US Daily Peace Index reaches new high on 8/29/2012

The PAXi — The Daily Peace Culture Index of the United States — recently achieved the 150 level for the first time. PAXi was 150 on August 8th. And, today, Wednesday, August 29, 2012, DPCIUS/PAXi reached another new high of 153.

In trying to uncover why PAXi is so high on certain days, there is some guesswork involved. Though, we can also search the same indicators that got us to the PAXi score, and see what some of the stories and/or content is about.

So, here are some goings on in the universe of peace and nonviolence, which may have led to today’s impressive amount of discussion about peace, nonviolence, and antiwar sentiment:

1. Today is an official United Nations holiday. August 29th each year is “International Day Against Nuclear Tests“.

2. Some schools and groups were declaring last weekend a “nonviolence weekend”.

3. Yesterday (with some articles popping up today) was the anniversary of  Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream Speech”. The speech was an important moment for the Civil Rights movement in America, and it happened on August 28, 1963. (Bio and timelines at NAACP.org: here)

4. Yesterday, August 28, 2012, peace activist Sister Anne Montgomery passed away. Many tributes and obituaries for her appeared today. There is an obituary for Anne Montgomery at the Fellowship for Reconciliation: here.

5. Today, the Republican National Convention is in full swing. The convention has been encircled by many peace protesters. Specifically, today, CodePink and other peace activists tried to do a citizen’s arrest for war crimes against a former, government official. (Story at Democratic Underground: here)

Peace Couple and The Daily Peace Culture Index for the US are both nonpartisan projects. We are especially disappointed with the level of peace exhibited by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. We think that it would be interesting for people to watch the rise and fall of the PAXi in relationship to political conventions, and related to the protests surrounding the political conventions. You can find a listing of the daily PAXi numbers: here.

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