This is a list of people who have played a prominent role in social movements which have adopted the methods of nonviolent resistance. It also includes people who made a significant contribution to the study of nonviolence as a political technique. Nonviolent resistance (or nonviolent action) comprises the practice of applying power to achieve socio-political goals through symbolic protests, economic or political noncooperation, civil disobedience and other methods, without the use of physical violence. ... Nonviolence (or non-violence) is a set of assumptions about morality, power and conflict that leads its proponents to reject the use of violence in efforts to attain social or political goals. ...

Scholars and Political Leaders

• A.J. Muste
• Albert Bigelow
• Aung San Suu Kyi
• Barbara Deming
• César Chávez
• Corazon Aquino
• Dave Dellinger
• Dorothy Day
• Étienne de La Boétie
• Gene Sharp
• George Lakey
• Hans Scholl
• Henry David Thoreau
• James Lawson
• Jeff Halper
• Joan Baez
• Johan Galtung
• John Howard Yoder
• Ken O'Keefe
• Ken Saro-Wiwa
• Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
• Lanza del Vasto
• Lech Wałęsa
• Leo Tolstoy
• Mahatma Gandhi
• Marshall Rosenberg
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Mkhuseli Jack
• Mubarak Awad
• Mustafa Abdulcemil Kirimoglu (Mustafa Jemilev)
• Petra Kelly
• Philip Berrigan
• Raed Awad Abu-Sahlieh
• Sophie Scholl
• Stanley Hauerwas
• Starhawk
• Tenzin Gyatso, the current Dalai Lama
• Te Whiti o Rongomai
• Thich Nhat Hanh
• Tupua Tamasese Lealofi II
• Vinoba Bhave
• William Moyer
• Brian Martin
• Nelson Mandela
• John Lennon

Abraham Johannes Muste (January 8, 1885_February 11, 1967) was a socialist active in the labor movement and the US civil rights movement. ... Albert S. Bigelow (b. ... Aung San Suu Kyi Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (born June 19, 1945 in Rangoon, Burma, now known as Yangôn, Myanmar) is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist in Burma. ... Barbara Deming (1917 - 1984) was a US-american feminist and advocate of nonviolent social change. ... César Chávez, middle-aged César Estrada Chávez (March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) founded the National Farm Workers Association that later became the United Farm Workers. ... PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES Corazón Aquino Corazón Cojuangco Aquino (born January 25, 1933), widely known as Cory Aquino, was President of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. ... David Dellinger after his arrest for failing to report for his World War II draft physical David Dellinger (August 22, 1915-May 25, 2004) was a renowned pacifist and activist for nonviolent social change, and one of most influential American radicals in 20th century. ... Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897 - November 29, 1980), initially Marxist, became Catholic in 1927. ... Étienne de La Boétie (Sarlat, November 1st, 1530 - Germignan, August 18, 1563) was a French judge and writer, friend of Montaigne, author of the Discourse of Voluntary Servitude (Discours de la servitude volontaire). ... Gene Sharp (born 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. ... Hans Scholl (22 September 1918 – 22 February 1943) was a member of the White Rose resistance movement in Nazi Germany. ... Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862; born David Henry Thoreau) was an American author, pacifist, tax resister and philosopher who is most famous for his essays Walden on appreciation of nature and Civil Disobedience (available at wikisource) on civil disobedience. ... Reverend James Lawson (born September 22, 1928 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania) was a leading theoretician and tactician of nonviolence within the American Civil Rights Movement. ... Joan Baezs 1975 bestseller Diamonds & Rust. ... Johan Galtung (born 24 October 1930 in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian professor, working at the Transcend Institute. ... Dr. J.H. Yoder John Howard Yoder (1927-1997) was a Christian theologian, ethicist, and Biblical scholar best known for his radical Christian pacifism, his mentoring of future theological giants such as Stanley Hauerwas, his loyalty to his Mennonite faith, and his 1972 masterpiece The Politics of Jesus. ... Kenneth Nichols OKeefe (July 21, 1969 - ) born Kenneth Roy Nichols (he legally took the surname of his wife, Ruth OKeefe) is a former U.S. Marine who served in the 1991 Gulf War. ... Ken Saro-Wiwa was a successful businessman, novelist, television producer and political activist in Nigeria. ... Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (also known as Bacha Khan) (1890 - January 20, 1988) was a Pashtun political and spiritual leader known for his nonviolent opposition to British rule during the final years of the Empire on the Indian sub-continent. ... Lanza del Vasto, (Giuseppe Giovanni Luigi Enrico Lanza di Trabia), (September 29, 1901 – January 5, 1981) was a philosopher, poet, artist, and nonviolent activist. ... Term of office from December 22, 1990 until December 23, 1995 Profession Electrician and shipyard worker Political party none, see Solidarity for details First Lady Danuta WaÅ‚Ä™sowa Date of birth September 29, 1943 Place of birth Popowo, Poland Date of death Place of death Lech WaÅ‚Ä™sa (pronounced , born... Lev Tolstoy, pictured late in life Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy   listen? (Russian: Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й; commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy) (September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910; August 28, 1828 – November 7, 1910, O.S.) was a Russian novelist, social reformer, Christian anarchist, tax resister, vegetarian and moral thinker, who was... Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948) (Devanagari: मोहनदास करमचन्द गांधी, Gujarati મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી), called Mahatma Gandhi, was the charismatic leader who brought the cause of Indias independence from British colonial rule to world attention. ... Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg is founder and director of educational services for the Center for Nonviolent Communication, an international non-profit organization. ... Martin Luther King, Jr. ... Mubarak Awad is a Palestinian-American psychologist and advocate of nonviolent resistance. ... Mustafa Jemilev (Dzhemilev), also known as Mustafa Abdülcemil Kırımoğlu/Qırımoğlu. ... Petra Karin Kelly (November 29, 1947 - October 1, 1992), German peace activist and Green politician, was born in Günzburg Germany in 1947, and lived and studied in the United States between 1959 and 1970. ... Philip Berrigan (October 5, 1923 - December 6, 2002) was an internationally renowned peace activist and Roman Catholic priest. ... Sophie Scholl climbed stairs to the top of the atrium at her Munich school and dropped leaflets calling for passive resistance against the Nazi regime. ... Dr. Stanley Hauerwas Stanley Hauerwas (July 24, 1940_ ) is a United Methodist theologian and ethicist who is currently the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School in Durham, NC. In his career, he has attempted to emphasize the importance of virtue and character within the Church. ... Starhawk (born Miriam Samos in 1951) is a American writer, activist and Witch. ... Tenzin Gyatso is the fourteenth and current Dalai Lama. ... The 14th and current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso (born 1935) The 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso (1876-1933) In Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lamas are a sequence of leaders, since 1391, from the Gelug (dge lugs) school. ... Te Whiti o Rongomai III (c. ... Thich Nhat Hanh Thích Nhất Hạnh (born 1926) is an expatriate Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, and prolific author in English. ... Vinoba Bhave (September 11, 1895–November 15, 1982), born Vinayak Narahari Bhave, often called Acharya Vinoba Bhave (Acharya in Sanskrit means teacher) is considered as a National Teacher of India who has left his firm imprint on the religious, social and political consciousness of India. ... Bill Moyer (September 17, 1933 - October 21, 2002) was a United States social change activist, author, and founding member of the Movement for a New Society. ... Dr Brian Martin is associate professor in Science, Technology and Society at the University of Wollongong, Australia. ... President Nelson Mandela, 1995-1999 Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, OM CC, (born 18 July 1918) was the first democratically-elected President of South Africa. ... John Lennon John Winston Lennon, later John Ono Lennon, (October 9, 1940–December 8, 1980), was best known as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist for The Beatles. ...

Religious Leaders

Some of the following may not fit into the category of "nonviolent resistance" (see discussion).

• Gautama Buddha
• Jesus
• Mahavira

Standing Buddha, ancient region of Gandhara, northern Pakistan, 1st century CE, Musée Guimet. ... This 11th-century portrait is one of many images of Jesus in which a halo with a cross is used. ... Mahavira (वर्धमान महावीर) or Mahavir (the Great Hero -- Also, Vardhamana (increasing) or Niggantha Nathaputta -- 599 BC - 527 BC) was the 24th, and last, Jainist Tirthankara. ...

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