Nurse Edith Cavell was shot by a German firing squad in 1915. The words 'For King and Country' are inscribed on her monument in London, but so too are her own words, 'Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone'. Cynthia Cockburn explores this contradiction.
From London to Ukraine, Madeleine Rees reflects on the lessons of the recent Summit to end sexual violence in conflict, and calls upon States to respond by adopting a new approach to conflict prevention, and to revisit the doctrine of the responsibility to protect.
As the climax of the 'marching season' in Northern Ireland approaches, Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire recalls how the cycle of violence was broken when the civil community united during the Troubles and called for an end all the violence. Today she calls upon politicians to listen to the voi
The recent international Peace Event in Sarajevo was simultaneously a commemoration of war and a renewed commitment to organization and action for peace. Heidi Meinzolt travelled from Germany and reflects on the journey for peace
The suffrage movement was split by the Great War. Most often remembered are the pacifists. But the militant history of feminist war supporters in Britain, and the audacity of the 'White Feather Girls' who shamed young men into enlisting, must also be remembered in this centenary year
There is no greater challenge to principled pacifism than intolerable oppression. The surge of nazism and fascism made the 1930s a testing time for those who, like the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom refused all military options.
"If our common dream is a world without weapons and militarism, why don’t we say so? Why be silent about it? It would make a world of difference if we refused to be ambivalent about the violence of militarism". Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace laureate, speaking at the Sarajevo Peace Event.
In 50.50's series of articles marking the centenary of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Madeleine Rees responds to Cynthia Cockburn, calling for a pragmatic approach that challenges and provides an alternative to the compartmentalisation of peace, security, disarmament, just
In the first of a series of articles marking the hundredth year of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Cynthia Cockburn explores the roots of the women's peace movement and its aim not just to outlaw war, but to root out its causes.
