Violence that you see can be engaged with, worked with, perhaps even mitigated and resolved. I say perhaps, because violence has a long shelf life and passes onto generations, as is evident from the Israel – Palestine conflict, or the simmering India – Pakistan tensions.
Esther Perel remarked that the moment you decide to drop dialoguing with the other, you are in fact opening up to violence and war.
When we find ourselves in the midst of a difficult conversation, we feel stressed, and we may respond to it broadly in one of these two ways. One choice is the true use of silence wherein we hint, avoid, or simply withdraw. Using silence we mask our true feelings, understate, sugar coat, or deploy sarcasm. Additionally, we end up avoiding and staying away from topic by even changing the subject or withdrawing or desist from talking or even leaving.
The other response is the use of violence, in which we intimidate, threaten or try to get even. Violence is all about controlling or coercing the other, convincing through absolutes, making gross overstatements or labelling and ridiculing others or their ideas or discrediting and attacking through personal insults with a view to cause emotional harm.
I now wish to explore systemic and structural violence. Structural violence refers to the ways in which societal structures and institutions systematically harm certain groups of people, while systemic violence refers to the interconnected and mutually reinforcing patterns of violence that are built into those same structures and institutions.
Paul Farmer shares, “Structural violence is the violence that is built into the fabric of society and is often invisible, while direct violence is the violence that we can see and is often a response to structural violence.”
Structural violence is not easily noticeable. It lies invisible, deeply embedded in everyday seemingly innocuous social structures, legitimized by stable institutions and from so called creditable authority. This normalization creates disadvantage to some ‘minorities’ who end up relatively disadvantaged on all fronts: social, cultural, political, economic and legal infrastructure and systems. They fail to have equal access and opportunity. The impact is pernicious, causing havoc, suffering and distress that have long term impact, even over generations. In fact, because it lies hidden, unsurfaced, invisible and subtle, it is more difficult to recognize, cognize, repair and resolve. Regrettably, even those who are the victims, fail to recognise the insidious forces of structural violence.
In India, there are several examples of structural and systemic violence that affect different groups of people.
One example of structural violence is the caste system, which has long been a source of oppression for people at the bottom of the caste hierarchy, known as Dalits or ‘untouchables’. Despite laws being put in place to protect them, Dalits face discrimination in education, employment, and access to government services, and are often the targets of violence, including rape and murder.
Another example is the gender violence against women and girls, in India, which is both structural and systemic. This can be seen in the cultural attitudes that devalue women and girls and the insufficient laws and enforcement mechanism which doesn’t provide enough protection for them. This is also reflected in high rates of gender-based violence, including rape and domestic abuse, as well as discrimination in the workplace and in access to education and healthcare. In addition, there is discrimination against LGBTQIA+ communities.
India is a secular country with a diverse population, but communal violence between different religious groups is not uncommon. In recent years, there have been instances of violence against a minority community, including lynching and mob attacks, forced displacements and riots.
Additionally, the population of Adivasi, Indigenous people of India, also experience violence and discrimination in a large scale. They are often evicted from their land without compensation, to make way for large development projects and mining activities, leading to displacement and loss of livelihoods, cultural, and natural heritage.
More recently farmers have been protesting in large numbers against changes in agricultural policies which they believe to be harmful to their livelihoods. They have been met with violent crackdowns by police and other government authorities, including the use of water cannons, tear gas, and rubber bullets
Discrimination against the poor and marginalised communities is a structural issue that is intertwined with many other forms of violence. This includes lack of access to necessities such as food, water, and housing, as well as lack of access to healthcare, education and employment opportunities. Many of the poor and marginalised communities in India depend on natural resources for their livelihoods, such as fishing, farming, and gathering forest products. The degradation of these resources can be seen as a form of structural violence as it disproportionately affects these communities, while also contributing to other forms of violence.
All of these examples illustrate the ways in which structural and systemic violence can be deeply ingrained in a society, affecting entire groups of people and perpetuating cycles of marginalization and oppression.
Leah Gunning Francis rightly points out that “It’s not just individual acts of discrimination or structural racism, but the entire system in which we live that needs to be dismantled.”
We need to take responsibility for what is happening even if it is not happening in the in-group to which we belong. It is a very real menace that threatens to weaken humanity itself and deny justice, dignity to man. “Structural violence is one of the ways in which we are complicit in the creation of a world that is deeply unjust.” - Bell Hooks.
(Steve Correa is an Executive Coach and OD Consultant, and is the author of ‘The Indian Boss at Work: Thinking Global Acting Indian’)