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 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 – Kenyan peace activist, government consultant
- David Adams – 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 – American, national chairman of Woman's Peace Party, president of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
- Ruth Adler – feminist, and human rights campaigner in Scotland
- Eqbal Ahmad – Pakistani political scientist, activist
- Martti Ahtisaari – former president of Finland, active in conflict resolution
- Robert Baker Aitken - Zen Buddhist Rōshi and anti-war activist, anti-nuclear testing activist, and proponent of deep ecology
- Tadatoshi Akiba – Japanese pacifist and nuclear disarmament advocate, former mayor of Hiroshima
- Iris Akahoshi – persistent supporter of a jailed Ukrainian political prisoner
- Widad Akrawi – Danish-Kurdish peace advocate, organizer
- Stew Albert – American anti-Vietnam war activist, organizer
- Abdulkadir Yahya Ali – Somali peace activist and founder of the Center for Research and Dialogue In Somalia
- Bhimrao Ambedkar Indian polymath, civil rights leader, revivalist of Buddhism in India
- Ghassan Andoni – Palestinian physicist, Christian, advocate of non-violent resistance
- Andrea Andreen — Swedish physician, pacifist and feminist
- Annot – German artist, anti-war and anti-nuclear activist
- José Argüelles – American New Age author and pacifist
- Émile Armand – French anarchist and pacifist writer
- Émile Arnaud – French peace campaigner, coined the word "pacifism"
- Klas Pontus Arnoldson – Swedish pacifist, Nobel peace laureate, founder of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society
- Ya'akov Arnon – Italian economist, government official and pacifist
- Vittorio Arrigoni – Italian reporter, anti-war activist
- Pat Arrowsmith – British author and peace campaigner
- Arik Ascherman – Israeli-American rabbi and defender of Palestinian human rights
- Margaret Ashton – British suffragist, local politician, pacifist
- Anita Augsburg – German lawyer, writer, feminist, pacifist
- Uri Avnery – Israeli writer and founder of Gush Shalom
- Mubarak Awad – Palestinian–American advocate of nonviolent resistance, founder of the Palestinian Centre for the Study of Nonviolence
- Ali Abu Awwad – Palestinian peace activist and proponent of nonviolence from Beit Ummar, founder of Taghyeer Movement
- Ayo Ayoola-Amale – Nigerian conflict resolution professional, ombudsman, peace builder and poet
B
- Anton Bacalbașa – Romanian Marxist and pacifist
- Eva Bacon – Australian socialist, feminist, pacifist
- Gertrud Baer – German Jewish peace activist, and a founding member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
- Joan Baez – prominent American anti-war protester, inspirational singer
- Ella Baker – African-American civil rights activist, feminist, pacifist
- Emily Greene Balch – American pacifist, leader of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and 1946 Nobel peace laureate
- Ernesto Balducci – Italian priest and peace activist
- Edith Ballantyne – Czech-Canadian peace activist
- Daniel Barenboim - pianist and conductor, joint founder - with Edward Said - of the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra, citizen of Argentina, Israel, Palestine and Spain
- Christine Ross Barker – Canadian pacifist and suffragist
- Matilde Bajer – Danish feminist and peace activists
- Ludwig Bauer – Austro-Swiss writer and pacifist
- Archibald Baxter – New Zealand pacifist, socialist, and anti-war activist
- Alaide Gualberta Beccari – Italian feminist, pacifist and social reformer
- Yolanda Becerra – Colombian feminist and peace activist
- Henriette Beenfeldt – radical Danish peace activist
- Harry Belafonte – American anti-war protester, performer
- Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo – East Timorese bishop, Nobel peace laureate
- Medea Benjamin – American author, organizer, co-founder of the anti-militarist Code Pink
- Pope Benedict XV – advocated peace throughout WW1; opposed aerial warfare; promoted humanitarian initiatives. "The great Pope of the world tragedy... the benefactor of all people, regardless of nation or creed"
- Meg Beresford – British activist, European Nuclear Disarmament movement
- Daniel Berrigan – prominent American anti-Vietnam war protester, poet, author, anti-nuke and war
- Philip Berrigan – prominent American anti-Vietnam war protester, author, anti-nuke and war
- James Bevel – prominent American anti-Vietnam war leader, organizer
- Vinoba Bhave – Indian, Gandhian, teacher, author, organizer
- Albert Bigelow – former US Navy officer turned pacifist, skipper of the first vessel to attempt disruption of the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons
- Doris Blackburn – Australian social reformer, politician, pacifist
- Kees Boeke – Dutch educator, missionary and pacifist
- Elise M. Boulding – Norwegian-born American sociologist, specialising in academic peace research
- Janet Bloomfield – British peace and disarmament campaigner, chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
- Bhikkhu Bodhi - American Theravada Buddhist monk and founder of Buddhist Global Relief
- Carl Bonnevie — Norwegian jurist and peace activist
- Bono – Irish singer-songwriter, musician, venture capitalist, businessman, and philanthropist; born Paul David Hewson
- Charles-Auguste Bontemps – French anarchist, pacifist, writer
- Norma Elizabeth Boyd – African American politically active educator, children's rights proponent, pacifist
- José Bové – French farmer, politician, pacifist
- Heloise Brainerd – American women activist, pacifist
- Sophonisba Breckinridge – American educator, social reformer, pacifist
- Peter Brock – British-born Canadian pacifist historian
- Brigid Brophy – British novelist, feminist, pacifist
- Albert Bourderon – French socialist and pacifist
- Pierre Brizon – French politician and pacifist
- Vera Brittain – British writer, pacifist
- José Brocca – Spanish activist, international delegate War Resisters International, organiser of relief efforts during the Spanish Civil War
- Hugh Brock – lifelong British pacifist and editor of Peace News between 1955 and 1964
- Fenner Brockway – 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 ; founder member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and of the charity War on Want
- Emilia Broomé – Swedish politician, feminist and peace activist
- Olympia Brown – American theologist, suffragist, pacifist
- Elihu Burritt – American diplomat, social activist
- Caoimhe Butterly – Irish peace and human rights activist
- Charles Buxton – British Liberal and later Labour MP, philanthropist and peace activist, critical of the Treaty of Versailles
C
- Ritchie Calder – Scottish science journalist, socialist and peace activist
- Helen Caldicott – Australian physician, anti-nuclear activist, revived Physicians for Social Responsibility, campaigner against the dangers of radiation
- Hélder Câmara – 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, novelist, journalist, pacifist
- Andrew Carnegie – American industrialist and founder of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- April Carter – British peace activist, researcher, editor
- Jimmy Carter – American negotiator and former US President, organizer, international conflict resolution
- René Cassin – French jurist, professor, and judge, co-wrote the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Benny Cederfeld de Simonsen – Danish peace activist
- Pierre Cérésole – Swiss engineer, founder of Service Civil International or International Voluntary Service for Peace
- Félicien Challaye – French philosopher and pacifist
- Émile Chartier – French philosopher, educator and pacifist
- Simone Tanner Chaumet – French peace activist
- Cesar Chavez – American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist
- Helen Chenevix – Irish suffragist, trade unionist, pacifist
- Ada Nield Chew – British suffragist and pacifist
- Molly Childers – Irish writer, nationalist, pacifist
- Alice Amelia Chown – Canadian feminist, pacifist and writer
- Noam Chomsky – American linguist, philosopher, and activist
- Ramsey Clark – American anti-war and anti-nuclear lawyer, activist
- Howard Clark - British peace activist, deputy editor of Peace News and Chair of War Resisters' International.
- Helena Cobban – British peace activist, journalist, author
- Alex Comfort – British scientist, physician, writer, pacifist
- Mike Cooley – Irish engineer, pioneer of socially useful production, awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 1981
- William Sloane Coffin – American cleric, anti-war activist
- James Colaianni – American author, publisher, first anti-Napalm organizer
- Judy Collins – inspirational American anti-war singer/songwriter, protester
- Alex Comfort – British pacifist and conscientious objector and author of The Joy of Sex
- Alecu Constantinescu – Romanian trade unionist, journalist and pacifist
- Jeremy Corbyn – 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 – American activist for Palestinian human rights
- David Cortright – American anti-nuclear weapon leader
- Norman Cousins – American journalist, author, organizer, initiator
- Randal Cremer – British trade unionist and Liberal MP ; 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
- Frances Crowe – American pacifist, anti-nuclear power activist, draft counselor supporting conscientious objectors
- Edvin Kanka Ćudić – Bosnian human rights and peace activist, founder and coordinator of Association for Social Research and Communications
- Adam Curle – Quaker peace activist; first professor of peace studies in the UK
D
- Margaretta D'Arcy – Irish actress, writer and peace activist
- Mohammed Dajani Daoudi – Palestinian professor and peace activist
- Thora Daugaard – Danish feminist, pacifist, journal editor and translator
- George Maitland Lloyd Davies – Welsh pacifist and anti-war campaigner, chair of the Peace Pledge Union
- Rennie Davis – American anti-Vietnam war leader, organizer
- Dorothy Day – American journalist, social activist, and co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement
- John Dear – American priest, author, and nonviolent activist
- Siri Derkert – Swedish artist, pacifist and feminist
- David Dellinger – American pacifist, organizer, prominent anti-war leader
- Michael Denborough AM – Australian medical researcher who founded the Nuclear Disarmament Party
- Dorothy Detzer – American feminist, peace activist, U.S. secretary of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
- Amanda Deyo – American Universalist minister, peace activist, correspondent
- Mary Dingman – American social and peace activist
- Alma Dolens – Italian pacifist and suffragist
- Frank Dorrel – American Peace Activist, publisher of Addicted to War
- Gabrielle Duchêne – French feminist and pacifist
- Muriel Duckworth – Canadian pacifist, feminist and community activist, founder of Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace
- Élie Ducommun – Swiss pacifist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
- Peggy Duff – British peace activist, socialist, founder and first General Secretary of CND
- Henry Dunant – Swiss businessman and social activist, founder of the Red Cross, and the joint first Nobel peace laureate
- Roberta Dunbar – American clubwoman and peace activist
- Mel Duncan – American pacifist, founding Executive Director of Nonviolent Peaceforce
E
- Crystal Eastman – American lawyer, suffragist, pacifist, journalist
- Shirin Ebadi – Iranian lawyer, human rights activist, Nobel peace laureate
- Anna B. Eckstein 1868–1947 - German advocate of world peace
- Nikolaus Ehlen – German pacifist teacher
- Albert Einstein – German-born American scientist, Nobel Prize laureate in physics
- Daniel Ellsberg – American anti-war whistleblower, protester
- James Gareth Endicott – Canadian missionary, initiator, organizer, protester
- Hedy Epstein – Jewish-American antiwar activist, escaped Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport; active in opposition to Israeli military policies
- Jodie Evans – 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 – Canadian pacifist, feminist, internationally active in the peace movement
- Michael Ferber – American author, professor, anti-war activist
- Hermann Fernau – German lawyer, writer, journalist and pacifist
- Solange Fernex – French peace activist and politician
- Beatrice Fihn – Swedish anti-nuclear activist, chairperson of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
- Edo Fimmen – Dutch trade unionist, writer and pacifist
- Genevieve Fiore – American women's rights and peace activist
- Ingrid Fiskaa – Norwegian politician and peace activist
- Jane Fonda – American anti-war protester, actress
- Henni Forchhammer – Danish educator, feminist and pacifist
- Jim Forest – American author, international secretary of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship
- Randall Forsberg – 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 – American Quaker
- Diana Francis – British peace activist and scholar, former president of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation
- Ursula Franklin – German-Canadian scientist, pacifist and feminist, whose research helped end atmospheric nuclear testing
- Marcia Freedman – American-Israeli peace activist, feminist and supporter of gay rights
- Comfort Freeman – Liberian anti-war activist
- Maikki Friberg – Finnish educator, journal editor, suffragist and peace activist
- Alfred Fried – co-founder of German peace movement, called for world peace organization
G
- Arun Gandhi – Indian, organizer, educator, grandson of Mohandas
- Mahatma Gandhi – Indian, writer, organizer, protester, lawyer, inspiration to movement leaders
- Alfonso Garcia Robles – 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
- Eric Garris – American activist, founding webmaster of antiwar.com
- Martin Gauger – German jurist and pacifist
- Leymah Gbowee – Liberian peace activist, organizer of women's peace movement in Liberia, awarded 2011 Nobel Peace Prize
- Aviv Geffen – Israeli singer and peace activist
- Everett Gendler – American conservative rabbi, peace activist, writer
- Allen Ginsberg – American anti-war protester, writer, poet
- Igino Giordani, 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 – American public speaker and peace activist
- Bernie Glassman American Zen Buddhist roshi and founder of Zen Peacemakers
- Danny Glover – American actor and anti-war activist
- Vilma Glücklich – Hungarian educator, pacifist and women's rights activist
- Emma Goldman – Russian/American activist imprisoned in the U.S. for opposition to World War I
- Amy Goodman – American journalist, host of Democracy Now!
- Paul Goodman – American writer, psychotherapist, social critic, anarchist philosopher and public intellectual
- Mikhail Gorbachev – Russian anti-nuclear activist during and after Soviet presidency
- of Tibet on the 2006 United States Congressional Gold MedalJean Goss – French non-violence activist
- Hildegard Goss-Mayr — Austrian pacifist and theologian
- Jonathan Granoff – Co-founder and President, Global Security Institute
- Wavy Gravy – American entertainer and activist for peace
- Great Peacemaker - Native American co-founder of the Iroquois Confederacy, author Great Law of Peace
- Dick Gregory – American comedian, anti-war protester
- Irene Greenwood — Australian feminist, peace activist and broadcaster
- Richard Grelling – German lawyer, writer and pacifist
- Ben Griffin – former British SAS soldier and Iraq War veteran
- Suze Groeneweg – Dutch politician, feminist and pacifist
- Edward Grubb – English Quaker, pacifist, active in the No-Conscription Fellowship
- Emil Grunzweig – Israeli teacher and peace activist
- Woody Guthrie – American anti-war protester and musician, inspiration
- Fethullah Gülen –Turkish educator, religious leader, interfaith and peace activist, and founder of a transnational social movement
H
- Hugo Haase – German socialist politician, jurist and pacifist
- Lucina Hagman – Finnish feminist, politician, pacifist
- Otto Hahn – German chemist, discoverer of nuclear fission, Nobel Laureate, pacifist, anti-nuclear weapons and testing advocate
- Jeff Halper – American anthropologist and Israeli peace activist, founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
- France Hamelin – French artist, peace activist and resistance worker
- Judith Hand – American biologist, pioneer of peace ethology
- Thích Nhất Hạnh – Vietnamese monk, pacifist and advocate of nonviolence
- Cornelius Bernhard Hanssen – Norwegian teacher, shipowner, politician and founder of the Norwegian Peace Association
- Eline Hansen – Danish feminist and peace activist
- G. Simon Harak – American professor of theology, peace activist
- Keir Hardie – Scottish socialist and pacifist, co-founder of Independent Labour Party and Labour Party, opposed WWI
- Florence Jaffray Harriman – American suffragist, social reformer, pacifist and diplomat
- George Harrison – English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and music and film producer, achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of The Beatles; religious and anti-war activist
- Marii Hasegawa – Japanese peace activist
- Václav Havel – Czech nonviolent writer, poet, and politician
- Brian Haw – British activist, initiated and long time participant of the Parliament Square Peace Campaign
- Tom Hayden – American civil rights activist, anti-Vietnam war leader, author, California politician
- Wilson A. Head – American/Canadian sociologist, activist
- Fredrik Heffermehl – Norwegian jurist, writer and peace activist
- Idy Hegnauer – Swiss nurse and peace activist
- Estrid Hein – Danish ophthalmologist, women's rights activist and pacifist
- Arthur Henderson – British politician, Labour Party leader, Foreign Secretary, chair of the Geneva Disarmament Conference, Nobel Peace Prize 1934
- Ammon Hennacy – American Christian pacifist, anarchist and social activist
- Abraham Joshua Heschel – Polish-born American rabbi, professor at Jewish Theological Seminary, civil rights and peace activist
- Bono – Irish singer-songwriter, musician, venture capitalist, businessman, and philanthropist; born Paul David Hewson
- Paul David Hewson – Irish singer-songwriter; see Bono above
- Hiawatha - Native American co-founder of the Iroguois League and co-author of the Great Law of Peace
- Sidney Hinkes – British pacifist, Anglican priest
- Raichō Hiratsuka – Japanese writer, political activist, feminist, pacifist
- Emily Hobhouse – British welfare campaigner
- Abbie Hoffman – American anti-Vietnam war leader, co-founder of Yippies
- Ann-Margret Holmgren – Swedish writer, feminist and pacifist
- Margaret Holmes, AM – Australian activist during the Vietnam War, member Anglican Pacifist Fellowship
- Inger Holmlund, Swedish anti-nuclear activist
- Alec Horsley – British Quaker businessman, founder of the company which became Northern Foods, member of the Common Wealth Party, the Committee of 100, founding member of CND
- Ellen Hørup – Danish writer, pacifist and women's rights activist
- Nobuto Hosaka – Japanese politician, mayor of Setagaya in Tokyo; 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 – American writer, social activist, peace advocate
- Helmuth Hübener – executed at the age of 17 in Nazi Germany for distributing ant-war leaflets
- Kate Hudson – British left-wing political activist and academic; General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and National Secretary of Left Unity; officer of the Stop the War Coalition since 2002
- Emrys Hughes – Welsh socialist member of the British Parliament, where he was an outspoken pacifist
- Laura Hughes – Canadian feminist and pacifist
- Hannah Clothier Hull – American Quaker activist, in the leadership of WILPF in the US
- John Hume – 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
- John Peters Humphrey – Canadian scholar, jurist, and human rights advocate, wrote the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Aldous Huxley – English anti-war and anti-conflict writer
I
- Miguel Giménez Igualada – Spanish anarchist, writer, pacifist
- Daisaku Ikeda – Japanese Buddhist leader, writer, president of Soka Gakkai International, and founder of multiple educational and peace research institutions
- Kathleen Innes – British educator, writer, pacifist
J
- Berthold Jacob – German journalist and pacifist
- Aletta Jacobs – Dutch physician, feminist and peace activist
- Martha Larsen Jahn – Norwegian peace activist and feminist
- Jean Jaurès – French anti-war activist, socialist leader
- Kirthi Jayakumar – Indian peace activist and gender equality activist, youth peace activist, peace educator and founder of The Red Elephant Foundation
- Zorica Jevremović – Serbian playwright, theatre director, peace activist
- Tano Jōdai – Japanese English literature professor, peace activist and university president
- John Paul II – Polish Catholic Pope, inspiration, advocate
- Helen John – British activist, one of the first full-time members of the Greenham Common peace camp
- Hagbard Jonassen – Danish botanist and peace activist
K
- Ekaterina Karavelova – Bulgarian educator, writer, suffragist, feminist, pacifist
- Tawakkol Karman – Yemeni journalist, politician and human rights activist; shared 2011 Nobel Peace prize
- Gurmehar Kaur – Indian student and peace activist
- Helen Keller – American activist, deafblind writer, speech "Strike Against The War" Carnegie Hall, New York 1916
- Kathy Kelly – American peace and anti-war activist, arrested over 60 times during protests; member and organizer of international peace teams
- Petra Kelly – German politician, feminist, pacifist
- Bruce Kent – British political activist, former Catholic priest; prominent anti-nuclear campaigner with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and president of the International Peace Bureau
- Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan – Pashtun independence activist, spiritual and political leader, lifelong pacifist
- Wahiduddin Khan – Indian Islamic scholar and peace activist
- Abraham Yehudah Khein – Ukrainian rabbi, essayist, pacifist
- Steve Killelea – initiated Global Peace Index and Institute for Economics and Peace
- Martin Luther King, Jr. – prominent American anti-Vietnam war protester, speaker, inspiration
- Anna Kleman – Swedish suffragist and peace activist
- Michael D. Knox – founder of US Peace Memorial Foundation, antiwar activist, psychologist, professor
- Adam Kokesh – American activist, Iraq Veterans Against the War
- Annette Kolb – German writer and pacifist
- Ron Kovic – American Vietnam war veteran, war protester
- Paul Krassner – American anti-Vietnam war organizer, writer, Yippie co-founder
- Dennis Kucinich – former U.S. Representative from Ohio, advocate for US Department of Peace
L
- Henri La Fontaine – Belgian initiator, organizer, Nobel Peace Prize winner
- Léonie La Fontaine – Belgian feminist and pacifist
- William Ladd – early American activist, initiator, first president of the American Peace Society
- Benjamin Ladraa – Swedish activist
- Bernard Lafayette – American organizer, educator, initiator
- Maurice Laisant – French anarchist and pacifist
- George Lakey – American peace activist, co-founder of the Movement for a New Society
- Grigoris Lambrakis – Greek athlete, physician, politician, activist
- Gustav Landauer – German writer, anarchist, pacifist
- Lanza del Vasto – Italian Gandhian, philosopher, poet, nonviolent activist
- Christian Lous Lange – Norwegian historian and pacifist
- Alexander Langer – Italian journalist, peace activist and politician
- George Lansbury – British politician; Labour MP – Labour Party Leader ; 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 ;
- André Larivière – Canadian ecologist and anti-nuclear activist
- Bryan Law – Australian non-violent activist
- Louis Lecoin – French anarchist and pacifist
- Urbain Ledoux - American diplomat, activist and Bahá'í
- John Lennon – British singer/songwriter, anti-war protester
- Sidney Lens – American anti-Vietnam war leader
- Muriel Lester – British social reformer, pacifist and nonconformist; Ambassador and Secretary for the International Fellowship of Reconciliation; co-founder of the Kingsley Hall
- Captain Howard Levy – Army Captain sent to Leavenworth Military Prison for over two years for refusing an order to train Green Beret medics on their way to Vietnam.
- Bertie Lewis – RAF airman who went on to become a U.K. peace campaigner
- Thomas Lewis – American artist, anti-war activist with
- Bart de Ligt – Dutch anarchist, pacifist and antimilitarist
- Gabriele Moreno Locatelli – Italian pacifist
- Lola Maverick Lloyd – American pacifist, suffragist, feminist
- James Loney – Canadian peace worker, kidnap victim
- Isabel Longworth – Australian dentist and peace activist
- Lee Lorch – Canadian mathematician and peace activist
- Fernand Loriot – French teacher and pacifist
- David Loy - American scholar, author and Sanbo Kyodan Zen Buddhist teacher
- Chiara Lubich Italian Catholic mystic and founder of Focolare movement, advocate of unity amongst Christians, interreligious dialogue and cooperative relations between religious and non-religious people. Promoted "universal fraternity".
- Rae Luckock – Canadian feminist, peace activist and politician
- Sigrid Helliesen Lund – Norwegian peace activist
- Rosa Luxemburg – German marxist and anti–war activist
- Jake Lynch - peace journalist, academic and writer
- Staughton Lynd – American anti-Vietnam war leader
- Bradford Lyttle – prominent American pacifist, writer, presidential candidate, and organizer with the Committee for Non-Violent Action
M
- Wangari Maathai – Kenyan environmental activist, Nobel peace laureate
- Chrystal Macmillan – Scottish politician, feminist, pacifist
- Salvador de Madariaga – Spanish diplomat, historian and pacifist
- Carmen Magallón – Spanish physicist, pacifist, conducting research in support of women's advancement in science and peace
- Norman Mailer – American anti-war writer, war protester
- Mairead Maguire – Northern Ireland peace movement, Nobel peace laureate
- Nelson Mandela – South African statesman, leader in the anti-apartheid movement and post-apartheid reconciliation, founder of The Elders, inspiration
- Chelsea Manning – former US soldier turned whistleblower and peace activist, imprisoned for her antiwar work
- Rosa Manus – Dutch pacifist and suffragist
- Bob Marley – Jamaican, inspirational anti-war singer/songwriter, inspiration
- Jacques Martin – French pacifist and Protestant pastor
- Elizabeth McAlister – American former nun, co-founder of Jonah House, peace activist
- Colman McCarthy – American journalist, teacher, lecturer, pacifist, progressive, anarchist, and long-time peace activist
- Eugene McCarthy – U.S. presidential candidate, ran on an anti-Vietnam war agenda
- John McConnell – American peace activist, founder of Earth Day
- George McGovern – U.S. Senator, presidential candidate, anti-Vietnam war agenda
- Keith McHenry – American co-founder of Food Not Bombs
- David McTaggart – Canadian activist against nuclear weapons testing, co-founder Greenpeace International
- Monica McWilliams – Northern Irish academic, peace activist, human rights defender and former politician. She was delegate at the Multi-Party Peace Negotiations, which led to the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998.
- Jeanne Mélin – French pacifist, feminist, writer and politician
- Rigoberta Menchú – Guatemalan indigenous rights, anti-war, co-founder Nobel Women's Initiative
- Chico Mendes – Brazilian environmentalist and human rights advocate of peasants and indigenous peoples
- Thomas Merton – American monk and poet, inspirational writer, philosopher
- Johanne Meyer – pioneering Danish suffragist, pacifist and journal editor
- Selma Meyer – Dutch pacifist and resistance fighter of Jewish origin
- Kizito Mihigo – Rwandan Christian singer; genocide survivor; dedicated to forgiveness, peace and reconciliation after the 1994 genocide
- Barry Mitcalfe – a leader of the New Zealand movement against the Vietnam War and the New Zealand anti-nuclear movement
- Malebogo Molefhe – Botswanan activist against gender-based violence
- Eva Moltesen – Finnish-Danish writer and peace activist
- Roger Monclin – French pacifist and anarchist
- Agda Montelius – Swedish philanthropist, feminist, peace activist
- E. D. Morel – British journalist, author, pacifist and politician; opposed the First World War and campaigned against slavery in the Congo
- Simonne Monet-Chartrand – Canadian women's rights activist, feminist, pacifist
- Howard Morland – American journalist, nuclear weapons abolitionist
- Sybil Morrison – British pacifist active in the Peace Pledge Union
- Émilie de Morsier – Swiss feminist, pacifist and abolitionist
- John Mott – American evangelist, leader of the YMCA and WSCF, 1946 Nobel peace laureate
- Bobby Muller Vietnam vet and driving force behind campaign to ban landmines, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize
- Alaa Murabit – Libyan Canadian physician and human rights advocate for inclusive peace and security
- Craig Murray – British former diplomat turned whistleblower, human rights activist and anti-war campaigner
- John Middleton Murry – British author, sponsor of the Peace Pledge Union, and editor of Peace News 1940–1946
- A. J. Muste – American pacifist, organizer, anti-Vietnam War leader
N
- Abie Nathan – Israeli humanitarian, founded Voice of Peace radio, met with all sides of a conflict
- Ezra Nawi – Israeli human rights activist and pacifist
- Paul Newman – American anti-war protester, actor
- Gabriela Ngirmang – Palauan peace and anti-nuclear activist
- Elizabeth Pease Nichol – suffragist, chartist, abolitionist, anti-vivisectionist, member of the Peace Society
- Georg Friedrich Nicolai – German professor, famous for the book The Biology of War
- Martin Niemöller – German anti-Nazi Lutheran pastor, imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau, vocal pacifist and campaigner for disarmament
- Philip Noel-Baker – British Labour Party politician, Olympic silver medallist, active campaigner for disarmament, Nobel Peace Prize 1959, co-founder with Fenner Brockway of the World Disarmament Campaign
- Louise Nørlund — Danish feminist and peace activist
- Sari Nusseibeh – Palestinian activist
O
- Phil Ochs – American anti-Vietnam war singer/songwriter, initiated protest events
- Paul Oestreich – German educator, board member of the "German Peace Society" in 1921- 1926
- Paul Oestreicher – German-born British human rights activist, Canon emeritus of Coventry Cathedral, Christian pacifist, active in post-war reconciliation
- Yoko Ono – Japanese anti-Vietnam war campaigner in America and Europe
- Ciaron O'Reilly – Australian pacifist, anti-war activist, Catholic Worker, served prison time in America and Ireland for disarming war material
- Carl von Ossietzky – German pacifist, Nobel peace laureate, the opponent of Nazi rearmament
- Geoffrey Ostergaard – British political scientist, academic, writer, anarchist, pacifist
- Laurence Overmire – American poet, author, theorist
P
- Olof Palme – Swedish prime minister, diplomat
- Marian Cripps, Baroness Parmoor – British anti-war activist
- Manzoor Pashteen – Pakistani activist for rights of the Pashtuns
- Medha Patkar – Indian activist for Tribals and Dalits affected by dam projects
- Frédéric Passy – French economist, peace activist and joint recipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize
- Ron Paul – American author, physician, former U.S. congressman and Presidential candidate, anti-war activist, libertarian Republican
- Ava Helen Pauling – American human rights activist, feminist, pacifist
- Linus Pauling – American anti-nuclear testing advocate and leader
- Priscilla Hannah Peckover – English pacifist, nominated four times for the Nobel Peace Prize
- Mattityahu Peled – Israeli scholar, officer and peace activist
- Miko Peled – Israeli peace activist, author of the book The General's Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine
- Lindis Percy – British nurse, midwife, pacifist, founder of the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases
- Concepción Picciotto – Spanish-born anti-nuclear and anti-war protester, White House Peace Vigil
- Peace Pilgrim – American activist, walked the highways and streets of America promoting peace
- Amparo Poch y Gascón – Spanish anarchist, pacifist and physician
- Maria Pognon – French writer, feminist, suffragist and pacifist
- Joseph Polowsky – American GI, advocate of better relations between the U.S. and Soviet Union between 1955 and 1983
- Pomnyun Sunim – South Korean author, peace activist,
- Willemijn Posthumus-van der Goot – Dutch economist, feminist, pacifist
- Vasily Pozdnyakov – Russian conscientious objector and writer
- Manasi Pradhan – Indian activist; founder of Honour for Women National Campaign
- Devi Prasad – Indian activist and artist
- Harriet Dunlop Prenter – Canadian feminist, pacifist
- Christoph Probst – German pacifist and member of the anti-Nazi White Rose resistance
Q
- Ludwig Quidde – German pacifist, 1927 Nobel peace laureate
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
- Gabrielle Radziwill – Lithuanian pacifist, feminist and League of Nations official
- Clara Ragaz – Swiss pacifist and feminist
- Abdullah Abu Rahmah – Palestinian peace activist
- Milan Rai – British writer and anti-war activist
- Justin Raimondo – American author, anti-war activist, founder of Antiwar.com
- Cornelia Ramondt-Hirschmann – Dutch teacher, feminist and pacifist
- José Ramos-Horta – East Timorese politician, head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau, Nobel peace laureate
- Michael Randle – British peace activist and co-organiser of the first Aldermaston March
- Darrell Rankin – Canadian peace activist and Communist politician
- Jeannette Rankin – first woman elected to the U.S. Congress, lifelong pacifist
- Marcus Raskin – American social critic, opponent of the Vietnam war and the draft
- Dahlia Ravikovitch – Israeli poet and peace activist
- Madeleine Rees – British lawyer, human right and peace proponent
- Ernie Regehr – Canadian peace researcher
- Eugen Relgis – Romanian writer, pacifist and anarchist
- Patrick Reinsborough – American anti-war activist and author
- Henry Richard – Welsh Congregationalist minister and Member of Parliament, known as "the Apostle of Peace" / "Apostol Heddwch", advocate of international arbitration, secretary of the Peace Society for forty years
- Lewis Fry Richardson – English 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
- Renate Riemeck – German historian and Christian peace activist
- Ellen Robinson – British peace campaigner
- Adi Roche – Irish activist, chief executive of the charity Chernobyl Children International
- Nicholas Roerich – Russian visionary artist and mystic, creator of the Roerich Pact and Nobel Peace Prize candidate
- Romain Rolland – French dramatist, novelist, essayist, anti-war activist
- Óscar Romero – Venerable Archbishop of San Salvador
- Martha Root - American Bahá'í traveling teacher
- Marshall Rosenberg — American psychologist, creator of nonviolent communication theory
- Murray Rothbard – American author, political theorist, historian, staunch opponent of military interventions
- Elisabeth Rotten – German-born Swiss peace activist and education reformer
- Coleen Rowley – ex-FBI agent, whistleblower, peace activist, and the first recipient of the Sam Adams Award
- Arundhati Roy – Indian writer, social critic and peace activist
- Jerry Rubin – American anti-Vietnam war leader, co-founder of the Yippies
- Otto Rühle – German Marxist and pacifist
- Bertrand Russell – British philosopher, logician, mathematician, outspoken advocate of nuclear disarmament
- Han Ryner – French anarchist philosopher, pacifist
S
- Carl Sagan – American astronomer, opposed escalation of the nuclear arms race
- Mohamed Sahnoun – Algerian diplomat, peace activist, UN envoy to Somalia and to the Great Lakes region of Africa
- Edward Said - Palestinian-American academic and cultural critic, joint founder with Daniel Barenboim of the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra
- Avril de Sainte-Croix – French writer, feminist and pacifist
- Andrei Sakharov – Russian nuclear physicist, human rights activist and pacifist
- Ada Salter – English Quaker, pacifist, a founding member of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
- Ed Sanders – American poet, organizer, singer, co-founder of anti-war band The Fugs
- Mark Satin – American political theorist, anti-war proponent, draft-resistance organizer, writer, philosopher
- Gerd Grønvold Saue, Norwegian writer and peace activist
- Jean-René Saulière – French anarchist and pacifist
- Jonathan Schell – American writer and campaigner against nuclear weapons, antiwar activist
- Sophie Scholl – Christian pacifist, active in the White Rose non-violent resistance movement in Nazi Germany
- Albert Schweitzer – 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
- Kailash Satyarthi – Child Activist, Bachpan Bachao Aandolan, Nobel Peace Prize
- Rosika Schwimmer – Hungarian pacifist, feminist and suffragist
- Molly Scott Cato – British green economist, Green Party politician, pacifist and anti-nuclear campaigner
- Pete Seeger – American singer, anti-war protester, inspirational singer/songwriter
- Margarethe Lenore Selenka – German zoologist, feminist and pacifist
- Jeff Sharlet – American anti-Vietnam war soldier, journalist
- Gene Sharp – American writer on nonviolent resistance, founder of the Albert Einstein Institution
- H. James Shea Jr. – American politician and anti-Vietnam War activist
- Cindy Sheehan – American anti-Iraq and anti-Afghanistan war leader
- Francis Sheehy-Skeffington – Irish writer, feminist, peace activist
- Martin Sheen – anti-war and anti-nuclear bomb protester, inspirational American actor
- Nancy Shelley OAM – Quaker who represented the Australian peace movement at the UN in 1982
- Percy Bysshe Shelley – English Romantic poet, nonviolent philosopher and inspiration
- Dick Sheppard – Anglican priest, Christian pacifist, started the Peace Pledge Union
- David Dean Shulman – American indologist, humanist, peace activist, defender of Palestinian human rights
- Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze – German theologist and pacifist
- Toma Sik – Hungarian-Israeli peace activist
- Jeanmarie Simpson – American feminist, peace activist
- Ramjee Singh – Indian activist, philosopher and Gandhian
- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – 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"
- Sulak Sivaraksa - Thai writer and Socially Engaged Buddhist activist
- Samantha Smith – American schoolgirl, young advocate of peace between Soviets and Americans
- Julia Solly – British-born South African suffragist, feminist, pacifist
- Miriam Soljak – New Zealand feminist, rights activist and pacifist
- Myrtle Solomon – British General Secretary of the Peace Pledge Union and Chair of War Resisters International
- Cornelio Sommaruga – Swiss diplomat, president of the ICRC, founding President of Initiatives of Change International
- Donald Soper – British Methodist minister, president of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and active in the CND
- Benjamin Spock – American pediatrician, anti-Vietnam war protester, writer, inspiration
- Helene Stähelin – Swiss mathematician and peace activist
- Cat Stevens – British singer-songwriter, convert to Islam, and humanitarian
- Lilian Stevenson – Irish peace activist and historiographer
- Joffre Stewart – American poet, anarchist and pacifist
- Frances Benedict Stewart – Chilean-born American sociologist, pacifist, feminist and Bahá'í pioneer
- Gino Strada – Italian surgeon and anti-war activist
- David Swanson – American anti-war activist, blogger and author
- Ivan Supek – Croatian physicist, philosopher, writer and peace activist
- Bertha von Suttner – Czech-Austrian pacifist, first woman Nobel peace laureate
- Helena Swanwick – British feminist and pacifist
T
- Kathleen Tacchi-Morris – British dancer, founder of Women for World Disarmament
- Guri Tambs-Lyche – Norwegian women's rights activist and pacifist
- Tank Man – Stood in front of the tank during 1989 China protest
- Peter Tatchell – Australian-born British LGBT and human rights campaigner, founder of Christians for Peace
- Tenzin Gyatso – 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and spiritual and formerly temporal ruler of Tibet and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile
- Eve Tetaz – retired American teacher, peace and justice activist
- Jean-Marie Tjibaou - Activist for the New Caledonia movement
- Thomas – American anti-nuclear activist, White House peace vigil
- Ellen Thomas – American peace activist, White House peace vigil
- Dorothy Thompson – English historian and peace activist
- Henry David Thoreau – American writer, philosopher, inspiration to movement leaders
- Sybil Thorndike – British actress and pacifist; member of the Peace Pledge Union who gave readings for its benefit
- Leo Tolstoy – Russian writer on nonviolence, inspiration to Gandhi, Bevel, and other movement leaders
- Aya Virginie Toure – Ivorian peace activist, proponent of non-violent resistance
- Setsuko Thurlow – Japanese-Canadian non-nuclear weapon activist, figure of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
- Jakow Trachtenberg – Russian engineer and pacifist
- André Trocmé, with his wife Italian-born Magda – French Protestant pacifist pastor, saved many Jews in Vichy France
- Benjamin Franklin Trueblood – 19th century American writer, editor, organizer, pacifist, active in the American Peace Society
- Barbara Grace Tucker – Australian born peace activist, long time participant of the Parliament Square Peace Campaign
- Titia van der Tuuk – Dutch feminist and pacifist
- Desmond Tutu – South African cleric, initiator, anti-apartheid
- Clara Tybjerg — Danish feminist, peace activist and educator
U
- Evelyn Underhill – English Anglo-Catholic writer and pacifist
V
- Jo Vallentine – Australian politician and peace activist
- Alfred Vanderpol – French engineer, pacifist and writer
- Mordechai Vanunu – Israeli whistleblower
- Krista van Velzen – Dutch politician, pacifist and antimilitarist
- Madeleine Vernet – French educator, writer and pacifist
- Llorenç Vidal Vidal – Spanish poet, educator and pacifist
- Stellan Vinthagen – Swedish anti-war and nonviolent resistance scholar-activist
- Louis Vitale – American anti-war activist and Franciscan friar
- Bruno Vogel – German pacifist and writer
- Kurt Vonnegut – American anti-war and anti-nuclear writer and protester
W
- Lillian Wald – American nurse, writer, human rights activist, suffragist and pacifist
- Julia Grace Wales – Canadian academic and pacifist
- John Wallach – American journalist, founder of Seeds of Peace
- Alyn Ware – New Zealand peace educator and campaigner, global coordinator for Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament since 2002
- Roger Waters - English musician, co-founder of Pink Floyd, and prominent anti-war activist
- Christopher Weeramantry – President of the International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms, former Sri Lankan Supreme Court Judge
- Mary Wilhelmine Williams – American historian, feminist and pacifist
- Owen Wilkes – New Zealand peace researcher and activist
- Anita Parkhurst Willcox – American artist, feminist, pacifist
- Betty Williams – Nobel peace laureate for her work towards bringing about reconciliation in Northern Ireland
- Jody Williams – American anti-landmine advocate and organizer, Nobel peace laureate
- Waldo Williams – 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 – American Quaker peace activist, co-founder of the Movement for a New Society
- Brian Willson – American veteran, peace activist and lawyer
- Lawrence S. Wittner – American peace historian, researcher, and movement activist
- Lilian Wolfe – British anarchist, pacifist, feminist
- Walter Wolfgang – German-born British activist
- Ann Wright – retired US colonel and State Department official who resigned in opposition to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, becoming a peace activist and antiwar campaigner.
- Louise Wright – Danish philanthropist, feminist and peace activist
- Mien van Wulfften Palthe – Dutch feminist, suffragist and pacifist
Y
- Peter Yarrow – American singer/songwriter, anti-war activist
- Cheng Yen - Taiwanese Buddhist nun and founder of Tzu Chi Foundation
- Ada Yonath – Israeli Laureate of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2009, pacifist
- Yosano Akiko – Japanese writer, feminist, pacifist
- Edip Yüksel – Kurdish-Turkish-American lawyer/author, Islamic peace proponent
Z
- Alfred-Maurice de Zayas – Cuban-born American historian, lawyer in international law and human rights, vociferous critic of military interventions and the use of torture
- Angie Zelter – British anti-war and anti-nuclear activist, co-founder of Trident Ploughshares
- Clara Zetkin – German Maxist, feminist and pacifist
- Howard Zinn – American historian, writer, peace advocate
- Arnold Zweig – German writer and anti-war activist
Citations