Structural And Personal Violence In Galtung Violence, Peace, And Peace?

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Through the reading of Galtung “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research” he explained the two concepts of structural and personal violence and how peace is considered to be absence of violence. Galtung explains the dimensions of the terms peace and violence and how they can affect the life of a person. Furthermore, he refuses the idea to view violence as the intentional harm done by an actor (object) to someone else (subject). However, he notes “violence is present when human beings are being influenced so that their actual somatic and mental realizations are below their potential realizations” (Galtung 1969, p. 168). Galtung defines structural violence as “social injustice” (Galtung 1969, p.171). On the other hand, he defines personal violence …show more content…
Sexual harassment in Cairo crosses class barriers, generations and faiths. Women face harassment everywhere and at anytime and no one pays attention to this growing problem. Since the revolution, cases of sexual harassment in Cairo reached 364 cases, 30.56 percent cases of sexual harassment in 2014 (Egyptindependent.com, 2015). The case of sexual harassment in Egypt is related to how these women are influenced by what they are exposed to. Galtung refuses the idea to view violence as the intentional harm done by an actor (object) to someone else (subject). However, he notes “Violence is present when human beings are being influenced so that their actual somatic and mental realizations are below their potential realizations”(Galtung 1969, p. 168). Though I agree with the fact that violence is not usually done by an actor, in the sexual harassment case violence is actually done by a subject and an object (men) is harming this subject (women). Therefore, violence is the “cause of the difference between the potential and the actual, between what could have been and what is” (Galtung 1969, p. 168). In Egypt, sexual harassment could be avoided if the law is enforced and the Egyptian government takes actions, otherwise sexual harassment will always be a huge issue in Cairo, …show more content…
If the government in Egypt will not take any actions towards sexual harassment, then they are underestimating women’s value. Since what happened to the women during the presidential inauguration, there is a 3000 Egyptian Pound to anyone who would harass a woman in the street and at least one year in prison. The government should play a role in ending such an issue. Moreover, as Galtung discussed that “The absence of personal violence does not lead to positively defined condition, while absence of structural violence is what we have referred to as social justice, which is a positively defined condition” (Galtung 1969, p.183) As a consequence, he keeps on stating that structural violence breeds structural violence and personal violence breeds personal violence, but he argues that there is a cross breeding among both distinctions of violence. These distinctions of violence can influence each other’s creation and Galtung includes how one can be used to stop the

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