Peacebuilding &conflict transformation A ... - Peaceworkafrica

▶ “Violence” as a definition of a social circumstance encompassing a range ofaction possibilities should today be understood as a key concept for any discussionon war and peace — because we define “war” as the use of organizedmilitary aggression between different social groups and “peace” as the absenceof war in a minimum definition. Violence in this context, however, representsonly one part of the wide understanding of the term violence.3. Categories of violenceViolence is obvious for everyone when it is expressed as direct physical aggressionthat injures or kills a person. In contrast, when the consumption‐driven and highenergy‐usingindustrialized nations cause global warming and a rise in sea‐levelswhich in turn causes the flooding of small islands, threatening the lives of the peopleliving on them — this is rarely referred to as violence. This is why a wider understandingof violence is necessary.The ABC Triangle in Violenceshows that attitude, behaviour andcontext are interconnected andhow an action on one element orarea has an effect on the others.It also illustrates the fact that violentbehaviour is only a small partof what makes up the escalation ofa conflict into violence. For example,interventions to reduce violentbehaviour need complementaryactions on the other two dimensions— attitude and context — tobe fruitful and sustainable.BehaviourAttitudeContextFocusing on violence between people, there are two main phases of violence.According to the figure below the invisible phase describes how people act by usingdifferent means of verbal and non‐verbal communication. E.g.: 1) Pako accusingManuel by yelling and showing annoyed facial expression. 2) A mother refusing to payattention to and not talking with her child for days despite the efforts of the child to dialogue.The visible phase describes the physical fight between people like slapping,3 . C a t e g o r i e s o f v i o l e n c e 145