Media

In this study, the way peace activists use new media and comments and reactions made for new activists in new media are analyzed. A review of transition from activism to digital activism and the impacts of this change was done with examples. WEB search method was used. First of all the concept of peace will be explained. I. Kant will be used in definition of peace culture. It will be stated that peace culture is experienced in different way in societies, and put forward what we understand of concept of peace and how we live peace. In line with peace culture, the concept of peace will be categorized and it will be determined mostly in which category activists are included. The universe of observing activists is composed of new media. Analysis of activists in this field will be done more efficiently due to rapid and versatile structure of new media. As a result, effectiveness, aim and interaction of peace activists in new media within defined peace culture will be determined.

Place and Politics at the Frankfurt Paulskirche after 1945

This article investigates the reconstruction of the Frankfurt Paulskirche as a symbol of German democratic identity after World War II. The place memory of the Paulskirche is deeply rooted in the 1848 Parliament which anticipated the formation of a German democratic state. The church provided postwar Germans with a physical anchor for their sense of history and feelings of Heimat. This place identity pervades post-1945 debates about the reconstruction of the church and the appropriate uses of that space in the context of Frankfurt’s devastated urban and political landscape. Despite this, the place identity of the Paulskirche remains understudied in the historiography. Rental agreements and correspondence reveal dynamic exchanges between city leaders, mainly members of the Social Democratic Party, and their constituents. Politicians, feminists, and peace activists all attempted to control the place identity of the Paulskirche after reconstruction, ultimately transcribing the space with additional political meaning.

Maternal Bodies in Militant Protest: Leymah Gbowee and the Rhetorical Agency of African Motherhood

This essay analyzes how Leymah Gbowee and other Liberia Mass Action for Peace (LMAP) activists drew on the cultural power of African motherhood to engage in militant protest. Framing the movement as one motivated by a concern for their children, these women employed three specific rhetorical tactics to demand an end to the fourteen-year civil war: (1) repositioning women and children as the war's real victims; (2) threatening to bare their bodies in deliberate public nakedness; and (3) constituting the political agency of ordinary women both in Liberia and around the world. These militant maternal protests positioned the LMAP activists as coherent political agents empowered by their literal and symbolic participation in Liberian performances of African motherhood. Their actions suggest the rhetorical potential of militant maternal protests in countries that exclude women from political involvement.

How Udo Wanted to Save the World in ‘Erich's Lamp Shop’: Lindenberg's Concert in Honecker's East Berlin, the NATO Double-Track Decision and Communist Economic Woes

AbstractThe concert given by the West German rock star Udo Lindenberg in East Berlin on 25 October 1983 links cultural, political, diplomatic and economic history. The East German regime had banned performances by the anti-nuclear peace activist and musician since the 1970s, but eventually allowed a concert, hoping to prevent the deployment of American nuclear missiles in West Germany. In allowing this event, however, East Germany neither prevented the implementation of the NATO double-track decision of 1979 nor succeeded in controlling the political messages of the impertinent musician. Desperate for economic aid from the West, East Germany decided to cancel a promised Lindenberg tour in 1984, causing widespread disillusionment among his fans in the country.

An Interview with Renate Rose

An Interview with Renate Rose Kelsi Morrison-Atkins (bio) Describing Renate Rose in one sentence, or even a series of sentences, is no small undertaking. She is a United Church of Christ (UCC) minister and a Harvard alumna. She has lived in six countries and speaks many languages. She is a feminist interfaith peace activist and an outspoken opponent of nuclear weapons. Born in Berlin, she witnessed firsthand the horrors of Nazi Germany and has devoted her life to the project of peace and reconciliation. Yet, all of these identifiers do not begin to describe the dynamic woman who welcomed me into her home and taught me much about the important role of feminist scholars and practitioners of all religions in envisioning and enacting a world free of the “genocidal mentality” that sustains the production of nuclear weapons and other death-dealing machinery. In preparation for our interview, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza sent me Dr. Rose’s biographical essay entitled “A Faith Journey in the Shadow of Auschwitz,” which she prepared for her eightieth birthday celebration.1 In this essay, Dr. Rose gives an account of the destruction of her home in an Allied bombing, her pathbreaking journey to a doctorate in economics and political science, her work in the European Communities and at the Council of Europe, and her pastoral work in Hawaii and the Philippines. This narrative forms the basis of many of my questions and demonstrates the haunting influence of Renate’s war experiences as a child. As such, I will summarize it briefly here. Growing up next to the concentration camp of Sachsenhausen, north of Berlin, the atrocities of Auschwitz have framed Dr. Rose’s faith journey from the beginning of her life to this day. Influenced by her father, an outspoken critic of Hitler, Renate was shocked by the overwhelming silence of the church in response to the inconceivable inhumanity of genocide. She repeatedly proclaims “the personal is political!” and brings this motto to bear on her studies of [End Page 143] political science and economics as well as her work in international peace organizations. After graduating from Harvard Divinity School, her focus on peace and justice work were carried into her ordination and service for the United Church of Christ in Hawaii, her teaching of New Testament and Worship at Silliman University Divinity School and Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines, and her interfaith work in “retirement.” After her first career in postwar Europe (Brussels and Strasbourg), Re-nate moved in 1973 to the United States after her marriage to David Rose, a professor of physics and nuclear engineering at MIT and a strong voice against nuclear weapons. In 1981, the Roses moved to Hawaii because of David’s illness, where he unfortunately died shortly thereafter. In 1983, Renate was ordained and began to pastor Central Union Church in Honolulu. Time as a pastor and association minister of the UCC in the diversity of the Hawaiian culture, experiences in the Philippines teaching New Testament and feminist theology, and many interfaith retreats at Auschwitz (while translating a book from German into English about the commander of the camp) have all fostered her passion for peace and her vision of reconciliation. Auschwitz and its aftermath has remained the central impetus for her work on nuclear disarmament and peacemaking. It is this peace activism that forms the basis of Dr. Rose’s vision of a nonkyriarchal, demilitarized, and peace-filled world. Influenced by the work of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Mary Daly, Renate asks us to consider the ways in which our images of and language about God contribute to kyriarchal oppression and the murderous technologies of militarism. Thus, on many occasions, including the 1999 Parliament of World’s Religions meeting, Renate has argued for an “economics of care,” highlighting the resources that would be available for the poor if nuclearism (the production of nuclear weapons, their maintenance, and the willingness to use them in war) were no longer supported, and has argued fervently that feminists must join in this cause and provide a model for a radically egalitarian society. Until these and other feminist insights are made known and acted upon, she concludes, “I will...

Fighting against War: Peace Activism in the Twentieth Century: The 14<sup>th</sup> National Labour History Conference, 11–13 February 2015, University of Melbourne

Fighting against War: Peace Activism in the Twentieth Century: The 14<sup>th</sup> National Labour History Conference, 11–13 February 2015, University of Melbourne

Engendering Peacebuilding in an Endangered Country: Strategic Interventions for Women Peace Activism in Nigeria

The recognition of women's peacebuilding activities, arguments for why women should be involved in peacebuilding, and the development of strategies for their inclusion, has been a dominant focus in the literature and activism of women engaged in the arena of development, peace and security. Women's involvement in peace and security processes in Africa has gained momentum over the last two decades largely as a direct consequence ofliving and/or working in conflict zones. In most wars, gender roles are strictly defined: women and children are seen as the victims, while men are viewed as both the perpetrators of violence and the peacemakers. Women take on many different roles in wartime and have diverse experiences. Nonetheless their experiences tend to be distinct from men's and also share a set of common vulnerabilities. In this paper, women's participation in peace building and conflict management is examined at both regional and national levels with specific reference to Nigeria. It argues that gender mainstreaming is particularly significant in its application to conflict transformation, as it is increasingly recognized at both the international and domestic levels that women and men do not experience conflict in the same way and have different needs and priorities in the aftermath. It submits that there is a need for peacebuilding to incorporate policies which address women's specific health and economic needs.

St. Francis in Soho: Emmeline Pethick, Mary Neal, the West London Wesleyan Mission, and the Allure of “Simple Living” in the 1890s

An 1894 biography of St. Francis of Assisi was a milestone in the lives of two young urban missionaries. They were “Sisters of the People” at the dynamic and progressive Wesleyan Methodist West London Mission in Soho, a poor and overcrowded central London district. Sister Mary Neal and Sister Emmeline Pethick would eventually distinguish themselves nationally, Emmeline as a militant suffragist in tandem with her husband Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, and later as a feminist and peace activist; Mary as a music educator and folklorist. French protestant clergyman Paul Sabatier's scholarly but lyrical biography of Francis enthralled the mission's leaders, including the superintendent, Hugh Price Hughes. Francis's rejection of his family's wealth, his insistence on absolute poverty for himself and his followers, and his devotion to the poor presented a compelling model of Christian service, one that the two young Sisters found especially exciting. They resigned the Sisterhood in 1895 to live cheaply in workers' housing just north of their old turf. This decision launched them into a national community of Franciscan-inspired settlers, philanthropists, “simple livers,” and collective farmers—offering us a new perspective on fin de siècle social activism.

Bombs and Border Crossings: Peace Activist Networks and the Post-colonial State in Africa, 1959–62

This article explores the engagement between European, African and US peace activists as a case-study of the transnational dimensions of decolonization. Its focus is the protest against the first French nuclear weapons test in the Sahara, and European activists’ involvement in subsequent international conferences in Ghana that sought to contest ‘nuclear imperialism’. The article assesses the limits of transnationalism when addressing interconnected histories of European, African and US anti-nuclear weapons campaigns and argues that, rather than facilitating the formation of new transnational communities, anti-nuclear peace movements in Africa coalesced around pre-existing anti-colonial activist networks. Furthermore, this study of interactions between Western and African activists suggests that there is a need for greater reflection on the sometimes contradictory ways in which campaign groups have interacted with the nation-state and negotiated transnational connections in ‘global’ political spaces.

The rise and fall of Monica Felton, British town planner and peace activist, 1930s to 1950s

This article reflects growing academic interest in the careers and historical significance of professional women town planners, an interest clearly registered in Planning Perspectives and other publications. Unlike other women town planners, however, the career of Monica Felton remains largely obscure. It was certainly short-lived, beginning as it did on the London County Council in 1937 and ending spectacularly while she was Chairman of Stevenage Development Corporation in 1951. Felton became an outcast from both her profession and her country when she gave up on new town development to campaign against British and American involvement in the Korean War in 1951. This article emphasizes her distinctive contribution to the evolving roles of women in British town planning during the mid-twentieth century and shows how this contribution was obscured by her fall from grace.

Activists in Israeli radical peace organizations: Their personal stories about joining and taking part in these organizations.

The present study aims to examine the personal stories of activists in radical peace organizations to understand their prejoining socialization experiences, their perception of the conflict and the changes they are trying to make, as well as the meaning of the activism for them. In-depth interviews with 16 female and male activists in 4 radical peace organizations were conducted in Israel, within the context of the IsraeliPalestinian intractable conflict. A qualitative content analysis of the interviews revealed that radical peace activists share certain prejoining socialization experiences that account for their collective activity. These include socialization in the family, social and political activities, exposure to alternative information about the conflict, and crucial life experiences. In addition, the activists share a common perception of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They see it as an issue which has been repressed and disregarded by Israeli society. They share the common goal of solving the conflict peacefully and, therefore, they try to raise awareness in society of the conflictive reality. We observed that joining radical peace organizations provides activists with a new collective arena with which they can identify and in which they can act to express their unique values and beliefs, and finally adopt a new, distinctly activist identity. The findings contribute to a better understanding of peace activists’ collective action, undertaken with the knowledge that peace activists are at the forefront of attempts to make meaningful societal change.

‘The Coloniser who Refuses’: Co-Resistance and the Paradoxical Reality of Israeli Solidarity Activists

In the period following the Second Intifada, many Israeli and Palestinian peace activists began to despair of traditional coexistence efforts, turning instead to joint nonviolent political activism against Israeli policies. This mode of joint work came to be known as ‘co-resistance’. It would be fair to wonder if such activism might foster joint Israeli–Palestinian efforts towards a shared society, possibly a one-state solution. However, somewhat counter-intuitively, solidarity can sometimes reinforce separation between the two parties in question. This article uses the Solidarity Movement as case study to explore the political role of Israeli co-resistance activists. Using ethnographic methods and drawing upon Albert Memmi's theory of the ‘coloniser who refuses’, this article illustrates how co-resistance can serve to reinforce and advance separation between Israelis and Palestinians into two distinct national communities.

Betty Reardon’s philosophy of peace education and the centrality of justice

There is no clear description of an approach to justice that is related to peace education. Betty Reardon’s writing holistically connects peace and justice. While there are various traditions of justice, such as utilitarianism and contractarianism (social contract), the breadth of Reardon’s writing suggests that justice, in terms of its relationship with peace, is most consistent with the capabilities or human development approach to justice. Popularized by Nobel - prize winning economist Amartya Sen and University of Chicago philosopher Martha Nussbaum, capabilities are substantive opportunities and freedoms, consistent with human dignity, that enable persons to choose their own life path. Articulating Reardon’s conception of justice might provide peace educators, researchers, and activists with more clarity about the nature of justice in relation to peace, places to begin inquiry, and critical and conceptual understanding about the meaning of ‘NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!’.

“In Relation to the Pact”: Radical Pacifists and the Kellogg‐Briand Pact, 1928–1939

This paper argues that radical and pacifist peace activists made the Kellogg‐Briand Pact their own for the decade after its creation. While recognizing the treaty's flaws, they co‐opted and adapted its meaning, and it influenced many of the goals activists pursued in the 1930s. The pact aided cooperation between peace activists, and both the treaty and Frank B. Kellogg himself played a larger role in the peace movement for a longer period than previously recognized. This argument draws primarily from sources at the Minnesota Historical Society, the WILPF International records at the University of Colorado‐Boulder, the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College, and the WILPF records in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection.

From Activist to Entrepreneur: Peace One Day and the Changing Persona of the Social Campaigner

From Activist to Entrepreneur: Peace One Day and the Changing Persona of the Social Campaigner