Pacifist Posse

The Nobel Peace Prize, which has been awarded 80-some times since it was first given to Henry Dunant and Frédéric Passy in 1901, could be a regular feature of the Posse. We could have a series of stories that change every n days, each of which commemorates the non-violent actions of a recipient of the prize. Not all of the recipients would necessarily qualify as pacifists, so we’d have to decide whether we wanted to include each of them or only selected recipients. (See a list of recipients here.)

What do you Possefists think?

What news person on a major television network signed off by saying, “Peace?”

Submit your answers in comments. All correct answers receive a special PP prize.

Maybe we should have honorary members of the Posse, people from history recognized for their contributions to peace and non-violence. If so, I’d nominate Elihu Burritt.

I suspect Elihu Burritt would have signed up for the Posse. In the 1830s-40s he had at least one group called the “League of Universal Brotherhood” (or was it “Friends of Peace?” or “Brussels Peace Congress?”) that seemed to have many similar aims as the Posse (whatever our aims). In addition to convincing people in at least the US and UK to sign a pledge to practice non-violence, he also campaigned against slavery in the US.
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Martin Luther King Jr. taught important lessons about pascifism. Here’s a statement of principles from the lecture he delivered at the invitation of the Nobel Foundation when he received the Nobel Peace Prize 11 December 1964:

The nonviolent resisters can summarize their message in the following simple terms: we will take direct action against injustice despite the failure of governmental and other official agencies to act first. We will not obey unjust laws or submit to unjust practices. We will do this peacefully, openly, cheerfully because our aim is to persuade. We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself. We will try to persuade with our words, but if our words fail, we will try to persuade with our acts. We will always be willing to talk and seek fair compromise, but we are ready to suffer when necessary and even risk our lives to become witnesses to truth as we see it.

There are many other examples of well-explained concepts one could excerpt from that speech. This one, although it has a twist at the end with which I mildly disagree, had some powerful parts for me; perhaps I see it as more compelling because I have the context provided by having read the remainder of the lecture. Still, I hope putting it here helps the PP rededicate itself to fundamental principles.