Talk:List of peace activists/Archive 1

Lawrence S. Wittner
I can't find the direct quote cited in the article, and Dr. Wittner is quite prolific, so it is unreasonable to read all of his articles looking for that quote. I think the quote should be removed unless somebody happens to know the citation.

Res05e (talk) 17:58, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Cleanup, May 2010
I did some clean up but did not check every unknown name to find out if it's really a skateboarder or such. CarolMooreDC (talk) 15:32, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
 * I'm doing a clean up as well as adding some names and linking those on the list to their pages. Lots of work, and more to go, but interesting reading along the way. Randy Kryn21:58 11-1-'13
 * Done. Removed names and added names, linked this list to the pages of the listee. Will keep watch, and research more names. Randy Kryn 15:49 13-1-'13

Redirect?
I'm wondering if it might be better to make this page a redirect to Peace movement, or made into a list, because it is basically just a short description of peace movement, followed by a list. A longer list is available at Category:Anti-war activists. ssepp(talk) 17:20, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
 * To address this issue, I revised the lead section and retitled the article. Ringbang (talk) 23:06, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

Definition
Surely it is a bit philosophically weak to define peace as merely the absence of war. Perhaps a broadening of the definition of a peace activist ought to include people who work for justice. For example A.J. Muste or Charles Perkins - entheos 03:58, 21 March 2007 (UTC) The definition of "peace" and the definition of "activist" need some work. They are not terms with siingle meanings. And the list is almost worthless as a reference because it includes so many different types of people without discussion. Avocats (talk) 05:10, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Einstein?
Is his inclusion in this list in accordance with WP:NPOV? It's reasonable to describe him as a peace activist at some times, but at other times it seems much more debatable (I usually tend to agree with him on those other times, or at least to sympathise with his point of view, but that's not the point). For instance, he urged Franklin Roosevelt to build an Atom bomb (I'd have probably done the same in his place, but again that's not the point). Otherwiae why not include Nobel Peace Prize winners like Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Carter (seemingly gave the green light to Saddam Hussein to start the Iran-Iraq War in 1980, as an apparent 'October surprise' in an unsuccessful attempt to gain re-election, later got the Nobel Peace Prize when the Nobel Committee wanted to show George W Bush the right way to behave in the Middle East), Barack Obama (pocketed the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, then ordered a troop surge in Afghanistan) and the strangely uncontroversial Andrei Sakharov (gave Stalin or his successors the H-Bomb, which later made him the best-known Soviet dissident, which earned him the Nobel Peace prize)? Tlhslobus (talk) 05:43, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
 * True, he did urge the bomb be developed, and called it the biggest mistake of his life. I've removed his name from the list. Randy Kryn 21:27 12-3-14

Other arguable WP:NPOV violations?

 * Charles Lindbergh, opposed US entry into World War II; presumably we should also include Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, William Randolph Hearst (the model for Citizen Kane's 'you supply the prose poems, I'll supply the war', due to his earlier support for the Spanish-American War), Benito Mussolini, and Lord Haw Haw?


 * Robert Kennedy - eventually opposed the Vietnam War, which he had helped start


 * all the anti-Vietnam War activists - a Right-wing perspective would say they were aiding and abetting North Vietnam's war against South Vietnam, and the Soviet Union's not-so-Cold War against the West (I don't agree, but that's not the point)

Perhaps some of these problems could be avoided by grouping activists according to the war they opposed, and by mentioning some of the problems with various individuals on these lists.
 * Bertrand Russell - campaigned against nuclear weapons from the late 1950s onwards, after earlier urging pre-emptive war against the Soviet Union before she got nuclear weapons arguing that the West could either fight an early preemptive war, or else have to surrender later on. So in Thinking about the Unthinkable, Herman Kahn only half-jokingly described Russell's later anti-nuclear campaigning as 'same policy, different circumstances'.
 * Mairead Corrigan Maguire - Northern Ireland peace movement, Nobel Prize winner - from an IRA perspective, an aider and abettor of Britain's imperialist war in Northern Ireland (I don't agree, but that's not the point).
 * Noam Chomsky - writer, activist, organizer - besides his role as an opponent of the Vietnam War, from a Northern Ireland Unionist perspective, someone who gave comfort and intellectual support to IRA terrorism (or so some Unionist sympathisers have told me).
 * John Paul II - Pope, inspiration, advocate - from a Communist perspective, a leader of the capitalist imperialist onslaught against 'the peace-loving Socialist nations' (I have no love of Communism, but that's not the point).
 * Václav Havel - nonviolent writer, poet, and politican - similar comments as for John Paul II
 * Sérgio Vieira de Mello - from an Islamic or Islamist perspective, a UN official killed by good Muslims while aiding the Christian occupation of the Muslim nation of Iraq (I have no love for Islam, let alone Islamism, but that's not the point).

Tlhslobus (talk) 07:19, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
 * I took out RFK and some of the others long ago. The others gave peaceful solutions to the problems of war and conflict, not adding to them. Randy Kryn 21:21 12-3-14
 * Since nobody has disputed the neutrality question aside from the above, maybe others can take out some of the listed on those terms, that they have supported war in the past. A peace activist should, of course, be working solely for peaceful purposes and solutions. Supporting one side over the other seems counter-productive to peace, but advocating withdrawal of troops from foreign soil (i.e. America's incrusion in Vietnam) fits the definition of an anti-war peace activist. Advocating violence as a peace tactic seems a dealbreaker for this list, and how much support is given to governments who initiate or participate in that violence is another factor to take into consideration. Does anyone have any thoughts on the people remaining on the list who are mentioned in the above post by Tlhslobus or others? Randy Kryn 18:38 7 April, 2014 (UTC)

Jimmy Carter?
He was the commander-in-chief of the U.S. Military. Hardly a peace activist. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.190.172.58 (talk • contribs)
 * He did stuff after he left office. --Malerooster (talk) 04:21, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

Quoted from above: "...[Jimmy Carter] gave the green light to Saddam Hussein to start the Iran-Iraq War in 1980, as an apparent 'October surprise' in an unsuccessful attempt to gain re-election." He may have "done stuff" after office, but certainly not enough to be considered a peace activist. He should definitely be removed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.190.172.58 (talk) 05:12, 4 July 2014 (UTC)
 * After reading your concern I've done much reading of his pages here, and I have to agree that he belongs on the list. During his presidency and after he's done things no other U.S. politician has done in terms of peace activism. Check out his peace prizes from groups and organizations who check these people out with much more intensity and scrutiny than any of us do. Seems to fit the criteria here. Thanks for inspiring me to study up on Carter's accomplishments more than I've done before. Randy Kryn 21:36 7 July 2014 (UTC)

Uri Avnery
Surely he deserves a place here? Uri Avnery — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cchhrriiss (talk • contribs) 17:31, 27 July 2015 (UTC)


 * Yes, duly added. --NSH001 (talk) 19:52, 27 July 2015 (UTC)

Smedley Butler
I added Gen. Smedley Butler to the list based on: per paragraph 4 of his page on wikipedia which is as follows: "In 1935, Butler wrote a book entitled War Is a Racket, where he described and criticized the workings of the United States in its foreign actions and wars, such as those he was a part of, including the American corporations and other imperialist motivations behind them. After retiring from service, he became a popular activist, speaking at meetings organized by veterans, pacifists, and church groups in the 1930s." He is a distinguished Anti-War author, and was also involved in meeting with pacifists. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gizziiusa (talk • contribs) 04:36, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

George Lakey
I do not have date(s) for George Lakey. I can't find an obituary so he may still be alive though advanced in age. He appears to have still been active in 2014. There are a number of interviews with him, for example this one. Bill Jefferys (talk) 18:50, 12 June 2016 (UTC)


 * Normally list entries need to have articles, or references establishing notability. Lakey's article appears to have been deleted (well, moved to user space for development.)-- &#9790;Loriendrew&#9789;  &#9743;(ring-ring)  20:00, 12 June 2016 (UTC)


 * I do not understand this revert. The article I linked to exists (I just clicked on it, it is there), and there are many other articles available on the web, many at Peace News from which this one came, that talk about or interview Mr. Lakey. There does not appear to be a Wikipedia article on Lakey, but there are references to him that anticipate such an article, see for example Movement for a New Society which names him and others, some of whom (e.g., George Willoughby) who have Wikipedia articles.


 * I was hoping that by putting him here as well there would be incentive for someone to write an appropriate article.Bill Jefferys (talk) 14:37, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
 * There is no wikipedia article for George Lakey. There should be an article first before including them on a list of articles.-- &#9790;Loriendrew&#9789;  &#9743;(ring-ring)  14:56, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Size of images
The size of the images really has to be reduced and made somewhat uniform. Would someone like to do this, or I can get back to it later? Thanks. Randy Kryn (talk) 11:13, 4 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Why do you want to reduce the size of the images? They look fine to me on both my laptops (which have different screen sizes). The images are all using the standard thumbnail width (I've just checked, to make sure), so they're all uniform in that respect. They differ in vertical height, but you can't change that without either cropping the image, or otherwise distorting it. I could see that someone accessing the page on a device with a smaller screen might want to have a smaller image size, but that's almost certainly best dealt with on a Wikipedia-wide level, rather than hard coding sizes on individual pages. --NSH001 (talk) 13:16, 4 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Okay, sounds fine. Maybe it's my laptop. Thanks. Randy Kryn (talk) 13:39, 4 July 2017 (UTC)

'Return to table of contents' link
The unneeded link seems to clutter up the page, and removing it will collapse the extra space between sections. Randy Kryn (talk) 12:32, 12 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Well I really like it, as it makes it quick and easy to jump around between sections with just two quick clicks. I tried experimenting by removing a few of them, and found that it made little difference to white space between sections. Note that these links are in smaller text, so as not to be too intrusive, another reason it doesn't make much difference. In some cases it makes no difference at all because of the presence of images. Overall, it's the presence or absence of images that really makes a difference to the size of white space, not the presence or absence of these links. And I'm inclined to favour a few more images, as they make the presentation of the list more interesting. --NSH001 (talk) 19:09, 12 April 2018 (UTC)
 * If you really like it, that's fine with me. Just haven't seen those jumps before, and I figured it's not too difficult to jump between sections and, besides one less distraction, removing them would let readers have the experience of looking at the whole page by scrolling around. A few more additional images wouldn't hurt, and would give the readers more to look at. Randy Kryn (talk) 21:05, 12 April 2018 (UTC)

Cleanup, December 2018
I just added Dennis Kucinich and David Swanson two people who are clearly worthy of inclusion in this list. I'm not expert Wikipedian, so I hope someone will check the formatting I used. Robkall (talk) 16:11, 9 December 2018 (UTC)
 * - no problem, I've just done a little tidying up to bring your additions into line with the rest of the entries. There's really nothing wrong with your entries, merely that it's best if all the entries follow the same format, which makes it a little easier for our readers. Also new comments should be posted at the bottom of talk pages, so I moved your posting down here. Thanks for your contributions! --NSH001 (talk) 18:44, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

Donnie
Really, Donald Trump, is he regarded as a peace activist, source please?Slatersteven (talk) 17:16, 11 March 2021 (UTC)

The Oxford comma, and other punctuation matters
This list article has so far generally followed the more nuanced approach set out in the serial comma article, namely to use it only when needed to eliminate ambiguity, or to reflect the natural cadence of the sentence or phrase when read aloud. The latter will often apply if the final item is a long noun phrase.

This makes sense, because
 * A comma implies a pause.
 * It is more logical, otherwise why not write "Alice, and Bob visited me yesterday"?
 * But – illustrating nuance – the Oxford comma is appropriate both in the heading for this section, and in its first sentence.

I don't think this approach should be changed without gaining consensus for the change on this talk page.

The other main point is that list items should not normally be terminated with a full stop. An exception is when the description is made of one or more full sentences, for example the entry for Mikhail Gorbachev is correctly terminated with a full stop.

I have changed the article accordingly.

--NSH001 (talk) 11:55, 12 August 2021 (UTC)

PS. Thanks for spotting the duplication of Thích Nhất Hạnh.

Bannwart
I don't think Alexander Bannwart can really be regarded as a peace activist, and intend to remove him unless someone can convince me otherwise.

His article (brand new) doesn't mention the term "peace activist", and I doubt that a source can be found stating that he is. Neither does he appear to satisfy the criteria set out in the introduction to this list article. About the only thing in his favour is the World Federalist Movement, and even that is debatable as a "peace" organisation. Moreover he supported US entry into the first world war (after initially opposing it) and got into a fist fight, hitting back after he was punched by Henry Cabot Lodge on a visit to the U.S. Capitol, a pattern of behaviour that is the opposite of a peace activist.

--NSH001 (talk) 22:08, 27 January 2022 (UTC)

Short descriptions of listed individuals
Would it not be better to try to include something more specific in each entry that explains in a few words why the person is listed than just "[nationality] peace activist" or the like. After all, if the person were not a "peace activist" then presumably they wouldn't be on this list at all. PDGPA (talk) 01:02, 13 March 2023 (UTC)


 * I agree. Also, this list needs clearer referencing. WP:PEOPLELIST requires that "membership in the list's group is established by reliable sources"–so a person should be described generally as a "peace activist" by independent reliable sources to be included in this list. Llll5032 (talk) 20:14, 19 March 2023 (UTC)