April Carter (born 22 November 1937) was a British peace activist. She was a

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studi ...

lecturer at the universities of

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, and was a Fellow at the

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an international institute based in Stockholm. It was founded in 1966 and provides data, analysis and recommendations for armed conflict, military expenditure and arms trade as well ...

from 1985 to 1987. She is currently an Honorary Research Fellow of the

Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Studies Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

Coventry University , mottoeng = By Art and Industry , established = , type = Public , endowment = £28 million (2015) , budget = £787.5 million , chancellor = Margaret Casely-Hayford , vice_chancellor = John Latham , students = () , underg ...

, and a 'senior editor' on the international editorial board for the ''International Encyclopedia of Peace'' to be published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

(New York). April Carter was active in the nuclear disarmament movement in Britain in the late 1950s and early 1960s, becoming Secretary of the

Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War Direct may refer to: Mathematics * Directed set, in order theory * Direct limit of (pre), sheaves * Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces Computing * Direct access (disambiguation), ...

in May 1958 (just after it had organised the first

Aldermaston March The Aldermaston marches were anti- nuclear weapons demonstrations in the 1950s and 1960s, taking place on Easter weekend between the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston in Berkshire, England, and London, over a distance of fifty ...

), and was involved in early

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a stat ...

nuclear missile bases A missile launch facility, also known as an underground missile silo, launch facility (LF), or nuclear silo, is a vertical cylindrical structure constructed underground, for the storage and launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs ...

. In 1961 she was European coordinator for the

San Francisco to Moscow March During the 20th century a number of peace walks were organized involving the citizens of the United States and the USSR. These peace walks, or peace marches, represented citizen diplomacy initiatives promoting peace and Nuclear disarmament throu ...

organised by the

US Committee for Nonviolent Action The Committee for Non-Violent Action (CNVA) was an American anti-war group, formed in 1957 to resist the US government's program of nuclear weapons testing. It was one of the first organizations to employ nonviolent direct action to protest aga ...

, and 1961-62 was an assistant editor at the international pacifist weekly ''

Peace News ''Peace News'' (''PN'') is a pacifist magazine first published on 6 June 1936 to serve the peace movement in the United Kingdom. From later in 1936 to April 1961 it was the official paper of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU), and from 1990 to 2004 ...

''. During the revived

nuclear disarmament Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: * Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space * Nucle ...

movement of the 1980s she was a member of the

Alternative Defence Commission Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

, which published an analysis of non-nuclear defence options for Britain in ''

Defence Without the Bomb Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

'' (Taylor and Francis, 1983)

Major works

*''The Political Theory of Anarchism'' (Harper & Row, 1971) *''Authority and Democracy'' (Routledge & Kegan Paul PLC, 1979) *''Politics of Women's Rights'' (Longman, 1988) *''Success and Failure in Arms Control Negotiations (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute monographs) (Oxford University Press, 1989) *''Peace Movements'' (Longman, 1992) *''The Political Theory of Global Citizenship'' (

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, ...

, 2001 and 2006 in paperback). & *

Direct Action and Democracy Today ''Direct Action and Democracy Today'' is a 2005 book by April Carter. In the book, Carter debates the nature and meaning of social and political protest and discusses the relationship between direct action Direct action originated as a poli ...

(Polity Press, 2004).People Power and Protest since 1945: a bibliography of nonviolent action
*''People Power and Political Change: Key Issues and Concepts'' (Routledge 2012) *''A Guide to Civil Resistance: Volume one: A Bibliography of People Power and Nonviolent Protest'' (Green Print, 2013) *''A Guide to Civil Resistance: Volume two: A Bibliography of Social Movements and Nonviolent Action'' (Green Print, 2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, April Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford 1937 births Nonviolence advocates British anti–nuclear weapons activists Living people Academics of Coventry University

Major works

See also

References