Tag: Cultural Violence

Eco-Genocidal System Violence Still Unseen – Structural and Cultural Weapons of Mass Destruction by the Multiplying Money-Cancer Class

Structural violence, a term coined by Johan Galtung and by liberation theologians during the 1960s, describes social structures – economic, political, legal, religious, and cultural – that stop individuals, groups, and societies from reaching their full potential. In its general usage, the word violence often conveys a physical image; however, according to Galtung, it is the “avoidable impairment of fundamental human needs or…the impairment of human life, which lowers the actual degree to which someone is able to meet their needs below that which would otherwise be possible”. Structural violence is often embedded in longstanding “ubiquitous social structures, normalized by stable institutions and regular experience”. Because they seem so ordinary in our ways of understanding the world, they appear almost invisible. Disparate access to resources, political power, education, health care, and legal standing are just a few examples. The idea of structural violence is linked very closely to social injustice and the social machinery of oppression. Read More

“Global Projections of Deep-Rooted US Pathologies” by Johan Galtung (1996)

This paper by Johan Galtung analyzes the deep-rooted cultural, psychological, and structural drivers underlying U.S. foreign policy, conceptualizing them as collective “pathologies” that are projected globally through patterns of violence, domination, and exceptionalism. Using psychoanalytic metaphors and systems theory, Galtung identifies three interlinked complexes — Chosenness-Myths-Traumas (CMT), Dichotomy-Manicheism-Armageddon (DMA), and Repression-Projection (RP) — as embedded in the U.S. collective subconscious and shaping elite decision-making. He argues that these archetypal forces narrow foreign policy choices, sustain a worldview of “Good vs. Evil,” and normalize violent interventions while marginalizing nonviolent alternatives. Through ten case studies — including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Cold War, Vietnam, U.S. policy in Latin America, Israel-Palestine, and the Gulf War — the paper demonstrates how these deep structures reproduce global violence and inhibit rational, cooperative responses. Galtung concludes by calling for “therapies” to deconstruct these unconscious pathologies and foster new forms of dialogue, empathy, and multilateralism as pathways toward sustainable peace

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It has been accomplished! Violence = Acquired Life Destabilisation Syndrome (ALDS)

Definition of syndrome

  1. a group of signs and symptoms that occur together and characterize a particular abnormality or condition
  2. a set of concurrent things (such as emotions or actions) that usually form an identifiable pattern
    – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syndrome

In my attempt to understand the root cause of the causes of life destabilisations, several articles synchronistically and serendipitously provided definitive answers yesterday that is consistent with the assertion that violence is an acquired syndrome rather that a congenital defect of our human nature. (Please see: US Defence Secretary Calls on Military to be “Ready” for War Against North Korea. “There are No Risk Free Options”, Army is accepting more low-quality recruits, giving waivers for marijuana to hit targets, War Culture – Gun Culture: They’re Related, and The Psychology of Mass Killers: What Causes It? How Can You Prevent It?.)

The last article was seminal for me in connecting different ideas I have come across over the years in my search for meaning and understanding of the underlying method of this violent madness that pervades every aspect of our society today. What I propose to do is summarise as best as I can in the author’s own words the ideas presented and how they are intimately connected to each other and to provide a neurobiological framework that connects the best neuroscience with the deepest analytical psychology in our toolkits of life appreciation.

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Cultural Violence by Johan Galtung (1990)

This article by Johan Galtung (1990) introduces the concept of cultural violence as a complement to his earlier theory of structural violence (1969). Cultural violence refers to those aspects of a society’s symbolic sphere — including religion, ideology, language, art, empirical science, and formal science — that can be used to legitimize direct or structural violence. While cultural violence does not physically harm, it normalizes and renders acceptable the conditions or acts of harm, shifting perceptions of violence from “wrong” to “right” or “inevitable.” Galtung employs a violence triangle framework that interrelates direct violence (physical acts), structural violence (systemic inequality), and cultural violence (normative justification), alongside a violence strata model highlighting their different temporalities and causal flows. The paper provides examples from multiple cultural domains and explores how cultural narratives, ideologies, and cosmologies sustain violence across generations. Finally, Galtung connects these insights to Gandhian principles of unity of life and unity of means and ends, proposing a transition from a vicious triangle of violence to a virtuous triangle of peace rooted in cultural transformation.

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