Peacebuilding &conflict transformation A ... - Peaceworkafrica

▶ Organizations that produce the hardware: the instruments usedin the torture chambers have to be produced.▶ Organizations that transport the instruments produced in one placeto another place.▶ Organizations that produce the software: the torture‐training of personnel.▶ Organizations that carry out research: for example, to verifythe effectiveness of various methods or where to buy the instruments.▶ Structures and interests (economic and political) on which torturedepends are sustained.Many more issues could be listed under the heading of structural violence in thisexample. Often the global economic and political cycles are so interwoven that it isnearly impossible to detect the actors, causes and effects. One has to look evenbeyond materialistic structures into the nonmaterial structures or processes to tackleissues of structural violence and injustice. What is quite obvious in the torture‐example,is that the human right of not being tortured is a shallow right as long as theexisting structures do not prevent torture. A real right might be formulated like ‘theright to live in a world structure that does not produce torture’.4.3 Cultural violence“… conflict does not necessarily lead to violence;that depends more on culture” 18During the 1990s, Galtung supplemented his violence typology with another categoryand introduced the concept of cultural violence: “Cultural violence should beunderstood as those aspects of culture that can be used to justify or legitimate theuse of direct or structural violence. The Stars and Stripes, Hammer and Sickle, flags,hymns, military parades, portraits of the leader, inflammatory speeches and postersare all included in this category 19 ”.Cultural violence can be found in all areas of social life (religion, law, ideology,science) and can be intentional or unintentional. It is used to describe ideologies,convictions, traditions and systems of legitimation, with whose help direct or structuralviolence is made possible, justified and, indeed legitimated. It is important tostress that there are no ‘violent cultures’. What Galtung means are those aspects ofculture that may be used to influence humans to accept, tolerate and even executeviolence; those aspects of culture used to build a breeding ground for other forms ofviolence. In other words, cultural violence does not kill or cripple, but it is used tojustify the acts carried out by people to harm, maim and kill.According to Galtung, it is fair to talk about cultural violence when people areinfluenced in such a way that limits the realization of their actual physical and spiri-4 . D i m e n s i o n s o f v i o l e n c e 153