This week, we use music to remember the devastation of the bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki and the unbelievable destruction and anguish caused by war.
Th. Sumartana (d. 2002)
Th. Sumartana was an Indonesian Protestant leader who helped found the first interfaith organizaiton in Indonesia, focusing efforts on peace and democracy.
Sulak Sivaraksa (b. 1933)
Sulak Sivaraksa is a Thai Buddhist social activist who has founded a number of organizations focusing on interfaith work to promote global change.
Ouyporn Khuankaew (b. 1963)
Ouyporn Khankaew is a Thai feminist trainer who works to help women, LGBT individuals, and people living with HIV, incorporating Buddhism into her work.
Wati Aier (b. 1948)
Wati Aier is mediator of peace talks between insurgent factions in Nagaland, a state northeast of India. He has worked to unify the Nagas for over a decade.
Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890-1988)
Abdul Ghaffar Khan was a Muslim independence activist who organized a nonviolent army—the Khudai Khidmatgars—to oppose British colonial rule in India.
Tom Fox (1951—2006)
Tom Fox was a Quaker peace activist and Christian Peace Teams member who was held hostage and executed by a jihadist group during a CPT delegation to Iraq.
Kailash Satyarthi
For over 30 years, Satyarthi has been a tireless campaigner for the rights of children and to rescue children from forced labor in factories, brickyards, and the sex trades. Over the years he has helped free almost 80,000 children from various slave conditions and helped them attain education and rehabilitation. He established a village “half-way” community to resettle rescued slaves.
Malala Yousafzai (b. 1997)
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani girl who has received global recognition for her published diary about life under the Taliban and her fearless advocacy for the education of girls in the face of Taliban violence. She is the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
H. A. Mukti Ali (1923-2004)
Dr. H. A. Mukti Ali was the Minister of Religious Affairs in Indonesia from 1971 to 1978, who placed a large amount of importance on interfaith dialogue.