List of peace activists

See also: Anti-war movement and Peace movement

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 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 irrational, violent, habitual, and historically fearful thought-processes residing at the core of these conflicts, with the intention of peacefully ending the conflicts themselves.

A

Vittorio Arrigoni

• Jane Addams (1860–1935) – American, national chairman Woman's Peace Party, president Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
• Eqbal Ahmad (1933/34–1999) – Pakistani political scientist, activist
• Martti Ahtisaari (born 1937) – former president of Finland, active in conflict resolution
• Widad Akrawi (born 1969) – Danish-Kurdish peace advocate, organizer
• Stew Albert (1939–2006) – anti-Vietnam war activist, organizer
• Suzanne Arms (born 1945) – anti-Vietnam war activist, draft counselor
• Klas Pontus Arnoldson (1844–1916) – Swedish pacifist, Nobel peace laureate, founder of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society
• Émile Arnaud (1864–1921) – French peace campaigner, coined the word "Pacifism"
• Vittorio Arrigoni (1975–2011) – Italian reporter, anti-war activist
• Arik Ascherman (born 1959) – Israeli-American rabbi and defender of Palestinian human rights.
• Pat Arrowsmith (born 1930) – British author and peace campaigner
• Uri Avnery (born 1923) – Israeli writer and founder of Gush Shalom
• Ali Abu Awwad (born 1972) – Palestinian peace activist from Beit Ummar, founder of al-Tariq ("the way")

B

James Bevel

• Joan Baez (born 1941) – prominent American anti-war protester, inspirational singer
• Emily Greene Balch (1867–1961) – American, a leader of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
• Ernesto Balducci (1922–1992) – Italian priest
• Archibald Baxter (1881–1970) – New Zealand pacifist, socialist, and anti-war activist
• Harry Belafonte (born 1927) – American anti-war protester, performer
• Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo (born 1948) – East Timorese bishop, Nobel peace laureate
• Medea Benjamin (born 1952) – co-founder Code Pink, author, organizer
• Meg Beresford (born 1937) – British activist, European Nuclear Disarmament movement
• Daniel Berrigan (born 1921) – prominent anti-Vietnam war protester
• Philip Berrigan (1923–2002) – prominent anti-Vietnam war protester
• James Bevel (1936–2008) – prominent American anti-Vietnam war leader, organizer
• Vinoba Bhave (1895–1982) – Indian, Gandhian, teacher, author, organizer
• Janet Bloomfield (1953–2007) – peace and disarmament campaigner, chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
• Vera Brittain (1893–1970) – British writer, pacifist
• Elihu Burritt (1810–1879) – American diplomat, social activist

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C

Helen Caldicott

• Helen Caldicott (born 1938) – 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
• Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) – American industrialist and founder of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• Jimmy Carter (born 1924) – American negotiator and former US President, organizer, international conflict resolution
• Pierre Cérésole (1879–1945) - Swiss engineer, founder of Service Civil International (SCI) or International Voluntary Service for Peace (IVSP)
• Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) - American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist
• Noam Chomsky (born 1928) - American linguist, philosopher, and activist
• Ramsey Clark (born 1927) – American anti-war and anti-nuclear lawyer, activist
• William Sloane Coffin (1924–2006) – American cleric, anti-war activist
• James Colaianni (born 1922) – author, publisher, first anti-Napalm organizer
• Judy Collins (born 1939) – inspirational American anti-war singer/songwriter, protester
• Tom Cornell – American anti-war activist, initiated first anti-Vietnam War protest
• Jeremy Corbyn (born 1949) – British politician, socialist, long-time anti-war, anti-imperialism and anti-racism campaigner
• Rachel Corrie (1979–2003) – American activist for Palestinian human rights
• David Cortright – American anti-nuclear weapon leader
• Norman Cousins (1915–1990) – journalist, author, organizer, initiator
• Frances Crowe (born 1919) – anti-war and anti-nuclear power, draft counselor

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D

Dorothy Day

David Dellinger

• Rennie Davis (born 1941) – American anti-Vietnam war leader, organizer
• Dorothy Day (1897–1980) – American journalist, social activist, and co-founder of the Catholic Worker
• David Dellinger (1915–2004) – American pacifist, organizer, prominent anti-war leader
• Lanza del Vasto (1901-1981) - Catholic philosopher, poet, artist, and nonviolent activist
• Michael Denborough AM (1929-2014) - Australian medical researcher who founded the Nuclear Disarmament Party
• Alma Dolens (1876–?) – Italian pacifist and suffragist
• Phil Donahue - Former talk show host, former television host
• Élie Ducommun (1833–1906) – Nobel Peace Prize laureate
• Mel Duncan(born 1950) – founding Executive Director of Nonviolent Peaceforce

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E

• Shirin Ebadi (born 1947) – Iranian lawyer, human rights activist, Nobel peace laureate
• Albert Einstein (1879-1955) – Scientist, Nobel Prize laureate in physics
• Daniel Ellsberg (born 1931) – American anti-war whistleblower, protester
• James Gareth Endicott (1898–1993) – initiator, organizer, protester
• Jodie Evans (born 1954) – co-founder Code Pink, initiator, organizer, filmmaker

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F

• Jane Fonda (born 1937) – American anti-war protester, actress
• Tom Fox (1951–2006) – American Quaker
• Comfort Freeman – Liberian anti-war activist
• Alfred Fried (1864–1921) – co-founder German peace movement, called for world peace organization
• Diana Francis (born 1944) - former president of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation

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G

• Arun Gandhi (born 1934) – Indian, organizer, educator, grandson of Mohandas
• Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) – Indian, writer, organizer, protester, lawyer, inspiration to movement leaders
• Leymah Gbowee (born 1972) - organizer of women's peace movement in Liberia, awarded 2011 Nobel Peace Prize
• Everett Gendler (born 1928) - Conservative rabbi, peace activist, writer
• Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) – American anti-war protester, writer
• Arthur Gish (1939–2010) – American public speaker and peace activist
• Danny Glover (born 1946) – American actor and anti-war activist
• Emma Goldman (1869–1940) – Russian/American activist imprisoned in the U.S. for opposition to World War I
• Amy Goodman (born 1957) - journalist, host of Democracy Now!
• Paul Goodman (1911-1972) - writer, psychotherapist, social critic, anarchist philosopher and public intellectual
• Mikhail Gorbachev (born 1931) – Russian anti-nuclear activist during and after Soviet presidency
• Dick Gregory (born 1932) – American comedian, anti-war protester
• Woody Guthrie (1912–1967) – American anti-war protester and musician, inspiration
• Tenzin Gyatso (born 1935) – current Dalai Lama, peace advocate

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H

Brian Haw

• Otto Hahn (1879–1968) – nuclear chemist, Nobel Laureate, pacifist, anti-nuclear weapons and testing advocate
• Jeff Halper (born 1946) – American anthropologist and Israeli peace activist, founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
• Judith Hand (born 1940) – biologist, pioneer of peace ethology
• Thích Nhất Hạnh (born 1926) – Vietnamese monk, pacifist and advocate of nonviolence
• G. Simon Harak (born 1948) – American professor of theology, peace activist
• Keir Hardie (1856–1915) – Scottish socialist, co-founder of Independent Labour Party and Labour Party
• Václav Havel (1936–2011) – Czech nonviolent writer, poet, and politician
• Brian Haw (1949–2011) – British activist, initiated and long time participant of the Parliament Square Peace Campaign
• Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) – rabbi, professor at Jewish Theological Seminary, civil rights and peace activist
• Sidney Hinkes (1925–2006) – pacifist, priest in the Church of England
• Emily Hobhouse (1860–1926) – British welfare campaigner
• Abbie Hoffman (1936–1989) – American anti-Vietnam war leader, co-founder of Yippies
• Margaret Holmes, AM, (1909–2009) – Australian activist during the Vietnam War, member Anglican Pacifist Fellowship
• Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910) – writer, advocate, organizer
• Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) – anti-war and anti-conflict writer

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I

Daisaku Ikeda

• Khawaja Zafar Iqbal – journalist, peace activist and researcher based in Kashmir
• Daisaku Ikeda – Buddhist leader, writer, president of Soka Gakkai International, and founder of multiple educational and peace research institutions.

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J

• Jean Jaurès (1859-1914) – French anti-war activist, socialist leader
• John Paul II – Polish Catholic Pope, inspiration, advocate
• Helen John – first full-time member of the Greenham Common peace camp

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K

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Tawakkol Karman (born 1979) – Yemini journalist, politician and human rights activist. Shared 2011 Nobel Peace prize.
• Helen Keller (1880–1968) – deafblind writer, speech "Strike Against The War" Carnegie Hall, New York 1916
• Kathy Kelly (born 1952) – American peace and anti-war activist, arrested over 60 times during protests. Member and organizer of international peace teams.
• Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890–1988) – Pashtun independence activist, spiritual and political leader, lifelong pacifist
• Steve Killelea – initiated Global Peace Index and Institute for Economics and Peace
• Adam Kokesh (born 1982) – American activist, Iraq Veterans Against the War
• Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) – prominent American anti-Vietnam war protester, speaker, inspiration
• Ron Kovic (born 1946) – American Vietnam war veteran, war protestor
• Paul Krassner (born 1932) – American anti-Vietnam war organizer, writer, Yippie co-founder

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L

Henri La Fontaine

John Lennon

Bertie Lewis

• Henri La Fontaine (1854–1943) – initiator, organizer, Nobel Peace Prize winner
• William Ladd (1778–1841) – early American activist, initiator, first president of the American Peace Society
• Bernard Lafayette (born 1940) – American organizer, educator, initiator
• Grigoris Lambrakis (1912–1963) – Greek athlete, physician, politician, activist
• George Lansbury (1859–1940) – politician, campaigner for social justice, women's rights and world disarmament
• André Larivière (born 1948) – ecologist and anti-nuclear activist
• Bryan Law (1954–2013) – Australian non-violent activist.
• John Lennon (1940–1980) – British singer/songwriter, anti-war protestor
• Sidney Lens (1912–1986) – American anti-Vietnam war leader
• Bertie Lewis (1920–2010) – RAF airman who went on to become a U.K. peace campaigner
• Thomas Lewis (1940–2008) – American artist, anti-war activist with (Baltimore Four and Catonsville Nine)
• James Loney (born 1964) – peace worker, kidnap victim
• Staughton Lynd (born 1929) – American anti-Vietnam war leader
• Bradford Lyttle (born 1927) – prominent American pacifist, writer, presidential candidate, and organizer with the Committee for Non-Violent Action

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M

Rigoberta Menchú

Bob Marley

• Wangari Maathai (1940–2011) – Kenyan environmental activist, Nobel peace laureate
• Norman Mailer (1923–2007) – American anti-war writer, war protestor
• Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) – South African statesman, leader in anti-apartheid movement and post-apartheid reconciliation, founder of The Elders, inspiration
• Mairead Maguire (born 1944) – Northern Ireland peace movement, Nobel peace laureate
• Bob Marley (1945–1981) – Jamaican, inspirational anti-war singer/songwriter, inspiration
• Eugene McCarthy (1916–2005) – U.S. presidential candidate, ran on an anti-Vietnam war agenda
• John McConnell (1915–2012) – founder Earth Day, and U.N peace proclamation
• George McGovern (1922–2012) – U.S. Senator, presidential candidate, anti-Vietnam war agenda
• David McTaggart (1932–2001) – Canadian anti-nuclear testing activist, co-founder Greenpeace International
• Rigoberta Menchú (born 1959) – Guatemalan indigenous rights, anti-war, co-founder Nobel Women's Initiative
• Chico Mendes (1944–1988) – Brazilian environmentalist and human rights advocate of peasants and indigenous peoples
• Thomas Merton (1915-1968) – monk and poet, inspirational writer, philosopher
• Barry Mitcalfe (1930–1986) – a leader of the New Zealand movement against the Vietnam War and the New Zealand anti-nuclear movement
• Alaa Murabit (born 1989) – Libyan Canadian physician and human rights advocate for inclusive peace and security
• A. J. Muste (1885–1967) – American pacifist, organizer, anti-Vietnam War leader

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N

• Abie Nathan (1927–2008) – Israeli humanitarian, founded Voice of Peace radio, met with all sides of a conflict
• Ezra Nawi (born 1952) – Israeli human rights activist and pacifist
• Paul Newman – American anti-war protestor, inspiration
• Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) – Anti-Nazi Lutheran pastor, imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau, vocal pacifist and campaigner for disarmament
• Georg Friedrich Nicolai (1874–1964) – German professor, famous for the book "The Biology of War"
• Philip Noel-Baker (1889–1982) – Nobel peace laureate, Olympic silver medallist, active campaigner for disarmament
• Sari Nusseibeh (born 1949) – Palestinian activist

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O

• Phil Ochs (1940–1976) – American anti-Vietnam war singer/songwriter, initiated protest events
• Paul Oestreicher (born 1931) – Canon emeritus of Coventry Cathedral, Christian pacifist, active in post-war reconciliation
• Yoko Ono (born 1933) – Japanese anti-Vietnam war campaigner in America and Europe
• Carl von Ossietzky (1889–1938) – German pacifist, Nobel peace laureate, opponent of Nazi rearmament
• Laurence Overmire (born 1957) – poet, author, theorist

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P

Peace Pilgrim

• Olof Palme (1927–1986) – Swedish prime minister, diplomat
• Frédéric Passy (1822-1912) - French economist, peace activist and joint winner (together with Henry Dunant) of the first Nobel Peace Prize (1901)
• Linus Pauling (1901–1994) – American anti-nuclear testing advocate and leader
• Miko Peled (born 1961) – Israeli peace activist, author of the book The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine
• Concepcion Picciotto (born 1945?) – anti-nuclear and anti-war protestor, White House Peace Vigil
• Peace Pilgrim (1908–1981) – walked the highways and streets of America promoting peace
• Lindis Percy (born 1941) - nurse, midwife, pacifist, founder of the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases (CAAB)
• Joseph Polowsky (1916-1983) - American GI, advocate of better relations between the U.S. and Soviet Union between 1955 and 1983.

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Q

• Ludwig Quidde (1858–1941) – German pacifist, Nobel peace laureate

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R

Arundhati Roy

• Abdullah Abu Rahmah – Palestinian peace activist.
• José Ramos-Horta (born 1949) – Head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau, Nobel peace laureate
• Jeannette Rankin (1880–1973) – first woman elected to the U.S. Congress, lifelong pacifist
• Marcus Raskin (born 1934) – American social critic, opponent of the Vietnam war and the draft
• Dahlia Ravikovitch (1936–2005) – Israeli poet and peace activist
• Henry Richard (1812–1888) – Welsh minister known as "the Apostle of Peace" / "Apostol Heddwch", was secretary of the Peace Society for forty years (1848–84).
• Lewis Fry Richardson (1881–1953) – 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
• Romain Rolland (1866–1944) - French dramatist, novelist, essayist, anti-war activist
• Óscar Romero (1917-1980) – Venerable Archbishop of San Salvador
• Arundhati Roy (born 1961) – Indian writer, social critic and peace activist
• Jerry Rubin (1938–1994) – American anti-Vietnam war leader, co-founder of the Yippies
• Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) – philosopher, logician, mathematician, outspoken advocate of nuclear disarmament

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S

Cindy Sheehan

• Carl Sagan (1934–1996) - opposed escalation of the nuclear arms race
• Mohamed Sahnoun (born 1931) - Algerian diplomat, peace activist, UN envoy to Somalia and to the Great Lakes region of Africa
• Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989) – Nuclear physicist, human rights activist and pacifist.
• Ed Sanders (born 1939) – American poet, organizer, singer, co-founder of anti-war band The Fugs
• Mark Satin (born 1946) – anti-war proponent, draft-resistance organizer, writer, philosopher
• Jonathan Schell (1943–2014) – American writer and campaigner against nuclear weapons, antiwar activist
• Sophie Scholl (1921–1943) – Christian pacifist, active in the White Rose non-violent resistance movement in Nazi Germany
• Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) – 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
• Molly Scott Cato (born 1963) – green economist, Green Party politician, pacifist and anti-nuclear campaigner
• Pete Seeger (1919–2014) – anti-war protestor, inspirational singer/songwriter
• Jeff Sharlet (1942–1969) – anti-Vietnam war soldier, journalist
• Gene Sharp (born 1928) – founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, writer on nonviolent resistance
• Cindy Sheehan (born 1957) – American anti-Iraq and anti-Afghanistan war leader
• Martin Sheen (born 1940) – anti-war and anti-nuclear bomb protestor, inspirational American actor
• Nancy Shelley OAM (died 2010) – Quaker who represented the Australian peace movement at the UN in 1982.
• Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) – writer, poet, nonviolent philosopher and inspiration
• Dick Sheppard (1880–1937) – Anglican priest, Christian pacifist, started the Peace Pledge Union
• David Dean Shulman (born 1949) – Indologist, defender of Palestinian human rights.
• Toma Sik (1939–2004) – Hungarian-Israeli peace activist
• Jeanmarie Simpson (born 1959) – American feminist, peace activist
• Ramjee Singh (born 1927) – Indian activist, philosopher and Gandhian
• Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born 1938) – 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."
• Samantha Smith (1972–1985) – young advocate of peace between Soviets and Americans
• Benjamin Spock (1903–1998) – anti-Vietnam war protester, writer, inspiration
• Cat Stevens (born 1948) – British singer-songwriter, convert to Islam, and humanitarian
• Bertha von Suttner (1843–1914) – Czech-Austrian pacifist, first woman Nobel peace laureate

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T

• Kathleen Tacchi-Morris (1899–1993) – founder of Women for World Disarmament
• Tank Man – Stood in front of tank during 1989 China protest
• Eve Tetaz (born 1931) – retired teacher, peace and justice activist
• Thomas (1947–2009) – initiated, long-time participant, White House peace vigil
• Ellen Thomas (born 1947) – long-time participant, White House peace vigil
• Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) – American writer, philosopher, inspiration to movement leaders
• Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) – Russian writer on nonviolence, inspiration to Gandhi, Bevel, and other movement leaders
• André Trocmé (1901–1971), with his wife Magda (1901–1996) – Protestant pacifist pastor, saved many Jews in Vichy France
• Benjamin Franklin Trueblood (1847–1916) – 19th century writer, editor, organizer, initiator
• Barbara Grace Tucker – Australian born peace activist, long time participant of the Parliament Square Peace Campaign
• Desmond Tutu (born 1931) – South African cleric, initiator, anti-apartheid, inspiration

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U

• Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941) – English Anglo-Catholic writer and pacifist

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V

• Jo Vallentine (born 1946) – Australian politician and peace activist
• Mordechai Vanunu (born 1954) – Israeli whistleblower
• Lanza del Vasto (1901–1981) – Gandhian, philosopher, poet, nonviolent activist
• Stellan Vinthagen (born 1964) Swedish anti-war and nonviolent resistance scholar-activist
• Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) – American anti-war and anti-nuclear writer and protestor

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W

Jody Williams

• John Wallach (1943–2002) – journalist, founder of Seeds of Peace
• Alyn Ware (born 1962) – New Zealand peace educator and campaigner, global coordinator for Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament since 2002
• Owen Wilkes (1940–2005) – New Zealand peace researcher and activist
• Jody Williams (born 1950) – American anti-landmine advocate and organizer, Nobel peace laureate
• Brian Willson (born 1941) – American veteran, peace activist and lawyer
• Lawrence S. Wittner (born 1941) – peace historian, researcher, and movement activist
• Walter Wolfgang (born 1923) – German-born British activist

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Y

• Peter Yarrow (born 1938) – American singer/songwriter, anti-war activist
• Adam Yauch (1964–2012) – Musician, Buddhist, advocate for peace
• Neil Young (born 1945) – singer/songwriter, anti-war advocate, other causes
• Edip Yüksel (born 1957) – Kurdish-Turkish-American lawyer/author, Islamic peace proponent

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Z

• Alfred-Maurice de Zayas (born 1947) – historian, lawyer in international law and human rights, vociferous critic of military interventions and the use of torture
• Howard Zinn (1922–2010) – historian, writer, peace advocate

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See also

• Anti-nuclear protests
• Anti-war movement
• Bed-In
• Die-in
• Direct action
• Environmentalist
• Gandhi Peace Award
• Gandhi Peace Prize
• List of anti-war organizations
• List of anti-war songs
• List of books with anti-war themes
• List of civil rights leaders
• List of peace prizes
• List of plays with anti-war themes
• Nobel Peace Prize laureates
• Non-interventionism
• Nonviolent resistance
• Nuclear disarmament
• Otto Hahn Peace Medal
• Open Christmas Letter
• Pacifism
• Parliament Square Peace Campaign
• Peace
• Peace and conflict studies
• Peace churches
• Peace movement
• Teach-in
• War resister
• War Resisters League
• White House Peace Vigil
• World peace