THE United States increasingly appears to be moving from one war to another. The disengagement from Afghanistan was only to get entangled in Ukraine and then Gaza and Iran, and now there are increasing signs of aggression against Venezuela and possibly some other neighbouring countries.
However, another aspect of aggression in the US relates to very high levels of internal violence. David Garland, Professor of Law and Sociology at the University of New York, stated recently in an interview that the homicide rate in the US has been extremely high compared to countries at a similar level of development in West Europe. It is about six times higher now, although at its peak in 1994 this was about 8 to 10 times higher. Nearly 30% of people in the US have firearms and 40% live in households possessing firearms, compared to 5% or less in Europe.
The incarceration rate in the US is about 760 per 100,000 population, compared to about 100 in Europe and Canada. The number of civilians killed in the US by police in per capita terms is about 40 times higher than in Germany.
Thus, it is very important to understand that violence in the US is very high at both levels, internally as well externally (in terms of wars and covert operations). If there can be successful efforts for removing the root causes of violence and aggression, then this can be very helpful in reducing the huge internal distress due to violence than the massive distress caused in many parts of the world by wars.
To give just one example of what can be achieved potentially, the entire approach to reducing high rates of drug addiction and abuse can be changed. Instead of starting new wars on this issue, the US can significantly improve and increase various kinds of social interventions for reducing drug abuse and addiction. While according highest priority to this, it should be supported with a combination of community and social actions to break the internal network of making available dugs in urban as well as rural areas of the US. These two steps together, if implemented in highly sincere and honest ways with community involvement, will take care of resolving the crisis situation to a considerable extent. Hence there will be no need and no pretext for starting any war due to this issue, although the US can certainly take steps like helping to further improve and strengthen global steps against drug trafficking by supporting some governments and the United Nations over the issue.
This is just one example of how sincere, well thought-out, creative efforts with the involvement of people can reduce internal distress as well as external aggression.
A highly thoughtful and creative peace movement functioning with continuity can be very helpful in this. While strengthening peace movements is important in all countries, it is of highest importance in the US as this would have a highly beneficial impact on the entire world.
Presently in most world-level discussion on peace movements and strengthening of peace efforts in the US, it is the external aspects or foreign policy which are emphasised the most. The highly aggressive (and often non-rational) external US policies have been linked to many avoidable wars that turned out to be highly destructive. The Brown University’s estimates of the direct and indirect mortality caused by the US-led war on terror tell us that during 2001-2022 as many as 4.5 million persons died in these wars or due to these wars directly and indirectly (even though not all affected countries are covered in these estimates). Then there is also the previous, perhaps even more tragic history of Vietnam, Korea, Iraq etc. (not to mention the huge loss of life in covert interventions—over half a million are estimated to have died in Indonesia alone in the coup that ousted Sukarno).
On this basis a very strong case has been made for peace movements in the US which can lead to a more peaceful external (foreign) policy of the US, guided by an understanding of the urgency of world peace and disarmament, based on defensive strategic approach rather than highly aggressive quest for dominance.
While the need for such peace movements is widely recognised, the need for movements for internal peace and non-violence within the US is voiced much less frequently. However, it should be recognised that the costs of internal violence in the US in terms of crime and imprisonment, domestic violence, violence against women etc. are extremely high. The homicide rate in the US is higher than double of what is the average for OECD countries. According to the Department for Justice data, in 2022 there were 5.4 million violent assaults in the US, 694,000 robberies and 531,000 rapes and sexual assaults. In the case of some of this data, the actual number of crimes may be much higher than the reported ones.
According to the National Centre for Injury Prevention and Control, in a year women in US experience about 4.8 million intimate partner-related physical assaults and rapes. If peace movements can significantly reduce all this distress, it will be a great contribution to reducing distress and stress in the US society. For this, peace movements need a much broader vision of working with continuity for reducing violence in daily life and strengthening the values of non-violence, non-dominance, help and cooperation, compassion and companionship in various highly creative and interesting ways in schools, communities and at the family level.
There is a strong case for achieving better results by integration of internal concerns with external concerns, particularly as the same aggressive trends in society provide the base support of internal and external aggression.
However, there is a third level of peace which is peace within, or peace within the self. As the shocking statistics of mental health in the US reveal, this is a nation in turmoil. This also leads to many acts of self-harm or self-violence, causing several hundred thousand serious injuries every year. According to official data, in 2022, 13.6 million people in the US seriously thought about committing suicide while 1.6 million attempted to end their lives. If peace movements can also contribute significantly to reducing the internal turmoil by promoting in various ways peace and non-violence within the self, then this can contribute in a big way to reducing distress in the US society and bringing relief to distressed people. This can be achieved by promoting the importance of peace and non-violence in daily life with continuity in thoughtful ways at various levels, particularly at the level of community and family. Spiritual organisations can also contribute much to this.
Hence strong and broad-based peace movements which reach out to all sections of people and strive to integrate peace abroad with peace at home and peace within can make a very important contribution to reducing distress within the US as well as at the world level.
Conceptualising, spreading and strengthening such a broad-based and integrated, comprehensive peace movement in the US (as well as in other countries) can be one of the most creative, relevant and useful tasks of our times. It is very important for us as well as for future generations. Women and youth should have a leading role in this.
___________
Bharat Dogra writes extensively on environment, development and welfare issues. The views expressed here are the writer’s own, and Clarion India does not necessarily subscribe to them. He can be reached at: bharatdogra1956@gmail.com
