What about the “violence” issue?

In the first post of this blog I wrote about the aim of producing a big change using “active nonviolence”.

I think that this is an evidently positive proposition, but someone could argue that it could seem quite “naive”, at least if it remains just a simple statement.

Today I'd like to start dealing with the theme of nonviolence and I think that the best start would be to start with “what violence is”. To refuse violence I have to be able to recognise it!

It is not always easy to understand that violence is taking place in a situation we directly live in or we are in contact with. If one wants violence to end, however, he must be able to recognise it, in order to understand who is committing it, how, and maybe whether the person who is committing violence is simply carrying on the violence he or she received in the first place.

To break the chain of violence we must learn to recognize it, starting from our direct experience.

The most evident type of violence is physical violence, when someone is hurt or is forced to do something under the threat of being hurt.

There are however other types of violence that are equally severe and that sometimes can cause terrible consequences on whoever is subject to it.

There can be psychological violence, sexual violence, economic violence, religious violence, caste-related violence, and so on, depending on what kinds of limitations to freedom are imposed on the person who is the object of violence. Moreover, violence can be perpetrated by an individual, by a group or collectively by society as a whole. If someone cannot do something because of his or her gender, that is a form of violence. If someone is discriminated because of his or her religious beliefs, that is a form of violence. Violence takes place if someone is discriminated because he or she acts contrary to morality, or, even worse, if his or her freedom is limited because of his or her family or the place he or she was born.

In many of these cases violence takes place without physically hurting the victim. It always however causes a great sufferance to whoever receives it, and often to the person that perpetrates it.

There is violence every time a human being imposes his or her will on another human being. If I impose my will on others, limiting in any way their freedom, I am committing an act of violence.

So... my proposal is to talk about violence in everyday life, to talk about the violence that any of us commits in many cases even without realizing that it is violence!