In the United States there are holidays to celebrate militarism just about every week, and increasingly one hears about them on the radio, at public events, and in corporate advertising that apparently believes militarism sells. Other nations have seen a similar rise in military celebrations.
What would a calendar of peace holidays look like? At WorldBeyondWar we believe it would look something like this.
We’re making it available for free as a PDF that you can print out and make use of: PDF, Word.
Surprise! There should be a big jump in the Daily Peace Index today!
(Update: The PAXi Peace Index number for today, Oct. 13, 2012 is, in fact, “754”. A new high, and a giant leap from yesterday!)
One of the key indicators is a search for “peace” at Google News.
Today, the Google News number is over 60 million! Compare that to the past few days: 10/10 was 4,020,000; 10/11 was 3,790,000; 10/12 was 4,040,000. Also, the highest day yet for the PAXi/Daily Peace Index was on September 11, 2012. On that day, the Google New/peace figure was 20,100,000 and PAXi came out to 337. When we do the figures later today, we will probably have that beat! (Come back to the front page this evening to check on today’s PAXi number!)
In searching for causes of the jump, I reviewed what the top Google News stories about peace were this morning. I think the main story pushing this jump is the Nobel Peace Prize being given to the EU/European Union. Though, I was also happy to see a third party candidate shaking up the peace discourse: On the first page of the Google News results, Roseanne Barr for President on the “Peace and Freedom Party” line shows up!
Peace is difficult to quantify. Though, we have been trying to measure it somewhat with our PAXi Index, the Daily Peace Culture Index for the United States.
PAXi began on July 15th. The PAXi for that day was 131, the lowest PAXi has been in its two month history. In the last few weeks, PAXI has hovered at the 140’s and 150’s. The highest number so far has been 158. Until today…
Peace Index. Daily stats for words such as “peace”, “nonviolence”, and “anti-war”. How much are Americans talking about peace today?
See ongoing chart of daily peace index numbers under **asterisks** at the bottom of this post.
“When will the wars end?” I wonder that each day, and, I reflect on secondary questions, such as: “Is anyone succeeding with peace work lately?” and “Is the peace movement thriving?”.
I had always wished there was a way to check up on these concerns, a way to check the pulse of peace. I wanted to find statistics on peace, just like people can find statistics on the stock market, the price of gold, or, even, the casualties of war. I did a little research, and I could not find a number or index that answered my questions. There are some very good peace indexes. Though, the ones I found are only calculated yearly, or they only changed when big events happen.
So, it is still impossible to predict exactly when the wars will end. Though, we have devised a system to give some answers about the status of peace and antiwar sentiment in the United States. The system is The Daily Peace Culture Index for the United States [DPCIUS], which has the nickname PAXi. The PAXi number will be posted prominently at Peace Couple every day. [Well, we try!] We hope you will seek it out when you do your daily searches for news, information, and updates on the state of the world. Continue reading Peace Index: Daily stats for the peace movement→
A collection of links and articles related to work being done by activists in Chicago, to nurture peace and nonviolence, as NATO meets in Chicago, on May 20th and 21st.
The big march will be: 5/20/2012 Sunday starting at 2pm from Grant Park/Chicago (with cultural and lead-up activities starting at 11am)
at OccupyWallSt.org #ChicagoSpring: Occupy NATO May 12-21 Full Schedule
“The Last Church On The Left” by Sonny Meadows is the Peace Song of the day for December 9th. You can find this song on the album Tolerance.
There are many reasons why we love this song! Besides our admiration for Sonny Meadows, this song is also a tribute to one of our heroes. The song describes a favorite memory: Susan Blake, welcoming people to the PeaceSmiths Cofffeehouse. Susan June Blake, who passed away in 2007, was the long time Coordinator of PeaceSmiths, and a dear friend of Ian and Kimberly.
While I was researching Jane Addams last week, I was fascinated by her attendance at a series of international peace conferences a century ago. I wondered if reviving the concept of international peace conferences was the missing piece in opposing all the US oil wars. It seemed to me that we needed to make the peace movement more solid, the way the #OccupyWallStreet had done for the warping of our political system by a wealthy few.