Kathy Kelly wants to encourage people to believe that, in their time, they can eradicate war.

“I like Martin Luther King’s thought that we have to be neighbors that go beyond time, race and nation-state,” Kelly said.

Kelly will present her speech “There Are No Good Wars: Women, Children and the Scars of War” as the keynote lecture of Women’s History and Awareness Month at 7 p.m. today in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

“She’s going to be talking about women and children who have lived through the conflict of the war in Iraq along with the Middle East and Afghanistan,” said Sace Elder, chair of the Women’s History and Awareness Month committee. “She has a strong reputation in the activist community in Chicago.”

Kelly has worked as a peace activist in Iraq in 2003 during the Shock and Awe campaign.

“This (campaign) was at the beginning of U.S. involvement when the U.S. military first came in,” Elder said.

In the last 20 years, Kelly said she has wanted to work toward the goal of ending war. She was a 2000, 2001 and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize nominee.

Kelly also lived in Amman, Jordan for five months in 2007.

“She was living with Iraqi refugees who had fled during the war,” Elder said.

Jeannie Ludlow, coordinator for the women’s studies program, said Kelly can help students and faculty understand what war means.

Ludlow said she has seen movies and heard stories about war, but she still will never understand it.

“(Kelly) works with civilians in war to get them what they need, such as food, medicine and safety,” Ludlow said. “Then, she comes back and tells their stories. In the community we live in, no one can fully understand what it means to be in a war.”

Ludlow said Kelly has been on the ground during bombings in war zones working to help civilians.

“Students may also be interested to know that she’s a long-time peace, anti-nuclear activist who has spent some time incarcerated in federal prison for her activism,” she said.

The theme of this year’s Women’s History and Awareness Month is “Women and War.”

“We are active in two wars right now, and there is a lot in the news right now about local people being deployed,” she said.

The lecture today is free and open to the public.

Upcoming Events for Women’s Studies:

-Women of Valor panel and exhibit, 6:30 pm on March 25 in room 4440 of the Booth Library discussing women who served in WWII.

-Central Illinois Feminist Film Festival on March 24, 25 and 26

-Women’s Studies Awards Reception at 7 p.m. March 31 in the Tarble Arts Center with student awards and Women of Achievement awards.

Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or haholm@eiu.edu.