Robin Lloyd

Last week, I did a virtual book reading for the Boston branch of WILPF. Tina, from the Philadelphia branch introduced me to Eileen Kurkoski, who invited me to speak at one of their branch meetings. It turns out, my podcast guest for this episode, Robin Lloyd, also came by (even though she’s based in Vermont). I really enjoyed the conversation, and now I want to do more virtual book readings for WILPF branches.

One topic that came up in our conversation was Libby’s militancy. I was a little allergic to the term, but we clarified that it didn’t mean violence. I think of it more as “confronting power,” which is a different type of action than organizing (or attending) conferences. It’s easy to downplay conferences, because they don’t push toward change directly, but they’re still important. They’re a place to build connections and educate ourselves and each other about issues. We might even consider them a prerequisite to confronting power, because they help us create a platform for that next step. Ultimately, we do need to communicate directly with those who have the power to change things. Otherwise, we’re just living in an echo chamber without accessing the levers that lead to change.

In one of the book excerpts that I read, Libby confronted power by meeting with the executives at Xerox Corporation. She had recruited WILPF members to subscribe to their publication, My Weekly Reader, and complete a survey on what they observed. When the data came back, it was clear to Libby that Xerox was reporting a skewed perspective on the Vietnam War and not representing African Americans at all in their publication. She finally made a connection that enabled her to get an appointment with the people in charge at Xerox, and she convinced them to change the way they write about the Vietnam War and increase representation of African Americans in their publication! This publication influenced thousands of school children every week, so it was a big win.

Libby often focused on education in her actions, whether it was school children or adults. She incorporated peace, justice, and diversity in her roles as Hebrew school teacher or administrator, volunteer parent, and Childhood Education Committee chair. Libby also educated adults, through speaking, interviews, and writing.

While Robin and Libby didn’t work together frequently, they did know each other. (Robin once hosted Libby and Mort Frank at her home when they were attending a conference in Burlington.) Talking with Robin Lloyd for the podcast, I realized Robin and Libby had this in common: educating others about peace and justice issues. Robin had just gotten off another meeting about organizing a workshop in New York City parallel to the 2025 UN Conference on the Status of Women in March. This event is connected with the most extraordinary experience of Robin’s life: attending the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing. (Learning about this experience reminded me of the powerful effect the World Youth Festival had on Libby’s global perspective.)

Robin did not just attend the conference though; she documented it in a film called “Peace Train to Beijing.” The first part of the documentary focuses on “230 women and 10 men from 42 countries” who took an actual train ride that went from Helsinki to Beijing, stopping several times along the way to meet with local activists and exchange ideas. The second part focuses on the conference in Beijing, “where 30,000 women from around the world organize and strategize for women's rights” according to Robin’s website. This film has been included in film festivals, academic courses, and activist events. Robin’s other films highlight peace and justice themes in Haiti, Latin America, Vietnam, and the United States.

Robin is also a philanthropist. Several years ago, she was featured in the Vermont publication, Seven Days, where someone who knew her was quoted as saying: "It's not hard to get wealthy people to invest in heartstring issues. Robin invests in justice."

One way Robin invests in justice is by supporting the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Robin’s great-grandmother was one of WILPF’s founders and Robin is active in the organization. She is currently the president of the local Burlington, VT Branch of WILPF, where she has been hosting an annual weekend-long gathering on her family farm for many years. She is also part of WILPF’s national Disarm Committee and is helping to plan that workshop I mentioned earlier, which will have a global attendance.

Robin has done much more for peace and justice than we could cover in our brief conversation, but if you’d like to learn more about her, definitely check out that article in Seven Days. My main takeaway is that there is no shortage of ways to contribute to peace and justice, whether locally, nationally, or globally.