Why are we slow to address slow violence?
What is slow violence and what are some solutions for it.
What do you think of when you hear the term slow violence? Is it violence that takes a long time to heal? Is it violence that moves slowly? Is it a violence that is slow to reveal itself?
Well slow violence is violence that happens along a long period of time, it doesn’t get solved quickly and it is also invisible or hidden. Examples of slow violence are climate change, air pollution and desertification. Climate change is a slow but steady process and it is also slow to be resolved. Desertification also happens relatively slowly.
The problem with slow violence is that it does not get media attention and it gets underrepresented unlike other types of violence such as a bombings and killing. The casualties of slow violence is also underrepresented and invisibilized. This is a problem because slow violence doesn’t get properly addressed and the problem remain there for many years without notice.
Slow violence is invisible and the casualties are deferred. An example is how trash is transferred from the U.S. to Africa. This causes slow violence to Africa because the victims are subjected to harm and the victimization is transferred from the ones who have a voice to the ones who don’t. The ones in Africa who don’t have a voice can’t voice their concerns to solve the problem.
Slow violence is invisible because few people pay attention to it due to the fact that it happens so slowly. Although it is invisible, we do see the effects of slow violence. It affects the health of the ones in poverty and it affects those who are susceptible to environmental changes. However, we don’t see the problem until it is too late.
In Nixon’s article, “Slow Violence, Gender, and Environmentalism of the Poor” he states, “In the gap between acts of slow violence and their delayed effects both memory and causation readily fade from view and the casualties thus incurred pass untallied”(Nixon). This shows how the causation of slow violence is invisibilized and the casualties get overlooked and unaddressed. This is problematic because it doesn’t allow people to solve these types of violence.
“ How can leaders be goaded to avert catastrophe when the political rewards of their actions will be reaped on someone else’s watch, decades, even centuries from now?”(Nixon). This shows how political leaders don’t want to address slow violence because they won’t be able to see immediate changes. They only want to address problems that they could actually solve in a few years so that they can get credit and approval from it.
The reason why slow violence doesn’t get solved is because it takes so long to solve. In the article, “The Slow Violence of State Organized Race Crime” Ward states that “This essay considers the “slow violence” of state organized race crime, where harms are more attritional, dispersed, and hidden. While criminological theory and research rarely engage with this slow violence, in part due to its ephemeral nature, they contribute to its occurrence and under-regulation by rationalizing the criminalization of race”(Ward). In this quote, Ward uses slow violence to describe race crimes and how people get victimized due to their race. The harm toward people of certain races are dispersed or hidden.
In the article “Promoting Women, Peace and Security in the Pacific Islands: hot conflict/slow violence” Nicole George states, “slow violence which, although ‘low in immediate drama’, have ‘long term consequences’ that are highly detrimental to the standing of Pacific Island women”(George). It is harmful to these women because of slow violence such as environmental degradation, masculinized politics and insecurity.
There is no simple solution to slow violence. One step is to get politicians and the people to understand that slow violence is happening in their area that they live in. Then you have to convince the politician to implement long term plans to solve the slow violence. For example, to address the problem of climate change, you will need to address issues that causes more Co2 and greenhouse gases in the air. Politicians would have to make car companies, factories, oil industries, natural gas industries, logging companies, etc. be accountable for their actions. If they break laws they would have to shut down or change their behaviors. There needs to be laws implemented to stop or minimize pollution. They should advertise and use greener ways of transportation such as electric cars and bullet trains. They should also advertise and use green technology such as solar, wind, water, and thermal powers. There should also be education for the youth about slow violence and how to find solutions for it. Slow violence is not an easy thing to solve due to its invisibility and how it takes many years to develop. It does not take a day to solve these problems but many many years.
