New Peace Index Ranks US Among Worst Nations
WASHINGTON- The United States is among the least peaceful nations in the world, ranking 96th between Yemen and Iran, according to a new index released on Wednesday that evaluates 121 nations based on their peacefulness.According to the Global Peace Index, created by The Economist Intelligence Unit, Norway is the most peaceful nation in the world and Iraq is the least, just after Russia, Israel and Sudan.
“The objective of the Global Peace Index was to go beyond a crude measure of wars by systemically exploring the texture of peace,” said Global Peace Index President Clyde McConaghy.
He said the inaugural effort proves “peace can and has and will continue to be measured.”
The index was compiled based on 24 indicators measuring peace inside and outside of a country. They included the number of wars a country was involved in the past five years, how many soldiers were killed overseas and how much money was made in arms sales.
Domestic indicators included the level of violent crimes, relations with neighboring countries and level of distrust in other citizens.
The results were then reviewed by a panel of international experts.
“We were trying to find out what positive qualities lead to peace,” said Leo Abruzzese, the North American editorial director of the intelligence unit that is part of The Economist Group that publishes the well known magazine.
He said they found in general the most peaceful countries were the smallest, the most politically stable and democratic.
“Democracy didn’t actually correlate with peace, but a well-functioning democracy did. Efficient, accountable government seems to be the leading determinant of peace. Beyond that, income helps.”
Fifteen of the top 20 most peaceful nations are in Western Europe, and countries with higher income appeared to lead to higher levels of peace, he said.
The United States ranked 96th out of 121 nations, just worse than Yemen and just better than Iran, Honduras and South Africa.
Abruzzese said the United States’ score was pulled down by the number of wars it is involved in, large numbers of soldiers killed on the battlefield and high defense spending.
He said the fact the United States has the world’s largest prison population per share of overall population also pulled down the score.
“It also has relatively high levels of violent crime,” he added.
McConaghy said the index would be revised each year and increase the number of countries included. Some countries like Afghanistan and North Korea were not included in the first index because reliable data for all 24 indicators was not available.
121 GPI rankings
Countries most at peace ranked first
Rank/Country/Score
1 Norway 1.357
2 New Zealand 1.363
3 Denmark 1.377
4 Ireland 1.396
5 Japan 1.413
6 Finland 1.447
7 Sweden 1.478
8 Canada 1.481
9 Portugal 1.481
10 Austria 1.483
11 Belgium 1.498
12 Germany 1.523
13 Czech Republic 1.524
14 Switzerland 1.526
15 Slovenia 1.539
16 Chile 1.568
17 Slovakia 1.571
18 Hungary 1.575
19 Bhutan 1.611
20 Netherlands 1.620
21 Spain 1.633
22 Oman 1.641
23 Hong Kong 1.657
24 Uruguay 1.661
25 Australia 1.664
26 Romania 1.682
27 Poland 1.683
28 Estonia 1.684
29 Singapore 1.692
30 Qatar 1.702
31 Costa Rica 1.702
32 South Korea 1.719
33 Italy 1.724
34 France 1.729
35 Vietnam 1.729
36 Taiwan 1.731
37 Malaysia 1.744
38 United Arab Emirates 1.747
39 Tunisia 1.762
40 Ghana 1.765
41 Madagascar 1.766
42 Botswana 1.786
43 Lithuania 1.788
44 Greece 1.791
45 Panama 1.798
46 Kuwait 1.818
47 Latvia 1.848
48 Morocco 1.893
49 United Kingdom 1.898
50 Mozambique 1.909
51 Cyprus 1.915
52 Argentina 1.923
53 Zambia 1.930
54 Bulgaria 1.936
55 Paraguay 1.946
56 Gabon 1.952
57 Tanzania 1.966
58 Libya 1.967
59 Cuba 1.968
60 China 1.980
61 Kazakhstan 1.995
62 Bahrain 1.995
63 Jordan 1.997
64 Namibia 2.003
65 Senegal 2.017
66 Nicaragua 2.020
67 Croatia 2.030
68 Malawi 2.038
69 Bolivia 2.052
70 Peru 2.056
71 Equatorial Guinea 2.059
72 Moldova 2.059
73 Egypt 2.068
74 Dominican Republic 2.071
75 Bosnia and Herzegovina 2.089
76 Cameroon 2.093
77 Syria 2.106
78 Indonesia 2.111
79 Mexico 2.125
80 Ukraine 2.150
81 Jamaica 2.164
82 Macedonia 2.170
83 Brazil 2.173
84 Serbia 2.181
85 Cambodia 2.197
86 Bangladesh 2.219
87 Ecuador 2.219
88 Papua New Guinea 2.223
89 El Salvador 2.244
90 Saudi Arabia 2.246
91 Kenya 2.258
92 Turkey 2.272
93 Guatemala 2.285
94 Trinidad andTobago 2.286
95 Yemen 2.309
96 United States of America 2.317
97 Iran 2.320
98 Honduras 2.390
99 South Africa 2.399
100 Philippines 2.428
101 Azerbaijan 2.448
102 Venezuela 2.453
103 Ethiopia 2.479
104 Uganda 2.489
105 Thailand 2.491
106 Zimbabwe 2.495
107 Algeria 2.503
108 Myanmar 2.524
109 India 2.530
110 Uzbekistan 2.542
111 Sri Lanka 2.575
112 Angola 2.587
113 Cote d’Ivoire 2.638
114 Lebanon 2.662
115 Pakistan 2.697
116 Colombia 2.770
117 Nigeria 2.898
118 Russia 2.903
119 Israel 3.033
120 Sudan 3.182
121 Iraq 3.437
© Reuters 2007
I think #96 is pretty flattering, all things considered…
I guess it’s looking like Norway vs. New Zealand in the Sugar Bowl next year.
It was an interesting Washington Press Club meeting were these folks from www.visionofhumanity.com discussed their project of theglobal peace index. Is this not amazing that this has not been done so far? They said that peace goes along with prosperity and low corruption- should give people something to work towards. If Dennis Kucinich had his Department of Peace, we could study more about how to get there. I called my Republican Congressman and his staff was excited about this topic! We are all so hungry for it!
Bush had shown us what warmongering is like and nobody likes it.
I’m glad that Scandinavian countries are receiving their due recognition here. Otherwise, it is pitiful to live in a hostile rogue nation at #96, but I find it wonderfully ironic that the U.S. is snuggled right next to Iran; that “evil” country which is so “different” from us! I’m sure the Bush administration will take us both down together
I’m trying to find a witty rejoinder, but it evades me. War=peace, love it or leave it, liberal bias, freedom isn’t free?
The curious thing about corruption is that it’s no longer technically corruption when it becomes fully institutionalized. It’s become our way of life, and hopefully it can be checked from within, rather than from without.
May I direct the kind reader to Godrey Reggio’s “qatsi” trilogy. As defined on his web site:
Na-qoy-qatsi: (nah koy’ kahtsee) N. From the Hopi Language. 1. A life of killing each other 2. War as a way of life. 3. (Interpreted) Civilized violence.
Why would we want peace? It’s not nearly as profitable as war. As everyone here knows, peace is the #1 threat to the mega profits that the insanely greedy warmongering bastards count on.
I think you’ll find that the peace index also coorelates with the presence or absence of liberal and conservative government–the more liberal the government, the more peace, the more conservative the government, the less peace.
The Peace coefficient seems to correlate well with the Gini coefficient.
Israel has a low rank of 119. The raters don’t take into account that Israel has to deal with nations and organizations that are committed to its destruction.
How is it that Costa Rica, which doesn’t even have a military, is ranked 31? Looking back, I see it is by the “Economist”, so I wonder what some of the criteria are.
Iran has not invaded any country in modern history unlike the US so shouldn’t it be way above 97
The US should get part of Iraq’s score. It’s not quite fair that we don’t get to count that too. Perhaps we should just add it to the US and give us a 5.754
In that way we would be number 1. Oh yeah, we have to redefine the scale to be number 1. I forgot, its like golf, where a low score is good.
And it does seem unfair that a country like Isreal has other countries and organizations who are fighting against them. If we were to eliminate all points that are due to fighting on the side of a war that the people doing the fighting think is the correct side, we would all be much closer to Norway. That would be better, since all of this world antagonism really messes up the stats on who is being violent and who is not.
Why is Canada ahead of Switzerland? Canada is fighting in Afghanistan, and Switzerland has never been in a war! USA should be dead last with Israel and the UK, as the biggest threats to world peace.
We in America live in what is one very large work camp. We have become a nearly fascist state. Workaholism is considered the highest virtue, next to dying for one’s country. Our military is used to loot much of the world to help make the rich richer. What trickles down from what the rich loot from other countries all add up to mere superficialities to distract the poor and middle class as they get robbed, instead of real rewards for our labor - SUVs, big screen TVs and other junk, instead of more free time, living in peace, a cleaner environment, worker protections, and universal healthcare. Not that we should be looting anyone to begin with!
America is a great country, but far from a model society, like the more peaceful Scandinavians. It truly is a sick system; large countries are almost always bullies unfortunately. The U.S would be better off as 4 or 5 different countries.
Its just too bad that we can’t revisit the struggle prior to the Civil War. The South and Midwest wants to do things differently it seems, and so do the Yankees. Let the South go their own way.
Yes, but once the anthem starts playing and that warmongering flag waves, hands go over the heart and all Americans think the same way, regardless of where they live. They are brainwashed into supporting their president, right or wrong. This is a sign of true fascism, just like it was during the Nazi era.
Some notes on the bias of this list:
The following nations are among those who spend a larger percentage of their GDP on their military than Venezuela yet were ranked above it, in descending order of rank:
Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Portugal, Belgium,
Germany, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Chile, Slovakia,
Hungary, Netherlands, Oman, Uruguay, Australia, Romania,
Poland, Estonia, Singapore, Qatar, South Korea, Italy,
France, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates,
Tunisia, Botswana, Lithuania, Greece, Kuwait, Morocco,
United Kingdom, Cyprus, Argentina, Zambia, Bulgaria,
Gabon, Libya, Cuba, China, Bahrain, Jordan, Namibia,
Senegal, Croatia, Malawi, Bolivia, Peru, Egypt,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Syria, Indonesia,
Ukraine, Macedonia, Brazil, Serbia, Cambodia, Bangladesh,
Ecuador, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Turkey,
Yemen, United States of America, South Africa, Azerbaijan
The following nations are among those who spend a larger percentage of their GDP on their military than Iran yet were ranked above it, in descending order of rank:
Chile, Oman, Singapore, Qatar, France, Vietnam,
United Arab Emirates, Botswana, Greece, Kuwait, Morocco,
Cyprus, Bulgaria, Gabon, Libya, Cuba, China, Bahrain,
Jordan, Namibia, Egypt, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Syria,
Indonesia, Macedonia, Brazil, Cambodia, Ecuador,
Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Turkey, Yemen,
United States of America
“The Global Peace Index will be a vital resource for governments worldwide to better understand peace and the policies and programs that help achieve it.”
How about this:
“The Global Peace Index will be used to paint enemy countries as aggressive and warlike, and will be based on our whether they conform to our form of economy, whether corruption is legitimized in the proper way, whether they are rich enough, and if they live in the right neighborhood.”
How come U.S. is ranked so high? Ghettoizing all of its indigenous population and beating into submission for the last 230 years should not be considered peace. It should have been part of the prison population count.
It is too bad we weren’t ranked last. Then, because Americans like to brag they are number one (even when we aren’t) we could truthfully say “We are Number 1 in Violence.” We are the best.
I do hope most of the American paper pick up the story, but I doubt that they will.
The Peace Index is bogus and a misnomer as it includes a lot of items not at all directly related to war and peace. While it appears that some countries at the top of the list deserve to be there, most other rankings are inaccurate. Wouldn’t you think that a country that has engaged in most of the wars since WW II and has more than 700 military bases around the globe plus a war budget that exceeds the combined military budgets of the rest of the world should occupy the very last place on the chart? Uncle Sam must again have done some arm-twisting.
“Israel has a low rank of 119. The raters don’t take into account that Israel has to deal with nations and organizations that are committed to its destruction.”
WELL MAYBE IF ISRAEL STOPPED STEALING OTHER PEOPLES LAND AND KILLING INNOCENT CIVILIANS…….
[at the rate of 10 to 1……. i.e.Palestinians to the number of Israeli causalities]
Then other nations and organizations wouldn’t be as committed to its destruction………
United States has the world’s largest prison population per share of overall population
Gee i thought this was the land of the free
Fair to Isreal? What about Palastine?
How could a nation that spends more than the rest of the world combined on its military and launches invasions in multiple theaters be less peaceful than little countries like Honduras and Venezuela? This ranking is skewed weirdly. Either the scale is based on warfare occurring in the country or it is based on causation, but mixing the two is a feat of conceptual gymnastics that is not very helpful.
Strange list, admirable, perhaps, in its intent, but not as revealing as it looks on the surface, and possibly skewed. The article doesn’t include all the criteria used or how it is applied. If Palestine is not a country, neither are Taiwan and Hong Kong. I don’t recall the People’s Republic of China being in a war during the past five years. Iraq was invaded and is under occupation by a foreign power which controls its government.
I don’t think Israel can force thousands of people off the land they’ve been living on for 1000s of years (over 3 million in pretty dire refugee camps now), then colonise that land (crucial point here - Gaza evacuated 9000 people removed from a place they were occupying, but in the same year 13000 settlers (read colonists) moved into cleared land in the West Bank) - how does this pass without criticism? Did we see the harrowing nature of the evacuations there? How do the settlements expand with no reproach? Seriously most people don’t even know about the expanding settlements, completely illegal by international law and destroying any chance of anything near peace in the region. Then they (meaning the Israeli army, politicians backed up by ultra compliant media) squeeze the life out of the rest of the Palestinian population with an occupation described by Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu as an apartheid (you’d think those guys would know a thing or two about apartheid. Apparently we can print stuff about their love for gardening, but their description of Israel’s occupation of Palestine since 1967 as an apartheid doesn’t seem to get many column inches) Then there’s the bombing of Lebanon that killed over 300 kids. Sometimes people don’t listen to accurate accounts of what Israel does so I’ll repeat that. Then there’s the bombing of Lebanon that killed over 300 kids. Over 1000 civilians in total.
But in saying all this Britain and America’s diplomatic support and production and sale of weapons to Israel and every other repressive regime (notably a number of countries near the bottom of the list such as Pakistan, Columbia and Nigeria) should see them as off the scale ahead of Israel, particularly when they’ve just brought about the deaths of over 600,000 Iraqis in Iraq (thats 600,000 above the rate dying under Saddam - quite a record). Has Iran done that? Has Venezuela done that? 600,000? Venezuela with 60% of the popular vote in the last independently monitored election - twice that of Bush or Blair? A poll in December by the respected Chilean firm Latinobarometro shows that more Venezuelans rate their country as “totally democratic” than citizens of any other Latin American country. The US meanwhile has in countless international polls been voted the biggest threat to world peace. This is despite their influence owning enormous swathes of the world’s media. The main farce in this list is how ridiculously high up Britain and the US are. In fact it stinks
I wonder if living in a colder climate has some effect on the violence of a nation. Seems the trouble spots on this planet are closer to the equator. Even within the US it feels the northern states are both more peaeful and liberal. I equate civil evolution into a peaceful society as a liberal forward movement. Hence D (democratic)= drive and R (repuplican) = reverse. The factors used in this study based on GDP % spent on weapons seems wrong if a nation does not use them offensively.
Well, I’m from Minnesota and all of my ancestors settled here. I’ll offer a couple theories:
1) Most of us are of Germanic/Scandinavian descent. We pride ourselves on our OWN hard work. Slavery wasn’t part of the tradition here.
2) We border Canada, and are probably exposed to a (slightly) wider range of ideas than the deep Bible Belt, etc. states.
3) We have longer winter months, and so must find things to do for 5-6 months out of the year. Some of these things have a strong cultural component. Some are craft/intellectual oriented as well.
4) Very fertile soil, lots of fresh water. We could secede from the union and not really worry about feeding ourselves.
But these are all generalizations. I wonder why so many southeastern states vote so conservatively. Between the poor white working-class and the poor minority groups, you’d think the Rethugs would be the LAST PEOPLE ON EARTH they’d vote for. Either they’ve been terribly swindled by fork-tongue politicians or fundamentalism — or their ballots must be among the most corrupt in the US.
Globally, think geography & history here. Equatorial Americas are rich in drug production, with a colonial history behind them. They’ve not yet thrown off the yoke of Empire. Equatorial Africa is also a post-colonial world, with perhaps somewhat arbitrarily carved borders, still preyed on by wealthy European nations.
You might also imagine why extreme autocracy arose in Egypt, whereas a more egalitarian Buddhism flourished in myriad forms in southeast Asia. Egypt, for instance, had a destiny involving the Nile. Resources, themselves, were scarce and it would be possible to monopolize power that way, whereas the extreme diversity and chaos of a tropical rain forest, traditionally anyway, wouldn’t be so easily monopolized by sociopathic carnivorous autocrats.
smac, that is a ridiculous assertion. Could it be due to the European states having colonized much of the equatorial countries for hundreds of years until only recently, and then drawing artificial boundaries that encompassed people of no affiliations with each other? Now many of those former empires are a fraction of itself, with a nary of the warring capability that it use to have.
social psychology shows that when temperatures increase so does crime, riots and agreession. But of course these are only temporary chaotic episodes that soon settle down to normal. They cannot be applied to long term situations.
It seems odd to me that the US is not ranked last based on our defense budget, the arms we have supplied all over the world, the number of people we have in prison, and the number of gun fatalities in this country.
I don’t know what the biases in the ranking are, but I still think that it is good to even put forth the idea that countries can, and should be, evaluated in terms of how peaceful they are.
I believe world peace is possible in our lifetime, but only if the collective
consciousness of many people in most countries of the world embraces this
belief. I feel that so many of us despair over the possibility of peace
because we are conditioned to believe that it is impossible. We are
brainwashed into thinking of it as “unrealistic”, “contrary to human nature”
or “too idealistic.” We also have been raised to believe that our welfare
(or that of our country) is more important than the welfare of people in the
rest of the world. That’s why John Lennon’s song “Imagine” resonates with
me: “Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or
die for.”
I don’t actually think that we need a world without countries in order to
have peace, but I do think that imagining such a world helps us to see how
considering only what is good for our country, instead of what is good for
the world as a whole, leads to problems in the world that are difficult to
resolve. This is especially relevant when considering the environmental
impact of national policies. (Note: I realize the use of the term “good for our country” is an over simplification and opens up a whole realm of discussion about what that actually means.)
Of course, in order to have world peace, we need national and world leaders that believe peace is a possibility. Unfortunately, it appears that most world leaders don’t think
world peace is possible. This is why we need to work on a grass roots change
of consciousness. To me, greed and fear are the two biggest obstacles to
world peace. Another obstacle is that many people in all parts of the world
seem to believe that “God is on our side and intends for me to impose my way
of believing and living on the rest of the world.”
I have an idea that I have been toying with for the past few months. I want
to make a simple flag, probably a blue or black background with an image of
the earth from space. I want to find a way to distribute these flags to
people all over the world who wish and hope and pray and dream for peace. My
hope is that people would display this flag in their yards, or windows, of
the side of a tent, or wherever they can. Along with the flags that I hope
to distribute, would be a card that says something to this effect:
“We share this planet with each other. None of us own it. All of us are
responsible for its survival and we are all responsible for each other’s
survival and welfare. When I fly this flag I pledge to always consider the
impact of my actions on my fellow human beings and on the earth. I will
engage in no activity that deliberately harms another human being and I will
endeavor to learn the impact of my choices on people in other parts of the
world. I believe in peace. I will work for peace. I am committed to
non-violent solutions to the problems we face. I know that every other human
being is no less valuable than I and those I love. I believe that love can
overcome hate, just as light overcomes darkness.”
I tentatively hope to distribute these to people in the US who want them and
to ask them to make more to distribute to others who want them. I will also
seek out people in other countries who want to fly this flag. I hope to keep
track of how many countries the flag is in. I think it should be easy to
make, so that people can duplicate them. The exact look doesn’t really
matter, but it should stay similar enough to become a universal symbol. I
would only ask that whenever someone distributes the flag, they distribute
the card with it. Of course, I need to find a way to translate the card into
all languages.
Although, I don’t want this to be a money-making proposition, I am thinking about charging $1 per flag in the US, and donating that money to Cindy Sheehan’s hospital bills or some other worthy cause - maybe to help refugees from war.
Anyone interested in this idea?
The USA gets the prize as world’s headerquarters for horror.
Our top politicians export it to nations all over the world, and our unimaginative authors and directors put it in books and movies.
What a horrible nation - good people, but totally horrible leadership!
#96, that seems a bit high to me also, but then they are only taking into account our behavior for the last “five” years. The farther they go back into history the lower we would go.
- “Democracy didn’t actually correlate with peace, but a well-functioning democracy did. Efficient, accountable government seems to be the leading determinant of peace. Beyond that, income helps.” -
Let’s see, “a well-functioning democracy” - NO, “Efficient, accountable government” - NO. I guess we are all beginning to realize that our system is broken. It is time to start participating in our democracy to fix it, peace will follow.
Despite US’s low ranking, this is a pretty bogus list. How do you measure peace really? A country can be traditionally peaceful, but under attack, or can be at peace at home while waging war abroad. And how do you weigh this against domestic concerns like the murder rates, executions, etc.? What about violence against women, minority groups, etc.? What about the creeping violence of economic insecurity and social tensions?
Peace is possible: I Love your idea! I have been saying for a long time, we must identify the globe as a circle (that’s what it looks like from space) and the circle has NO SIDES. The circle is the perfect metaphor for a transcendence of all the age-old ism divisions that quite literally are burning up EDEN and guiding the world’s strongest nations towards a completely unnecessary and avoidable war (which could be a war to end all wars given the weaponry at this stage). Do you have a website to promote this idea whose time has come?
I welcome the attempt to quantify “peaceful nations,” but I would like to suggest an approach that might be more human: focus on a single characteristic, like anxiety. It may appear at first as impossibly abstract as “peaceful nations,” but my experience leads me to infer that people in this country suffer under enormous tensions created by a life subjected to measurement, from testing in schools to testaments at death. I personally feel anxious/fearful because, I guess, of the current “war” as one factor, but I cannot wrestle honestly with a questionnaire that calls for merely filling in blanks. I must narrate, tell, write, explore, and express, maybe incoherently–but that would be my “truth.” What to do then? How about, as one example, turning the campaign process around so that the people speak, as in town meetings, and the prospective politicians listen and write out thoughtful responses instead of depending on a speech writer’s sound-bite? In other words, let’s accept the attempt to measure “peace,” but take it as a challenge to come up with something better, something that fits our own tradition of demo-cracy, the people’s direct participation in governance. Impossible? Maybe. But aren’t we the first nation in the world to hold out this promise to ourselves and the peoples of this planet?
Hey, I knew I made a good choice! I emigrated from #96 to #8 last year, and couldn’t be happier! Just the savings in health care alone covered my moving costs.
Except… like a dying star about to go nova, the US is ballooning beyond its resource base, and is looking north and south… check out the SPP (http://tinyurl.com/yuy6n5) to better understand where the US will get it’s natural resources from (Canada) and bodies for foreign wars from (Mexico). The SPP will place all three country’s military under common command (let’s see, does anyone really believe that “common command” will include many Canadians and Mexicans?) and will “harmonize” regulations so as to not impede investment — which means all three nations will have environmental and social laws no more restrictive than the least of them.
So, I give Canada another 20 years of independence before being swallowed up by The Borg.
Scandinavia isn’t so great because it is cold there; they have good legislation; free health care, free education, a social safety net, real equality for minorities; they ban corporal punishment and all degrading/humiliating treatment of children, so they aren’t growing people who will have the urge to go abroad and torture people. If you instituted all of this in Chile and came back in fifty years, it would have progressed right up to the level of Sweden.
I’ve also read academic papers which have shown that weather and ecology is not a consistent, reliable factor in political systems.
I love statistics. One of my favorite sites is http://www.nationmaster.com . I have seriously considered moving out of this country. I have been studying different country’s that might be more suitable to my needs.
The top four country’s on this list is the country’s I have considered. I find that when human needs are addressed there is more peace. I speak of education and health care. Things that are good for the benefit of all not just some.
Measurement is a key step
———————————–
Being the creatures we are, we don’t really focus on things we can’t, or don’t, measure. Therefore, this “Peace” index is important. It will create a space around the desirability for Peace, the possibility that we can work towards it, improve it, nurture it. Bravo! Let’s discuss it, publicize and promote it and use it to benefit our societies!