Violence has been normalised in our society to such an extent that we sometimes seem insensitive to it. Deaths from disasters on the morning news, deaths from armed conflict over food, death at the hands of a spouse for dinner….
Events like those surrounding the death of George Floyd in the US show us that there is still a glimmer of hope: we are not totally insensitive to our surroundings.
Or are we?
- In May 2020, Spain had 20 fatal victims of gender violence.
- It is estimated that 40 million people in the world are slaves. 10 million of them are children.
- 87,000 people lost their lives on battlefields in 2016.
Violence is so ingrained in humanity that every inertia brings us back to it. The status quo of our society is violent. The black that today stains the walls on social media will fade away just as the black and/or purple caps are no longer seen.
But violence has no place in the 21st century. No violence of any kind. We must not allow a return to normality, a normality full of senseless deaths.
Passivity is no longer valid: not to be racist, not to be supremacist, not to be extremist, … we must be active: anti-racist, anti-supremacist, anti-extremist. Evil, in order to triumph, only needs good to do nothing.
We must point out what has no place in our society, denounce the violent. And reach out to those who need help.
And we can do it alone, or in company.
Sources
- http://estadisticasviolenciagenero.igualdad.mpr.gob.es/ victims of gender violence in Spain.
- https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/statistics/lang-en/index.htm slavery in the world.
- https://ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace#all-charts-preview deaths on battlefields.
- Image credits.
