Peacebuilding &conflict transformation A ... - Peaceworkafrica

▶ Direct violence means an individual person is physically attacked, harmed,beaten, crippled, tortured or killed by another person.▶ An actor can be identified; the consequences of the violent act can be linkedto an actor.▶ Direct violence is a form of violence that physically injures people and physicallydamages property. Direct violence is used to describe social circumstancesin which there is a clear relationship between subject and object. Violenceis perpetrated by an offender (subject), violence is suffered by a victim(object).Examples:▶ Domestic violence, for instance battering by one person to maintain thestructure of domination within the family (often it is the man against womanand children). Domestic violence is seen by many scientists as an instrumentof social control over women: to prevent women’s access to education, work orsocial relations. In this way, direct violence is used as a tool to build, perpetuateand reproduce structural violence.▶ Rape is obviously a physical attack that harms the victim psychologically aswell. Peace researchers and scientists state that rape is more than harm to anindividual; it is a deeply embedded instrument, used to develop or maintainpower inequalities and ideologies of male supremacy.▶ War and civil riots are visible manifestations of direct violence. In thisextreme form of violence the actors (military junta, soldier, rebel) can be identifiedas well as the victims (the people under torture, those being raped, thosekilled or forced to labour).4.2 Indirect/structural violenceIn addition to direct violence, Galtung emphasizes another form of violence, namelystructural violence 14 . This form of violence is not carried out by individuals althoughit is created by humans as it is caused by unjust structures and not equated with anact of God.According to Galtung ‘structural violence is the avoidable restriction of basichuman needs or, more general, of life, that sets the real degree of satisfaction of needsbelow what is potentially possible 15 .’ This definition of structural violence impliesthat structures that prevent the individual from fully developing their talents andpotential are a form of violence. This includes e.g.:▶ all forms of discrimination▶ unequal distribution of income, educational opportunities and lifeexpectancy150 V. V I O L E N C E