Stop Violence workbook 1 - Unesco

Literacy and Life Skills workbook 2
Questions
1. Who or what created the quarrel at the bar? Who or what was responsible for
continuing the quarrel?
2. Quarrels like these can lead to injury or to homicide. How could this quarrel have been
stopped?
Information Section
What is Violence?
Violence is the use of power or force. The aim
of this power or force is to give pain or to kill.
There are many kinds of violence. Two types
that we will discuss in this chapter are physical
violence and verbal violence. We say violence
is physical when the goal is to injure the body
or to kill. We say violence is verbal when words
are used with the sole intent to injure the feelings
of an individual or group of persons.
The Hebrew word most often translated as violence
is chamas. Chamas means ‘unjust gain,
cruelty, damage, injustice by an oppressor,
unrighteousness, wrong.’
What Causes Violence?
Here are some of the reasons that cause violence:
• Born into a violent home
• Born into a violent neighbourhood
• Racism
• Poverty
• Unemployment
• Access to guns
• Drugs/alcohol
• Glorification of violence (making violence
look good) in the media
• A belief that being violent makes you
seem more manly
Fathers – spend time with your sons and daughters!
In the United States, over 90% of African American men in
Correctional Centres did not have a father in the home when
they were growing up. The situation in the Caribbean is
thought to be similar. Boys and girls need an adult male to
help them cope with growing up in a challenging world. If you
are a father, you may not be living with your child’s mother.
But spend time with your sons and daughters nonetheless. If
you do not live in the same country as your children, then
very frequent letters or e-mails and telephone calls become
very important – also as evidence that you really do care.
Even if you did not grow with a father, that is not a good
excuse for you to repeat the cycle.
7