Category Archives: antiwar

antiwar, environment, Nonviolence, Occupy Wall Street, Peace, Social Justice, Uncategorized, Video

Remembering Ward Morehouse 1929-2012

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I have written on this site a great deal about pacifist heroes of the past.  Ward Morehouse is a pacifist her owhom I was lucky enough to have worked with.

Even in our corporatized culture, there are still many people to act as guideposts for how to live a life, they are just not publicized.  Ward Morehouse is definitely one of those Great people.  And I just found out recently that we lost him.

I met Ward in the late 1990’s through The Other Economic Summit North America (TOES).  He was the Chair of TOES NA.  Before there was Occupy, or even the Battle of Seattle, there was TOES.  They would shadow the G8 summit, and put on a conference highlighting a humane vision of the planet’s economy.  Ward was so much more than an academic,  he was a visionary, leader, teacher, publisher, and activist.  The obituary below describes him better than I could.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iWdyH4vWVM]   Continue reading Remembering Ward Morehouse 1929-2012 →

antiwar, Peace, Royal Rants: Critiques of the monarchy

PAXi Notes for Monday, July 30, 2012: Peace, Numbers, and the Olympics

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The PAXi for Mon.
7/30/12 is:
141

The Daily Peace Culture Index for the United States [DPCIUS], or PAXi, was developed by Peace Couple/Wilderside, Ltd., and begun a little over two weeks ago, on Sunday, July 15, 2012.

The PAXi number is designed to describe the amount of energy and discussion devoted to peace and nonviolence in The United States each day.

We wanted to share some observations made while observing this index for the last couple of weeks. Continue reading PAXi Notes for Monday, July 30, 2012: Peace, Numbers, and the Olympics →

antiwar, Nonviolence, Nonviolent Communication, PAXi, Peace

Peace Index: Daily stats for the peace movement

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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 →

antiwar, Music, Nonviolence, Peace, Royal Song of The Day

A whole year of Peace Songs: Finale to “Peace Song of the Day” project

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Susanna, The Duchess of Peace writes:

On July 9th of last year, I began a project to find, and blog about, a peace song for every day of the year. The Peace Song of the Day archive is: here.

The idea of the project was to create interesting content, to create a daily ritual of peace culture, to bring people to the blog, and to nurture some self-discipline in myself as a writer.

I believe I succeeded a little bit on the first three counts. Though, since there are many days with no peace song announced, I guess I failed on the self-discipline score. And, I failed even though I had some nurturing help from the Duke, who sometimes provided inspiration, and sometimes just wrote the post for me. My missed days have taught me that I cannot count on myself to be both creative and ambitious each day. So, my next daily project will involve less of a need for inspiration. Though, I hope it will still be fruitful to the peace community.

Other lessons learned: Continue reading A whole year of Peace Songs: Finale to “Peace Song of the Day” project →

antiwar, Music, Peace, Royal Song of The Day

A conversation about war: Peace Song for July 6th

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Harold Land by Yes is the Peace Song of the Day for July 6th. The piece is fashioned like a story, with really cool music at the beginning and the end.

And, speaking of beginnings and endings…

I am excited about the next few days. I just realized that the end-date for the “Peace Song of the Day” project is approaching. I started picking peace songs for each day on July 9th, 2011. It has been an interesting journey. I didn’t succeed in posting every day. Though, I learned a lot, and uncovered some interesting tunes.

So, I am excited to end the project in style. I will be sure to post a new song for the next few days. And, on Monday, July 9th, I will do a post with some lessons learned and lots of great links. Also, on that day, I will announce the next, ongoing project for Peace Couple.

Continue reading A conversation about war: Peace Song for July 6th →

antiwar, Nonviolence, Peace, Royal Book of the Week, Social Justice

MLK: Declaration of Independence from the War

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The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of PeaceThe sixteenth chapter of The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace contains Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1967 speech  Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam. The speech, which is also known as Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence ,was given in the Manhattan’s Riverside Church exactly one year before King was assassinated.   It is sad to realize that Dr. King’s 45 year old attempt to seek freedom from war applies equally to the Vietnam War as it does to the wars that the United States is now waging in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen.

Through the lens of history, it is hard to understand how controversial the speech was in 1967.  It is common wisdom today that the Vietnam War was a mistake, despite the US government’s recently started 10-year plan to rehabilitate American’s view of that war.  In 1967, all the major media backed the Vietnam War.  Dr. King was regularly attacked in national newspapers such as the New York Times for speaking out against the Vietnam War.  Peace activists are still attacked in today’s media for opposing today’s wars for the same reasons that Dr. King cites.

Dr. King responds to his critics who say that he should only speak about the domestic issue of civil rights, and keep silent on the VietNam War.  The critics make the lesser evil argument that Dr. King is hurting the cause of civil rights by speaking out against the war.  Dr. Kings explains in the introduction of his speech that those critics misunderstand both who he is , and misunderstand”the world in which they live.”  Dr. King gives seven reasons why he must speak out:  Continue reading MLK: Declaration of Independence from the War →