tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/violence-1264/articlesViolence – The Conversation2024-03-11T09:26:55Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2251162024-03-11T09:26:55Z2024-03-11T09:26:55ZHow Haiti became a failed state<p>The US military started <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/10/us-report-airlift-embassy-staff-haiti-gangs-fighting-port-au-prince">airlifting</a> embassy staff out of Haiti overnight as the Caribbean island descends further into chaos. Rival gangs have joined forces to overrun the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, in an attempt to force the resignation of the acting president, Ariel Henry. </p>
<p>The gang leader behind the violence, Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/06/haiti-gangs-prime-minister">warned</a> there will be a “civil war that will lead to genocide” if Henry does not step down.</p>
<hr>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/how-haiti-became-a-failed-state-225116&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">narrated by Noa</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Over the past week, Haiti’s gangs have carried out a series of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-68507837">coordinated attacks</a> on prisons and police stations, breaking more than <a href="https://apnews.com/article/haiti-prison-break-2788f145b0d26efc2aa199e923724e0f">3,800 criminals</a> out of Haiti’s two biggest jails, while also laying siege to the country’s port and airport. </p>
<p>Haiti is already facing a humanitarian crisis. It is among the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/haiti/overview">poorest countries</a> in Latin America and the Caribbean, with <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/135966/file/Haiti-2022-COAR.pdf">90% of the population</a> living below the poverty line. And following the recent wave of violence, around <a href="https://www.rescue.org/eu/press-release/haiti-violence-grows-ensuring-sufficient-funding-available-key-deliver-humanitarian">15,000 people</a> who were already housed in internal displacement camps have been forced to leave again. </p>
<p>Henry came to power in 2021 under a deal agreed with the opposition following the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/07/haiti-president-jovenel-moise-reportedly-assassinated">assassination</a> of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse. Henry is widely considered illegitimate by the Haitian public and was due to stand down by February 7. But he seems to be <a href="https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/in-haiti-crisis-has-roots-in-history-of-foreign-interference/">extending his stay</a>. </p>
<p>The country last went to the polls in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/29/haiti-presidential-election-result-protest-jovenel-moise">2016</a> and there is no timetable for new elections. Over the past six years, the Haitian parliament has ground to a halt: no major laws have been passed and only one budget was voted on.</p>
<p>The regime is weak and lacks control over the country’s territories, leading to a situation where Haiti finds itself hostage to its criminal gangs. US officials have said they will not pressure Henry to leave, but they are urging him to facilitate the transition to a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/6/us-denies-pressuring-haiti-pm-henry-to-resign-urges-political-transition">democratic government</a>.</p>
<h2>Turbulent history</h2>
<p>Violent gangs are not new to Haiti. Between 1957 and 1986, Haiti was ruled as a dictatorship by the Duvalier family. Following an unsuccessful military coup in 1958, François Duvalier sought to bypass the armed forces by creating a private and personal militia called the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/23/archives/papa-doc-a-ruthless-dictator-kept-the-haitians-in-illiteracy-and.html">“Tonton Macoutes”</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://coha.org/tonton-macoutes/">Macoutes</a> consisted of illiterate fanatics-turned-reckless gunmen acting as a paramiltary force. They were not accountable to any state body or court and were fully empowered to dispose of the paranoid president’s enemies. </p>
<p>The group was dismantled in 1986, but its members continued to terrorise the population. Gangs have been <a href="https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GITOC-Gangs-of-Haiti.pdf">involved</a> in massacres, attacks on labour strikes or peasant uprisings, and politically motivated assassinations ever since. </p>
<p>Haiti took its first step toward a full democratic transition in 1990, electing Jean-Bertrand Aristide as president. But the Aristide government was overthrown by a <a href="https://nacla.org/news/2021/political-anatomy-haiti-armed-gangs">military coup</a> the following year and the Haitian army was subsequently dismantled. The Haitian army was a highly corrupt force, but doing away with it meant the country could no longer fight organised crime. </p>
<p>By that time, Haitian drug traffickers were <a href="https://insightcrime.org/news/extradition-drug-smuggler-underscores-haitis-historical-cocaine-transit-hub-status/">working closely</a> with Colombia’s Medellín Cartel. They were corrupting officials and the police while shifting hundreds of tons of cocaine from Colombia to secluded docks in Haiti and onwards to the US. Drug trafficking became a little known, yet significant source of income for Haiti’s political and business elites who provided protection and logistical support for drug traffickers.</p>
<p>Efforts aimed at disbanding certain armed groups and even the armed forces never fully succeeded. They never disarmed and have converted themselves into far-right vigilantes such as community defence groups and paramilitaries.</p>
<p>Haiti was then struck by an earthquake in 2010. This allowed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/20/haiti-escaped-prisoners-cite-soleil#">thousands of inmates</a> to escape from crumbling jails and take over these self-defence groups. These younger, less politically affiliated and loosely organised gangs are developing into the criminal organisations that are wreaking havoc across Haiti today.</p>
<h2>A state run by gangs</h2>
<p>Gangs have grown rapidly in number over the past few years. An estimated <a href="https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/haiti-gangs-organized-crime/">200 criminal gangs</a> now exist in Haiti, and around 95 in the capital, Port-au-Prince, alone. This has resulted in massive insecurity, kidnappings, and large-scale attacks on the police, politicians, journalists and civilians. </p>
<p>Gangs now tend to be affiliated to two groups. The most prevalent gang structure is that of “G-9 and Family”, a federation of nine gangs led by alias “Barbecue”. Founded in 2020, the G-9 has been <a href="https://insightcrime.org/haiti-organized-crime-news/g9-family-profile/">linked</a> to Moïse and Henry’s Haitian Tèt Kale Party (Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale – PHTK), for whom the federation is alleged to have ensured votes.</p>
<p>The G-9’s focus is mostly on extortion and kidnappings. It has taken taken control of key economic activities, including the main entry and exit points of Port-au-Prince, and critical infrastructure such as ports and oil terminals, charging “protection payments” for any institutions that operate in these areas.</p>
<p>The recent jailbreaks were a joint operation with “G-Pep”, another gang federation that was previously linked to PHTK’s political opponents.</p>
<h2>No end in sight</h2>
<p>To bring this crisis to an end, Haiti needs an elected government. But holding elections in this climate won’t be an easy task, nor will it solve the deep-rooted causes of lawlessness.</p>
<p>The conditions for free and fair elections do not currently exist, and the infrastructure that would make them possible is absent. Equally, any free and fair election should take place in a context where gangs do not intimidate voters to vote in a particular way. </p>
<p>In October 2023, the UN Security Council <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/02/haiti-un-security-force-kenya-gangs">voted</a> to send a Kenyan-led multinational security force to Haiti to reign in the gangs and their spiralling violence. However, the peacekeeping mission has been delayed and no other countries have come forward to provide the resources required to restore peace. </p>
<p>But an election is long overdue, and the status-quo will not solve anything.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225116/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicolas Forsans does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Haiti is facing a wave of chaos as gang violence grips the country.Nicolas Forsans, Professor of Management and Co-director of the Centre for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2230782024-02-28T13:31:51Z2024-02-28T13:31:51ZNigeria’s security problems deepen as Anglophone insurgency in Cameroon spills across border<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576415/original/file-20240219-30-q5d1lg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C0%2C8575%2C5729&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Grieving for the 140 victims of a January 2024 attack in north-central Nigeria.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/NigeriaArmedViolence/744fff9339094b5c858f3235bb986cf4/photo?Query=nigeria%20violence&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1261&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Sunday Alamba</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past two decades, Nigeria has grappled with multiple and complex national <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/world/nigeria-mulls-state-policing-to-combat-growing-insecurity">security threats</a>, each posing a significant challenge to its stability.</p>
<p>The nation finds itself fighting a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/uhenergy/2017/02/13/oil-and-violence-in-the-niger-delta-isnt-talked-about-much-but-it-has-a-global-impact/?sh=532d63f54dc6">violent militancy in the Niger Delta</a>, <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/farmers-herders-conflicts-in-nigeria-a-role-for-fbos">conflicts between farmers and herders</a> across multiple regions, terrorism and insurgency in the northeast, banditry in the northwest and secessionist campaigns by groups such as the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/us-should-not-designate-nigerias-ipob-terrorist-group">Indigenous People of Biafra</a> in the southeast.</p>
<p>Now a new layer of complexity has emerged in the form of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/cameroons-anglophone-conflict-has-lasted-for-six-years-what-citizens-say-about-how-to-end-it-208381">Ambazonian secessionist group</a> from Cameroon. This group’s growing threat, most recently seen in the December 2023 violent invasion of the Nigerian <a href="https://dailypost.ng/2023/12/11/ambazonia-rebels-control-belegete-community-block-nigerian-troops/">borderline village of Belegete</a>, adds to the strain on Nigeria’s national security capabilities.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KhygkzYAAAAJ&hl=en">scholar specializing in</a> radicalization, violent extremism and counterterrorism in West and Central Africa, I believe the latest threat raises concerns about Nigeria’s strategic preparedness and ability to confront growing challenges.</p>
<p><iframe id="Cwek2" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Cwek2/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>How the country responds could have far-reaching consequences. Nigeria is Africa’s <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1120999/gdp-of-african-countries-by-country/">largest economy</a> and <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/population/countries-in-africa-by-population/">most populous country</a>. Since its independence in 1960, Nigeria has played a crucial role in regional stability and security. It remains an <a href="https://www.state.gov/the-united-states-and-nigeria-partnering-for-prosperity">important diplomatic partner for the United States</a>, which provides support to the Nigerian government in its efforts to combat extremism in the region.</p>
<h2>Rise of a violent campaign</h2>
<p>Ambazonian separatists, seeking independence from the Republic of Cameroon, are mounting a bloody civil war that stems from the <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/b188-second-look-cameroons-anglophone-special-status">Anglophone crisis</a>, a protracted conflict rooted in the colonization of Cameroon by both the French and British governments.</p>
<p>Separatists from Camaroon’s two English-speaking regions declared independence from the French-speaking majority in 2017, and war has been raging between the separatists and Cameroon government forces ever since.</p>
<p>The Ambazonian secessionist movement, fueled by grievances that include <a href="https://theconversation.com/cameroon-how-language-plunged-a-country-into-deadly-conflict-with-no-end-in-sight-179027">the perceived dominance of Francophone Cameroonians</a>, seeks to secede and establish an <a href="https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/cameroon-anglophone-crisis/">independent Federal Republic of Ambazonia</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Grievance over perceived Francophone bias is fueling Camaroon insurgency." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576417/original/file-20240219-16-blke3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576417/original/file-20240219-16-blke3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576417/original/file-20240219-16-blke3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576417/original/file-20240219-16-blke3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576417/original/file-20240219-16-blke3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576417/original/file-20240219-16-blke3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576417/original/file-20240219-16-blke3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A sign saying ‘Speak English and French for a bilingual Cameroon’ outside an abandoned school in a rural part of southwest Cameroon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sign-saying-speak-english-or-french-for-a-bilingual-news-photo/1154062017?adppopup=true%5C">Photo by Giles Clarke/UNOCHA via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Agitation over the past seven years has resulted in <a href="https://www.globalr2p.org/countries/cameroon/">violence and widespread human rights violations</a>. </p>
<p>Estimates by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reveal that over <a href="https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/cameroon/">1.7 million</a> people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Furthermore, the Anglophone crisis has <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon">resulted in</a> over 6,000 deaths and displaced 765,000 people. About 70,000 of these refugees are in Nigeria, including a few in the village of Belegete. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://humanglemedia.com/survivors-of-ambazonia-militant-attack-in-nigeria-are-experiencing-the-festive-season-differently/">attack in Belegete</a> in December left two dead, including the traditional leader, Chief Francis Ogweshi, and 20 others kidnapped. </p>
<h2>Nigeria’s national security</h2>
<p>As Cameroon’s clash with separatists worsens in southwestern Cameroon, the Ambazonian insurgents have moved into Nigeria. </p>
<p>The violent attack on the Belegete community, which followed earlier incursions in Nigeria such as the <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/11/ambazonia-attack-death-toll-rises-to-12/">Manga village attack</a> of November 2021, suggests a growing cross-border element to Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis.</p>
<p>As well as presenting a violation of territorial integrity, the incident also suggests collaboration with Nigeria’s own secessionist groups, with evidence of <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/05/20/separatists-nigeria-cameroon-biafra-ipob-ambazonia-anglophone-joining-forces/">links between Ambazonian secessionists</a> and the Indigenous People of Biafra.</p>
<p>Ambazonian insurgents are also <a href="https://doi.org//10.4236/aasoci.2021.111001">engaged in drugs, arms and human trafficking</a> and have brought that illegal trade across the border into Nigeria.</p>
<p>The incursion of Ambazonian activities has not only added to Nigeria’s security challenges. It has also intensified an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Nigeria’s border region, displacing thousands of people and straining the capacity of authorities to care for its internally displaced persons and refugees from neighboring countries, including Cameroon.</p>
<p>As of June 2023, Nigeria has an estimated <a href="https://reporting.unhcr.org/operational/operations/nigeria">2.3 million internally displaced persons</a> and <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/nigeria/urban-refugees-nigeria-operational-update-may-2023-issue-2">93,130 refugees and asylum seekers</a>. The Belegete attack added to this by displacing the entire village of over 2,000 people, who took refuge in the neighboring village of Becheve.</p>
<h2>Confronting the emerging threat</h2>
<p>Nigeria’s capacity to confront the emerging Ambazonian threat is questionable, given multiple strategic, operational and tactical limitations. </p>
<p>The 2022 Afrobarometer <a href="https://www.afrobarometer.org/wp-content/uploads/migrated/files/publications/Working%20papers/wp190-mapping_state_capacity_in_africa-professionalism_and_reach-afrobarometer_working_paper-22jan22.pdf">working paper</a>, which mapped states’ capacity to prepare for or respond to security threats, concludes that Nigeria – like several African states – “is widely seen to lack the necessary capacity for the physical and material security of its citizens or to command legitimacy.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in fatigues holding a gun Nigerian police officer stands guard." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576422/original/file-20240219-23-kh7yv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576422/original/file-20240219-23-kh7yv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576422/original/file-20240219-23-kh7yv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576422/original/file-20240219-23-kh7yv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576422/original/file-20240219-23-kh7yv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576422/original/file-20240219-23-kh7yv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576422/original/file-20240219-23-kh7yv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A police officer in Yola, Nigeria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-officer-sits-inside-the-armoured-personnel-carrier-news-photo/1247496889?adppopup=true">Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Ambazonian separatist insurgency poses a threat not only to Cameroon and Nigeria but risks further degrading the security situation in West Africa.</p>
<p>The Nigerian government, undoubtedly, understands the magnitude of the security threats it faces, and its apparent limitations, and has called for assistance. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in a January 2024 letter to the outgoing French ambassador to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann, <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/658605-tinubu-wants-greater-cooperation-between-nigeria-france.html">stressed the need for strengthened cooperation</a>. “On regional security, we want you to remind Paris at every opportunity that it is necessary to upgrade our technical cooperation,” he wrote.</p>
<p>The United States has said it remains committed to assisting Nigeria. In January 2024, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with his Nigerian counterpart, Nuhu Ribadu, and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/01/18/readout-of-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivans-meeting-with-nigerian-national-security-adviser-nuhu-ribadu/">underscored the need</a> for continuous bilateral security cooperation.</p>
<p>And while Nigeria has in recent years partnered with Cameroon to ensure regional stability, the latest attack suggests a need to increase strategic cooperation between the neighboring countries to stem the growing threat. </p>
<p>However, countering the Ambazonian separatists and other internal security threats will remain a challenge for the Nigerian government. With a vast population and territory, security personnel are already stretched thin. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the existing security apparatus in the country is compromised. The military is beset by problems, including <a href="https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/documentary-reveals-low-morale-in-nigerian-army">low morale</a> <a href="https://mg.co.za/africa/2023-02-16-nigerias-military-is-broken/">and corruption</a>, and the national police force is perceived as largely <a href="https://www.afrobarometer.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/AD715-Nigerians-fault-police-for-corruption-and-lack-of-professionalism-Afrobarometer-10oct23.pdf">unprofessional and corrupt</a>. </p>
<p>These issues hamper Nigeria’s capacity to respond, and they undermine any attempt to counter the spiraling security threats faced by Nigeria, including the Ambazonian separatists.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223078/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Augustine Aboh works for the University of Calabar, Nigeria. He is affiliated with the Office for Strategic Preparedness and Resilience - National Early Warning Centre, Nigeria. </span></em></p>Nigeria is beset with security threats. Confronting them will take regional and international cooperation.Augustine Aboh, Ph.D. candidate in Global Governance and Human Security, University of MassachusettsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2212332024-01-19T10:14:39Z2024-01-19T10:14:39ZThe Sopranos at 25: mafia tale of murder, mayhem and family created a golden age of television<p>Twenty-five years after its debut on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/01/hbo-book-home-box-office-its-not-tv">HBO</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/dec/19/sopranos-hit-social-media-generation-mafia-series-emotional-struggles">The Sopranos</a> consistently sits at the top of lists of the <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-lists/best-tv-shows-of-all-time-1234598313/">greatest TV shows of all time</a>. The pressures of being number one was not something that its creator, <a href="https://www.allmovie.com/artist/david-chase-vn15570136">David Chase</a>, had ever entertained.</p>
<p>A somewhat dour producer/writer (The Rockford Files, Northern Exposure), Chase had inadvertently ascended the ranks to become a sought-after TV talent who nevertheless aspired to a film career. Still, in pitching the concept of a mobster mired in internal conflict, he found an appetite for change amongst the networks he was working for.</p>
<p>With stagnant formats and generalised output, most executives were struggling to find a hit in this brash post-1980s world. But after punting his unconventional “bad guy as protagonist” idea and being repeatedly rejected, Chase found himself walking away from HBO in 1997 with a deal as both writer and director of the pilot.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pSQCQ2ZngG8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>When the first series got the green light, he set about achieving his vision, without much hope that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSQCQ2ZngG8">he would get beyond one season</a>. Adept at subverting the story conventions of the time, Chase had a product that fit the format but raised the game in terms of character development, depth, black humour and, for television, a visually enriching cinematic style. The Sopranos instantly stood out as something bold and innovative.</p>
<p>Reinventing a mafia character to add complexity beyond the achievements of James Cagney, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro would be a challenge that James Gandolfini would relish, but which would ultimately <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/james-gandolfini-struggles-sopranos-tony-tinderbox-book-hbo-executive-2021-12?r=US&IR=T#:%7E:text=%22In%20order%20to%20become%20Tony,%22exhausted%22%20by%20the%20role.">take its toll on the actor</a> as he wrestled with the darkness of his character. </p>
<h2>Gandolfini: an imperfect anti-hero</h2>
<p>Like the character he was to play, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Gandolfini">James Gandolfini</a> also hailed from New Jersey. He was a character actor with depth, but HBO was initially worried about his leading-man qualities. Even Chase, who had his heart set on Bruce Springsteen’s musician pal <a href="https://www.littlesteven.com/bio">Steven van Zandt</a> (who went on to play sidekick Silvio), had to be persuaded.</p>
<p>But ultimately, the risk paid off and it was considered iconic casting – Gandolfini’s credibility playing both family man and brutish avenger were vital to the success of both series and character. This bear-like, aggressive tough guy had inner demons and this show was going to share them with you. And Gandolfini was going to make you care.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KMx4iFcozK0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Fully inhabiting Tony Soprano, Gandolfini brought heart and empathy to the role as did <a href="https://www.tvinsider.com/people/edie-falco/">Edie Falco</a> as his long-suffering spouse Carmela, who helped bolster the familial dynamics of discord further. As the seasons rolled on, her role became evermore devastating and enthralling as her character hardened.</p>
<p>Tony was at the forefront of a new wave of lead characters that permitted sympathy for the devil. Here was an audience that wanted fallible, relatable characters, not just straightforward heroes and tough guys.</p>
<p>Relatability is a crucial factor in the show’s iconic status and timeless appeal. It also tapped into a growing trend in the US of talking through psychological problems and mental health in therapy. Tony’s burgeoning awareness of his own mental health problems is the revelatory moment that kicks off the series: a fainting episode that cannot be medically explained sees him prescribed a session with psychiatrist Dr Melfi (Lorraine Bracco).</p>
<p>Creating an imperfect anti-hero at the heart of this mafia family was a stroke of genius. External conflict meets internal conflict, as an alpha male mobster manifests the psychological demons conjured up by a troubled relationship with his ruthless mother, the indomitable Livia. This key relationship was central to Tony’s dilemma and his fate.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DD5hEtyp6I4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In the first episode, Chase established Tony’s character by having him carefully shepherd baby ducks out of his swimming pool. Here was a man who was kind to animals but deadly when betrayed. Audiences were frequently disconcerted watching him execute grisly murders, then head home for dinner with his family.</p>
<p>Episodically, the show pivoted from such violent and bloody action to small familial scenes, forgoing a traditional linear narrative structure for huge emotional arcs that would span whole seasons. With no “story of the day”, no episode could be deemed to have a happy ending – just as Chase wanted it.</p>
<h2>A golden age of drama</h2>
<p>Subsequently, HBO found itself at the forefront of a new golden age of “cinematic television”. The Sopranos paved the way for new worlds and a wild west of platforms, full of promise and hope. Soon, new voices such as Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal), Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls, Marvellous Mrs Maisel) and Lena Dunham (Girls) would break through the din of white, male writers to create a broader perspective and elevate sidelined female stories that existed outside the familiar, patriarchal world that Tony inhabited.</p>
<p>Genre-busting series such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/sep/26/transparent-review-the-best-thing-on-tv-at-the-moment">Transparent</a> had no need to tiptoe around challenging storylines with ever-evolving, selfish, judgmental, entirely flawed but endearing characters. Similarly, <a href="https://simonc.me.uk/tv-review-orange-is-the-new-black-season-1-db6457187df9">Orange is the New Black</a>, gave us empathetic, engaging backstories to the female prisoners. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/jan/20/breaking-bad-10-years-on-tv-is-still-in-walter-whites-shadow">Breaking Bad’s</a> Walter White trajectory, from quiet good guy to drug kingpin, would begin its arc a short six months after The Sopranos took its final bow in July 2007. And <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20211015-why-the-wire-is-the-greatest-tv-series-of-the-21st-century">The Wire</a> continued the evolutionary story from March 2008 with a show that would go on to explore institutional failure, drugs, deprivation and the challenges of urban society.</p>
<p>It’s ultimately impossible to conceive of White, drug-addicted <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/sep/06/have-you-been-watching-nurse-jackie">Nurse Jackie</a>, serial killer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/nov/08/dexter-new-blood-review-leaner-hungrier-serial-killer">Dexter</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/oct/29/mad-men-box-set-review">Mad Men</a> lothario Don Draper without the flawed Tony Soprano. And unfathomable that a TV show could have the same impact in today’s streaming panorama, where flawed characters are the norm. </p>
<p>But in a blistering attack recently, David Chase <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sopranos-creator-david-chase-the-streaming-giants-are-killing-off-tv-f0bhf68zj">decried the current state of affairs</a>, claiming that thanks to multi-tasking viewers with short attention spans, the 25-year golden age of groundbreaking, taboo-busting TV is well and truly over, and executives are once again risk averse.</p>
<p>Grateful for the quality TV dramas that came after, for many this is what makes The Sopranos the perennial number one.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221233/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Steventon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The deeply flawed but intriguing Tony Soprano opened up a whole new world of complicated relatable characters that drew audiences in their millions.Jane Steventon, Course Leader, BA (Hons) Screenwriting; Deputy Course Leader & Senior Lecturer, BA (Hons) Film Production, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2209112024-01-12T20:28:23Z2024-01-12T20:28:23ZHow Ecuador went from being Latin America’s model of stability to a nation in crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568975/original/file-20240111-15-p90s4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C85%2C8142%2C5371&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ecuador looks set to entrust its anti-gang fight to the military.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/military-elements-guard-the-car-with-president-of-ecuador-news-photo/1915341584?adppopup=true">Franklin Jacome/Agencia Press South/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-08-13/once-ecuador-was-a-peaceful-country-now-it-is-one-of-the-regions-most-violent.html">Ecuador was until relatively recently</a> seen as <a href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecuador-on-Track-to-Become-the-Safest-Country-in-Latin-America-20150621-0009.html">one of the safest countries</a> in Latin America.</p>
<p>That reputation has surely now been destroyed.</p>
<p>On Jan. 9, 2024, images of hooded <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/ecuador-gangs-wave-terror-state-of-emergency">gunmen storming a TV studio</a> were broadcast around the world. It was one of a number of violent incidents that took place that day, including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/09/world/americas/ecuador-gang-prison-emergency.html">prison riots, widespread hostage-taking</a>, the <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/seven-police-kidnapped-in-ecuador-as-president-declares-security-emergency-101704828141894.html">kidnapping of several police officers</a> and a <a href="https://crisis24.garda.com/alerts/2024/01/ecuador-criminal-groups-launch-attacks-jan-9-following-declaration-of-state-of-emergency-and-curfew-update-3">series of car explosions</a>.</p>
<p>I have been <a href="https://pir.fiu.edu/people/faculty-a-z/eduardo-gamarra1/eduardo-gamarra.html">tracking how gang crime has affected states in Latin America</a> for 38 years. When I started, few would have projected that Ecuador would descend into the crisis it finds itself today. But the story of Ecuador reflects a wider story of how countries across Latin America have struggled with organized crime and transnational drug gangs and how they have responded.</p>
<p>Ecuador now looks set to follow the recent <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/09/19/bukele-salvador-gang-crackdown/">path of El Salvador under President Nayib Bukele’s leadership</a> in trying to crack the gang problem through the use of military and the suspension of democratic norms. In the aftermath of the Jan. 9 violence, Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa named 22 gangs as terrorist organizations – a designation that makes them legitimate military targets. He has also <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67930452">imposed a 60-day state of emergency</a>, during which Ecuadorians will be subject to curfews while armed forces try to restore order in the streets and the country’s gang-controlled prisons.</p>
<h2>Ecuador: Victim of geography</h2>
<p>To understand why Ecuador has become the epicenter of gang violence, you need to understand both the geography and history of Latin America’s drug trade.</p>
<p><iframe id="NQYh1" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/NQYh1/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Ecuador, a nation of 18 million people, is situated between Colombia in the north and Peru in the east and south. Colombia and Peru are the <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/colombia-sets-new-cocaine-production-record-un-832dac7c">two top producers of cocaine in the world</a>. Further, Ecuador has a near-1,400 mile (2,237-kilometer) coastline through which drugs from the continent can be <a href="https://insightcrime.org/investigations/ecuador-a-cocaine-superhighway-to-the-us-and-europe/">taken to markets in Europe and the United States</a>.</p>
<p>But it wasn’t until the <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/ecuador-war-on-drugs">U.S.-led “war on drugs</a>” put the squeeze on cartels in other countries that Ecuador became the preserve of narco gangs.</p>
<h2>Plan Colombia</h2>
<p>In the 1980s and 1990s, Colombia was the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.504">center of the international illegal drug trade</a>. This is hardly surprising, given that it was the <a href="https://www.unodc.org/pdf/andean/Andean_report_Part4.pdf">top producer of coca leaves</a>.</p>
<p>But beginning in 2000, a joint initiative between Colombian authorities and the U.S., known as <a href="https://www.americasquarterly.org/fulltextarticle/plan-colombia-a-retrospective/">Plan Colombia</a>, <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R43813">pumped billions</a> of dollars into an effort to clamp down on the Colombian cocaine trade.</p>
<p>While it may have been successful in <a href="https://www.usglc.org/media/2017/04/USGLC-Plan-Columbia.pdf">supressing drug cartels</a> in Colombia itself, it has had a balloon effect elsewhere in the region: Squeeze in one place, the bulge appears elsewhere.</p>
<p>In this case, it was Mexico’s cartels that “bulged” first. Over the past decade, there has been a <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/mexicos-long-war-drugs-crime-and-cartels">massive growth in Mexican cartels</a>, led by the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco Nueva Generación, or Jalisco New Generation. In fact, a study last year found that Mexican cartels were in effect the country’s <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/cutting-cartel-recruitment-could-be-only-way-reduce-mexico-s-violence">fifth-largest employer</a>.</p>
<p>These cartels came to dominate the illegal drug trade in Latin America, not just for cocaine, but also the trafficking of heroin and more lately fentanyl. Aligning themselves with <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/12/terrifying-days-of-terror-under-colombias-gulf-clan-cartel">Clan Del Golfo</a> – a Colombian paramilitary organization formed from the remnants of the gangs dismantled under joint Colombian-U.S. operations – the cartels helped traffic drugs through Ecuador and out of South America.</p>
<p>They were joined by European gangs, <a href="https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/ecuadors-crime-wave-and-its-albanian-connection/">notably from Albania</a>, who began to show up in Ecuador.</p>
<p>The impact locally of these outside gangs has been disastrous for Ecuador.</p>
<h2>Prior immunity</h2>
<p>European and Mexican organizations ran local operatives as enforcers and transporters. And these are the people who have become the backbone of Ecuador’s gang problem today.</p>
<p>Ecuadorian gangs such as <a href="https://insightcrime.org/news/rise-fall-choneros-ecuador-drug-trafficking-pioneers/">Los Choneros</a> developed as a de facto subsidiary of the Sinaloa and other cartels. The <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240111-what-we-know-about-fito-ecuador-s-notorious-gang-leader-who-escaped-jail">escape from jail</a> of Los Choneros’ leader, Jose Adolfo Macias, on Jan. 7, 2024, set off the latest explosion of violence. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man stands with his hands cuffed behind his back. Two men stand either side of him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police officers arrest a gunman who burst into a studio of the state-owned TC television.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-officers-arrest-one-of-the-unidentified-gunmen-who-news-photo/1913161165?adppopup=true">STR/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But Ecuador’s descent into violence and chaos has also been aided by the very fact that for so long it was immune from the worst of the gang violence of the region.</p>
<p>For many years, Ecuador had <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2024/01/10/how-ecuador-became-latin-americas-deadliest-country">one of the lowest homicide rates</a> in Latin America – an indicator of low gang activity. As a result, it hadn’t developed a robust police and military response to gangs. Ecuador, in comparison to Colombia, El Salvador and other countries, was seen as a “soft touch” to organized crime bosses. </p>
<p>This became ever more the case in 2009 when former President Rafael Correa <a href="https://en.mercopress.com/2009/09/19/last-us-forces-abandon-manta-military-base-in-ecuador">closed down the U.S. air base in Manta</a>, from where American AWAC surveillance planes had been monitoring and trying to disrupt drug trafficking.</p>
<h2>Militarizing the response</h2>
<p>Explaining how Ecuador became the epicenter of drug gang violence is one thing. Trying to find a way out for the country now is another.</p>
<p>Across Latin America, countries have employed different models to counter organized crime, with varying degrees of success. Colombia, with extensive U.S. assistance, transformed its military and police and went to war with the cartels. The strategy somewhat successfully dismantled organized crime groups in the country, even if it failed to halt drug trafficking itself or lower the high levels of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/06/08/us-war-drugs-helped-unleash-violence-colombia-today/">violence in Colombia</a>.</p>
<p>Mexican authorities have tried a different approach and have been reluctant to confront the country’s drug cartels head-on. Instead, Mexico has employed a more hands-off approach, allowing drug gangs to essentially govern their states – the state of Sinaloa is <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-the-sinaloa-cartel-rules/">run largely by the cartel</a> that shares its name. </p>
<p>Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has touted this “<a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/amlos-hugs-not-bullets-failing-mexico">hugs not bullets</a>” approach, but under it the power of the cartels <a href="https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/mexican-cartels-grow-in-power-and-influence-with-calls-to-change-tactics-in-fighting-back-kidnapping-killings-murders-homicides-matamoros-border-crisis">has only grown</a>.</p>
<p>And then there is the Salvadoran model.</p>
<p>For many years, El Salvador suffered from organized crime, with the <a href="https://www.bloomberglinea.com/english/who-are-the-maras-the-gangs-that-el-salvador-and-honduras-are-waging-war-against/">Maras gang</a> behind much of the country’s violence. Then in 2019 the electorate voted in Nayib Bukele on a law-and-order platform. Since then, he has <a href="https://insightcrime.org/news/gamechangers-2022-el-salvador-gang-crackdown-steep-human-rights-cost/">militarized the country</a>, adopted draconian security measures and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-prison-gangs-bukele-42315f24691e0a3136d005ab7c0bee6a">jailed some 72,000 alleged gang members</a>, often without due process.</p>
<p>As a result, El Salvador is now perceived as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/25/el-salvador-crime-human-rights-prisons/">one of the safest places</a> in Latin America. This has been achieved at the expense of human rights, critics say. But, nonetheless, Bukele’s methods have enormous popular appeal.</p>
<h2>Path of El Salvador</h2>
<p>With an unprecedented wave of violence in Ecuador, it looks like President Noboa is looking to take his country down the same path as El Salvador. He has ordered the Ecuadorian military to “<a href="https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240109-gunmen-burst-into-ecuador-tv-studio-threaten-journalists-live-on-air">neutralize” the criminal gangs</a> that operate in the country.</p>
<p>Whether the approach will work is another matter; Ecuador is in a weaker position than El Salvador.</p>
<p>Whereas many of the gangs were imported into El Salvador – many members of Maras had been deported from the U.S. – in Ecuador, they are homegrown and have become more sophisticated. Further, Noboa – despite taking office in December – has only 15 months of his presidency left before a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/20/world/americas/ecuador-election-assassination-explainer.html">general election takes place in May 2025</a>. </p>
<p>Yet, the adoption of Bukele’s methods might be seen as an election winner.</p>
<p>Like in El Salvador, the majority of Ecuador’s citizens appear ready for an iron fist approach to counter the gangs – even at the expense of some civil liberties. If you speak to the average Ecuadorian, many would no doubt tell you that talk of human rights violations is bogus at a time when they live under the fear of being murdered simply by leaving their homes.</p>
<p>As one man <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ecuador-violence-prisons-television-studio-gangs-72a3df45debae4459663c462304bcf91">told The Associated Press</a> in the aftermath of Jan. 9’s violence, the government needs to employ “a firmer hand, to have no mercy, no tolerance or (respect for) the human rights of criminals.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220911/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eduardo Gamarra has received funding from foundations, US government agencies, multilateral organizations and private donors. </span></em></p>Widespread violence tied to Ecuadorian drug gangs has left the country looking at a draconian response.Eduardo Gamarra, Professor of Politics and International Relations, Florida International UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2150702023-12-07T23:43:16Z2023-12-07T23:43:16ZAs the temperature rises, so do rates of domestic violence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557389/original/file-20231103-17-6s620e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C8%2C5982%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/heat-wave-extreme-sun-sky-background-2313962169">DStockgraphy/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Large <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/06/australia-heatwave-weather-temperatures-nsw-wa-qld-sa-nt">parts of Australia</a> are currently in the grip of a heatwave, and climate change means we’re in for more <a href="https://www.climatechange.environment.nsw.gov.au/impacts-climate-change/weather-and-oceans/heatwaves">frequent and intense heat events</a> into the future.</p>
<p>We know extreme heat can pose <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-heat-and-health">health risks</a>, especially for vulnerable groups. But increasingly, research is highlighting a relationship between <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1235367">hot temperatures and violence</a>. </p>
<p>Our team analysed <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/12265934.2023.2209544">close to one million</a> reported incidents of domestic, non-domestic and sexual assaults over a 13 year period (2006-2018) in New South Wales. We examined trends related to season, temperature, and where the incidents occurred (inside or outside).</p>
<p>We found violence increased with warmer weather. But the effect of heat was greater on domestic violence than other types of violent crime. The reasons, and solutions, are complex. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/car-accidents-drownings-violence-hotter-temperatures-will-mean-more-deaths-from-injury-129628">Car accidents, drownings, violence: hotter temperatures will mean more deaths from injury</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Hot weather, hot tempers</h2>
<p>Rates of assault were higher in summer than in winter in most areas, except for a few places with snow tourism. Overall, domestic, non-domestic and sexual violence rose as temperatures increased from cool to warm. </p>
<p>On extreme heat days, non-domestic assaults outdoors declined, potentially because people move indoors seeking respite from the heat. However, domestic violence rates continued to increase with temperature, both inside and outside. </p>
<p>Sexual assaults both indoors and outdoors also increased in warm temperatures, but declined or plateaued in hot weather. </p>
<p><iframe id="R4H67" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/R4H67/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><iframe id="DkwG8" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/DkwG8/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Why are violence and hot weather linked?</h2>
<p>You’ve probably experienced the uncomfortable effects of hot weather, such as sweating, dehydration, lethargy and restless sleep. These effects can make people feel irritated, which may increase the likelihood of <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1976-22279-001">acting more aggressively</a>.</p>
<p>Also, behavioural changes associated with hot weather may create more opportunities and motivation to act aggressively. For example, on warm and longer summer days we may be more likely to go out and socialise or <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8747501/">drink more alcohol</a>. </p>
<p>In extreme heat, we may retreat inside if we can, where there’s respite from the sun and potentially air conditioning. Given this, we might expect to see less of an association between violence and hot weather indoors. But our research found this wasn’t generally the case.</p>
<p>Domestic violence is more often experienced by women, at the hands of a family member or partner who they <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/domestic-violence/family-domestic-and-sexual-violence#risk">live with</a>. During extreme heat, offenders and victims may not have practical ways to avoid the heat. The house may remain hot without <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4602.0.55.001">access to air conditioning</a>, or it may be <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1071/HE11413">too expensive to run</a>. </p>
<p>Violence is also often said to occur “<a href="https://hrcak.srce.hr/237620">behind closed doors</a>”, where there are fewer witnesses to intervene, and potentially more social stressors. As an example, COVID lockdowns were often associated with higher rates of <a href="https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/special/special-11">intimate partner abuse</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman looking out a window." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557391/original/file-20231103-17-5qmz9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557391/original/file-20231103-17-5qmz9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557391/original/file-20231103-17-5qmz9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557391/original/file-20231103-17-5qmz9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557391/original/file-20231103-17-5qmz9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557391/original/file-20231103-17-5qmz9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557391/original/file-20231103-17-5qmz9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Domestic violence rose in hotter weather.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/silhouette-woman-trapped-home-violent-man-1727153176">Yannick Martinez/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One limitation of our study is that we used outdoor ambient air temperature to represent heat exposure, regardless of where the crime occurred. However, heat will vary significantly by location on a given day. For example, an indoor location like a bakery or factory could be hotter than outside at a shady park, and may remain hot regardless of the weather. </p>
<h2>What about online?</h2>
<p>Our team was interested to know whether temperature-related aggression can be seen outside of crime statistics, so we considered how anger is expressed on Twitter (now known as X). </p>
<p>In a previous study, we analysed emotions captured from more than 74 million tweets, looking for words or phrases that expressed <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916520937455">rage or anger</a>. </p>
<p>We found that generally the number of angry tweets (and in fact, tweets in general) decreased as temperatures moved from cool to warm. This may be partly because we get off our screens and enjoy the weather.</p>
<p>However, in very hot weather that trend plateaued or even reversed, suggesting angry tweets may rise in extreme heat. Similarly, studies have found <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(22)00173-5/fulltext">online hate speech</a> increases in extreme heat.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man outdoors on his smartphone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557392/original/file-20231103-15-alzfdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557392/original/file-20231103-15-alzfdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557392/original/file-20231103-15-alzfdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557392/original/file-20231103-15-alzfdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557392/original/file-20231103-15-alzfdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557392/original/file-20231103-15-alzfdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557392/original/file-20231103-15-alzfdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hotter temperatures are also associated with aggression online.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/middle-age-greyhaired-man-using-smartphone-1828847783">Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reducing inequalities</h2>
<p>Neither heat nor violence affect everyone equally. Both are influenced by social determinants of health.</p>
<p>Domestic violence is more likely to occur in <a href="https://nij.ojp.gov/library/publications/when-violence-hits-home-how-economics-and-neighborhood-play-role-research">disadvantaged areas</a>. Likewise, lower socioeconomic populations tend to have <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab3b99/meta">higher heat exposure</a>. This may be due to the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32461547/">urban heat island effect</a> (where a city experiences warmer temperatures than surrounding rural areas), less access to air conditioning or private cars, or working outdoors. </p>
<p>While the drivers behind temperature-related violence are complex, there are things we can do. First, we need to address the big issues <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2784629/">relating to domestic violence</a> such as cultural norms, <a href="https://www.respect.gov.au/">attitudes</a> and legal provisions.</p>
<p>In heatwaves, we can provide inexpensive and accessible cool areas for those who need them. So-called “<a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.20220606068145">heat refuges</a>” offer a safe space for people to linger, like at a library, swimming pool or community centre, and provide air conditioning, cold water and other facilities. </p>
<p>Increasing the amount of green space in cities could have a dual benefit. More urban greening is associated with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969717301754">lower urban heat island effect</a>, and studies have also shown a link between more green space and <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/24/5119">less violent crime</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/extreme-weather-is-landing-more-australians-in-hospital-and-heat-is-the-biggest-culprit-216440">Extreme weather is landing more Australians in hospital – and heat is the biggest culprit</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Our findings add to growing evidence that shows <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/7855">extreme weather events</a> are <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abb266;">associated with</a> a range of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412021001586">poor health</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11069-020-03887-z">social outcomes</a>.</p>
<p>The effects of extreme weather in our communities demands more and stronger action on climate change.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The National Sexual Assault, Family and Domestic Violence Counselling Line – 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault. You can also text the service on 0458 737 732.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215070/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Beggs is affiliated with the Lancet Countdown.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather R. Stevens and Petra Graham do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hot temperatures seem to lead to aggression, both in real life and online.Heather R. Stevens, Researcher - Environmental Science, Macquarie UniversityPaul Beggs, Associate Professor and Environmental Health Scientist, Macquarie UniversityPetra Graham, Associate Professor, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2166742023-12-06T13:43:37Z2023-12-06T13:43:37ZGhana’s media treats terrorism as a threat from outside – it overlooks violence at home<p>In 2022, 43% of all <a href="https://www.visionofhumanity.org/global-terrorism-index-2023-key-findings-in-5-charts/">global terrorism deaths</a> occurred in the Sahel – the region south of the Sahara Desert and stretching east-west across the African continent. West Africa had recorded <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/26/over-1800-terrorist-attacks-in-west-africa-in-2023-ecowas">1,800 terrorism attacks</a> as of June 2023, resulting in nearly 4,600 deaths.</p>
<p>The region has also seen a series of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-west-africa-has-had-so-many-coups-and-how-to-prevent-more-176577">coups</a>, making countries more vulnerable.</p>
<p>Coastal west African countries worry about terrorism in the Sahel spilling over into their territories. It is against this backdrop that discussions and commentary about terrorism are taking place in Ghana.</p>
<p>I have researched and analysed security and militancy in Africa for a decade. My most <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17539153.2023.2250142">recent research</a> examined how terrorism is viewed in Ghana in light of insecurity across the Sahel and the country’s reputation as an oasis of peace in the sub-region.</p>
<p>There has been <a href="https://www.manchesterhive.com/display/9781526130921/9781526130921.xml">criticism</a> of the way terrorism is spoken of globally, due to its potential to be divisive and serve as justification for violence by security agencies and the abuse of citizens’ rights.</p>
<p>For this reason, my aim was to assess whether these global perceptions influenced views in Ghana. I also aimed to understand the security implications of the nature of the terrorism discourse.</p>
<p>I found the discourse to be contradictory, dangerous and simplistic. It lacked a coherent theme, except for repeating problematic narratives and platitudes.</p>
<p>One of these narratives was the mistaken idea that terrorism was foreign to Ghana, and now entering the country. Secondly, the discussion equated terrorism with violence involving jihadist groups. While jihadist forms of violence are present in the region, there are <a href="https://prezi.com/j5cptnaaxcsf/the-four-waves-of-terrorism-by-david-c-rapoport-2004/">other types of terrorism</a> too – including <a href="https://www.friendsofeurope.org/insights/state-terrorism-even-worse-than-the-sub-state-variety/">terrorism by states</a> and their agents.</p>
<h2>Analysing news articles</h2>
<p>I brought a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-7053.2007.00229.x">sceptical attitude</a> to the discussion of terrorism in Ghana by critically analysing the titles of 60 online news articles published between 2015 and 2022. </p>
<p>The titles were sampled from a Ghanaweb.com dossier captioned “<a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/dossier.php?ID=661">Terror attack on Ghana</a>” and accessed between July and September 2022. Ghanaweb.com is the most widely used online news source in Ghana and has existed since the late 1990s.</p>
<p>The titles were selected using two criteria. The first was the use of threat and risk language. Here, I looked for titles that communicated space or place (for example, Sahel, Togo, Burkina Faso), vulnerability (“<a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Porous-borders-fuelling-insecurity-as-Immigration-grapples-with-serious-logistical-constraints-627387">porous borders</a>”), pre-emption (“<a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Terrorist-threat-Be-vigilant-don-t-be-scared-Christian-Council-1549604">be vigilant</a>”), othering (“<a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Citizens-cautioned-against-hosting-strangers-1545251">strangers</a>”) and assurance (“<a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Don-t-panic-over-ISIS-infiltration-Irbard-Ibrahim-617645?gallery=1">don’t panic</a>”). </p>
<p>The other criterion was the assumed authority of the source. I selected titles that cited security officials, analysts with significant media presence, politicians and religious leaders.</p>
<p>The analysis revealed that the character of the discourse was lopsided and gave an incomplete picture of the state of security in Ghana. </p>
<h2>Ghana’s overlooked culture of violence</h2>
<p>The discourse overlooked Ghana’s endemic culture of violence, including acts by militia groups, political assassinations and police brutality.</p>
<p>Recently, several militia groups have been involved in violent events in Ghana, including election violence in 2019 that led to two fatalities and 18 injuries. A security analyst has named <a href="https://www.myjoyonline.com/security-analyst-names-24-violent-groups-in-ghana/">24 violent groups</a> in the country, with names like Kandahar Boys, Aluta Boys, Al Qaeda, Invincible Forces and Delta Forces.</p>
<p>On 16 January 2019, an investigative journalist was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47002878">shot dead</a> in front of his home in an alleged act of political assassination. </p>
<p>In 2020, a sitting MP and government minister fired gunshots during a voter registration exercise – an act <a href="https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/politics/hawa-koomson-minister-fires-gun-at-registration-centre-4-arrested.html">she explained</a> was for her protection. In the same year, another MP threatened to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXJ0uzTZkEY">burn down</a> the house of a former president of Ghana.</p>
<p>There are many cases of violence by security agents, including the police <a href="https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/seven-shot-dead-by-police-not-armed-robbers.html">killing</a> of seven Muslim youths mistaken for armed robbers. </p>
<p>Ghana’s 2020 elections – its eighth since 1992 – recorded <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/9/five-killed-in-ghana-election-violence-as-accusations-continue">five deaths</a> and scores of injuries. </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ransford-Gyampo/publication/331152559_Proportional_Representation_as_Solution_to_Winner-Takes-All_Politics/links/5c6815eb92851c1c9de5ab39/Proportional-Representation-as-Solution-to-Winner-Takes-All-Politics.pdf">scholars</a> argue that extra-legal uses of force and violence in Ghana are due to a culture of impunity resulting from a “systemic decapitation of the police by the political elite”.</p>
<h2>Blaming the Sahel</h2>
<p>Despite the above terrorising acts of violence, the terrorism discourse in Ghana creates the predominant impression that terrorism and political violence are now heading towards Ghana from the Sahel.</p>
<p>The fear of the coming terrorists has united “<a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Everybody-needs-to-be-involved-in-the-fight-against-terrorism-Security-analyst-751355">everybody</a>” in Ghana to protect the country. The list includes community vigilantes, civil society organisations, political parties, business organisations, churches and traditional leaders. The measures to safeguard Ghana include <a href="https://ghanaguardian.com/brief-mps-anti-terrorism-drill-ablakwa">counter-terrorism drills</a>, vigilance, border security, prophecies and prayers.</p>
<p>This collective national effort presents political violence from other countries in the region as if terror events do not exist within Ghana. Commentators say that terrorism is now heading towards Ghana, causing Ghanaians to panic and grow apprehensive. </p>
<p>Three examples show how the terrorism discourse is contradictory and simplistic – hence deceptive.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>“<a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Accra-safe-but-Ghana-not-out-of-the-woods-ACP-Eklu-753641">Accra safe but Ghana not out of the woods – ACP Eklu</a>” and “<a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Government-ready-for-terrorist-attack-National-Security-ministry-661540">Government ready for terrorist attack – National Security ministry</a>”. These claims are contradictory. They mean Accra and Ghana are safe and unsafe simultaneously. </p></li>
<li><p>The “terrorists are in our communities, they are our neighbours, they are our siblings, they are our fathers, they are our mothers”, claims an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/adibsaani1/">analyst</a>. This claim is dangerous as it could create unnecessary social and communal tension.</p></li>
<li><p>Ghana is the only country bordering Burkina Faso that has not <a href="https://www.accord.org.za/conflict-trends/the-risk-of-violent-extremism-and-terrorism-in-the-coastal-states-of-west-africa/">experienced a terrorist attack</a>. This claim is simplistic and it is only true if terrorism is defined to mean “jihadist” political violence.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My conclusion is that any future acts of terrorism and political violence in Ghana will not be anything new. Shooting to kill during elections and firing a warning shot at a polling station are acts of terrorism. Police brutality, election violence and assassinations are also acts of political violence. </p>
<h2>Implications of the discourse</h2>
<p>The terrorism discourse in Ghana shows how flawed views of the so-called global war on terror shape how we think about security, even when those views create dire consequences such as <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-96577-8_15">Islamophobia and more violence</a>.</p>
<p>These lopsided narratives can alienate some communities and threaten social cohesion. Worse, they undermine Ghana’s responsibility to address insecurity within the country. </p>
<p>To avoid such problems, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2014.988452">some</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2014.976011">scholars</a> have argued that terrorism should be defined to suit specific contexts. I have made a <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.321567836600468">similar argument</a> elsewhere that terrorism is a process rather than an event. </p>
<p>This avoids the <a href="https://ombuds.umich.edu/article/danger-single-story">dangers of a single story</a> about terrorism and political violence in general. In particular, it creates a conducive environment for solutions that sustainably secure Ghana and its citizens.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216674/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Muhammad Dan Suleiman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The terrorism discourse in Ghana shows how flawed views of the war on terror continue to shape thinking about security.Muhammad Dan Suleiman, Research associate, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2183552023-11-24T03:40:25Z2023-11-24T03:40:25Z7 charts on family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia<p>With so much data released about family, domestic and sexual violence, it can be difficult to see how it all fits together. </p>
<p>The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has attempted to do this with a <a href="https://aihw.gov.au/family-domestic-and-sexual-violence">new website</a> that tells the story of violence using numbers, looking at how often it happens, to whom and when. </p>
<p>Here are seven charts that show the prevalence of various forms of interpersonal violence, across life.</p>
<h2>1. Sexual violence risk varies (in ways you might not expect)</h2>
<p>One in five women and one in 16 men have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15.</p>
<p>The likelihood of experiencing sexual violence differs by age as well as gender.</p>
<p><iframe id="2wLeq" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/2wLeq/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>This chart uses data about recorded crimes. Of course, we know many sexual crimes in childhood and adulthood are never discovered or reported. For each age group, and for both females and males, the recorded crime rate for sexual victimisation has steadily risen from 2010 to 2022. But the rate for girls and boys is substantially higher than for women and men.</p>
<h2>2. What kinds of harm come to the attention of child protection services?</h2>
<p>In cases reported to a statutory child protection service, a “substantiation” is the conclusion, following an investigation, that there was reasonable cause to believe that a child had been, was being, or was likely to be, abused, neglected or otherwise harmed. For both boys and girls, more than half of these cases are about harm from emotional abuse. This refers to parental behaviour, repeated over time, that conveys to a child that they are worthless, unloved or unwanted.</p>
<p><iframe id="zuhJi" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/zuhJi/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Witnessing family and domestic violence is not monitored separately as a type of harm in any <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/resources/policy-and-practice-papers/what-child-abuse-and-neglect">state or territory child protection statistics</a>. Therefore it is not one of the primary harm types recorded in the data shown in this graph. Yet in <a href="https://www.acms.au">our study</a>, my colleagues and I found it was the most frequently experienced form of maltreatment in childhood – 39.6% of adults were exposed to domestic violence as children. </p>
<h2>3. Lifetime exposure to violence</h2>
<p>One in three men experienced violence from a stranger, but for women, they were much more likely to experience violence from those they knew.</p>
<p><iframe id="j4lw5" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/j4lw5/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>One in six women (and one in 13 men) have experienced domestic violence in the form of economic abuse by a current or previous cohabiting partner since the age of 15. </p>
<h2>4. Time is of the essence</h2>
<p>Not only does the risk of experiencing violence change across life, but temporal factors also play a role. Towards the end of the year, when there are festivities and more opportunities for alcohol misuse, the risks are greater.</p>
<p><iframe id="ynq2C" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ynq2C/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>5. Men’s (and boys’) violence towards women and girls</h2>
<p>Perpetrators of violence are more likely to be known to the victim than be a stranger. Some forms of violence, particularly sexual violence, are more likely to be experienced by girls and women. Boys and men are more likely to use violence, again particularly for sexual violence.</p>
<p>One in six women (and one in 18 men) have experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or previous cohabiting partner since the age of 15. </p>
<p><iframe id="DipvY" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/DipvY/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>One of the types of violence is also emotional. One in four women (and one in seven men) have experienced emotional abuse by <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/family-domestic-and-sexual-violence/understanding-fdsv/who-uses-violence">a current or previous cohabiting</a> partner since the age of 15.</p>
<h2>6. Sexual harassment: who does it and who is subjected to it?</h2>
<p>Women are much more likely to be subjected to sexualised behaviours – by men – that are unwanted or make them feel uncomfortable. Overall, rates appear to have declined since 2005, when almost one in five women experienced harassment.</p>
<p><iframe id="8pPnI" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/8pPnI/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>7. Sexual victimisation rates have changed over time</h2>
<p>Crime data on sexual victimisation (sexual assaults recorded by police) from 2010 to 2022 suggests things have not been improving. Although there is variability between states, the biggest difference can be seen between women and men (women are at substantially higher risk of sexual victimisation).</p>
<p><iframe id="N0l0g" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/N0l0g/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>What’s missing?</h2>
<p>Often, people are exposed to multiple kinds of violence. In <a href="https://www.acms.au">our study</a>, we found almost 40% of the population had experienced more than one type of child abuse or neglect – including exposure to family or domestic violence as a child.</p>
<p>We also found this “multi-type maltreatment” was one of the <a href="https://www.acms.au/resources/the-prevalence-and-impact-of-child-maltreatment-in-australia-findings-from-the-australian-child-maltreatment-study-2023-brief-report/">strongest predictors</a> of experiencing mental illness and engaging in behaviours that put health at risk, like cannabis dependence in adulthood.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/major-study-reveals-two-thirds-of-people-who-suffer-childhood-maltreatment-suffer-more-than-one-kind-202033">Major study reveals two-thirds of people who suffer childhood maltreatment suffer more than one kind</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>However, many of the sources of data the AIHW uses only look at one form of violence. So it is much harder to tell the story of how it relates to the impacts that might be observed. </p>
<p>We also can’t see data on children’s exposure to physical punishment in the home, despite Australia’s failure to meet its responsibility under the <a href="https://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2FPPRiCAqhKb7yhsk5X2w65LgiRF%2FS3dwPS4NWFNCtCrUn3lRntjFl1P2gZpa035aKkorCHAPJx8bIZmDed5owOGcbWFeosUSgDTFKNqA7hBC3KiwAm8SBo665E">UN Convention on the Rights of the Child</a> to protect them from this form of violence.</p>
<p>The data curated on this new website can be used to identify where more services might be required to address the needs of victims of different kinds of violence, at different stages across life. It can also help drive a genuine strategy for <a href="https://www.napcan.org.au/national-summit-to-prevent-child-maltreatment/">prevention</a>. The strategy should look at the risk factors for each type of interpersonal violence, and those that are common across different types of violence. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.51868">Such risks include</a> parental mental illness, substance misuse, poverty and divorce.</p>
<p>And then we must invest in <a href="https://rdcu.be/cEvhu">evidence-based strategies</a> to alleviate the risk of growing up with, and being exposed in adulthood to family, domestic, and sexual violence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218355/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daryl Higgins receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council, and a range of government departments and non-government child/family welfare agencies.</span></em></p>Key findings on victims and perpetrators of interpersonal violence have been brought together in a new website that seeks to combine over 30 sources of data across Australia.Daryl Higgins, Professor & Director, Institute of Child Protection Studies, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2171772023-11-21T13:23:05Z2023-11-21T13:23:05ZWest Bank’s settler violence problem is a second sign that Israel’s policy of ignoring Palestinians’ drive for a homeland isn’t a long-term solution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560207/original/file-20231117-23-fmuu8j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5991%2C3988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Israeli soldiers patrol the Palestinian Bedouin village of Tala (Thala) in the occupied West Bank on Oct. 26, 2023, after residents were attacked by Israeli settlers the same day.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/israeli-soldiers-patrol-in-the-palestinian-bedouin-village-news-photo/1783231360?adppopup=true">HOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With violence and destruction raging in southern Israel and Gaza, there has been less attention on the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-israel-west-bank-war-gaza-hamas-settlers-army-raid-militants-c1386ab6a633971cc18b2497169210d3">worsening violence in the West Bank</a>, the other half of the occupied territories. </p>
<p>Since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and the onset of Israel’s war in Gaza, Israelis and Palestinians have been thrust back into the headlines. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-revises-death-toll-oct-7-hamas-attack-around-1200-2023-11-10/">Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis</a> on Oct. 7 and took more than 200 hostages; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2023/gaza-rising-death-toll-civilians/">Israelis have killed at least 11,000 Palestinians</a> in a response that has <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-to-define-genocide">sparked a debate</a> about whether what the world is witnessing amounts to war crimes, ethnic cleansing or genocide. </p>
<p>Before Oct. 7, West Bank Palestinians were already experiencing the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestine-settler-bedouin-displacement-violence-un-108e11712310b5ea099dbded7be8effb">highest level of settler violence</a> since 2006. </p>
<p>Israeli settlers, empowered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/facing-violence-and-harassment-hundreds-of-palestinians-flee-west-bank-villages/">have increased their attacks on and harassment of</a> Palestinian rural communities since the start of the war. This is often done with the <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/settlers-rampage-through-palestinian-olive-grove-harass-activists-in-west-bank/">backing of the Israeli military</a>, as Israeli soldiers stand guard, preventing a Palestinian response. Sometimes, the attacks take place with the <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/11/09/west-bank-palestinians-israeli-settlers-attacks-idf/">military’s involvement</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/11/1143087">United Nations has recorded over 200</a> settler attacks in the past month. The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem reports that since the start of the war, 16 villages and their 880 <a href="https://www.btselem.org/settler_violence/20231019_forcible_transfer_of_isolated_communities_and_families_in_area_c_under_the_cover_of_gaza_fighting">Palestinian residents have been completely displaced</a> as a result of these attacks; <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-west-bank-elderly-man-killed">180 Palestinians have been killed</a> and 64 injured. Over <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/palestinian-man-beaten-isreali-settlers-troops-west-bank-rcna123488">2,000 Palestinians have been arrested</a>. Videos of their mistreatment and torture have gone viral.</p>
<p>The escalation of violence in the West Bank is neither arbitrary nor disconnected from the violence in Gaza. Instead, as <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3vs_e5QAAAAJ&hl=en">a political scientist who studies Palestinian politics</a>, I believe it should be understood in the broader context. The proliferation of armed settlers in the West Bank, the <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15424.doc.htm">expansion of illegal settler outposts</a> and now the increasing violence and forced displacement all stem from the same underlying policy that led to the 16-year blockade of Gaza: an Israeli policy of ignoring Palestinian national claims altogether. </p>
<p>This policy disregards political solutions and pursues violent ones. The policy has not just taken hold in Israel but has been facilitated by American and Arab support.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/szgA1c5vOfg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Since the Israel-Hamas war started, Jewish settler attacks on Palestinians have increased, including in this community.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Surrender or transfer</h2>
<p>Israel’s policy entails <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2016-12-03/ty-article-magazine/.premium/the-face-of-israels-far-right-wants-to-abort-palestinian-hope/0000017f-f2f8-d497-a1ff-f2f875960000">building new settlements in order to “abort</a>” the Palestinian state, in the words of influential right-wing cabinet member <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-west-bank-settlements-smotrich-1f16401de915559965e906f70269908b">Bezalel Smotrich, a settler himself</a>. This happens as the Israeli government facilitates fragmented governance between the West Bank and Gaza. The goal: Impose a “<a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2017-09-13/ty-article/.premium/israeli-party-approves-annexation-plan-to-coerce-palestinian-departure/0000017f-df1c-db22-a17f-ffbd22860000">surrender or transfer</a>” ultimatum on the Palestinian people. </p>
<p>The Israeli policy is to simply disregard any Palestinian claims to a national home and instead support settler violence to further Israel’s expropriation of Palestinian land. It is a policy of nonengagement with the issues animating the conflict, relying on coercion to achieve Israeli goals of full annexation. </p>
<p>The surrender or transfer proposal in particular comes from Smotrich, who outlined these ideas in his 2017 <a href="https://hashiloach.org.il/israels-decisive-plan/">Decisive Plan</a>. The phrase “surrender or transfer” means Palestinians would have to give up the hope that they can have their own national identity, state or even equal rights. If they refuse to surrender to this reality, then they will be forced to leave. Palestinians in the territories, many of them already refugees, would be expelled into neighboring countries – not with the approval of anyone in those countries, however.</p>
<p>Smotrich’s 2017 proposal laid out his plans and worldview, and while the Israeli government has not officially adopted the “Decisive Plan,” <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-israel-occupation-west-bank-smotrich-netanyahu-e262d0bca6a637d217852ea238ab45b2">Smotrich and his allies are now in government</a>. This has meant that the plan has been a de facto adopted plan by key ministries in the government.</p>
<p>In particular, Smotrich, as retired Israel Maj. Gen. Yaakov Or wrote, can “<a href="https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-744547">allocate the vast resources necessary to put his plan into practice</a>.” The results over the past two years are clear. Illegal outposts have been quickly authorized and large budgets approved for the creation of supporting infrastructure. When settlers <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/15/middleeast/huwara-west-bank-settler-attack-cmd-intl/index.html">engaged in pogroms</a> in West Bank villages, Smotrich went on record that these villages should <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/1/israel-arrests-settlers-after-anti-palestinian-pogrom">indeed be wiped out</a> – not by vigilantes but by the state itself. </p>
<p>When the peace process is discussed, the Israeli government states <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/2023-11-13/ty-article/.premium/the-palestinian-authority-is-israels-partner/0000018b-c4d4-d25b-abdf-ddfda1550000">there is no partner for peace</a> and that the Palestinians are unable to govern themselves. </p>
<p>This narrative suits the overarching goal of ignoring Palestinian aspirations. Netanyahu and members of his cabinet have even <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/10/14/hamas-israel-palestinian-authority/">referred to Hamas as an “asset</a>” because it acts as a counterweight to other Palestinian political figures. Hamas’ <a href="https://jacobin.com/2023/11/hamas-israel-palestine-gaza-history-decolonization-violence">ideological positions</a> then lend credence to the idea that a peace process is impossible. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/60SY9APunS4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Armed settlers have forced Palestinians out of their West Bank village.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Spreading Smotrich’s ideas</h2>
<p>Israeli <a href="https://justvision.org/team/orly-noy">human rights activist Orly Noy</a> has recently warned that these ideas – ignoring Palestinian aspirations and dealing with the conflict only by force – have permeated Israeli society, calling it the “<a href="https://www.972mag.com/smotrich-decisive-plan-israeli-public/">Smotrichization</a>” of Israeli politics. </p>
<p>Many within Israel, Noy argues, believe that the conflict with Palestinians can be managed through sheer coercion. An “inferior, de-Palestinianized existence” was, until Oct. 7, “most Israelis’ chosen option.” Furthermore, Noy wrote in a recent magazine article, “Expelling Gaza’s population makes perfect sense to most Israelis.” Thus, Palestinian “refusal to submit to the might of the Israeli regime is perceived as an existential threat and a sufficient reason for their annihilation.”</p>
<p>As a result of Smotrichization, there is <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-human-rights/inside-the-israeli-crackdown-on-speech">very little room or opportunity</a> today for those who advocate for a peaceful future, a shared future or both. </p>
<p>A small minority of Palestinians hold Israeli citizenship, accounting for 20% of the Israeli population. These citizens have been <a href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/10925">uniquely targeted</a>, facing a “severe crackdown on their freedoms of expression and assembly,” according to Adalah, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-hamas-gaza-war-free-speech/">an organization that provides legal representation to Israel’s Arab citizens</a>. The Israeli left and critics of the government <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/opinion/israel-free-speech-hamas-palestine.html">have also faced efforts to restrict their speech</a>.</p>
<h2>US and Arab role</h2>
<p>The U.S. and its regional allies have also ignored Palestinian aspirations and meaningful progress on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Instead, they’ve opted for policies that <a href="https://theconversation.com/historic-israel-deal-wont-likely-bring-peace-to-the-middle-east-144480">sideline Palestinians and bypass the issues</a> animating continued violence. </p>
<p>Normalization of diplomatic and trade relations between Arab states and Israel has become the focus of both the Trump and Biden Middle East policies. Such deals are the clearest manifestation of ignoring Palestinian aspirations, beginning with the Trump administration’s “<a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/peacetoprosperity/">Peace to Prosperity</a>” proposal and the Abraham Accords, and then with the <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/04/06/negev-summit-s-participants-had-wildly-different-goals-pub-86826">Biden administration’s Negev Summit</a> and continued <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/08/us/politics/saudi-arabia-israel-palestinians-hamas.html">push for Israeli-Saudi normalization</a>.</p>
<p>Unlike the Israeli government, U.S. administrations and Arab regimes likely want to avoid large-scale forced displacement of Palestinians, which would undoubtedly destabilize the region. Arab officials have <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/egypt-rejects-any-displacement-palestinians-into-sinai-says-sisi-2023-10-18/">made this clear</a> in recent weeks, especially after Israel <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-population-transfer-hamas-egypt-palestinians-refugees-5f99378c0af6aca183a90c631fa4da5a">floated the idea of</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/31/resettle-gazans-abroad-biden-sends-clear-message-no/">moving displaced Gazans to the Sinai Peninsula</a>. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, normalization deals have provided the Israeli government with unspoken permission to continue aggressive settlement policies, without concern over international backlash. </p>
<p>These deals, touted by the U.S. and others as symbols of progress in a conflict-filled region, also strengthened the impression among Israeli society and politicians that Israel can continue to ignore the issue of Palestinians and their unmet national claims. </p>
<p>From the Israeli perspective, even Arab regimes had proven willing to ignore the Palestinian issue, normalize relations in spite of illegal settlement activity and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/isagsq/article/3/3/ksad042/7280243">suppress pro-Palestine sentiment in their own countries</a>. There were no regional or international incentives for Israel to change the policy.</p>
<p>This thought process was made clear in a February 2023 interview with Netanyahu. No one, he said, should “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/middleeast/benjamin-netanyahu-cnn-interview-israel-intl/index.html">get hung up on</a>” the issue of peace with Palestinians. </p>
<p>His logic was clear: “I went around them (Palestinians), I went directly to the Arab states and forged a new concept of peace.” </p>
<p>This “new concept of peace” is not what regular people would think of as peace, which entails ending conflict. Instead, it’s what political scientists like me call “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0010836718765902">authoritarian conflict management</a>.” This conflict management is described by scholars David Lewis, John Heathershaw and Nick Megoran as one that ignores genuine negotiations or constraints on the use of force, disregards the underlying causes of conflict and instead relies on state coercion to impose a new status quo. </p>
<p>So while the public has understandably been focused on the unprecedented destruction in Gaza, the deadly assaults by Israeli settlers on West Bank Palestinians are part of the larger picture. They should be understood as yet another manifestation of the dynamics driving recent trends in Israeli politics: a policy of nonengagement with Palestinian national claims.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217177/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dana El Kurd is affiliated with the Arab Center Washington and the Middle East Institute. </span></em></p>While the war in Gaza has riveted public attention, the simultaneous escalation of violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank is not disconnected from the violence in Gaza.Dana El Kurd, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of RichmondLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2163212023-10-27T14:27:50Z2023-10-27T14:27:50ZHow to redesign social media algorithms to bridge divides<p>Social media platforms have been implicated in conflicts of all scales, from <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/09/jarell-jackson-shahjahan-mccaskill-killed-philadelphia-social-media/674760/">urban gun violence</a> to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/01/17/jan6-committee-report-social-media/">storming of the US Capitol building</a> on January 6 and <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N16/350/68/PDF/N1635068.pdf?OpenElement">civil war in South Sudan</a>. Scientifically, it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/misinformation-why-it-may-not-necessarily-lead-to-bad-behaviour-199123">difficult to tell</a> how much social media can be blamed for one-off incidents. </p>
<p>But in much the way that climate change increases the risk of extreme weather, evidence suggests that current algorithms (which mostly <a href="https://medium.com/understanding-recommenders/how-platform-recommenders-work-15e260d9a15a">optimise for engagement</a>) raise the political “temperature” by disproportionately surfacing inflammatory content. This <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.16941">may make people angrier</a>, increasing the risk that social differences <a href="https://knightcolumbia.org/content/the-algorithmic-management-of-polarization-and-violence-on-social-media">escalate to violence</a>.</p>
<p>But what if we redesigned social media to bridge divides? “<a href="https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/bridging-based-ranking">Bridging-based ranking</a>” is an alternative kind of algorithm for ranking content in social media feeds that explicitly aims to build mutual understanding and trust across differing perspectives.</p>
<p>The core logic of bridging-based ranking has already been used on <a href="https://bridging.systems/facebook-papers/">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://communitynotes.twitter.com/guide/en/about/introduction">X</a> (formerly known as Twitter), albeit not in the main feed. It is also used in <a href="https://pol.is/home">Polis</a>, an online platform for collecting public input, used by several governments to inform policymaking on polarised topics. </p>
<p>There are many open questions, but evidence from existing uses of bridging-based ranking suggests that changes to algorithms may <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.13912">reduce partisan animosity</a> and <a href="https://bridging.systems/facebook-papers/">improve the quality and inclusiveness</a> of online interactions.</p>
<p>People are increasingly looking for alternative algorithms. Regulators <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/25/quiet-qutting-ai/">in the EU</a> and new platforms <a href="https://blueskyweb.xyz/blog/3-30-2023-algorithmic-choice">such as Bluesky</a> are giving users choice regarding which algorithm determines what they see, and recent <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/does-social-media-polarize-voters-unprecedented-experiments-facebook-users-reveal">large-scale experiments on Facebook</a> have tested different options.</p>
<p>If we care about social cohesion, then during this period of “shopping around” we need to seriously consider alternatives such as bridging.</p>
<h2>How it works</h2>
<p>Current <a href="https://medium.com/understanding-recommenders/how-platform-recommenders-work-15e260d9a15a">engagement-based algorithms</a> make predictions about which posts are most likely to generate clicks, likes, shares or views – and use these predictions to rank the most engaging content at the top of your feed. This tends to amplify the most polarising voices, because divisive perspectives are very engaging.</p>
<p><a href="https://bridging.systems/">Bridging-based ranking</a> uses a different set of signals to determine which content gets ranked highly. One approach is to increase the rank of content that receives positive feedback from people who normally disagree. This creates an incentive for content producers to be mindful of how their content will land with “the other side”.</p>
<p>Among the <a href="https://bridging.systems/facebook-papers/">internal Facebook documents</a> leaked by whistleblower Frances Haugen in 2021, there is evidence that Facebook tested this approach for ranking comments. </p>
<p>Comments with positive engagement from diverse audiences were found to be of higher quality, and “much less likely” to be reported for bullying, hate or inciting violence. A similar strategy is used in <a href="https://communitynotes.twitter.com/guide/en/about/introduction">Community Notes</a>, a crowd-sourced fact checking feature on X, to identify notes that are helpful to people on both sides of politics.</p>
<p>This pattern of “diverse positive feedback” is the most widely implemented approach to bridging. Others include <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.13912">lowering the ranking</a> of content that promotes partisan violence, or using surveys to shape algorithms so that they increase the ranking of content according to <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/platforms-engagement-research-meta/">how it makes users feel in the long term</a>, rather than the short term.</p>
<p>Conflict is an important part of society, and in many cases, a key driver of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/586859">political and social change</a>. The goal of bridging is not to eliminate conflict or disagreement, but to promote constructive forms of conflict.</p>
<p>This is known as <a href="https://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/transformation">conflict transformation</a>. Professional mediators, facilitators and “peacebuilders”, who work with opposing groups, have a detailed understanding of <a href="https://knightcolumbia.org/content/the-algorithmic-management-of-polarization-and-violence-on-social-media">how conflicts escalate</a>. They also know how to structure communication between opposing groups in ways that build mutual understanding and trust.</p>
<p>Research on bridging-based ranking can draw on this, taking insights from conflict management in the physical world and <a href="https://scripties.uba.uva.nl/search?id=record_24357">translating</a> them <a href="https://howtobuildup.medium.com/archetypes-of-polarization-on-social-media-d56d4374fb25">into digital systems</a>. </p>
<p>For example, facilitating contact between people from rival groups in “opt in”, non-threatening settings <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2011.03.001">can reduce prejudice</a>, and we <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2311627120">can</a> <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01655-0">design</a> social platforms to create these conditions online.</p>
<h2>Why should big tech adopt this?</h2>
<p>Firms such as Meta have built their fortune on the “attention economy” and content which promotes short-term engagement, and hence revenue.</p>
<p>We simply don’t yet know the extent to which the goals of bridging and engagement are in tension. If you talk to people who work at social media platforms, they will tell you that when well-intended changes to the algorithm are tested, user engagement sometimes drops initially, but then slowly rebounds over time, ultimately ending up with more engagement.</p>
<p>The problem is, platforms normally get cold feet and cancel experiments before they can observe such long-term benefits. Evidence we <em>do</em> have from <a href="https://bridging.systems/facebook-papers/">leaked Facebook papers</a> suggests that incorporating bridging <a href="https://youtu.be/ePh_DVi3dMM">improves the user experience</a>.</p>
<p>Bridging-based ranking might also have benefits beyond engagement. By reducing <a href="https://lukethorburn.com/files/BridgingBasedRanking-PluralitySpringSymposium.pdf#page=13">toxicity</a> and content that <a href="https://bridging.systems/facebook-papers/">violates community guidelines</a>, it would likely reduce the need for costly content moderation.</p>
<p>Demonstrating a willingness to make their algorithms less divisive would also build goodwill among regulators, reducing the risk of reputational and legal damage. For example, Facebook has been heavily criticised for allegedly facilitating incitements to violence in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46105934">Myanmar</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/07/sri-lanka-blocks-social-media-as-deadly-violence-continues-buddhist-temple-anti-muslim-riots-kandy">Sri Lanka</a>, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/dec/14/meta-faces-lawsuit-over-facebook-posts-inciting-violence-in-tigray-war">Ethiopia</a>. </p>
<p>It has subsequently faced lawsuits from victims and communities, who have sought <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/dec/06/rohingya-sue-facebook-myanmar-genocide-us-uk-legal-action-social-media-violence">up to £150 billion</a> in damages.</p>
<h2>Questions and challenges</h2>
<p>Important questions around bridging-based ranking remain, and we set out many of these in a <a href="https://knightcolumbia.org/content/bridging-systems">recent paper</a> published with the Knight First Amendment Institute, which publishes original scholarship and policy papers relating to the defence of freedoms of speech and the press in the digital age. </p>
<p>Which divides should be bridged? Are there unintended consequences – for example, amplifying mainstream views at the expense of minority viewpoints? How can decisions about the design of mass communication technologies be made democratically?</p>
<p>Bridging is not a panacea. There is only so much algorithmic changes can do to address societal conflict, which is a result of complex factors such as inequality. But by recognising that digital platforms are reshaping society, we have an obligation to guide that process in an ethical, humanistic direction that brings out the best in us.</p>
<p>It falls to both the tech companies that built these systems and an engaged public to create technologies designed for social cohesion. With care, wisdom and democratic oversight, we can foster online communities that reflect our better sides. But we have to make that choice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216321/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aviv Ovadya is affiliated with the the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard, the AI & Democracy Foundation, the newDemocracy Foundation, and the Centre for Governance of AI. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Thorburn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Algorithms have been blamed for dividing society. What if they could support social cohesion instead?Luke Thorburn, PhD Candidate in Safe and Trusted AI, King's College LondonAviv Ovadya, Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2145322023-10-11T15:15:39Z2023-10-11T15:15:39ZHow morbid curiosity can lead people to conspiracy theories<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551788/original/file-20231003-21-3lqz5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C47%2C7951%2C5106&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/albany-new-york-united-states-may-1940561485">Wirestock Creators/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Do you like scary movies, true crime podcasts, or violent sports? Research has shown that a major part of the attraction is their appeal to morbid curiosity. </p>
<p>Engaging with frightening media and the emotions it creates in a safe setting can help people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110397">alleviate anxiety and build psychological resilience</a>. However, our recent research, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12682">published in the British Journal of Psychology</a>, shows that a heightened interest in learning about threats can also lead people to be interested in less constructive types of stories: conspiracy theories.</p>
<p>From <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/25/qanon-conspiracy-theory-explained-trump-what-is">blood-harvesting Satanists</a> who stealthily run the world to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/qanon-s-capitol-rioters-nashville-bomber-s-lizard-people-theory-ncna1253819">shapeshifting alien lizards</a> invading the world, conspiracy theories often offer alternative explanations of unsettling events. They all centre on a proposal that a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12471">malicious group of people</a> is behind strange or political happenings. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-032420-031329">Conspiracy theories</a> have another thing in common - they go against mainstream explanations and lack concrete evidence. </p>
<p>If the drive to seek out conspiracy theories is motivated by a desire to identify and understand potential threats, then we should expect interest in conspiracy theories to be linked with higher morbid curiosity. </p>
<h2>Testing the link</h2>
<p>To investigate this link <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12682">we ran three studies</a>. Each study had different groups of participants, with a close to even split in genders. The first study tested the question: is morbid curiosity linked with higher belief in conspiracy theories? Using the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111139">morbid curiosity scale</a> and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00279">generic conspiracist beliefs scale</a>, we found that the more morbidly curious people were, the higher their general belief in conspiracy theories. </p>
<p>In psychology, morbid curiosity describes a heightened interest in learning about threatening or dangerous situations. It can be measured using the <a href="https://www.coltanscrivner.com/morbid-curiosity-test">morbid curiosity scale</a>, which gives a rating for general morbid curiosity, and curiosity in four domains: minds of dangerous people, violence, paranormal danger and body violation. Violence is when you’re curious about the action itself (such as a boxing match). Bodily injury is curiosity about the aftermath of violence (like going to a surgical museum). </p>
<p><a href="https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjop.12682">Younger people</a> tend to be <a href="https://cmpalexgilbey.weebly.com/uploads/3/8/8/7/38878453/horror_film_research.pdf">more morbidly curious</a>, but there doesn’t tend to be a big gender divide, if at all.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Silhouette of a man holding an axe in dark hallway." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552519/original/file-20231006-18-uxu2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552519/original/file-20231006-18-uxu2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552519/original/file-20231006-18-uxu2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552519/original/file-20231006-18-uxu2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552519/original/file-20231006-18-uxu2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552519/original/file-20231006-18-uxu2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552519/original/file-20231006-18-uxu2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Curious about what happened here?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/silhouette-man-holding-axe-hatchet-arm-1681086475">Milje Ivan/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For the second study, we tested if the link between morbid curiosity and interest in conspiracy theories was driven by people’s perception of threats. We had people rate how threatening they felt several explanations of events were. The events included both mainstream and conspiratorial explanations of the same thing, such as whether <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-62240071">aeroplane contrails</a> are water vapour, or harmful “chemtrails”. We found that the higher people’s morbid curiosity, the higher they perceived the threat in conspiratorial explanations.</p>
<p>For the final study, we investigated whether morbid curiosity makes people more likely to seek out conspiracy theories as explanations for events. We had people make a choice between a series of paired descriptions, choosing which of the pair they would like to learn more about.</p>
<p>Some were morbid and non-morbid pairs, such as seeing either a photo of a man who killed his girlfriend and ate her, or a photo of a man who saved his friend from drowning. Others were pairs of conspiratorial and mainstream explanations of the same event, such as <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-titanic-olympic-ship-switch-086691748061">the Titanic sinking</a> – because it struck an iceberg, versus being deliberately sank in an insurance scam. </p>
<p>We found that the more morbidly curious people were in their choices (such as choosing to view the photo of the man who killed his girlfriend), the more likely they were to be interested in conspiratorial explanations.</p>
<p>Across these three studies, morbidly curious people were more likely to have general conspiracist beliefs, perceive conspiracy theories to be more threatening, and display a stronger interest in learning more about conspiratorial explanations. In all three, the domain of morbid curiosity which was most strongly linked to interest in conspiracy theories was “minds of dangerous people”.</p>
<h2>Minds of dangerous people</h2>
<p>Why minds of dangerous people? Previous research has suggested that, in general, people are particularly attracted to stories <a href="https://theconversation.com/this-is-why-some-urban-legends-go-viral-28527">about social relationships and threats</a>. But the hostile groups associated with conspiracy theories may have a particularly strong attraction to humans.</p>
<p>Hostile groups of other people have long <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2021.20">been a threat to humans</a>. Group think emerged early in <em>Homo sapiens</em> evolution. While most primate aggression is reactive, the evolution of language in humans around 300,000 years ago allowed our aggression to be more <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1713611115">premeditated and coordinated</a>, as well as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2021.20">deceptive and conspiratorial</a>. This meant humans needed to be curious about the intentions of potentially dangerous people. Although curiosity can be useful, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2017.10.001">sensitivity to explanations of threats</a>, for example conspiracy theories, can lead people to assume others have dangerous motives when there are none.</p>
<p>Understanding events in our complex, modern world can be challenging, and may lead us to be alert to potential threats, tapping into our ancient morbid curiosity. Morbid curiosity is not inherently bad, but an increased interest in learning about the dangers presented in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/01461672211060965">conspiracy theories can reinforce beliefs</a> that the world is a dangerous place. This can create a feedback loop which only increases anxiety, driving people further down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214532/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The answers lie in early human evolution.Joe Stubbersfield, Lecturer in Psychology, University of WinchesterColtan Scrivner, Behavioral Scientist, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2133492023-10-10T22:53:10Z2023-10-10T22:53:10ZWhy taking a trauma- and violence-informed approach can make sport safer and more equitable<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/why-taking-a-trauma-and-violence-informed-approach-can-make-sport-safer-and-more-equitable" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Spanish football player Jenni Hermoso <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/jenni-hermoso-sexual-assault-accusation-luis-rubiales-spanish-soccer-1.6957834">accused Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales of sexual assault in September</a> after he kissed her on the lips without her consent during the FIFA Women’s World Cup award ceremony. </p>
<p>Rubiales has since resigned from his job. And the incident has yet again highlighted the pressing need for action to support survivors and prevent sexual and gender-based violence in sports. It also underlined the sheer outrage of the public and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2018.1564944">fuelled demands</a> for education, interventions and the dire need to overhaul and reform the sport sector here in Canada. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/status_report/2014/en/">World Health Organization</a> has declared sexual and gender-based violence one of the most ubiquitous and complex global health issues. Canada has been going through its own <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/sports-minister-carla-qualtrough-safe-sport-crisis-1.6959940">safe sport crisis</a>. The recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/hockey-canadas-problems-show-that-the-government-needs-to-regulate-sport-in-canada-192052">Hockey Canada crisis</a> boldly and publicly illustrated the need for better educational activities in youth sport. </p>
<p>In 2022, Hockey Canada’s CEO and entire board of directors <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/hockey-canada-board-1.6612582">resigned due to their controversial handling of alleged sexual assaults</a>. Allegations of abuse in varsity sports across Canada have been on the rise, <a href="https://www.tsn.ca/u-sports/western-investigating-misconduct-allegations-within-women-s-hockey-program-sources-say-1.2006658">with the most recent allegations</a> put forth in September by the women’s hockey team at Western University. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hockey-canada-in-overtime-the-troubled-organizations-next-moves-will-determine-its-future-192304">Hockey Canada in overtime: The troubled organization's next moves will determine its future</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These issues have prompted public discussion around sexual violence, abuse and safeguarding sport. There is a need to develop both innovative interventions and unorthodox approaches at all levels — from the grassroots to the elite level — to truly make sport more equitable, inclusive and safe. </p>
<h2>Trauma- and violence-informed approaches</h2>
<p>Mainstream sport and physical activity programs rarely tackle social and structural inequities. In response, <a href="https://equiphealthcare.ca/files/2021/05/GTV-EQUIP-Tool-TVIC-Spring2021.pdf">a trauma- and violence-informed approach</a> calls for participants, coaches, managers and organizations to better understand the effects of systemic, structural and interpersonal violence. This approach is guided by <a href="https://equiphealthcare.ca/files/2020/01/EQUIP_GTV_TVIC_Principles.pdf">four tenets of trauma- and violence-informed care</a>: </p>
<p>1) trauma awareness; </p>
<p>2) safety and trustworthiness;</p>
<p>3) choice and collaboration; </p>
<p>4) strengths-based and capacity building.</p>
<p>In Canada, calls for a preventive approach to sexual and gender-based violence are loud and clear. There have been demands by <a href="https://www.scholarsagainstabuse.com/">scholars</a>, sport managers, policymakers, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2022.840221">athletes</a> and coaches for sporting bodies and governments to better understand the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/scholars-against-abuse-jan23-1.6722975">widespread abuse in Canadian sports</a>. And yet, these issues remain understudied. </p>
<h2>Accounting for violence in sport</h2>
<p>Through our <a href="https://theconversation.com/levelling-the-playing-field-how-a-trauma-informed-approach-can-make-physical-activity-more-accessible-181952">community-based research</a>, we are working with diverse community organizations in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver on a multi-level, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/news/2022/10/government-of-canada-supports-projects-to-prevent-and-address-family-violence.html">pilot project that brings an understanding of trauma and violence</a> into their sport and physical activity programs and organizations more broadly.</p>
<p>Through this work, we aim to address and foreground the intersecting effects of systemic, structural and interpersonal violence in the development and delivery of sport and physical activity. To do this, we are using <a href="https://apwld.org/feminist-participatory-action-research-fpar/">feminist participatory action research</a> to better address the diverse voices, needs and concerns of community members. </p>
<p>This research involves piloting trauma- and violence-informed training modules for coaches/providers, alongside sport and physical activity programs that cater to their specific needs and priorities.</p>
<p>We have also explored what we can learn from sport for development programs across the globe. <a href="https://www.sportanddev.org/">Sport for development</a> positions sport as a valuable tool to achieve local, domestic and global development objectives, including those encompassed by the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">UN Sustainable Development Goals</a>.</p>
<p>For example, Women Win — an international organization that aims to advance girls’ and women’s rights through sport and play — supports <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/9781838678630">sport, gender and development</a> initiatives to safeguard and support survivors while promoting health equity and safe sport. Their programming has been useful for promoting sexual and reproductive health rights and addressing sexual and gender-based violence. </p>
<p>Women Win has <a href="https://www.womenwin.org/grls/areas-of-expertise/">developed toolkits</a> to help youth address sexual and gender-based violence by transforming their attitudes and behaviours.</p>
<p>Other topics encompassed by the toolkits include using sport and play to build self-confidence, assertive communication, positive body image and self-advocacy. While a notable first step, it is important to ensure these tools don’t place the burden of preventing sexual and gender-based violence on the shoulders of survivors. </p>
<h2>Alternative solutions</h2>
<p>While <a href="https://brocku.ca/applied-health-sciences/kinesiology/faculty-research/faculty-directory/cathy-van-ingen-phd/">scholarship is growing in this area</a>, further research is needed to better understand how trauma- and violence-informed approaches to sport in Canada — alongside sport for development — may address systemic and institutional violence. Indeed, these approaches can potentially help self-identified women who have — and continue to — experience inequities and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/10778012221134821">barriers to participation in sport and physical activity</a>. </p>
<p>Managers, coaches and policymakers must gain a deeper understanding of interpersonal, systemic and sexual and gender-based violence, while also providing support to survivors. While Canadian sport for development organizations like <a href="https://shapeyourlifeboxing.com/">Shape Your Life</a> and global entities like Women Win offer promising strategies, additional resources are required to address these issues adequately. </p>
<p>Scholars and stakeholders have an opportunity to generate new ways of thinking about safe sport practices and policies promoted, for example, through sport for development programming that is survivor-led, trauma-informed and grounded in transformative justice. And while sport for development programs aren’t perfect, the sport sector would do well to build on the crucial groundwork organizations like Women Win and Shape Your Life have already laid out.</p>
<p>Trauma- and violence-informed approaches can potentially enhance safety across Canada’s abusive, patriarchal sporting culture. Now, more than ever, we need collaborative, evidence-based and novel solutions to address violence in sport and support survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. Because we can — and must — do better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lyndsay M.C. Hayhurst receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Public Health Agency of Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francine Darroch receives funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>A trauma- and violence-informed approach calls for participants, coaches, managers and organizations to understand the effects of systemic, structural and interpersonal violence.Lyndsay M.C. Hayhurst, Associate Professor, School of Kinesiology and Health Science, York University, CanadaFrancine Darroch, Associate Professor, Health Sciences, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2144502023-10-09T12:22:45Z2023-10-09T12:22:45ZToday’s white working-class young men who turn to racist violence are part of a long, sad American history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552186/original/file-20231004-19-gkf42y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=844%2C152%2C5146%2C3835&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dressed in orange prison garb, Payton Gendron is sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 10 Black people in Buffalo, N.Y. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/payton-gendron-is-escorted-back-into-the-courtroom-by-news-photo/1247183130?adppopup=true">Derek Gee/Buffalo News/Pool via Xinhua</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In recent years, the United States has seen <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-mass-shootings-motivated-by-hate-2023-08-28/">a surge of white supremacist mass shootings against racial minorities</a>. While not always the case, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/06/03/why-so-many-mass-shooters-young-angry-men/">mass shooters tend to be young white men</a>. </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/masculinity-overdue-reckoning-mass-shootings-child-advocates-say-rcna33597">journalists</a> and <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/567070c969a91a786be045cb/t/5773edb415d5dbbfbeb44621/1467215284777/Suicide+by+Mass+Murders.pdf">researchers</a> have argued that class and ideals of white masculinity are partly to blame. </p>
<p>This argument is not surprising. Throughout U.S. history, white men’s anxieties over their manhood and social class help explain many <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-24/black-americans-more-likely-to-be-mass-shooting-victims">violent attacks on Black people</a>, whom the perpetrators blame for denying them their rightful privileges. </p>
<p>Such was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/17/878828088/5-years-after-charleston-church-massacre-what-have-we-learned">the case with Dylann Roof</a>, a then 22-year-old white supremacist who was convicted and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/10/11/1128137852/dylann-roof-supreme-court-death-sentence-appeal">sentenced to death</a> in the 2015 deaths of nine Black worshippers at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.</p>
<p>In another case involving <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/buffalo-supermarket-gunman-to-be-sentenced-to-life-for-racist-attack-killing-10">a racist mass shooting</a>, Payton Gendron, a white supremacist who believed a slew of racist conspiracy theories he discovered online, was sentenced to life in prison after his convictions on the 2022 murders of 10 Black people at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood.</p>
<p>One such unfounded conspiracy that then 18-year-old Gendron frequently cited was the “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/16/1099034094/what-is-the-great-replacement-theory">great replacement theory</a>,” the false idea that a group is attempting to replace white Americans with nonwhite people through immigration, interracial marriage and, eventually, violence. Such ideas reflect white supremacist beliefs, but they also reveal deep insecurities about white men’s social status in America.</p>
<p>It’s my belief as <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/history/faculty/profile.html?id=ckohlha1">a scholar</a> of U.S. history, labor, ethnicity and masculinity that Roof, Gendron and other recent mass shooters in racist attacks share similar insecurities with their historical predecessors. </p>
<p>Though finding solutions is not an easy task, recognizing the link between white anxiety and racial violence is a first step in addressing the problem. </p>
<h2>Class, masculinity and violence</h2>
<p>In modern-day society, young men face many hurdles to traditional avenues of masculine success. It’s more difficult than ever for young people to <a href="https://archive.curbed.com/2018/4/10/17219786/buying-a-house-mortgage-government-gi-bill">purchase a home</a>, <a href="https://money.com/harder-for-millennials-get-good-job/">secure a high-paying job</a> or <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/07/marriage-divorce-rates.html#:%7E:text=Both%20the%20marriage%20and%20divorce,per%201%2C000%20women%20in%202011.">find a marriage partner</a>. These difficulties result in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2023/09/29/gen-z-faces-financial-challenges-stress-anxiety-and-an-uncertain-future/?sh=1e7af33e4f14">a great degree of anxiety among young people</a> who struggle to achieve the security of their parents’ generation. </p>
<p>Many young men become <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/01/lost-boys-violent-narcissism-angry-young-men/672886/">particularly resentful</a> of these conditions. Male socioeconomic power is traditionally linked with <a href="https://fee.org/articles/why-patriarchy-once-made-economic-sense/">patriarchal authority</a>, a position to which many white men may feel they are entitled. </p>
<p>Throughout American history, white manhood was often defined “through the subjugation of racialized and gendered others,” according to historian <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9780807854945/murder-at-the-sleepy-lagoon/">Eduardo Obregón Pagán</a>. But when they felt their superiority was threatened, white men acted against the supposed enemies whom they felt blocked them from enjoying these benefits of their white male privilege. </p>
<h2>The 1863 New York City draft riots</h2>
<p>During the Civil War, northern states like New York <a href="https://www.historynet.com/draft-riots-civil-war/">instituted a lottery draft</a> of fighting-age white men. At the time, Black men were exempted from the draft because <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/dred-scott-v-sandford">they were not considered U.S. citizens</a>. </p>
<p>The draft infuriated the white working-class population of New York in part because rich white men could hire a substitute or pay $300 to secure an exemption to the draft. This sum was roughly the average yearly salary of an American worker.</p>
<p>In response, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/draft-riots">thousands of white workers rioted</a> between July 13 and July 16, killing over 100 people. They concentrated their attacks on African Americans, whom they beat, tortured and killed. Most egregiously, rioters burned down the <a href="https://maap.columbia.edu/place/35.html#:%7E:text=The%20orphanage%20is%20remembered%20best,City%20draft%20riots%20of%201863.">Colored Orphanage Asylum</a>, which sheltered over 200 Black children.</p>
<p>In one particular display of gendered symbolism, <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/317749.html&title=The+New+York+City+Draft+Riots+of+1863&desc=#:%7E:text=After%20the%20mob%20pulled%20Franklin%27s%20body%20from%20the%20lamppost%2C%20a%20sixteen%2Dyear%2Dold%20Irish%20man%2C%20Patrick%20Butler%2C%20dragged%20the%20body%20through%20the%20streets%20by%20its%20genitals">a 16-year-old white youth</a> dragged a Black corpse through the street by his genitals.</p>
<p>The rioters’ anger over their subordinate social class largely drove their attacks against Black men who were an easier target than the real cause of the draft inequalities – elite white men and government agents.</p>
<h2>The 1919 Chicago race riot</h2>
<p>During the turn of the 20th century, the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/migrations/great-migration">Great Migration</a> saw many southern Black people move from the rural South to northern cities like Chicago. As waves of Black people moved into the city, white Chicagoans on the city’s South Side began <a href="https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2019/07/26/chicago-1919-race-riot">bombing campaigns</a> against Black-owned homes to keep them out of white neighborhoods. </p>
<p>In July 1919, <a href="https://time.com/5636039/chicago-race-riots-art-project/">a Black teenager</a> inadvertently drifted into what was considered the white section of Lake Michigan. Angry white people threw rocks at him and he eventually drowned.
The incident sparked the infamous <a href="https://chicagoraceriot.org/">Chicago race riot</a>, which left 38 people dead, most of whom were Black. </p>
<p>The main perpetrators of riot violence were organized white youth gangs operating under the moniker of “<a href="https://www.americanhistoryusa.com/prelude-to-riot-irish-athletic-clubs-and-black-belt-1919/">athletic clubs</a>,” a phenomenon that is the primary focus of <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/colin-kohlhaas-1002757">my own research</a>. While these clubs participated in athletic competitions, they were, in effect, violent gangs who targeted Black men. </p>
<p>These gangs prowled the streets in automobiles and attacked African Americans, burned black homes and businesses, and kept the fires of racial violence inflamed for days. They blamed Black men <a href="https://chicagoraceriot.org/history/great-migration/">for invading their communities</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Black man who is bleeding and laying on a sidewalk is pelted with rocks by two white men." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552176/original/file-20231004-19-57nbim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552176/original/file-20231004-19-57nbim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552176/original/file-20231004-19-57nbim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552176/original/file-20231004-19-57nbim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552176/original/file-20231004-19-57nbim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552176/original/file-20231004-19-57nbim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552176/original/file-20231004-19-57nbim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">White attackers throw rocks at a Black man during the Chicago race riots in 1919.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/whites-stone-an-african-american-man-who-later-died-of-his-news-photo/86288988?adppopup=true">Jun Fujita/Chicago History Museum/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many of the youth gang members were the <a href="http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/943.html">sons of Chicago packinghouse workers</a> and did not want to endure the menial wage work of their parents. Unable to secure social and financial success through legitimate means, such youths turned to crime and violence to make money and <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/ebook/9780691223308/vampires-dragons-and-egyptian-kings">build a sense of masculine identity</a>. </p>
<p>Instead of traditional notions of manhood centered on the family, they internalized what historians call “<a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p081545">rough masculinity</a>,” which prioritized fighting and physical toughness. </p>
<h2>The 1943 Los Angeles Zoot Suit Riots</h2>
<p>During World War II, the U.S government <a href="https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/rationing">rationed many foods and materials</a> for the war effort. One such item was fabric, which forced clothing designers to fashion clothes using less material. </p>
<p>Most Americans embraced wartime rations, viewing sacrifice as their patriotic duty. But in communities on the West Coast, young Mexican American men flaunted flamboyant “<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/brief-history-zoot-suit-180958507/">zoot suits</a>.” Zoot suits were brightly colored and distinctly flashy, but more importantly, they required a large amount of fabric. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Two men show where their clothes had been sashed by angry white servicemen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552178/original/file-20231004-27-z1eyx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552178/original/file-20231004-27-z1eyx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552178/original/file-20231004-27-z1eyx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552178/original/file-20231004-27-z1eyx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552178/original/file-20231004-27-z1eyx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552178/original/file-20231004-27-z1eyx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552178/original/file-20231004-27-z1eyx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two Latino youths had their clothes slashed by angry white servicemen during the Zoot Suit Riots on Jun. 10, 1943, in Los Angeles, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/noe-vasquez-and-joe-vasquez-latino-youths-who-reported-to-news-photo/85374830?adppopup=true">Anthony Potter Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>White Americans viewed the zoot suits as a mockery of the war effort. On June 3, 1943, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/zoot-suit-riots">a series of riots broke out</a> in Los Angeles as white servicemen attacked young Mexican Americans sporting zoot suits. </p>
<p>Demonstrating their fury over the clothing, servicemen stripped the suits off many victims and burned them. Over the course of three days, over 150 Latino men were injured, but the police did not arrest a single white serviceman. </p>
<p>In many ways, the zoot suiters challenged the masculinity of the servicemen. On one hand, the white men felt affronted by the Mexican Americans’ audacity to scoff at their manly sacrifice to go to war. On the other hand, by attacking the zoot suiters and ripping off their clothes, the servicemen effectively <a href="https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/zoot-suit-riots-and-wartime-los-angeles">denied their claims to manhood</a>. </p>
<p>There are many parallels between racial violence of the past and mass shootings of today. Understanding anxieties about class and masculinity can perhaps go a long way to addressing such concerns in a new generation of young white men.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214450/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin Kohlhaas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Throughout US history, racist attacks against racial minorities were committed by white men grappling with their masculinity and social status.Colin Kohlhaas, Doctoral Candidate, History, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2135052023-09-29T15:43:14Z2023-09-29T15:43:14ZCoffy: how Blaxploitation star Pam Grier helped lead the way for strong resilient women in film<p>When <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/sep/03/pam-grier-bfi-retrospective-jackie-brown-interview">Pam Grier’s</a> breakthrough movie <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069897/">Coffy</a> was released in 1973, American International Pictures was clearly confident that her eponymous character was a supercharged heroine who would excite filmgoers.</p>
<p>“She’s the ‘GODMOTHER’ of them all!”, exclaimed the poster, linking the African-American Coffy to Marlon Brando’s Don Corleone in The Godfather (released the previous year). More enthusiastically still, the poster also called her “The Baddest One-Chick Hit-Squad That Ever Hit Town!”</p>
<p>Grier’s starring role in Coffy marked an upgrade in her screen status, following a series of smaller roles in <a href="https://www.polyesterzine.com/features/feminist-filmmaking-peaked-with-women-in-prison-exploitation-films">exploitative prison flicks</a>. Her proficiency in energetic action sequences and her openness to frank bodily display made her a perfect fit for American cinema in an era permitting more violence and nudity on screen than before. But Coffy saw her for the first time as the main propulsive force in a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/blaxploitation-movie#ref1238450">Blaxploitation</a> movie.</p>
<p>A label more popular than scholarly, Blaxploitation captures the wave of low-budget, black-character-centred films that emerged from Hollywood in the first half of the 1970s. This cinematic movement was simultaneously reactionary and progressive, manifesting in the same instant both restrictive effects and liberating gestures. </p>
<p>On the one hand, Blaxploitation was the product of a studio system that was still white-dominated, with relatively few African-American executives, producers and directors. The films were not so much clear political statements as nakedly commercial ventures, characterised by low production values and familiar genre codes.</p>
<p>But on the other, the movies highlighted African-American agency and creativity. Crude and cartoonish though many of them were, they were nevertheless more <a href="https://www.biography.com/activists/malcolm-x">Malcolm X</a> than <a href="https://thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/martin-luther-king-jr/">Martin Luther King</a> in atmospherics, with protagonists who preferred to defeat whites than build multiracial alliances.</p>
<p>Coffy embodies the contradictions of Blaxploitation in a highly concentrated form. The film’s 50th anniversary allows us to reassess this vein of filmmaking and, more particularly, to think about the mixed politics of Grier’s own star image. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dyz9XeQwggQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>A liberated woman</h2>
<p>In her day job, Coffy is a nurse engaged in emergency care. Outside working hours, however, she embarks on a one-woman crusade to annihilate the drug dealers who have rendered her young sister comatose and brought misery to many in the black community. </p>
<p>According to her lover, African-American politician Howard Brunswick, Coffy is a liberated woman. Just as she does in later Blaxploitation films such as <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071517/">Foxy Brown</a> (1974) and <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sheba-baby-1975">Sheba, Baby</a> (1975), Grier dispenses with legal niceties as she dynamically sets about remedying her people’s ills. Nevertheless, a sense of constriction, as well as liberation, is still apparent in her screen persona.</p>
<p>Only two years after Coffy’s release, feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey published her essay <a href="https://ia802801.us.archive.org/4/items/visual-pleasure-and-narrative-cinema/Laura-mulvey-visual-pleasure-and-narrative-cinema.pdf">Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema</a>. This theorised the heterosexual male gaze that Mulvey saw as governing mainstream film.</p>
<p>While men are “bearers of the look”, women by contrast are coded on screen “for strong visual and erotic impact, so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness”. Grier, in Coffy, is frequently exhibited in this way, her unclothed body a point of obsession for the camera. </p>
<p>Yet if Grier is a female object in the film, she is also emphatically a feminist subject. As she said in her <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/foxy/pam-grier/andrea-cagan/9780446548489">2010 autobiography, Foxy</a>: “My movies featured women claiming the right to fight back, which previously had been out of the question.”</p>
<p>Coffy fights back heroically, surviving injury and laughing in the face of death as she erases drug pushers, bent cops and corrupt politicians. She is not only physically adept, but mentally agile too.</p>
<p>Grier’s performance in Coffy helped to initiate an American action cinema oriented around resourceful and resilient women. Think of the tradition that extends from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sigourney-Weaver">Sigourney Weaver</a> in the Alien franchise and Terminator’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/movies/linda-hamilton-terminator.html">Linda Hamilton</a>, to Black Panther’s <a href="https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/danai-gurira-interview-2022">Danai Gurira</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lupita-Nyongo">Lupita Nyong’o</a>. Crucially, it should be added that these descendants had the advantages of rich narrative and developed characterisation that were denied to Grier as she worked on the rapid production line of low-budget Blaxploitation cinema. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R0DzZbtk0gQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Dreaming of something better</h2>
<p>More than once, as she enacts her spree of purifying violence, Coffy speaks of being in “a dream”. Fantasy, or wish-fulfilment, is central to the film, as it is in so many other Blaxploitation movies where heroes with improbable powers engineer magical solutions to the problems of racism and inequality. </p>
<p>Coffy’s dream of one woman redressing systemic injustice prompts caution, if not scepticism. Though the film is touched by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Panther-Party">Black Panther Party’s</a> imperative of militant resistance, it utterly lacks the Panthers’ attention to communal struggle. As <a href="https://www.bcu.ac.uk/social-sciences/about-us/staff/criminology-and-sociology/kehinde-andrews">black studies academic Kehinde Andrews</a> insists: “Radical engagement must be built on collective agency … to reassert black radicalism we have to push back against the corrosive idea that there can ever be an individual revolution.”</p>
<p>At the same time, however, fantasy is part of any liberatory politics. If the actual prospects of an African-American woman triumphing as thoroughly as Coffy does are negligible, the spectacle of her unimpeded resistance to the unjust is still inspirational.</p>
<p>This finally, perhaps, is the value of Blaxploitation movies such as Coffy. In the face of a long history of African-American pain, from chattel slavery to the violence galvanising Black Lives Matter in our own moment, these films alter the mood and start to imagine what a better society might look like. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213505/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Dix does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Coffy saw Pam Grier as the main propulsive force in a Blaxploitation movie, breaking ground for later female roles such as Ripley in Alien, Sarah Connor in Terminator and Nakia in Black Panther.Andrew Dix, Senior Lecturer in American Literature and Film, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2116382023-09-12T14:48:12Z2023-09-12T14:48:12Z1973: a golden year for film that rewrote the rules of cinema<p>Martin Scorsese’s <a href="https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/movies/mean-streets-pauline-kael/">Mean Streets</a> burst on to cinema screens 50 years ago, a cacophony of soundtrack, film styles, religion and violence which firmly established the young filmmaker as cut from a different kind of cloth. </p>
<p>Like every screen pioneer before him – from early film illusionist <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/georges-melies-autobiography">Georges Méliès</a> to the 1950s’ <a href="https://nofilmschool.com/what-is-the-french-new-wave">French New Wave</a> filmmakers – Scorsese was testing out a range of cinematic possibilities.</p>
<p>In the opening minutes, a studio set with blue lighting (denoting night time) perfectly creates the atmosphere for the modest apartment of small-time gangster Charlie (Harvey Keitel).</p>
<p>There’s intimate <a href="https://www.kodak.com/en/motion/page/super-8-history">Super8</a> old home movie footage, but also scenes of the real <a href="https://sangennaronyc.org">San Gennaro festival</a> in New York’s Little Italy. Is this a documentary? A seedy bar bathed in red (which would become Scorsese’s signature colour) tells a different story.</p>
<p>We’re certainly not in Kansas any more: gone are the stable camera, smooth editing and well-defined characters of <a href="https://mubi.com/en/lists/classical-hollywood">classical “old” Hollywood</a>. We’re offered an arm as we join Dorothy on the yellow brick road in <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/the-wizard-of-oz-thrs-1939-review-1235002943/">The Wizard of Oz</a> (1939), but there’s no map or trusty chaperone in Charlie’s ‘hood.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AdQ4_AzBxXg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>New Hollywood</h2>
<p>Mean Streets perfectly captures the audaciousness of <a href="https://www.newwavefilm.com/international/new-hollywood.shtml">New Hollywood</a>, a collective of (mostly) young, (mostly) male, (mostly) bearded filmmakers on a mission to rewrite cinema’s rulebook from the late 1960s. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.biography.com/movies-tv/martin-scorsese">Scorsese</a> and contemporaries (including <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-with-robert-altman">Robert Altman</a>, <a href="http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2021/great-directors/lucas-george/">George Lucas</a> and <a href="https://amblin.com/steven-spielberg/">Steven Spielberg</a>) were as much in love with classical Hollywood as they were reacting against it. They’d grown up with it, after all, and were fans of the old westerns of <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/john-ford-an-american-director-185322/">John Ford</a> and comedies of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/jan/15/howard-hawks-films-david-bromwich">Howard Hawks</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2010/dec/18/frank-capra-bfi-season-review">Frank Capra</a>.</p>
<p>But this new generation were film school graduates. Like the cinema-literate French New Wave before them, they saw themselves as film artists, with something new and personal to say.</p>
<p>Scorsese’s own vision, then, immortalised in this noisy 1973 film, was of America’s “mean streets” and the conflicted anti-heroes trying to navigate them. The Vietnam War was weighing on society’s conscience, and male psychological turmoil darkened cinema screens. </p>
<p>Fellow New Hollywood filmmaker <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jun/17/robert-altmans-20-best-films-ranked">Altman’s</a> career was defined by anti-heroes, and, more broadly, defying Hollywood conventions. His 1971 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/1999/dec/23/artsfeatures1">McCabe and Mrs Miller</a> had reconfigured the classical western. Now 1973’s <a href="https://cinephiliabeyond.org/long-goodbye-robert-altman-leigh-bracketts-unique-fascinating-take-chandler-film-noir/">The Long Goodbye</a> took the conventions of the <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/one-great-film-noir-every-year-1940-59">noir film</a> and turned them, and the genre’s wisecracking hero (epitomised in Bogart’s famous private eye), on its head. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xsZAfkcKb4E?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Philip Marlowe (Elliot Gould) is a rubbish private eye: he’s duped by the <a href="https://www.filmsite.org/femmesfatales.html">femme fatale</a>, and there’s a sense that something’s always beyond his grasp (this we get from Altman’s trademark drifting camerawork). A strong sense of moral code was part of the classical Hollywood noirs. No spoilers, but there’s little sense in this 1973 re-envisioning that Marlowe is morally justified in the actions he carries out. </p>
<p>With these criminal settings and alienated anti-heroes, it’s easy to sum up 1973 as a year of hard-hitting, often violent, box office fare. Highest-grossing film <a href="https://www.the-numbers.com/market/1973/top-grossing-movies">The Exorcist</a>, directed by another New Hollywood alumnus, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Friedkin">William Friedkin</a>, spun onto screens and sparked controversy – both for positioning a priest as a child abuser, and for (supposedly) inducing “<a href="https://www.bbfc.co.uk/education/case-studies/exorcist">fainting, vomiting and heart attacks in cinemas</a>”. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YDGw1MTEe9k?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>It’s not the urban mean streets but the wild open Badlands of South Dakota where <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Terrence-Malick">Terrence Malick’s</a> impulsive killing spree plays out in his celebrated <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-badlands-1973">film</a>. And then there’s the shocking aftermath of a gang rape in <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/biography-sidney-lumet/7810/">Sydney Lumet’s</a> <a href="https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/serpico-review/">Serpico</a>, another neo-noir/generic twist of a film centring on the tale of a good cop (Al Pacino) resisting the bad cops.</p>
<p>With Vietnam lingering, the filmmakers of 1973 weren’t just reflecting more violence; they were interested in how cinema, as a very distinctive art form, could explore violence. A new <a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/594087/index.html">film ratings system</a> had given them greater freedom (more explicit content could be now shown, albeit to a particular age group). And a growing youth audience were hungry for these new – sometimes graphic, but often subversive – cinematic stories.</p>
<h2>That’s entertainment</h2>
<p>But 1973 was also the year of Woody Allen’s sci-fi romp, <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sleeper-1973">Sleeper</a>, Peter Bogdanovich’s Oscar-winning father and daughter grifter comedy <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/12/courtney-hunt-paper-moon-ryan-tatum-oneal">Paper Moon</a>, Oscar-winning gambling caper <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nAIb_J9T5M">The Sting</a> and the latest in the Bond franchise, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTzsm9-XWQo">Live and Let Die</a> with Roger Moore. New Hollywood filmmakers, and the industry more broadly, have always made works of “entertainment”. But audiences want choice: <a href="https://ew.com/movies/barbieheimer-everything-to-know/">Barbenheimer</a>, anyone? </p>
<p>The third highest-grossing film of 1973 was George Lucas’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/11/american-graffiti-george-lucas-50-years">American Graffiti</a>. It’s a semi-autobiographical homage to the director’s own teenage years, and its wallpaper of rock'n’roll hits reminds us just how important music is in our lives growing up. But the burger joint date nights and high school dances aren’t forever: a blunt epilogue tells us one of the kids is killed in Vietnam. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OZ9Gp6Qc8LQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Like Mean Streets, Lucas’s film is a bold cinematic experiment: musical lyrics are quirkily placed, and even the same songs can sound radically different: crisp and clear, like on a home stereo; hollow, in a vast school hall; muffled and scratchy, on the radio. (Critics have called this “<a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-sonic-triumph-of-american-graffiti/">worldising</a>”). Altman was also experimenting freely in The Long Goodbye: listen to how the same title song replays in a variety of different genres and styles. </p>
<p>Fast-forward five decades, and contemporary filmmakers like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Fincher">David Fincher</a>, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/barbie-greta-gerwig-interview-margot-robbie-ryan-gosling-superhero-movie-1234769344/">Greta Gerwig</a> and <a href="https://www.biography.com/movies-tv/christopher-nolan">Christopher Nolan</a> continue to rewrite cinema’s rulebook. Who says films need to be linear? Do characters really need to be good or bad? Why do camera and sound have to be tied into the action? </p>
<p>Beards might be optional 50 years on, but that mission to test the boundaries of the big screen is not.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211638/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lesley Harbidge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From Mean Streets to The Exorcist and Badlands, 1973 was a year that showcased the audacious talent in Hollywood that was experimenting with darker themes and new film techniques.Lesley Harbidge, Head of Film & TV, University of South WalesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2045642023-08-23T14:28:32Z2023-08-23T14:28:32ZSouth Africa’s media often portrays foreigners in a bad light. This fuels xenophobia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542799/original/file-20230815-27-w5anbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A refugee child in South Africa plays on a road side after attacks on foreigners in 2008. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Alexander Joe/ AFP) (Photo by ALEXANDER JOE/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The media’s huge influence comes from the fact that it’s capable of affecting public perceptions. In the light of this we set out to understand how South Africa’s print media writes about foreigners. And the implications of this representation on local attitudes towards foreign nationals.</p>
<p>Our recently published <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00020184.2023.2226618">study</a> looked at the representation of foreigners in some of South Africa’s biggest print and online newspapers. These included the Mail & Guardian, Sowetan, Times Live, Daily Maverick, Independent Online (IOL) and News24. </p>
<p>Foreigners make up about <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=14569">7% (4 million people)</a> of the country’s population. Their presence in the country receives a great deal of media attention and has sparked a number of xenophobic attacks. Between 1994 and 2021 there were <a href="https://www.xenowatch.ac.za/xenowatch-factsheet-2-incidents-of-xenophobic-violence-in-south-africa-1994-april-2021/">796 incidents</a> resulting in 588 killings, 1,000 physical assaults and almost 4,700 foreigner-owned shops looted.</p>
<p>This xenophobia also has an attitudinal dimension. A <a href="https://africaportal.org/publication/citizens-perception-on-migration-in-south-africa/">2013 survey noted that</a> about 44% of South Africans didn’t agree with granting asylum to refugees, 45% said foreigners shouldn’t be allowed to live in the country and 67% didn’t trust foreigners. A more recent <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fpac0000483">study</a> asked respondents to mention the reasons behind anti-immigrant hate crimes: 51% blamed foreigners while only 23% blamed locals. </p>
<p>As researchers in <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sizo-nkala-1206019">Political Science</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sikanyiso-masuku-697362">Sociology</a>, we were interested in how South Africa’s print media portrays foreign nationals. And how this can influence public attitudes. Many researchers have argued that such representation can <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1130282271864346112&ust=1691769420000000&usg=AOvVaw34rZXBoQbQujLrvXIe8fjb&hl=en&source=gmail">determine power relations</a> in society. The media’s potential to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/18186874.2019.1642770">influence public opinions</a> on immigration and other social issues, is increased by its capacity to disseminate its representations at scale.</p>
<p>Our findings showed that the media often used language that portrayed foreigners in a bad light, and dehumanised them. We argue in our paper that this <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10228195.2013.803147">has the potential to trigger violence against the perceived invaders</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-xenophobic-myths-about-immigrants-in-south-africa-debunked-by-researchers-191194">5 xenophobic myths about immigrants in South Africa debunked by researchers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We also found that the language used was often alarmist when it came to the size of the African immigrant population in South Africa. This created the sense that the country has an overwhelming number of immigrants. This is not true.</p>
<p>We conclude that there’s an urgent need to find a solution. We believe that part of the solution lies in rectifying erroneous public perceptions about foreigners. </p>
<h2>How the media portrays foreign nationals</h2>
<p>We found a common trend in the way the South African media <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00020184.2023.2226618">describes the immigrant population</a>. For instance, without incorporating academic or other credible research, there is loose use of adjectives such as “undocumented” or “illegal” when referring to African foreign nationals. </p>
<p>This reinforces <a href="http://www.migratingoutofpoverty.org/files/file.php?name=2017-18-3-vanyoro-2018-re-presenting-knowledge-the-coverage-of-xenophobia.pdf&site=354">the impression</a> that all foreigners are <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2019-03-03-government-must-in-a-big-way-register-foreigners-in-sa-thokozile-xasa/">undocumented and illegal</a>.</p>
<p>Our research also highlighted the use of imprecise but nonetheless suggestive quantification of the African immigrant population. The media frequently used expressions such as “huge numbers”, “many foreigners”, “thousands of immigrants”, “millions of foreign nationals”, “over 300 illegal foreigners”, and “a vast number”. </p>
<p>We also noticed the use of <a href="https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/josi.12027">dehumanising metaphors</a>. This is mostly done through likening African immigrants to nonliving objects such as water, cargo or natural disasters that must be controlled. Often the movement of foreigners in the country was described using terms like “massive influx”, “abnormal influx”, “flooding to South Africa’, and "trickling into”, “roaming free”, “descended”, “fled” or “flocked”. </p>
<p>In some instances, the threat level was emphasised through describing the immigrant population as having “taken over” and being an “added burden” to the country. Correspondingly, war terms and phrases such as “crackdown”, “leading the charge”, “operation to rid” and “protect porous borders” were used to signal a response while reinforcing the notion of an impending invasion.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/integrating-languages-should-form-part-of-south-africas-xenophobia-solutions-137526">Integrating languages should form part of South Africa's xenophobia solutions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Another issue our study investigated was how the media attached meanings to words. Words such as immigrants and foreigners were often accompanied by verbs such as “blame”, “arrest”, “deport”, “employ”, “suspect”, “hold”, “transfer”, “scapegoat”, “prevent”, “dislike” and “kick”.</p>
<p>Some of the common verbs associated with foreigners were “steal”, “overrun”, “commit”, “dominate”, “enter”, “continue” and “occupy”. The choice of these verbs <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10228195.2013.803147?casa_token=XDAleCfWeuIAAAAA:nbvcMCbW2bXbjubhjEE_xYb-pr8Ms02ckzbY9DoXIzAtc4SyidCvUICAipF8vRzsvqA70uDOw7tSDBY">perpetuates the narratives</a> that foreigners commit crime, and have overrun, dominated, and occupied South Africa.</p>
<h2>Us versus them</h2>
<p>Corresponding to the negative depiction was the creation of separate identities (us versus them). Mostly, this was done by downplaying the negative traits of South Africans while emphasising their positive traits. The positive traits of African foreign nationals were minimised and their negative traits highlighted.</p>
<p>An example of how the negative actions of South African citizens are downplayed (or even concealed), was in media reports of xenophobic violence. These sought to conceal the agency of locals through the use of verbs as nouns and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00020184.2023.2226618?casa_token=zEXjltRwCBQAAAAA%3ARLEiyly00xSsTItuGOKHCTPfq6V9yQhyhLt-oOxbrZ31vO1Cjbc_YQPwQV2m740PpCfg92hTjrdKJMk">the selective use of passive and active voices</a>. </p>
<p>The use of verbs to replace words that identify a class or group of people (nouns), leads to headlines like “<a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2008-05-17-xenophobic-attacks-spread-in-gauteng/">Xenophobic attacks spread in Gauteng</a>”, <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2015/04/17/Overnight-xenophobic-violence-in-Johannesburg">“Overnight xenophobic violence rocks Johannesburg”</a>, and “<a href="https://www.iol.co.za/sunday-tribune/news/night-of-horror-for-malawians-as-attacks-on-foreigners-hit-durban-20350288">Night of horror for Malawians as attacks on foreigners hit Durban</a>”. </p>
<p>The terms “xenophobic attacks”, “xenophobic violence”, “attacks’, and "looting” were often turned into nouns in a way that hid the perpetrators of the xenophobic violence. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-is-scrapping-special-work-permits-for-zimbabweans-migrants-will-be-left-exposed-203943">South Africa is scrapping special work permits for Zimbabweans -- migrants will be left exposed</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In contrast, we noticed how the agency of foreigners was highlighted in negative reports with headlines such as <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2017-11-14-more-than-half-of-violent-crimes-in-gauteng-committed-by-illegal-immigrants/">“More than half of violent crimes in Gauteng committed by illegal immigrants”</a>.</p>
<p>Apart from the polarising nature of language use, one of our most important findings was that of unequal access to the media. Our study found that politicians (often critical of immigration) dominated media debates on foreigners. Reported speech from political elites was often <a href="https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/15064">reproduced without any critical analysis</a>, followed by civil society and academics. Foreigners were quoted in only 14% of the reported speeches. </p>
<h2>What should be done</h2>
<p>The causal relations between media discourse and public attitudes have not been scientifically proven. Nevertheless it’s plausible to argue that the media has the potential to shape public attitudes. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lgbt-migrants-in-south-africa-religion-can-be-a-blessing-and-a-curse-169758">LGBT migrants in South Africa: religion can be a blessing, and a curse</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>More attention needs to be paid to how South African media practitioners portray foreign nationals in their platforms. Such portrayals are important, as they can affect how foreign nationals are treated not only by ordinary South Africans but also employers, the police and health institutions, among others.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204564/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sikanyiso Masuku receives funding from the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs. He is affiliated with the University of South Africa.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sizo Nkala receives funding from Centre for Africa-China Studies which is affiliated with the University of Johannesburg. </span></em></p>The South African print often uses language that portrays foreigners in a bad light, and dehumanises them.Sikanyiso Masuku, Research Fellow at The Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs (TM-School), University of South AfricaSizo Nkala, Research FellowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2118302023-08-22T05:49:38Z2023-08-22T05:49:38ZWhy do we make violent art – and what does it say about the artist?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543887/original/file-20230822-29-rk91ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C310%2C2544%2C1571&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">El Tres de Mayo by Francisco de Goya</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The sensationalised media coverage of the recent suspected mushroom poisonings in regional Victoria expanded last week, to include children’s scribblings on a wall. </p>
<p>The pictures, which comprised stick figures, rudimentary drawings and text that referenced death and dying, were removed last year from the former home of the woman who cooked the lunch. Drawn by her primary-school-aged children, and photographed long ago by the tradesman who cleaned the wall, they included tombstones, swords and the words “I am dead” and “You don’t long to live”. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/death-wall-inside-mushroom-chefs-house/news-story/a879b2505a32b22dc16214201659dab4">news story</a> revealing the pictures quoted another tradesperson who saw the wall, saying the drawings were not what you’d “typically expect” from children of that age. “You’d think they’d be drawing flowers and unicorns, not gravestones and death.”</p>
<p>It was implied that these “eerie”, “scary” depictions of violence indicate something troubling. But art history doesn’t bear this out, whether we’re talking about children’s capacity for gruesome drawings, or indeed the tradition of modern artworks by fully fledged artists whose work deliberately explores troubling themes.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/violence-is-here-to-stay-we-need-to-understand-it-31411">Violence is here to stay – we need to understand it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Ethical concerns and the human condition</h2>
<p>In fact, the history of modern art suggests depictions of violence are often tied to deep ethical concerns and explorations of the human condition. The idea that violent art must be the expression of a violent individual is simply not true.</p>
<p>In the wake of Freudian theories about the monster lurking inside “civilised man”, early 20th-century modernist explorations of violence were often a means of accessing unconscious human desires and fears. </p>
<p>Much <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-surrealism-52487">surrealist</a> and expressionist art sought to reveal deeper truths, beyond what was sanctioned in bourgeois society. </p>
<p>Man Ray’s 1921 <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/man-ray-cadeau-t07883">Gift</a> (or, <em>Cadeau</em>), a sculpture of a domestic iron studded with tacks, acknowledges the violent drives that unconsciously propel much human behaviour. And Andre Masson’s delicate <a href="https://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/collection/artwork/massacre">line-renderings of massacres</a> (1930-34) confront the viewer with the violence of war.</p>
<p>Such work was often motivated by the desire to outrage polite society and compel it to confront its hypocrisy, particularly in the wake of the horrors unleashed by the ruling classes during the first world war.</p>
<p>A modernist impulse to shock and an attraction to the darker side of the human psyche are still common in art and popular culture. It’s partly about asserting freedom from social norms. But it’s also about highlighting the breadth of human experience – and the social and personal harm that can result when that complexity is denied. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/y/young-british-artists-ybas">Young British Artists</a>, who began to exhibit together after a 1988 exhibition organised by Damien Hirst (perhaps their most notorious member), made a very successful brand of it. </p>
<p>Their work included <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/feb/21/marcus-harvey-margaret-thatcher">Marcus Harvey’s Myra</a> (1995), a portrait of a child serial killer, rendered in children’s handprints. Harvey’s work intends to shock us out of our assumptions about who serial killers are and their motivations, but also to force us to see that our society has produced people capable of such heinous acts.</p>
<p>Another strain of modern art represents violence as a means of holding perpetrators to account. Proto-realist painters such as <a href="https://www.parkwestgallery.com/francisco-goya-disasters-of-war/">Francisco Goya</a> depicted the atrocities of war in early 19th-century Spain in graphic detail as protest. </p>
<p>His contemporary Honoré Daumier was jailed for <a href="https://www.wikiart.org/en/honore-daumier/gargantua-1831">Gargantua</a> (1831), a caricature of King Louis Phillipe. It was one of a series of engravings illustrating the brutality of the French administration’s class warfare. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543883/original/file-20230822-18-xeifp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543883/original/file-20230822-18-xeifp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543883/original/file-20230822-18-xeifp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543883/original/file-20230822-18-xeifp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543883/original/file-20230822-18-xeifp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543883/original/file-20230822-18-xeifp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543883/original/file-20230822-18-xeifp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543883/original/file-20230822-18-xeifp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Honoré Daumier’s caricature of King Louis Phillipe, Gargantua, had him jailed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Documentary and protest</h2>
<p>The legacy of such artists lives on in documentary photography and film. There, the violence of political and historical events is made widely visible, with the aim of influencing public opinion and forcing governments to act. </p>
<p>Nick Ut’s photograph of “napalm girl” (1972), since identified as nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc, photographed naked while fleeing a napalm attack, is an iconic example. It <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-11/nick-ut-kim-phuc-napalm-girl-photo-50-years-later/101139364">arguably helped end</a> the war whose horrors it captured.</p>
<p>And recent exposés about the horrors of factory farming – such as <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12185108/">Hogwood</a> (2020), a documentary focused on a UK pig farm that features undercover footage – compel us to confront the normalised violence embedded on our dinner plates. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/50-years-after-napalm-girl-myths-distort-the-reality-behind-a-horrific-photo-of-the-vietnam-war-and-exaggerate-its-impact-183291">50 years after ‘Napalm Girl,’ myths distort the reality behind a horrific photo of the Vietnam War and exaggerate its impact</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Violence using the artist’s body</h2>
<p>Violence enacted on the artist’s own body has been a powerful means to explore the limits of the human condition, but also to make literal the violence of social and political repression. </p>
<p>In her early performance work, <a href="https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/yoko-ono-cut-piece-1964/">Cut Piece</a> (1964), Yoko Ono sits impassively onstage, a pair of scissors before her, awaiting the audience’s response to the invitation to cut off a little snippet of her clothing to take with them. </p>
<p>The audience’s latent gendered violence is gradually manifested, without a word being said by the artist: men take to her clothes with escalating bravado, until Ono is left in tatters.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EWczMBtPa04?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece revealed the audience’s gendered violence.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In her <a href="https://www.lissongallery.com/about/confession">Rhythm</a> series of performances (1973-74), <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-mystical-stillness-of-marina-abramovic-in-sydney-43640">Marina Abramovic</a> variously stabbed a knife between her splayed fingers, lay at the centre of a burning five-point star, and offered her prone body as an object for the audience to interact with, using a selection of objects that included a gun, a scalpel and a saw. </p>
<p>By subjecting herself to violence, Abramovic tests her physical and psychological limits – and by extension, our own. And she demonstrates the violent tendencies that are normalised and affirmed in patriarchal systems when, during Rhythm 0, her body is repeatedly assaulted by members of the public.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v0Qysmjakso?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Select footage from Marina Abramovic’s Rhythm performances.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2002, Australian artist Mike Parr sewed his lips shut and nailed his arm to a wall in his endurance performance <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/flinch-art-20020612-gduail.html">Close the Concentration Camps</a>. It was an act of solidarity and empathy with those in detention centres – and a protest against Australia’s inhumane refugee policy. </p>
<p>Acts of violent destruction can be central to the very artworks themselves, as acts of political commentary. </p>
<p>Ai Weiwei’s <a href="https://theartling.com/en/artzine/artling-exclusive-ai-weiweis-dropping-han-dynasty-urn/">Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn</a> (1995) dramatically focused on how little we value the past. And Michael Landy destroyed all his personal possessions in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20160713-michael-landy-the-man-who-destroyed-all-his-belongings">Break Down</a> (2001), in an anti-consumerist gesture. </p>
<p>The history of modern art shows compelling grounds for creating images of violence, including to reflect the complexities of human behaviour and to hold perpetrators accountable. </p>
<p>It tells us there is no clear causation between creating violent images and committing violent acts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211830/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline Millner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s often implied that violent art means something sinister about its creator – most recently, in news stories about ‘scary’ kids’ drawings of death. But the history of modern art suggests otherwise.Jacqueline Millner, Professor in Visual Arts, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2113552023-08-15T14:08:27Z2023-08-15T14:08:27ZSouth Sudan is gearing up for its first election – 3 things it must get right<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542338/original/file-20230811-21-9migfb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Sudan President Salva Kiir (left) and Vice President Riek Machar.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Louis/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The people of South Sudan have not exercised the right to choose their leaders since the referendum that secured <a href="https://www.un.org/africarenewal/web-features/new-nation-born">independence from Sudan in 2011</a>. Instead, they have suffered through cycles of <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/south-sudans-12-years-of-independence-triumphs-and-challenges/a-66151967">violent conflict</a> that have prevented the democratic transfer of power. </p>
<p>South Sudan descended into violent conflict less than three years after independence. It signed its first <a href="https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/Agreement%20on%20the%20Resolution%20of%20the%20Conflict%20in%20the%20Republic%20of%20South%20Sudan.pdf">peace agreement in 2015</a>. This collapsed in less than a year and was followed by another wave of violence. The 2015 peace agreement was resuscitated in <a href="https://docs.pca-cpa.org/2016/02/South-Sudan-Peace-Agreement-September-2018.pdf">2018</a> with hope it would lead to a newly elected government in February 2023. </p>
<p>After failing to fully implement the 2018 revitalised peace agreement, the signatories <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15219.doc.htm">extended its term for 24 months</a> to allow for better preparation for elections in December 2024. The elections, however, may be extended again. </p>
<p>I have <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Luka-Kuol-2">studied</a> constitution-making, security governance and post-conflict transitions. I also served as a minister in the Government of Southern Sudan and the Sudan National Government of Unity in 2005. In my view, postponing polls has become a currency in South Sudan, making a democratic transition through elections an elusive quest. However, it’s possible to hold elections if there is political will. </p>
<p>A recent public opinion survey showed that the majority of South Sudanese <a href="https://peacerep.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/South-Sudan-Policy-Report-Elections.pdf#page=11">are opposed to any further delays</a> to elections. Church leaders and civil society organisations have also <a href="https://cityreviewss.com/no-more-extension-the-church-adds-voice-in-call-for-general-election/">called</a> for elections. These sentiments indicate that the South Sudanese are tired of a status quo where the ruling elite clings to political power through endless power-sharing arrangements rather than through the ballot. </p>
<p>Three key things are needed for a credible poll: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>electoral laws to guide the process</p></li>
<li><p>voter registration and constituency boundaries</p></li>
<li><p>a safe environment to vote in.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Providing what’s needed</h2>
<p>There are <a href="https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/suedsudan/20294.pdf">major political and logistical challenges</a> in the way of an election in South Sudan. Resolving them will require hard choices and difficult trade-offs. </p>
<p><strong>Electoral laws:</strong> one of the big issues in the political reforms process is whether the elections will be conducted under a permanent constitution – which is <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-sudans-constitution-making-process-is-on-shaky-ground-how-to-firm-it-up-177107">still being drafted</a> – or the <a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/South_Sudan_2011">current constitution</a>. A permanent constitution is one of the prerequisites for the conduct of election under the 2018 peace deal. However, tying a permanent constitution to the conduct of elections was unrealistic. Permanent constitution-making takes time. It requires the effective participation of citizens, and the return of internally displaced persons and refugees to their home areas. </p>
<p>Also, the permanent constitution should be ratified by an elected parliament. Not the current handpicked 650 members of the national legislature who are part of South Sudan’s elite power-sharing arrangements. </p>
<p>The amended <a href="https://www.fd.uc.pt/g7+/pdfs/South_Sudan.pdf">2011 transitional constitution</a>, the <a href="https://aceproject.org/ero-en/regions/africa/SS/south-sudan-the-national-elections-act-no.-39-of/view">2012 elections Act</a> and the <a href="https://docs.pca-cpa.org/2016/02/South-Sudan-Peace-Agreement-September-2018.pdf">2018 revitalised peace agreement</a> can provide the basis for laws to guide the 2024 elections. </p>
<p><strong>Voter registration:</strong> another necessary condition for the conduct of elections is a population census. This is important for voter registration and the drawing of constituency boundaries. However, it would be ideal to conduct such a census when there is relative stability, and displaced persons and refugees can return to their homelands. </p>
<p>A population census will take time, though. So how can South Sudan register voters and draw boundaries without one? Political elites need to make the <a href="https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/suedsudan/20294.pdf">strategic decision</a> to either use the 2010 constituency boundaries, population estimates or voter registration data. Given rapid demographic shifts – <a href="https://africacenter.org/spotlight/record-36-million-africans-forcibly-displaced-is-44-percent-of-global-total-refugees-asylum/">40%</a> of the country’s population has been forcefully displaced – projections based on the <a href="http://ssnbs.microdatahub.com/index.php/catalog/6/study-description">2008 census</a> could be used to reflect these changes. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ssnbss.org/">National Bureau of Statistics</a> and other research centres, such as the public policy think-tank <a href="https://www.suddinstitute.org/">Sudd Institute</a>, could objectively make population projections. Combined, these data sets can provide reasonable estimates for voter registration and drawing boundaries for constituencies.</p>
<p><strong>Security, and political and civic space:</strong> violent conflict still plagues South Sudan. Should elections be held when there is greater security? Or be organised under the current conditions in the hope that they will produce a legitimate government that promotes peace? A <a href="https://peacerep.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/South-Sudan-Policy-Report-Elections.pdf">public perceptions survey</a> found that despite the fear of violence, the majority of South Sudanese want elections. Creating a minimum safe and secure environment, which includes political and civic space for elections, is within the reach of political elites. Especially with the <a href="https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/south-sudan-begins-unifying-ex-rebels-and-army-3932544#:%7E:text=South%20Sudan's%20unity%20government%20has,to%20transition%20to%20professional%20soldiers.">unification and deployment of security forces</a>. </p>
<h2>What’s going right</h2>
<p>South Sudan has put in motion two major laws that could help conduct elections.</p>
<p>The first is the progressive <a href="https://radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/elections-act-2012-amendment-bill-tabled-before-parliament">National Elections Bill</a>. It proposes a mixed system that allows geographical representation, as well as special <a href="https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/suedsudan/20294.pdf#page=14">parliamentary quota seats</a> for political parties and marginalised groups, such as women, persons with disabilities and the youth. This is aimed at ensuring inclusivity. It also reduces the risk of a single party holding a monopoly of power.</p>
<p>The elections bill has the potential to achieve political stability that rests on the distribution of power and resources to constituencies, as in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenya-illustrates-both-the-promise-as-well-as-the-pitfalls-of-devolution-96729">case of Kenya</a>. </p>
<p>The second law is the newly amended <a href="https://radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/parliament-passes-political-parties-act-2012-amendment-bill-2022">Political Parties Act</a>. Elections are only as credible as the parties that contest them. The amended law provides mechanisms for regulating political parties. It aims to ensure internal democratic governance and accountability in party constitutions. However, its implementation remains a challenge. For instance, the Political Parties Council hasn’t been formed, affecting the registration of political parties. </p>
<p>Most of South Sudan’s political parties are at the embryonic stage with limited or no political experience and resources. Investing in building their institutional capacities and governance will be as urgent as funding the elections. </p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>South Sudan is at a crossroad. Its ruling elites have to decide between continuing on the <a href="https://blog-iacl-aidc.org/new-blog-3/2022/12/13/elite-capture-and-popular-participation-in-south-sudans-constitution-making">endless power-sharing path</a> or heed to the demands of the people and embrace elections for state legitimacy and democratic transition.</p>
<p>The latter provides citizens with hope of a better South Sudan governed by elected leaders. Yet, political elites are <a href="https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/suedsudan/20294.pdf#page=23">becoming increasingly calculating and transactional</a> in meeting the minimum conditions for holding elections. </p>
<p>Providing funding for the elections, and related institutions and activities will test political commitment to the poll. The <a href="https://mofp.gov.ss/doc/MinisterofFinancandPlanning-BudgetSpeechFY2023_2024.pdf">2023-2024 budget</a> – expected to be an elections budget – failed to allocate resources for the poll. </p>
<p>The challenges facing the 2024 elections can be surmounted by collective political will. This is currently in short supply.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211355/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luka Kuol is affiliated with the Abyei Community Action for Development and the Rift Vally Institute.</span></em></p>The political elite have held on to power through power-sharing arrangements rather than the ballot. How will that change?Luka Kuol, Adjunct Professor, University of JubaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2100272023-08-01T14:44:38Z2023-08-01T14:44:38ZClimate change contributes to violence against children – here’s how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539206/original/file-20230725-27-87y32l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Refugees, some of them children, in Hargeisa, Somaliland. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/climate-change-contributes-to-violence-against-children-heres-how-210027&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p>Every day of the northern hemisphere’s summer in 2023 seems to bring a calamitous headline about the climate: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/live/2023/jul/17/europe-heatwave-2023-us-asia-heat-extreme-severe-weather-fires-flash-floods-flooding-record-breaking-heat-wave-stress-temperature-red-alert-climate-crisis">heatwaves</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/24/greece-wildfires-corfu-evia-rhodes-heatwave-northern-hemisphere-extreme-weather-temperatures-europe">wildfires</a>, massive <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/icy-water-courses-through-italian-streets-after-dramatic-hailstorm-12925407">hailstorms</a>.</p>
<p>Such scenes are set to become our global reality in the coming years. Scientists paint a <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/resources/spm-headline-statements/">grim picture</a> of how human-induced climate change, combined with wider environmental degradation, will affect us all.</p>
<p>That, of course, includes children. However, research is still in its early stages on how, precisely, both climate change and environmental degradation relate to violence against children.</p>
<p>It is crucial to explore these potential intersections to spur academic and political movement in this area. Findings from such reviews, and further research that may emerge from it, could help to inform policies and interventions that can protect and support children, particularly those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and environmental shocks. </p>
<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>We conducted an <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/zpxc8/">extensive scoping review of the literature</a> on the intersections of climate change, environmental degradation and violence against children, to see what’s known so far and what needs attention.</p>
<p>We explored both direct violence – physical, sexual and emotional – and structural violence; that is, rooted in inequitable and unjust systems and institutions. This approach allowed for a nuanced understanding of the implications for children in all countries. It also meant we could explore the causes and effects of climate change and environmental degradation in relation to systems, institutions, structures, norms and interactions.</p>
<p>The study identified five themes: hazards and disaster risk reduction; gender; climate-induced mobility or immobility; child labour; and health. What emerges clearly is that violence against children is not solely a phenomenon that intensifies during environmental shocks. It is deeply rooted in historical injustices, global systems and structures. That means it disproportionately affects those living in poverty. </p>
<h2>1. Hazards and disaster risk reduction</h2>
<p>Natural hazards, combined with large-scale humanitarian crises, pose immediate risks to health, life, property and the environment. </p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34247619/">Studies</a> have uncovered how increasing social, economic and emotional pressures in these situations expose children to higher risks of violence. This may occur in their homes or in relief shelters. It may be perpetrated by their peers, or by caregivers forcing them into labour because of the sudden need to rebuild or help make ends meet.</p>
<p>More knowledge is needed to inform integrated and culturally sensitive plans to protect children better from environmental hazards. </p>
<h2>2. Gender</h2>
<p>The effects of climate change and environmental degradation are not gender neutral. They can affect girls and boys differently. There is a <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/4/e004377">growing body of work</a> on gender-based violence and violence against women and girls in relation to climate change. </p>
<p>But this work tends to be centred on issues affecting female adults, conflating the term “gender” with “women”, without sufficient attention to the gendered effects of climate change on female and male children.</p>
<p>Existing <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17441692.2022.2095655">research</a> suggests that climate change can potentially exacerbate known drivers of child marriage in low- and lower-middle-income countries. But findings vary significantly by region. For example, there is an <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/48584105">observed increase</a> in child marriage motivated by the receipt of a bride price payment in sub-Saharan Africa during sudden periods of drought. In India, though, droughts have led to a decrease in child marriage to delay dowry payments. </p>
<p>Nuanced data about boys’ exposure to various forms of violence in the context of climate change is missing. That’s because studies tend to focus on males as perpetrators but not as victims of violence.</p>
<h2>3. Mobility and immobility</h2>
<p>The number of <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-more-climate-migrants-cross-borders-seeking-refuge-laws-will-need-to-adapt-159673">climate migrants</a> is rising. </p>
<p>Research we reviewed on migration, displacement and relocation due to climate change, natural or human-induced hazards points to increased risks of violence against children within migrating families and higher exposure to it in camps and shelters. Also, separation from families or caregivers renders children and young people extremely vulnerable to violence.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-migration-and-urbanisation-patterns-in-sub-saharan-africa-149036">Climate change, migration and urbanisation: patterns in sub-Saharan Africa</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Meanwhile, immobility – when people cannot or do not want to move – has been associated in some <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/disa.12441">studies</a> with child abuse, injuries and overcrowding in slum areas. </p>
<p>Fear of violence in shelters can lead women to remain at home after natural hazards, increasing children’s risk of harm from the hazard or other forms of violence. </p>
<h2>4. Child labour</h2>
<p>Existing <a href="https://www.ilo.org/ipec/Informationresources/WCMS_651800/lang--en/index.htm">research</a> indicates that child labour increases after natural hazards due to families’ reliance on child work and the absence of strategies to eliminate child labour entirely. Child labour is also prevalent in industries associated with climate change, such as agriculture, fisheries, mining, fashion and tourism. </p>
<p>The extent of child labour in this context, and its link to violence, remains inadequately explored in research, however, due to the hidden nature and contextual specificity of this issue.</p>
<h2>5. Health</h2>
<p>Children’s physical and mental health is affected by climate change. Natural hazards have been <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30274-6/fulltext">linked</a> to poor health outcomes and increased mortality among children, particularly those younger than five.</p>
<p>There is <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20337500/">emerging evidence</a> that mental health issues, stemming from climate and environmental shocks, can lead to increased perpetration of violence against children, including domestic violence. Rising <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542519621002783">eco-anxiety</a> among children and youth, caused by awareness of climate change and environmental degradation and fears of its consequences, adds to mental health problems. </p>
<h2>Ways forward</h2>
<p>By shedding light on the magnitude and pathways of these relationships, we want to underscore the urgent need for context-specific approaches and further research. </p>
<p>Understanding these interlinkages is essential for informing policies and interventions that can protect and support children, particularly those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and environmental shocks. By addressing the root causes of violence and prioritising the wellbeing of children in these crises, we can strive towards a safer and more sustainable future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210027/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simone Datzberger received funding for this research from UCL Grand Challenges. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenny Parkes, Lottie Howard-Merrill, and Steven Kator Iorfa do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Exploring the potential intersections between climate change and violence against children is crucial.Simone Datzberger, Associate professor, UCLJenny Parkes, Professor in Education, Gender and International Development, UCLLottie Howard-Merrill, PhD Candidate, UCLSteven Kator Iorfa, Doctoral Researcher, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2087742023-07-10T14:46:00Z2023-07-10T14:46:00ZDRC violence has many causes – the UN’s narrow focus on ethnicity won’t help end conflict<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535574/original/file-20230704-17-up8tx7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Soldiers from South Sudan prepare to be deployed to help restore peace in the DRC. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Samir Bol/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UN Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo’s <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N23/123/80/PDF/N2312380.pdf?OpenElement">2023 mid-term report</a> reduces the very complex causes of violence in the eastern part of the country to inter-communal violence. This widely disregards armed groups’ motivations to resort to violence. </p>
<p>This narrow approach will perpetuate the cycles of violence in a country whose population hasn’t known peace for <a href="https://theconversation.com/conflict-in-the-drc-5-articles-that-explain-whats-gone-wrong-195332">three decades</a>. A failure to account for the other major reasons for the conflict in the experts’ brief to the <a href="https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/what-security-council">UN Security Council</a> could lead to the adoption of inappropriate measures to stabilise the DRC. </p>
<p>I have <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=4SlemykAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">researched</a> the micro and macro causes of conflict in eastern DRC since 2017 to understand the motivations of individuals, groups and communities. In my view, most of the violent confrontations are consequences of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-drcs-colonial-legacy-forged-a-nexus-between-ethnicity-territory-and-conflict-153469">legacy of colonialism</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/burundis-gatumba-massacre-offers-a-window-into-the-past-and-future-of-the-drc-conflict-191351">state fragility</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-drcs-army-and-police-arent-yet-ready-to-protect-citizens-114326">dysfunctional and corrupted security services</a>. </p>
<p>From South Kivu to North Kivu and Ituri in the eastern region, the legacy of colonialism has categorised local communities into native and non-native. This has created conflict along the lines of belonging and its associated rights. The Congolese state <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-banyamulenge-how-a-minority-ethnic-group-in-the-drc-became-the-target-of-rebels-and-its-own-government-201099">hasn’t tackled this issue</a> – and state authority is absent in many areas. </p>
<p>The Congolese army is largely dysfunctional and corrupted. It’s among those <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10246029.2018.1486719">feeding violence</a> at local levels. It has <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/12/16/dr-congo-kidnappings-skyrocket-east">failed to protect civilians</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/KivuSecurity/status/1304083139334156289">picked sides</a> in inter-community violence. </p>
<h2>Inside the report</h2>
<p>In recent years, the UN group of experts has narrowed all this complexity into inter-communal violence, with limited details on what drives it. Yet the mandate of the group – established in 2000 – is to <a href="https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/sites/www.un.org.securitycouncil/files/en/sc/repertoire/2000-2003/00-03_5.pdf#page=16">investigate and analyse</a> connections between resource exploitation and the persistence of conflict. Its reports should help the UN understand the bigger picture in eastern DRC. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N23/123/80/PDF/N2312380.pdf?OpenElement">latest report</a> highlights five major events:</p>
<p><strong>Violence in the west</strong>: Maindombe, one of the western provinces, had appeared to be more stable than the north and south Kivus and Ituri in the volatile east. But it’s estimated that more than <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/03/30/dr-congo-rampant-intercommunal-violence-west">300 civilians have been killed</a> in Maindombe between June 2022 and March 2023. The violence is between the <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N23/123/80/PDF/N2312380.pdf?OpenElement#page=7">Teke and Yaka ethnic communities</a>. The former consider themselves the original inhabitants of the region and the Yaka as non-native. </p>
<p><strong>The Allied Democratic Forces:</strong> Designated as a <a href="https://www.state.gov/state-department-terrorist-designations-of-isis-affiliates-and-leaders-in-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-and-mozambique/">terrorist organisation in 2021</a> by the US, this group is active in Beni (North Kivu) and parts of Ituri province. The group has secured strategic and financial support from other terrorist groups, including Somalia’s Da’esh and IS-Somalia. The report notes that dismantling the terror group’s complex funding mechanisms and networks needs greater collaboration among countries.</p>
<p><strong>Rwanda and M23:</strong> In North Kivu, the UN report has called attention to the violence perpetrated by the <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N23/123/80/PDF/N2312380.pdf?OpenElement#page=13">Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group</a>. The conflict has forced thousands of civilians to flee, deepening a humanitarian crisis. The UN experts warn that the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-m23s-on-and-off-insurgency-tells-us-about-drcs-precarious-search-for-peace-182520">M23</a> has the military capacity to wage and sustain conflict due to recruitment campaigns in Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. This report is the first to name <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N23/123/80/PDF/N2312380.pdf?OpenElement#page=17">high-ranking Rwandan military generals</a> involved in fighting alongside M23 rebels.</p>
<p><strong>The rise of the Twirwaneho:</strong> In South Kivu, the UN report <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N23/123/80/PDF/N2312380.pdf?OpenElement#page=30">documents clashes</a> among groups claiming to be protecting their ethnic communities. The report highlights the Twirwaneho, an armed (self-defence) group affiliated to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-banyamulenge-how-a-minority-ethnic-group-in-the-drc-became-the-target-of-rebels-and-its-own-government-201099">Banyamulenge</a>, a minority ethnic group in South Kivu.</p>
<p><strong>The Codeco threat:</strong> The report also documents atrocities committed in Ituri province against civilians and internally displaced people. Here, it highlights the rebel group <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N23/123/80/PDF/N2312380.pdf?OpenElement#page=25">Codeco’s</a> attacks. It terms the violence inter-communal. </p>
<h2>The report’s loopholes</h2>
<p>The report is consistent with previous reports in terming ethnic communities’ “antagonism” as the source of violence. The DRC has more than 250 ethnic groups. But based on <a href="https://www.jpolrisk.com/category/article-type/working-paper/">my research</a>, it’s my view that violence in the country is intrinsically complex. Using a single lens can be misleading.</p>
<p>In my view, there are four major loopholes in the report. </p>
<p>First, the UN experts disregard the prominent roles played by other major actors in the conflict, such as the national army. It also ignores the <a href="https://theconversation.com/burundis-gatumba-massacre-offers-a-window-into-the-past-and-future-of-the-drc-conflict-191351">regional ramifications</a> of the violence. This includes the support provided by <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/democratic-republic-congo/b150-averting-proxy-wars-eastern-dr-congo-and-great-lakes">Rwanda to Burundian rebel groups in South Kivu</a>. State fragility also helps explain why the DRC’s conflict has persisted for three decades. Adding these factors would broaden understanding of the root causes of the conflict and its persistence. </p>
<p>Second, the UN experts tend to jump to conclusions based on largely questionable premises. For instance, evidence of “<a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N23/123/80/PDF/N2312380.pdf?OpenElement#page=34">mass recruitment</a>” and the <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N23/123/80/PDF/N2312380.pdf?OpenElement#page=32">formation of new alliances</a> between Twirwaneho, M23 and Red-Tabara rebel groups isn’t clear. Since 2017, Red-Tabara, for instance, has been <a href="https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/174098/1/05_GIC_Mayhem-in-the-mountains_WEB-2.pdf#page=79">attacking the Banyamulenge</a>. </p>
<p>Third, the report shows signs of bias. For instance, it highlights the Twirwaneho and ignores other groups active in South Kivu. I’ve covered this bias in <a href="https://www.jpolrisk.com/why-the-un-fails-to-prevent-mass-atrocities/">a study</a> that analyses 324 incidents recorded by <a href="https://kivusecurity.org/">Kivu Security Tracker</a> and 29 reports from the UN’s peacekeeping mission in the DRC, Monusco. Monusco is one of the main sources of the UN experts’ information. </p>
<p>Fourth, in North Kivu, the experts have only documented atrocities and human rights abuses committed by M23 and the Rwandan Defence Forces. They’ve left out those committed by the Congolese military, and other local and foreign militias. </p>
<h2>Way forward</h2>
<p>A close look at the UN report indicates that the experts struggle to document atrocities in a timely manner. It took more than a year to document violence in South Kivu and Ituri that erupted in 2017 and this is happening in Maindombe. </p>
<p>UN experts shouldn’t see violence in eastern the DRC as solely tit-for-tat militia confrontations, and fail to account for their motivations to resort to violence. For instance, some armed groups in the east exist to chase out those seen as “foreigners”. </p>
<p>A simplified perspective won’t help to bring peace if the negative role played by security services is superficially covered. Moreover, the DRC has failed to establish a comprehensive disarmament and demobilisation scheme.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208774/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Delphin R. Ntanyoma does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The causes of violence in the DRC are complex. Narrowing them down to the single lens of ethnicity can be misleading.Delphin R. Ntanyoma, Visiting Researcher, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2086122023-07-03T14:52:11Z2023-07-03T14:52:11ZSenegal: behind the protests is a fight for democratic freedoms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534405/original/file-20230627-19-529c19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Clashes erupted in Senegal following the sentencing of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison for "corrupting the youth" in June 2023. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Annika Hammerschlag/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a late evening <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/senegal-president-sall-says-he-will-not-seek-third-term-2024-election-2023-07-03/">announcement</a> on 3 July, <a href="https://www.presidence.sn/en/presidency/biography">President Macky Sall</a> put an end to speculations that he would seek a third term in office by contesting in 2024.</p>
<p>Prior to that announcement, Sall’s unwillingness to confirm he would not run for a third term, and the targeting of political opponents, created a political powder keg in Senegal.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/senegals-protest-hit-capital-left-with-looted-shops-debris-2023-06-03/">Protests broke out</a> in many cities across the country on 1 June 2023, following the conviction of leading opposition figure <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/06/01/senegal-ousmane-sonko-trial-conviction-protests-macky-sall-election/#:%7E:text=On%20Thursday%2C%20Sonko%20was%20convicted,allowed%20to%20appeal%20the%20decision.">Ousmane Sonko</a> for “corruption of the youth”. He was acquitted on charges of rape and death threats.</p>
<p>Sonko’s conviction marked the culmination of a <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/le-monde-africa/article/2023/06/01/senegalese-opponent-sonko-sentenced-to-2-years-for-corrupting-youth_6028733_124.html">two-year legal saga</a> that crystallised the attention of a large segment of the Senegalese population against the government. An increasingly autocratic regime continues to curtail civil liberties and violate human rights.</p>
<p>Violence ensued in several towns, particularly in Dakar and Ziguinchor, where Sonko is mayor. </p>
<p>According to government officials, 16 people were <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/06/03/1180013963/senegal-protests-sonko-opposition-leader">killed</a> in clashes between riot police and protesters. Amnesty International and opposition parties reported close to <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/06/senegal-amnesty-international-demande-une-enquete-independante-sur-la-repression-meurtriere-lors-des-manifestations/">two dozen</a> fatalities, most of them with gunshot wounds.</p>
<p>Sonko was sentenced to two years in prison and is <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/06/02/senegal-erupts-in-anger-after-conviction-of-opponent-ousmane-sonko_6028868_4.html">prohibited</a> from running for the presidential elections in February 2024. But the verdict is only the most recent indicator of what’s fuelling political violence in Senegal. </p>
<p>Our expertise is in <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rachel-beatty-riedl-1376019">institutional development</a> in new democracies, patterns of democratic backsliding, <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bamba-ndiaye-1376085">social movements and political protests</a> in Africa. We argue that the drivers of political violence in Senegal today are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the previous ambiguity of Sall’s potential third-term bid and what it means for democracy</p></li>
<li><p>perceptions that the justice system is being used as a weapon against opposition</p></li>
<li><p>arbitrary detentions</p></li>
<li><p>a crackdown on journalists.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The Sall administration has dismissed concerns about democratic backsliding. </p>
<p>Our conversations with protesters in Dakar on 2 June showed that the outburst of violence went beyond the Sonko verdict. </p>
<p>Demonstrators were not necessarily Sonko fanatics, <a href="https://www.ouest-france.fr/monde/senegal/senegal-trois-questions-sur-les-affrontements-qui-ont-fait-16-morts-a-dakar-aa0b6c9a-02f6-11ee-9ca8-165c5bcfd065">as many</a> commentators made it seem. Instead, they support a free and impartial justice system and the rule of law. They sought to resist the democratic backsliding of a country that was a model in the region.</p>
<h2>Weaponised justice system</h2>
<p>Concerns over the use of the justice system against opponents of the regime are at the core of Senegalese political tensions. Samira Daoud, director of Amnesty West & Central Africa, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkIDYJEMkH4">called</a> for the regime to “restore the fundamental principles of the rule of law by safeguarding an independent and impartial justice system.” </p>
<p>The partiality of the Senegalese justice system remains conspicuous in the regime’s efforts to sideline and isolate Sonko through legal prosecutions. </p>
<p>A defamation case <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2023/05/09/senegal-court-increases-sentence-to-six-months-against-opposition-figure-ousmane-sonko//">ruling</a> against Sonko in May 2023 found him guilty of libel against the former tourism minister, Mame Mbaye Niang. </p>
<p>For many observers, this ruling was further evidence that Sall’s control over the courts was being used to eliminate Sonko from the presidential race. The same pattern was seen in the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/senegals-opposition-supporters-bang-pots-pans-noisy-protest-2022-06-22/">2022 legislative election</a>. </p>
<p>It’s also evident in the <a href="https://www.dakarmatin.com/affectation-de-greffiers-luntj-denonce-un-reglement-de-comptes/">systemic rotations</a> of magistrates between courts and the transfer of “disloyal” judicial officials outside the capital city.</p>
<p>An example is the <a href="https://www.pressafrik.com/Me-Ngagne-Demba-Toure-affecte-a-Matam-par-le-ministre-de-la-Justice_a258733.html">recent transfer</a> of court clerk Ngagne Demba Touré, a charismatic and vocal member of <a href="https://pastef.org/">PASTEF</a>, the political party founded by Sonko, from Dakar to Matam, a rural area 500km away. </p>
<h2>Arbitrary arrests</h2>
<p>In addition to Sonko, there have been hundreds of arbitrary <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/01/07/1147678892/the-arrest-of-a-prominent-journalist-in-senegal-has-sparked-unrest-and-fears">detentions of journalists</a> (Pape Niang, Serigne Saliou Guèye), activists (Ndèye Fatou Fall, Abdou Karim Guèye, Cheikh Oumar Diagne), <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/senegal-protests-dozens-arrested-in-latest-flare-up-/7029304.html">protesters</a> and <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/senegal/">members of opposition parties</a>. Many were jailed for expressing opinions deemed “subversive” by the state.</p>
<p>Detentions of members of Sonko’s political party, such as Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Fadilou Keita, are seen as the result of a <a href="https://africanarguments.org/2023/05/gatsa-gatsa-ousmane-sonko-and-senegals-politics-of-retaliation/">two-faced judicial system</a> – one that favours regime allies and is harsh on opponents.</p>
<h2>A speculated third term bid</h2>
<p>The current political violence in Senegal is also fuelled by Sall’s previously unclear commitment to stand down after two terms in office. Since his infamous “ni oui, ni non” (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/yerimpost/videos/macky-sall-sur-le-3e-mandat-je-ne-r%C3%A9pondrai-ni-par-oui-ni-par-non/2691523460932621/">neither yes nor no</a>) response to whether he would run in 2024, citizens became increasingly concerned. </p>
<p>78 African journalists and press freedom organisations recently <a href="https://www.rsf.org/en/78-african-journalists-and-press-freedom-organisations-urge-senegal-free-reporter-respect-press">called</a> on Sall to free detained reporters, respect press freedom, respect the constitution and preserve the country’s sociopolitical stability. </p>
<p>In 2012 the courts <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/senegals-top-court-allows-incumbent-presidents-run-for-third-term-138237869/151242.html">allowed</a> incumbent president Abdoulaye Wade to run for a “third term” because of a change to the constitution. </p>
<p>Yet the majority of Senegalese voters disagreed and elected Sall. He had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/18/senegal-leader-macky-sall-offers-to-reduce-presidential-term-as-example-to-africa">promised</a> to return to five-year presidential terms from the previous seven-year term. </p>
<p>Sall also said he would ensure that no leader could serve for more than <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17215803">two terms</a>.</p>
<p>Senegalese legal experts agree that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDpT4URkWw0">Article 27</a> of the constitution precludes Sall from bidding for the presidency next year. He and his current justice minister, Ismaila Major Fall, repeatedly stated this themselves. </p>
<p>That was until Sall’s <a href="https://aps.sn/la-nouvelle-declaration-de-macky-sall-au-sujet-de-la-presidentielle-de-2024-a-la-une/">recent speech</a> in Paris to supporters seemed to have indicated that he would run in 2024. </p>
<p>In March 2023, he <a href="https://information.tv5monde.com/afrique/senegal-dans-un-entretien-lexpress-macky-sall-nexclut-pas-detre-candidat-un-troisieme">declared</a> in an interview with L’Express that the legality of a third term candidacy was a judicial issue that the Constitutional Court had clarified before the 2016 constitutional reform. “Now,” he continued, “should I be a candidate for a third term or not? That is a political debate, <a href="https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20230321-s%C3%A9n%C3%A9gal-dans-un-entretien-%C3%A0-l-express-macky-sall-maintient-le-flou-sur-un-3e-mandat">I admit</a>.” </p>
<p>Until he made it clear on 3 July that he would not be standing for re-election in 2024, that political question loomed large for Senegal along with suggested <a href="https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2022/04/15/questions-of-justice-governance-and-rule-of-law-surround-the-local-elections-in-senegal/">reforms</a> for judicial independence. Senegalese protesters were expressing their commitment to judicial autonomy, and Senegalese voters have previously demonstrated their commitment to two terms.</p>
<h2>Concerns about the future</h2>
<p>Sall’s increasingly <a href="https://www.theafricareport.com/19421/senegals-president-uses-political-tools-to-mask-authoritarian-tactics/">authoritarian tactics</a> against opposition and activists raise concerns about human rights, rule of law and civil liberties. </p>
<p>A national dialogue <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2023/05/31/president-of-senegal-launches-national-dialogue-amid-rising-tensions/">initiated</a> by the government has been boycotted by the majority of opposition parties and civil society organisations. </p>
<p>Eliminating key opposition candidates and journalists makes it increasingly difficult for voters to have their say and defend democracy.</p>
<p>It remains to be seen how reassuring Sall’s move to dispel rumours of a third term bid would be for Senegalese who feared democratic backsliding. </p>
<p><em>This article was updated to reflect President Macky Sall’s announcement that he would not stand for re-election in 2024.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208612/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>President Macky Sall’s previous ambiguity on a third-term bid, perception of a weaponised justice system and arbitrary detention of opposition are the drivers of political violence in Senegal.Rachel Beatty Riedl, Professor of International Studies, Cornell UniversityBamba Ndiaye, Assistant Professor, Emory UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2078632023-06-16T15:57:54Z2023-06-16T15:57:54ZCormac McCarthy: where to begin reading his searing, brutal and unforgettable novels<p>The novelist Cormac McCarthy was suspicious of punctuation, profoundly interested in violence, respected skill and physical labour, and loved the richness of the English language. He was particularly fond of short, declarative sentences and the word “and”.</p>
<p>McCarthy’s much lamented death at 89 has attracted international headlines and a renewed interest in his writing. He leaves behind 12 novels covering historical and speculative fiction.</p>
<p>A journey through McCarthy’s work is not for the fainthearted, nor the weak-stomached. These are stories of society’s outcasts – those who have found themselves out of time, out of place, or simply out of luck. McCarthy’s world is often grim, populated by oddballs, criminals, misfits and hard, violent men.</p>
<p>For those unfamiliar with his writing, now is the perfect time to delve into his work. After a master’s degree on <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1949/faulkner/biographical/">William Faulkner</a>, my own journey with McCarthy began with the <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/cormac-mccarthy/the-border-trilogy/9781509852024">Border Trilogy</a>, consisting of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/469571.All_the_Pretty_Horses">All the Pretty Horses</a> (1992), <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/365990.The_Crossing">The Crossing</a> (1994) and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40470.Cities_of_the_Plain">Cities of the Plain</a> (1998).</p>
<p>Fascinated with these frontier novels about life in the ranches and deserts of the US-Mexico borderlands in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, I followed McCarthy back to Faulkner by reading his first three novels – <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/46506">The Orchard Keeper</a> (1965), <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40471">Outer Dark</a> (1968), and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/293625.Child_of_God">Child of God</a> (1973). Then I turned to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/no-country-for-old-men-by-cormac-mccarthy-324490.html">No Country For Old Men</a> (2005) and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/nov/04/featuresreviews.guardianreview4">The Road</a> (2006). </p>
<p>This journey led not only to a PhD, but also <a href="https://utpress.org/title/cormac-mccarthys-literary-evolution/">my first book</a>, following my exploration of McCarthy’s archive at Texas State University.</p>
<p>Despite all the hardship and horror in his works, I found myself sustained by McCarthy’s unique prose. Like the father from the dream that ends No Country For Old Men, McCarthy was always “fixin’ to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold” – a place where humanity could endure, despite all that assailed it. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0UZ0HkMMY4I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Finding his place</h2>
<p>McCarthy’s work divides into two sections – one spanning the period 1965-1979 and the other from 1985-2022. The first section is southern, <a href="https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/themes/the-gothic">gothic</a> and <a href="https://www.masterclass.com/articles/modernist-literature-guide">modernist</a>, set in McCormac’s native Appalachia.</p>
<p>The Orchard Keeper (1968), Outer Dark (1968) and Child of God (1973) – lie within the <a href="https://oxfordre.com/literature/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.001.0001/acrefore-9780190201098-e-304;jsessionid=74B948F711A923966362B58FBF58A32C#:%7E:text=Southern%20Gothic%20is%20a%20mode,angst%2Dridden%20sense%20of%20alienation.">southern gothic tradition</a> of <a href="https://www.georgiawomen.org/flannery-oconnor">Flannery O’Connor</a>, <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/6215/carson-mccullers?tab=penguin-biography">Carson McCullers</a> and William Faulkner.</p>
<p>Despite plots featuring murder, incest and necrophilia, McCarthy seeks the humanity in the grotesque. Even Lester Ballard, the necrophiliac murderer of his third novel is “a child of God much like yourself perhaps”, a statement that brings home the horror of Lester’s tale. </p>
<p>The final novel of this first period is <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/394469">Suttree</a> (1979). One of the contenders for McCarthy’s masterpiece, it took him a decade to write. Set amongst the down-and-outs of Knoxville, Tennessee, Suttree is a pitch-black comedy that brings the modernist style of James Joyce to the world of John Steinbeck, its power a combination of high art and low action. </p>
<h2>Dark deeds and bad people</h2>
<p>The second period of McCarthy’s career begins with the other candidate for his masterpiece, <a href="https://www.cormacmccarthy.com/works/blood-meridian/">Blood Meridian</a> (1985). Marking McCarthy’s move to the south-west, Blood Meridian is a novel of violence, based on the activities of scalp-hunter John Glanton. McCarthy’s fifth novel introduces readers to Judge Holden, a giant albino capable of horrific acts of calculated violence and the malevolent heart of the book.</p>
<p>Blood Meridian’s overwhelming style reflects the overwhelming violence it depicts. A text where a single sentence can run for a full page, Blood Meridian is a sprawling, endlessly rewarding deconstruction of <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-myth-american-frontier-got-start-180981310/">America’s frontier mythology</a>. </p>
<p>The Border Trilogy features common protagonists, most notably the superlative cowboy John Grady Cole, and displays McCarthy’s respect for the skills of the frontier, even as he marks the obsolescence of those very abilities. Evoking the tropes of the American Western, the trilogy continues the project begun in Blood Meridian to expose America’s idealisation of its cowboy past. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/38A__WT3-o0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/no-country-for-old-men-by-cormac-mccarthy-324490.html">No Country For Old Men</a> (2005), McCarthy’s final western, came to international attention with the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/dec/12/no-country-for-old-men-critics-poll-2008">Coen Brothers’ film adaptation</a>. This novel draws on the sparse style and hard-bitten tropes of the thriller to present the pursuit of Llewelyn Moss by the unstoppable hitman Anton Chigurh.</p>
<h2>Apocalypse and humanity</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/nov/04/featuresreviews.guardianreview4">The Road</a> (2006) is McCarthy’s best-known novel. His only future-set tale deals with the struggles of a nameless man and boy to survive in the wreckage of a post-apocalyptic America. The Road depicts the end of society, but also the moment that the values and language of that society also end. Heartbreaking at times, it wrings maximum effect out of its minimalist style.</p>
<p>McCarthy’s final two novels are a pair. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/26/the-passenger-by-cormac-mccarthy-review-a-deep-dive-into-the-abyss">The Passenger</a> (2022) is a return to Suttree, but one in which its similar cast of grotesques and ne’er-do-wells is filtered through McCarthy’s interest in mathematics and its implications for our understanding of ourselves and the world.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/stella-maris/cormac-mccarthy/9780330457446">Stella Maris</a> (2022) is told through a series of dialogues between doomed mathematics genius Alicia Western and her therapist, in the lead up to the suicide with which McCarthy begins the novel. </p>
<p>If you are coming to McCarthy’s novels for the first time, your best entry point depends upon which version of McCarthy you find most appealing. A great western, All the Pretty Horses is the most accessible. The Road is a also popular starting point, demonstrating McCarthy’s style at its most distilled.</p>
<p>But for me, the clear candidate for the great American novel must be the fevered, searing Blood Meridian. Here, McCarthy’s greatest novel plunges deepest into the American darkness and violence that so fascinated him throughout his career.</p>
<p>McCarthy was a delver into the dark, fixated by the awful violence and terrifying rage that lies beneath the surface of the safe and sanitised stories America tells about itself. In doing so, he sought to expose the sometimes unpalatable truth of American history. In a time when this history seems more contested than ever, McCarthy’s searching, unflinching prose will be much missed. If ever there was time to read him, it is now.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207863/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Robert King has received funding from the British Academy, the Leverhulme Trust, and Lillian Gary Taylor Visiting Fellowship in American Literature. </span></em></p>A journey through McCarthy’s work is not for the fainthearted, nor the weak-stomached. But these tales of society’s outcasts and misfits are hugely rewarding.Daniel Robert King, Teaching Fellow in American Literature, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2071292023-06-15T20:06:13Z2023-06-15T20:06:13Z‘He just kept going’ – why you might snap back, freeze or ignore street harassment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531076/original/file-20230609-17-byp5nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C0%2C4452%2C2991&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-walking-outdoors-city-looking-snobby-1447635221">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As someone who has spent the last decade researching sexual harassment and violence in public spaces, the question I’m commonly asked is:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What advice should I give my teenage daughter about what to do when she’s harassed by men in public? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This question is, of course, completely understandable. We all want our loved ones to feel safe when they’re out in public. </p>
<p>Women and LGBTQ+ people <a href="https://australiainstitute.org.au/report/everyday-sexism/">experience high levels of harassment</a> in public (though it is always important to remember gender-based violence is most likely to be perpetrated <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/personal-safety-australia/2021-22#violence%5D">at home by someone you know</a>). So there is a high likelihood this is something you or your loved ones will experience. </p>
<p>Street harassment is often not taken seriously as an issue. Many forms of this behaviour are not against the law, meaning victims have limited options for reporting or seeking support. This can make it challenging to know what to do if you’ve been harassed.</p>
<p>While it’s tempting to focus on what people can do to “stay safe” or respond effectively to harassers, this is ultimately the wrong question to ask.</p>
<h2>Shouting back</h2>
<p>In my <a href="https://www.streetharassmentjustice.com/">recent research</a>, I undertook in-depth interviews with 46 people about their experiences of harassment in public spaces. Participants often discussed how they responded to harassers. These responses could take many forms.</p>
<p>Some participants described verbally challenging harassers, often by telling them to “fuck off” or shouting back at them. </p>
<p>Physical acts of resistance were also common – including making gestures and pulling faces at a harasser. One participant described “blowing a kiss” at a group of men who had shouted homophobic abuse at him. “Sarah” described fighting back:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>He just kept going. So there was a moment where he grabbed my arm […] and then I just gave him a big slap at that moment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Resistance also involved participants <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01924036.2020.1732435">refusing to limit</a> their lives and actions because of street harassment, perhaps by defiantly continuing to walk home at night or holding a partner’s hand in public despite unwelcome comments. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-started-walking-the-long-way-many-young-women-first-experience-street-harassment-in-their-school-uniforms-202718">'I started walking the long way': many young women first experience street harassment in their school uniforms</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Reclaiming power</h2>
<p>Challenging harassers could be an important strategy for some participants to reclaim a sense of power and disrupt the normalisation of harassment. One participant reflected on how harassers (<a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article/63/3/668/6596757?searchresult=1">mostly men</a>):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Feel so comfortable staring you down, that I don’t want to make them feel comfortable doing that. Sometimes I kind of like yell at them or make a gross face at them or give them the finger. Because it’s not innocent and it’s not innocuous.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Being silent or refusing to acknowledge an harassers’ actions was also commonly raised as a form of resistance, as it denied harassers the satisfaction of a response. However, one participant reflected that while silence could be a safer option because “you don’t get into any conflict with anyone”, it also felt “like I’m getting rid of my power”. </p>
<p>Some people find it takes <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540253.2023.2193206">many years to realise</a> harassment is something that can be resisted, because it is often normalised as being “complimentary” or “flirtatious”. As one participant said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Just having experienced it so many times that I’ve recognised the patterns and that it’s not just, oh this man’s just lonely and needs to talk. It’s like, no that’s predatory behaviour and I can call it out.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although some participants talked about acts of resistance as moments of “snapping” in anger, these responses could perhaps best be thought of as a slow build up of rage after years of encountering street harassment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531077/original/file-20230609-29-esj5ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Girl walks past graffiti wall with head held high" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531077/original/file-20230609-29-esj5ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531077/original/file-20230609-29-esj5ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531077/original/file-20230609-29-esj5ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531077/original/file-20230609-29-esj5ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531077/original/file-20230609-29-esj5ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531077/original/file-20230609-29-esj5ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531077/original/file-20230609-29-esj5ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Silence can be form of resistance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Gw1Wzs-DDn4">Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/catcalls-homophobia-and-racism-we-studied-why-people-and-especially-men-engage-in-street-harassment-183717">Catcalls, homophobia and racism: we studied why people (and especially men) engage in street harassment</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Resistance and safety</h2>
<p>There was often a delicate balancing act between resistance and maintaining a sense of safety. One older participant reflected on her life experiences of sexist and homophobic harassment, saying that while she tried to show defiance to harassers, she was also making “quick judgements […] because I don’t know if I’m going to be hit or not”.</p>
<p>Resisting harassers involved significant mental, emotional and physical labour, with participants having to make rapid assessments of how safe they felt to respond. Some people described being “worn down” by years of experiencing harassment. </p>
<p>People said they’d often been in shock or felt unable to process what had happened in the moment. It often wasn’t until hours after an incident they thought of the perfect retort. This could feel intensely frustrating.</p>
<p>While it’s tempting to offer people advice on what they “should” do in the moment, the reality is it is not always safe to “shout back”. It is also normal for people who have experienced sexual and other violence to experience automatic “fight, flight, freeze or fawn” <a href="https://www.gcasa.org.au/downloads/">responses</a>. </p>
<p>Focusing on how victims should respond reinforces the myth <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10612-005-2390-z">victims are responsible</a> for preventing and managing the violence of others. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1663961036095881237"}"></div></p>
<h2>What can we do?</h2>
<p>So, what can you do if you’re being or have been harassed? The short answer is: do whatever you feel safe and able to do in the moment. There is no “correct” response. </p>
<p>For some people, it’s helpful to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1077801218768709">talk to a trusted friend</a> or to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article-abstract/57/6/1482/2698882?redirectedFrom=fulltext">share experiences</a> through activist platforms like <a href="https://stories.righttobe.org/">Right to Be</a> (formally Hollaback!). This can help people recognise they are not alone in their experiences and street harassment is a <a href="https://www.ourwatch.org.au/the-issue/">systemic issue</a> interconnected with other forms of gendered violence.</p>
<p><a href="https://fullstop.org.au/get-help/something-happened-to-me/coping-with-trauma-after-a-rape-or-sexual-assault">Self-care strategies</a> including deep breathing, “grounding”, exercising or resting can help. </p>
<p>And we need to shift the focus to how we, as a community, can best support people who’ve experienced harassment. This might include upskilling community members to <a href="https://www.plan.org.au/you-can-help/stand-up-against-street-harassment/">safely intervene as bystanders</a> and to <a href="https://safeandequal.org.au/working-in-family-violence/prevention/disclosures/">respond appropriately to disclosures</a>. If someone does share their experience of public harassment with you, it is important to express belief and validation – and to ask them what support they need. </p>
<p>We need to collectively challenge the idea street harassment is “normal” or “not a big deal”, ensuring this behaviour is addressed as part of our efforts to prevent gender-based (and other) violence. This places the focus where it belongs: on the actions of harassers and the <a href="https://www.ourwatch.org.au/the-issue/">structural drivers</a> of their behaviour.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207129/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bianca Fileborn was formally a consultant for L'Oreal. They receive funding from the Australian Research Council, the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety, and ACON. </span></em></p>While it’s tempting to focus on what people can do to ‘stay safe’ or respond effectively to harassers, this is ultimately the wrong question to ask and puts responsibility victims.Bianca Fileborn, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077702023-06-15T12:35:17Z2023-06-15T12:35:17ZDespite threats of violence, Trump’s federal indictment happened with little fanfare – but that doesn’t mean the far-right movement is fading, an extremism scholar explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532015/original/file-20230614-15-4fw5ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trump supporters and protesters gather peacefully outside the Miami federal courthouse on June 13, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1258662013/photo/trump-supporters-and-protesters-hold-signs-in-front-of-the-wilkie-d-ferguson-jr-united-states.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=aWnTkK7dz7kmQUEVK5sUHlb6eKgM4Kr0BOmEMVEWXnQ=">Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Former President <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/06/13/trump-court-miami-indictment/">Donald Trump pleaded not guilty</a> at a federal courthouse in Miami on June 13, 2023, to <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2023-06-09/trump-indicted-on-37-felony-counts-over-retention-of-classified-documents-obstruction#:%7E:text=Classified%20Documents%20and%20Obstruction%20of,documents%20and%20obstruction%20of%20justice.&text=June%209%2C%202023%2C%20at%202%3A54%20p.m.">37 felony counts</a> related to withholding – and refusing to return – classified government documents after his presidency ended.</em> </p>
<p><em>But the court appearance had little of the fanfare Trump typically attracts at his events. The former president entered and left the building through an underground garage, and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/13/no-video-pictures-of-donald-trump-appearance-in-court-magistrate-judge/70316591007/">no photographs were taken</a> of him inside the courtroom.</em> </p>
<p><em>News channels, broadcasting the unprecedented arrest live, focused their footage primarily on the protesters who gathered outside, with groups appearing to both support and condemn Trump.</em> </p>
<p><em>Kari Lake, who <a href="https://apnews.com/article/arizona-kari-lake-election-challenge-3a72275e94ed966cd5051c41f44abb95#:%7E:text=Judge%20dismisses%20Kari%20Lake%27s%20final%20claim%20in%20election%20loss%20for%20Arizona%20governor,-May%2022%2C%202023&text=PHOENIX%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94%20A%20judge,election%20of%20Democrat%20Katie%20Hobbs.">lost her election bid</a> for Arizona governor in November 2022, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/12/kari-lake-trump-nra-threat-threatens-democracy-arizona-democrat-ruben-gallego">issued a “public service announcement</a>” promising to defend Trump before his arraignment.</em></p>
<p><em>“If you want to get to President Trump, you’re going to have to go through me, and you’re going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me. And I’m going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA,” Lake said.</em> </p>
<p><em>Other Trump allies have also called the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/10/us/politics/trump-supporter-violent-rhetoric.html">indictments an act of war</a>.</em> </p>
<p><em>A Florida chapter of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/13/us/politics/trump-arraignment-miami-protesters.html">extremist group Proud Boys advertised</a> it expected protests outside the courthouse.</em> </p>
<p><em>But in the end, Trump’s second indictment, this one in federal court, did not immediately prompt any notable, widespread political violence.</em></p>
<p><em>Does this reflect the effect of prosecutors having <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/25/1165022885/1000-defendants-january-6-capitol-riot#:%7E:text=Nick%20McMillan-,1%2C000%20people%20have%20been%20charged%20for%20the%20Capitol,Here%27s%20where%20their%20cases%20stand&text=Department%20of%20Justice-,A%20selection%20of%20the%201000%20people%20who%20have%20been%20charged,the%20U.S.%20Capitol%20in%202021.">charged more than 1,000 people</a> following their participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the Capitol, or is something else at play?</em> </p>
<p><em>The Conversation spoke with Amy Cooter, a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5nxIh9YAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholar of extremist and militia groups</a> in the U.S., to better understand why Trump’s courtroom appearance happened with such little outside fanfare – despite his ongoing popularity among Republican voters and his fierce defiance of the indictments’ legitimacy.</em> </p>
<p><strong>Has there been a decline in political violence or extremism over the past few years, especially sincce the Jan. 6 attacks?</strong></p>
<p>It is not something that I track across the board qualitatively, but we have seen that <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/report-hate-crimes-increased-in-several-major-us-cities-in-2022/6927926.html">hate crimes increased</a> in several U.S. cities in 2022. I think there has been a tendency for some people to say that Jan. 6 was the peak of <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/exploring-the-threats-to-democracy-that-remain-two-years-after-jan-6">political extremist behavior</a> and things couldn’t possibly be that bad ahead, and that is a prediction that may be too soon to make. </p>
<p>Most of the feelings that fed into the Jan. 6 attacks are still there. People who participated in the Capitol attacks were identified and arrested, and that can have a deterrent effect. But <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/03/14/republicans-increasingly-realize-theres-no-evidence-of-election-fraud-but-most-still-think-2020-election-was-stolen-anyway-poll-finds/?sh=1ea453bc28ec">a majority of Republicans still believe</a> that the election was stolen. It’s not the case that those feelings disappeared because folks are being held accountable for the Capitol attacks. As the presidential 2024 campaign heats up, I expect us to continue to have problems with violent actors. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532014/original/file-20230614-17251-zbjj3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A few people holding American flags stand outside of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on a gray day." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532014/original/file-20230614-17251-zbjj3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532014/original/file-20230614-17251-zbjj3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532014/original/file-20230614-17251-zbjj3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532014/original/file-20230614-17251-zbjj3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532014/original/file-20230614-17251-zbjj3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532014/original/file-20230614-17251-zbjj3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532014/original/file-20230614-17251-zbjj3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A few people gather on Jan. 6, 2023, to support the Capitol attack protesters who have been arrested.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1454661954/photo/supporters-of-protesters-that-were-arrested-on-jan-6-2021-protest-outside-the-u-s-supreme.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=jI5wvahtINcEbOx5UOY2ixHRzpOPCkFwioLtD4S0KU8=">Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>How have domestic extremist groups transformed over the past few years?</strong></p>
<p>One pivotal moment for extremists groups and their ability to organize and remain cohesive happened when <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2020/08/addressing-movements-and-organizations-tied-to-violence/">Facebook kicked extremist militia war groups</a> and individuals off of the site, starting in August 2020. Many of these groups <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/proud-boys-step-up-activity-after-jan-6-attack-despite-criminal-convictions-9f2e05fa">are still active</a>, but in more quiet corners of the internet. So their work has become harder to observe from an outside perspective. </p>
<p>In the groups I study, I saw a decline in online activity happen after the Facebook de-platforming. Most of them, despite their argument <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/02/972895521/prosecutors-proud-boys-gave-leader-war-powers-planned-ahead-for-capitol-riot">about preparedness</a>, did not have a good backup plan of ways to connect. </p>
<p>People loosely affiliated with extremist groups also had low motivation to continue trying different platforms to connect. Some activity spread to <a href="https://www.avclub.com/welcome-to-parlor-the-app-that-everyones-accidentally-1846034105">Parler and other places</a>. But, in general, <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/pushed-extremes-domestic-terrorism-amid-polarization-and-protest">extremist groups’</a> observable size online decreased, leaving more people who are on the extreme end of things continuing to organize. </p>
<p>We do know groups like this with <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/01/06/proud-boys-oath-keepers-qanon-two-years-after-jan-6/10998158002/">underlying ideologies don’t disappear</a>. They look for opportunities to reengage with those behaviors when they think that the political currency is more in their favor. </p>
<p>People also connect in more discreet ways, such as on group chats that are not public. Sometimes researchers can infiltrate those private spaces, but we know we are missing a lot of what is happening.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532018/original/file-20230614-13019-p2j8fl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Several men stand outside of a red brick building and hold signs that say things like 'Groom dogs, not kids.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532018/original/file-20230614-13019-p2j8fl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532018/original/file-20230614-13019-p2j8fl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532018/original/file-20230614-13019-p2j8fl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532018/original/file-20230614-13019-p2j8fl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532018/original/file-20230614-13019-p2j8fl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532018/original/file-20230614-13019-p2j8fl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532018/original/file-20230614-13019-p2j8fl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of the far-right group the Proud Boys protest a drag story hour at a library in Queens, N.Y., in December 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1245874107/photo/us-rights-drag-protest.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=tu7tyPO679VBHR8vz038WHdUGB0I2isVseukAiqvMh0=">Yuki Iwamura/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>How do you assess the potential for Trump’s indictments to actually result in political violence?</strong> </p>
<p>We are not seeing extremist online activity at the level that we did before Jan. 6. There is some online chatter, but there are a few things playing into the landscape a little differently. </p>
<p>One reason for the decline is that even before news about the second Trump indictment broke, there was a different focus, with a lot of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/crime-arrests-riots-race-and-ethnicity-religion-a22a3e11521dfd398778d4820f484c50">anti-LGBTQ+ chatter</a>, specifically, among extremist groups and people. Some people have called for violence against LGBTQ+ people in different ways, but not with super specific plans. And there has been an overall rise of extremist groups threatening or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/18/increase-anti-lgbtq-attacks-rightwing-extremist-groups">committing violence against LGBTQ+ groups</a> or people. </p>
<p>It is not all that surprising. This kind of rhetoric is repeating what we are hearing on Fox News and on other more mainstream sources about how LGBTQ+ people are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/22/lgbtq-threats-attacks-trans-bills/">threatening children</a>, and that this is a culture war. </p>
<p>Again, we are not seeing super specific threats, or actionable things that law enforcement can do something about, but the rhetoric is very hot.</p>
<p>Even if we don’t see immediate political violence as a result of Trump’s legal challenges, people shouldn’t take a deep breath of relief about the country’s overall threat of violence from these groups. Trump still has the potential to stir his supports to action as the campaign progresses.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207770/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Cooter previously received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Part of her current work is funded by the SCAIFE Foundation </span></em></p>Since Facebook removed online hate groups and individuals from its platform, extremist groups are increasingly organizing in more discreet ways.Amy Cooter, Director of Research, Academic Development, and Innovation, MiddleburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1995502023-06-08T12:35:49Z2023-06-08T12:35:49ZFour strategies to make your neighborhood safer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528110/original/file-20230524-27-ouwx5h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C26%2C5818%2C3864&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">By getting to know your neighbors and investing in your community, you can make your neighborhood safer.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/man-waving-to-neighbour-after-shopping-royalty-free-image/1455712251?phrase=neighbor+greeting&adppopup=true">Vladimir Vladimirov/E+/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A series of gunshots fired late at night in East Atlanta recently prompted my neighbor to post on our local Facebook group, asking what we can do as a community to make it less dangerous to live and work in the area. </p>
<p>You may be asking yourself the same question. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, cities across the country have seen an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/briefing/crime-surge-homicides-us.html">increase in gun violence and homicides</a>. </p>
<p>Around the country, crime seems to be rising, and that sense of danger influences our daily choices – from where we walk our dogs to how we vote.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=oBfOrmIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researcher at the University of Washington</a>, I study how media and technology influence our sense of safety. New apps and technologies have made crime information increasingly accessible and available in real time and on demand. However, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581258">I’ve found that</a> access to so much information can cause some people to feel helpless and anxious rather than empowered.</p>
<p>If that sounds like you, here are four evidence-based strategies you can use to take power and transform your neighborhood. While these strategies may not lead to immediate changes, they shift the underlying social, economic and environmental characteristics of your neighborhood to make it truly safer in the long run.</p>
<h2>1. Be neighborly</h2>
<p>Get to know your neighbors. </p>
<p>Research shows that neighborhoods where people walk around and greet one another are safer. That’s because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/2470654.2481347">they deter potential offenders</a>, who prefer quieter neighborhoods, and because they give people the <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315130620-6">power to look out for one another</a>. </p>
<p>For example, if you see a child involved in a fight, knowing your neighbors might help you contact the child’s parent or guardian or intervene yourself. If you see an older adult looking lost, you may know how to guide them home or call someone who does. You do not need to be close friends with your neighbors, but by taking small, consistent actions to look out for one another, especially those neighbors who are most vulnerable, you are creating a safer community.</p>
<h2>2. Selectively listen to crime news</h2>
<p>Despite the real problems the country is facing with gun violence, crime rates in the United States are still at historic lows: <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/191237/reported-property-crime-rate-in-the-us-since-1990/">Property</a> crime and <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/191219/reported-violent-crime-rate-in-the-usa-since-1990/">violent crime</a> have been decreasing steadily since the early 1990s, with a slight uptick in violent crime since 2015. </p>
<p>Then why have you heard about so much crime? </p>
<p>While crime rates are largely decreasing, information about crime is more accessible than ever. Mobile apps and websites now enable you to view and share crime information in real time with the click of a few buttons. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581258">In a recent study</a>, we interviewed people who use the Citizen app to stay informed about local safety incidents. We found that while such apps can provide users with timely local information, they can also spike users’ fears by raising the salience and visibility of every little incident regardless of whether it presents a risk to users’ safety. </p>
<p>The Citizen app, like many other apps, has a financial incentive to report as much information as possible because it profits from users’ engagement. However, for users of these apps, the resulting fear can lead them to avoid going out in the evenings or heighten their fear of strangers - the opposite of the kind of <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315130620-6">social trust and cohesion necessary for long-term crime prevention</a>. </p>
<p>If you find yourself feeling anxious or fearful after reading crime news, consider using filters, turning off alerts and maintaining perspective by reading good news as well as the crime stories.</p>
<h2>3. Support local organizations</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122417736289">Another influential study</a> found that organizations that focus on neighborhood development, substance abuse prevention, crime prevention, job training and recreational activities for youth all reduce the crime rate. </p>
<p>The study was large, looking at data from 20 years and 264 cities, and found that establishing 10 additional community organizations in a city decreases the homicide rate by 9%, the violent crime rate by 6% and the property crime rate by 4% within a year. Those effects persist for at least three years, even if the organizations cease to exist.</p>
<p>One famous example is a program called Midnight Basketball, which began in the early 1990s in Washington D.C. Its aim was to provide youth with a safe space to play basketball during high-crime hours and use that opportunity to connect them with educational and social services. </p>
<p>Despite research <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0193723506286863">documenting the success of Midnight Basketball in reducing crime</a>, the program struggled for many years due to poor political and financial support. By supporting local, high-quality programs in various ways – with dollars, volunteer time and political support – community members can begin addressing the underlying social and economic factors that lead to crime in the first place.</p>
<h2>4. Fix up your neighborhood</h2>
<p>Organizing is an effective crime prevention strategy. When neighborhoods organize against crime, however, they often default to crime watches and neighborhood patrols. <a href="https://doi.org/10.4073/csr.2008.18">One study estimates</a> that over 40% of the U.S. population lives in areas monitored by a neighborhood watch group.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://doi.org/10.4073/csr.2008.18">some studies</a> have shown these programs to be effective in reducing the crime rate, research also shows that monitoring a neighborhood leads to <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/neighborhood-watch/55D69CA87D120ED72CC3665D9C33CE9A#">the unjustified suspicion and harassment of Black people</a>, due to deeply held biases. </p>
<p>There are other ways to organize that makes the area safer for everyone. For example, you can focus on changing the underlying characteristics of a neighborhood. </p>
<p>Community members can identify individual blocks or vacant plots of land that look run down. Clean up trash, advocate for more street lights and plant greenery – the goal is to transform run-down parts of your neighborhood into vibrant areas where people would enjoy congregating. </p>
<p>This sort of organizing can have a large impact – in Philadelphia, for example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1718503115">the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s program to convert vacant lots into green spaces</a> led to a 29% reduction in gun violence in the affected neighborhoods. That would translate to 350 fewer shootings each year if the program were implemented citywide.</p>
<h2>More relationships, more community involvement</h2>
<p>When you feel unsafe, a natural reaction is to isolate yourself and distrust the strangers around you. However, such responses not only lead to more fear, but they can also weaken community cohesion and make your neighborhood less safe. </p>
<p>By building relationships, looking out for one another and investing in your social and physical infrastructure, you can truly make your neighborhood safer in the long run.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ishita Chordia does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Crime is spiking and you’re scared. Here are strategies to get past the fear and diminish the threat of crime in your community.Ishita Chordia, PhD Candidate, Information Science, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2063792023-06-01T12:31:10Z2023-06-01T12:31:10ZI study migrants traveling through Mexico to the US, and saw how they follow news of dangers – but are not deterred<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528414/original/file-20230525-19-azqzru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Haitian migrants wait in a line to receive food in Coahuila state, Mexico, in 2021. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1235448842/photo/topshot-mexico-us-haiti-migration.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=P6gsYIeQD167feJkAerRN8rPN78Nry3greIZN6tLRDM=">Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The world awoke one morning in late March 2023 to the news that at least 38 Central and South American <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/28/world/americas/mexico-fire-ciudad-juarez.html">migrants had died</a> in a fire in a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/americas/100000008837794/i-heard-them-screaming-witness-says-migrants-were-left-to-die-in-mexico-fire.html">widely circulated video</a> from the closed-circuit cameras inside the detention center showed the building burning, with migrants trapped inside trying to break the metal bars of their cells – and detention center officers allegedly leaving them there. </p>
<p>The Mexican government has said the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/39-dead-in-fire-at-mexico-immigration-detention-center">migrants themselves started the fire</a> after learning they would be deported from Mexico – which is increasingly a destination for migrants and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-mexico-united-states-government-albert-rivera-asylum-7f4f722c152438ead32a8ae4b61dffa1">asylum seekers</a> – back to their home countries.</p>
<p>The video spread quickly across social media, and many Mexican <a href="https://cmdpdh.org/2023/03/28/lamentar-ya-no-es-suficiente-urgimos-a-las-autoridades-correspondientes-responder-por-los-hechos-en-la-estacion-provisional-de-cd-juarez/">migrant advocacy groups</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6EwOoBou_I">activists decried</a> the event. </p>
<p>Another group also paid close attention to this tragedy – migrants who are in transit through Mexico. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://sociology.yale.edu/people/angel-escamilla-garcia">a sociologist</a>, I have studied the impacts of violence against Central American migrants in Mexico for nearly a decade. I have considered questions like how migrants who are on their way to the U.S. react to news of violence against other migrants, and whether such news alters their plans. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.angelescamillagarcia.com/experience">My research</a> has shown that migrants pay close attention to any information that can give them clues about the dangers that lie between them and the U.S. </p>
<p>Migrants have shared with me that they highly value information about any dangers ahead as they move north, whether it relates to criminal groups or U.S. immigration policy changes. Migrants use this knowledge to implement a variety of strategies to avoid, or at least prepare for, any suffering – and it can lead them to take different routes to the U.S. border. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528419/original/file-20230525-27-456h99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People crouch near a series of candles and photos outside of a large fence." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528419/original/file-20230525-27-456h99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528419/original/file-20230525-27-456h99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528419/original/file-20230525-27-456h99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528419/original/file-20230525-27-456h99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528419/original/file-20230525-27-456h99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528419/original/file-20230525-27-456h99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528419/original/file-20230525-27-456h99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrants attend a vigil outside the Mexican immigration detention center where migrants died in a fire in Ciudad Juárez in March 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1249839438/photo/topshot-mexico-us-migrants-vigil-migration-fire.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=YCuJhz8LHEaePkzoc-p8ssSl5MLbpKKgHKk3gNec3sc=">Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Understanding migrants in Mexico</h2>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of migrants from around the world transit through Mexico every year on their way to the U.S.-Mexico border. In <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters">April 2023</a> alone, the U.S. detained more than 211,000 migrants along that border. That statistic coincides with an overall rise in <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/12/16/key-facts-about-recent-trends-in-global-migration">global migration</a> and rise in <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/01/13/monthly-encounters-with-migrants-at-u-s-mexico-border-remain-near-record-highs/">migrants trying to reach the U.S.</a></p>
<p>The majority of migrants crossing the U.S. border come from Latin American <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/01/13/monthly-encounters-with-migrants-at-u-s-mexico-border-remain-near-record-highs/">countries other than Mexico</a>, including Central American countries, but also Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and Cuba.</p>
<p>Most of these migrants are <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters">single adults</a>, though a number of them are also families and children. People <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/10/us/politics/title-42-border-history-immigration.html">migrate through Mexico</a> for many reasons, including political instability, lack of work opportunities and violence in their own countries. </p>
<p>My interviews with migrants moving through Mexico show that they tend to widely circulate tragic news, such as news of the June 2022 news of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/28/us/migrants-san-antonio-tractor-killed.html">migrants found dead</a> locked in a tractor trailer in San Antonio. Videos and photos of this and other tragic instances, like the Ciudad Juárez fire, provide real, vivid images of what can happen if migrants decide to pursue the same pathway. </p>
<p>And for these migrants, the images and news stories aren’t secondhand information that they can <a href="https://arch.library.northwestern.edu/concern/parent/c247ds452/file_sets/8623hz116">question or doubt</a> – images can be interpreted as unchangeable truths.</p>
<h2>How migrants get their news</h2>
<p>Migrants don’t receive news from New York Times alerts or nightly news. </p>
<p>Their information-sharing largely occurs in an <a href="https://arch.library.northwestern.edu/concern/generic_works/c247ds452">underground informal information exchange</a> that circulates news and stories among migrants heading toward the U.S. through Mexico. </p>
<p>That information is shared, discussed, interpreted and commented on through social media platforms, chat groups and word of mouth. Within 24 hours of the Ciudad Juárez fire, every single social media outlet and migrant chat that I follow as part of my research, comprised of thousands of transit migrants moving throughout Mexico and Guatemala in real time, had posted and reposted the video and news of the incident.</p>
<p>Some comments and replies in social media and chat groups about the incident prayed for mercy and peace for the dead and their loved ones. </p>
<p>Others asked for a list of names of the dead, or about their places of origin, as people desperately sought to find out whether their family members and friends were among the dead and injured. Still others asked for tips and discussed ways to avoid suffering the same fate, such as asking about alternate routes to the border, or sharing ways to avoid ending up in Mexican migrant detention centers. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528416/original/file-20230525-29-4ifrwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person, seen from below the neck, holds a large framed photo of a young man, smiling, wearing a blue shirt and hat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528416/original/file-20230525-29-4ifrwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528416/original/file-20230525-29-4ifrwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528416/original/file-20230525-29-4ifrwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528416/original/file-20230525-29-4ifrwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528416/original/file-20230525-29-4ifrwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528416/original/file-20230525-29-4ifrwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528416/original/file-20230525-29-4ifrwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The father of Francisco Rojche, a Guatemalan migrant who died in a Mexican immigration detention center in March 2023, holds a photo of his son.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1250755394/photo/topshot-guatemala-mexico-migration-fire.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=4Zm4IU_D1fbAF642u-CuXsGeWUZmvNNkiFxHIgTA9qU=">Johan Ordonez/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A shared response</h2>
<p>Common among migrants’ reactions to the March 2023 fire was a deep sense of grief. Migrants recognized how close they are to those who lost their lives and expressed a sense of “that could have been me.”</p>
<p>And yet, in my field work, I have found that these horrific events do not deter migrants’ desire to reach the U.S. What they do is reset migrants’ expectations going forward. </p>
<p>Through my field work, I have heard migrants repeatedly tell stories about the dire conditions in detention <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S1537-466120220000029002/full/html">centers in Mexico</a>. </p>
<p>They report that these poor <a href="https://sinfronteras.org.mx/docs/inf/inf-derechos-cautivos.pdf">conditions</a> – <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/7/22/siglo-xxi-my-24-hours-in-mexicos-21st-century-migrant-prison">rotten food, fleas,</a> lack of clothing or blankets for the cold weather – <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/mexico-migrant-detention-centers-inhumane-conditions-fire-rcna77068">have triggered</a> hunger strikes and protests.</p>
<h2>Broader effects</h2>
<p>Another of my main findings is that violent and tragic incidents tend to prompt migrants to avoid any interactions with police or any other officials, even under the guise of help or support. </p>
<p>For example, my research suggests that stories and images of violence like the Ciudad Juárez tragedy will generate a further lack of trust in the Mexican government. I believe that the incident will create certain expectations about the perils of spending time near the border. If they can, I think that migrants will likely avoid Ciudad Juárez and other areas where they feel they may be detained. </p>
<p>I believe the fire will also leave a symbolic scar on migrants in Mexico, who will collectively remember this event and construct their journeys around it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206379/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angel Alfonso Escamilla García does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A fire killed 38 migrants in a Mexico detention facility in March 2023. A sociologist’s conversations with migrants show that they had a common response to this news – a deep sense of grief.Angel Alfonso Escamilla García, Postdoctoral Fellow, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.