Lots of folks thinking about nonviolence!

Our Peace Index postings are a little behind again. We just moved from North Babylon to Riverhead, and finding it hard to set up our new (old) house. Though, the stats are taken, and PAXi numbers will be posted soon for all the missing days.

Wanted to share that today, “nonviolence”, skyrocketed today on our Google News search. In looking at why, found this interesting story. Ela Gandhi comments on the potential (and limitations) of social media in supporting nonviolence:

(excerpt from) Perth Now
Ela Gandhi: education can beat violence
February 26, 2013

The granddaughter of Indian peace icon Mahatma Gandhi hopes a new institute in Sydney will help Australians re-think our approach to moral education.

Ela Gandhi told an audience at the University of New South Wales on Tuesday that existing education strategies were allowing a culture of violence to flourish.

An International Centre of Nonviolence to be opened in Sydney on Wednesday would examine education “as a way of transforming the community”, she said.

Ms Gandhi, a former South African parliamentarian who has spent her career promoting civil rights, said she feared social justice teaching was losing traction.

“The basic issue that we face is that our present education system is geared towards providing skills and knowledge,” she said.

“Certainly there is something that needs to be corrected in our system, which is giving rise to the growing culture of crime, corruption, entitlement, consumerism, violence, impatience (and) exploitation.”

She said social media had a role to play in effecting political change, but compared platforms like Twitter to a tactic she employed during her activist days in South Africa…

(read the rest at Perth Now: here)

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