- Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the main leaders of the American civil rights movement, a political activist, a Baptist minister, and is regarded as one of America's greatest orators. King's most influential and well-known public address is the "I Have A Dream" speech, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. in 1963. In 1964, King became the youngest man to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (for his work as a peacemaker, … - Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn (born August 24, 1922) is an American historian, political scientist, social critic, activist and playwright, best known as author of the bestseller, "A People's History of the United States". Zinn's philosophy incorporates ideas from Marxism, anarchism, socialism, and social democracy. Since the 1960s, he has been active in the Civil Rights and anti-war movements in the United States. - Naomi Klein
Naomi Klein is a Canadian journalist, author and activist. Her grandfather was fired for labor organizing at Disney in the United States. Her father Michael, a physician, was a Vietnam War resister (draft dodger) and became a member of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Her film-maker mother, Bonnie, won fame with her anti-pornography film, "Not a Love Story". Her brother Seth is director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. - Jim Wallis
The Reverend Jim Wallis (b. June 4 1948, Detroit, Michigan) is an Evangelical Christian writer and political activist, best known as the founder and editor of "Sojourners Magazine" and of the Washington, D.C.-based Christian community of the same name. Wallis actively eschews political labels, but his advocacy tends to focus on issues of peace and social justice, earning him his primary support from the religious left. - Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa (born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, was a Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. For over forty years, she ministered to the needs of the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying of Calcutta (Kolkata). As the Missionaries of Charity grew under Mother's leadership, they expanded their ministry to other countries. - Thomas Aquinas
Saint Thomas Aquinas (also Thomas of Aquin, or Aquino; c. 1225 - 7 March 1274) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest in the Order of Preachers, a philosopher and theologian in the scholastic tradition, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Universalis and Doctor Communis. He is the foremost classical proponent of natural theology, and the father of the Thomistic school of philosophy and theology. St. - Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva (b. November 5, 1952, Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand, India), is a physicist, ecofeminist, environmental activist and author. Shiva, currently based in New Delhi, is author of over 300 papers in leading scientific and technical journals.<br /> Shiva participated in the nonviolent Chipko movement during the 1970s. The movement, whose main participants were women, adopted the tactic of hugging trees to prevent their felling. - Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi ; born 19 June 1945 in Yangon (Rangoon), is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Myanmar (Burma), and a noted prisoner of conscience. A Buddhist, Suu Kyi won the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and in 1991 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship. - Bell Hooks
Gloria Jean Watkins (born on September 25, 1952), better known as bell hooks is an African-American intellectual, feminist, and social activist. Hooks focuses on the interconnectivity of race, class, and gender and their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and domination. She has published over thirty books and numerous scholarly and mainstream articles, appeared in several documentary films and participated in various public lectures. - Van Jones
Van Jones (1968-) is a civil rights and human rights advocate in Oakland, CA working to combine solutions to social inequality and environmental destruction. He is the co-founder and executive director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, which now employs 24 staff members. Jones founded the Ella Baker Center in 1996. Named for the civil rights and human rights heroine Ella Baker, … - David Miller
David Miller (born 8 March 1946) is a prominent British political theorist. He received his BA from the University of Cambridge and his BPhil and DPhil from the University of Oxford. He is currently Official Fellow and Professor in Social and Political Theory at Nuffield College. Previous works include "Social Justice", "On Nationality" and "Citizenship and National Identity". Miller is known for his support of a modest form of nationalism. - Ehren Watada
Ehren Watada is a First Lieutenant (1LT) of the United States Army who in June 2006 publicly refused to deploy to Iraq for his unit's assigned rotation to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Watada said he believed the war to be illegal and that, under the doctrine of command responsibility, it would make him party to war crimes. At the time he refused to deploy, he was assigned to duty with the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, … - Paul Farmer
Dr. Paul Farmer (born October 26, 1959) is an American professor and physician, currently the Presley Professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard University and an attending physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. His medical specialty is Infectious Diseases. Farmer is one of the founders of Partners In Health (PIH), an international health and social justice organization. - Michael Franti
Michael Franti (born April 21, 1966, in Oakland, California) is an American poet, musician, and composer of African, American Indian, Italian, and German descent. Franti is the creator and driving force behind Michael Franti & Spearhead, a band that blends hip hop with a variety of other styles including funk, reggae, jazz, folk, and rock. He is also an outspoken supporter for a wide spectrum of peace and social justice issues. - Richard Rohr
Richard Rohr O.F.M. (born in 1943 in Kansas) is a Franciscan priest, writer, and internationally known inspirational speaker. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1970. Rohr was the founder of the New Jerusalem Community in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1971 and the "Center for Action and Contemplation" in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1986 where he presently serves as Founding Director. Scripture as liberation, the integration of action and contemplation, community building, … - David Rovics
David Rovics (born April 10, 1967) is an indie singer/songwriter and outspoken grassroots political protestor from the United States. His music is most accurately described as protest-folk and concerns topical subjects such as the 2003 Iraq war, anti-globalisation and social justice issues. Rovics is an outspoken critic of not only George W. Bush, but also figures like John Kerry and the Democratic Party as a whole. He is vocal on these subjects on stage, … - Abbie Hoffman
Abbott Howard "Abbie" Hoffman (November 30, 1936 - April 12, 1989) was a self-identified communo-anarchist, social and political activist in the United States, co-founder of the Youth International Party ("Yippies"), and later, a fugitive from the law, who lived under an alias following a conviction for dealing cocaine. - Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb (also Seyyid, Sayid, Sayed; also Koteb, Kutb) (9 October 1906 - 29 August 1966) was an Egyptian author, Islamist, and the leading intellectual of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and 60s. He is best known in the Muslim world for his work on the social and political role of Islamic fundamentalism, particularly in his books "Social Justice" and "Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq" ("Milestones"). - Paul Rogat Loeb
Paul Rogat Loeb (born in 1952) is an American social and political activist, who has strongly fought for issues including social justice, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and civic involvement in American democracy. Loeb is a frequent public speaker and has written five books and numerous newspaper editorials. - Bill White
William Andrew (Bill) White, III., O.C. was a Canadian composer and social justice activist, who was the first Black Canadian to run for federal office in Canada. - Kate Sheppard
Katherine Wilson Sheppard (10 March 1848 - 13 July 1934) was the most prominent member of New Zealand's women's suffrage movement, and is the country's most famous suffragette. Because New Zealand was the first country to introduce universal suffrage, Sheppard's work had a considerable impact on women's suffrage movements in other countries. - Jello Biafra
Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958) is more widely known by the stage name Jello Biafra. He first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band the Dead Kennedys. After his time with the band concluded, he became more directly involved with political activism and took over the influential independent record label Alternative Tentacles, founded in 1979 by him and East Bay Ray. - Joseph Lowery
Joseph Echols Lowery, (born October 6, 1921, in Huntsville, Alabama) is a minister and leader in the American civil rights movement. Lowery was pastor of the Warren Street United Methodist Church, in Mobile, Alabama from 1952 until 1961. After Rosa Parks' arrest in 1955, Lowery helped lead the Montgomery bus boycott. In 1957, with Martin Luther King, Jr. - Jim Winkler
James (Jim) Winkler, is the general secretary (a top executive) of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society. He was among those arrested in front of the White House for Protesting the war in Iraq. He also makes an apearence in the documentary film Renewal Or Ruin. He has advocated for positions regarding homosexuality that are at odds with decisions made by the Church Judicial Council and what is written in the Discipline (the Church governing document). - James Cameron
James Cameron (February 23, 1914 in La Crosse, Wisconsin - June 11, 2006 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) was a civil rights activist. He founded America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. James Cameron was founder of America's Black Holocaust Museum and America's only living survivor of a lynching until he died. In August, 1930 when Cameron was 16 years old, he was falsely accused of participating in the murder of a young white man in Marion, Indiana. - Staughton Lynd
Staughton Lynd (b. November 22, 1929) is an American conscientious objector, peace and civil rights activist, tax resister, historian, professor, author and lawyer. His involvement in social justice causes has brought him into contact with some of the nation's most influential activists, including Howard Zinn, Tom Hayden and Daniel Berrigan. - Arcadi Gaydamak
Arcadi Alexandrovich Gaydamak (also spelled Arkadi Gaydamak, Russian: Аркадий Александрович Гайдамак, Hebrew: ארקדי גאידמק) (born 1952 in Ukraine, USSR) is a Russian-Israeli billionaire businessman, and member of the wealthy Gaydamak family. Gaydamak holds French and Israeli passports in addition to diplomatic Canadian and Angola passports. - John B. Cobb
John B. Cobb, Jr. (born February 9, 1925) is an American United Methodist theologian who played a crucial role in the development of process theology. He integrated Alfred North Whitehead's metaphysics into Christianity, and applied it to issues of social justice. - June Callwood
Carrying with her the memories of an adverse and impoverished childhood, combined with her fierce intelligence and immense compassion, Callwood inspired all of Canada for more than six decades through her words and actions. She had a roll-up-your-sleeves pragmatism and could accomplish anything she set her mind to, all with grace and style and never without a sense of humour. She loved Canada, loved humanity, and most of all loved children. - Gene Sharp
Gene Sharp (born 21 January 1928) is a political scientist, author and founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, a non-profit organisation which studies and promotes the use of nonviolent action. - Jaggi Singh
Jaggi Singh (born 1971 in Toronto) is one of Canada's most high-profile anti-globalization and social justice activists. A self-described anarchist, Singh lives in Montreal where he works with groups such as Solidarity Across Borders (a local migrant-rights organization) and the No One Is Illegal collective, among others. Singh graduated from St. Michael's College School and attended the University of Toronto. - Blase Bonpane
Blase Bonpane is an activist and author working against human rights abuses, and against U.S. intervention in Central America. He is the Director of the Office of the Americas and Senior Research Fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Working in the field for peace in many countries where suffering under the United States' intervention in local government such as Latin America, Cuba and Iraq, … - Jeannette Rankin
Jeannette Rankin (June 11, 1880 - May 18, 1973) was the first woman elected to the United States House of Representatives and the first female member of Congress. A Republican and a lifelong pacifist, she was the only member of Congress to vote against United States entry into World War II and one of fifty to vote against World War I. Additionally, she led resistance to the Vietnam War. - Michael Berg
Michael Berg (b. March 3, 1945) is a former candidate for Congress in the state of Delaware on the Green Party ticket in the 2006 midterm elections. He is most well-known as the father of Nick Berg, one of the first American civilians to be abducted and executed by insurgents in Iraq. Michael Berg was born in Philadelphia. Berg earned a Bachelor of Arts in English literature and a teaching certificate at Bucknell University in 1967, … - William Stringfellow
William Stringfellow (born Johnston, Rhode Island, 1929; died 1985) was a renowned American lay theologian during the 1960s and 1970s. He managed to obtain several scholarships and entered Bates College in Lewiston, Maine at the age of fifteen. He later earned a scholarship to the London School of Economics and served in the Second Armored Division of the United States Army. Stringfellow then attended Harvard Law School. - Tenzin Gyatso
Tenzin Gyatso (born 6 July 1935) is the fourteenth and current Dalai Lama. As such, he is often referred to in Western media simply as the Dalai Lama, without any qualifiers. The fifth of sixteen children of a farming family in the Tibetan province of Amdo, he was proclaimed the "tulku" (rebirth) of the thirteenth Dalai Lama at the age of two. On 17 November 1950, at the age of fifteen, … - Jessie Street
Born in Chota Nagpur, Bihar, India, Jessie Mary Grey Street (April 18, 1889 - July 2, 1970) was an Australian suffragette, feminist and human rights campaigner. She was a key figure in Australian political life for over 50 years, from the women's suffrage struggle in England to the removal of Australia’s constitutional discrimination against Aboriginal people in 1967. She is recognised both in Australia and internationally for her activism in women's rights, … - David Roediger
David R. Roediger (July 13, 1952) is a professor of history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). His research interests include the construction of racial identity, class structures, and the history of American radicalism. He writes from an admittedly Marxist theoretical framework. - Rini Templeton
Lucille Corinne Templeton, better known as "Rini" Templeton, was an American graphic artist, sculptor, and political activist. She was most active in Mexico and the Southwestern United States, although she also volunteered in Cuba and Nicaragua after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution and the electoral victory of the F.S.L.N. Although her name is not well-known, her uncredited work has been used on countless fliers, posters, and banners for the labor, … - Mark Jones
Mark Jones is a Welsh politician and member of Plaid Cymru. He stood unsuccessfully for the Vale of Clwyd constituency in the National Assembly for Wales election, 2007. Mark Jones was born in London but currently lives in Llandudno. He received education at Groby Community College in Leicestershire and currently works as constituency coordinator for Aberconwy. Having previously held various posts with local government, …
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