Health Staff Perceptions of Hate Violence in Spain

The aim of this study of Spanish health personnel is to determine their level of knowledge about hate violence and their relevance in detecting victims of hate violence and clarifying the magnitude of the phenomenon. An exploratory study with a descriptive, observational, and cross-sectional design was conducted, with incidental non-probabilistic sampling and an ad hoc questionnaire to health professionals in three Autonomous Communities of Spain. Our results indicate a general lack of knowledge about hate violence by health staff who acknowledged that they do not have specific training for hate violence victims’ care, although most staff had attended to some cases of hate violence in the last year. No significant differences were found among healthcare services, professionals, training, or Autonomous Communities, which indicated a generalized lack of training and specific tools that was common in the different health services and in different Autonomous Communities in Spain. The health services that reported most cases of hate violence ex officio were those in which the professionals had more training and knowledge and in which there were specific protocols on hate violence. In conclusion, the health system constitutes “the gateway” to the care, promotion, and prevention of hate violence victims. However, political actions are necessary to avoid the lack of knowledge and lack of training and professional tools that are widespread among healthcare staff. Therefore, the training of professionals and the establishment of specific protocols for action against hate violence would improve the care and long-term monitoring of victims, and the implementation of an epidemiological registry and surveillance system of hate violence would improve the care and prevention of hate violence in Spain.

An urban pedagogy or the implicit pedagogy of urban spaces

The city narrates and its architectural structures convey their functions, their wealth, their power and sacredness. They can also tell a tale of violence and fear, of the logic of power, of discrimination and denial. They transmit information, implicit messages that shape and form, giving life to that “conditioning power” or “unconscious influence of the environment” which signifies pervasiveness and performativity or education. Cities, then, are potentially educational, but they can also be miseducational when they are at the service of anti-democratic and anti-educational logic. They can impoverish and transmit messages of hate, violence and discrimination by colonizing the minds and hindering reflective and creative thinking. Space, is then, a "pedagogical operator" which, in the wake of Foucauldian pedagogy, is able to influence the educational process, starting from the implicit pedagogy that insinuates itself into a structure, thus making it the daily spokesperson for ideologies.

Ghost guns: spookier than you think they are

Off-the-books, untraceable “ghost guns” can now be manufactured at home, easily, and in large numbers; they contribute ever more frequently to firearm violence, including hate violence and domestic terrorism. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives estimates that in 2019 alone, law enforcement agencies recovered more than 10,000 ghost guns. The manuscript describes the current situation and suggests specific actions that state and federal governments can take to avert disaster.

Effects of perceived origin on anti-migrant sentiments and acts of socially induced hatred in Bulgaria

The paper studies the effects of perceived immigrants' origin on anti-immigrant sentiments in the Bulgarian society by focusing on social distance and some aspects of socially induced hatred towards immigrants. Spread and approval of hate speech and hate violence against immigrants and variations associated to the perceived different background and origin are analyzed. With respect to social distancing, two clusters are differentiated - "distant" and "close" on basis of origin and the differences between them are not only in the degree of acceptance, but also in the ranking of preferred roles. With respect to act of socially induced hatred results are more ambiguous. Origin has a substantial role on the spread of hate speech, but this is not the case with the spread or (perceived) involvement of different groups in violence. Inclination to intervene and stop violence differs according to the origin of victims and perpetrators and further studies are needed to identify determinants.

Democracia em crise: biopolítica e governamento neoliberal de populações

Resumo: Este texto discute a hipótese de que a crise das democracias contemporâneas é indissociável de dois fenômenos políticos distintos, porém correlatos, analisados a partir das teorizações de Michel Foucault sobre a biopolítica e o neoliberalismo: a) a crescente disseminação de atos e discursos de violência, de ódio e de preconceito contra populações vulneráveis, obedecendo à lógica biopolítica da proteção da vida de alguns ao custo da exposição à morte de vastas parcelas da população; b) a disseminação de políticas neoliberais para a gestão da vida de populações vulneráveis. Considera-se que a articulação entre biopolítica e neoliberalismo produz o paradoxo de uma democracia sem demos, no sentido da desvalorização das lutas políticas coletivas por direitos iguais e por melhores condições de vida. Na conclusão, sugere-se que a reinvenção da democracia exige repensar o poder do demos, isto é, repolitizar o poder político de categorias sociais sujeitas a processos históricos de vulneração. Palavras-chave: Crise da democracia. Biopolítica. Neoliberalismo. Foucault. Butler. Democracy in crisis: biopolitics and neoliberal government of populations Abstract: This text discusses the hypothesis that the crisis of contemporary democracy relates to two distinct political phenomena, however correlated, analyzed thru Michel Foucault’s concepts about biopolitics and neoliberalism: a) the ascending dissemination of acts and discourses of hate, violence and prejudgment against vulnerable populations, according to the biopolitical logics of protecting the life of some at the expense of exposing the life of others to death; b) the dissemination of neoliberal policies to administrate the life of vulnerable populations. I argue that both phenomena seem to imply the paradox of a democracy without the demos, in the sense of the devaluation of collective political struggles for equal rights and for better life conditions. At the conclusion, it is suggested that the reinvention of democracy requires rethinking the power of the demos in the sense of re-politicizing the political power of social categories subjected to historical process that render them vulnerable. Keywords: Crisis of democracy. Biopolitics. Neoliberalism. Foucault. Butler. Démocratie en crise : biopolitique et gouvernement néolibéral de populations Résumé : On discute l’hypothèse que la crise de la démocratie contemporaine est associée à deux phénomènes politiques distinctes, mais corrélâtes, analysés par les concepts de Foucault sur la biopolitique et le néolibéralisme : a) la vague accrue d’actes et de mots de violence, haine et pré-jugements contre des populations vulnérables, selon la logique biopolitique de la protection de la vie de quelques-uns au prix du rejet à la morte de la vie des autres ; b) la dissémination des politiques néolibéraux vouées à la gestion de la vie des populations vulnérabilisées. L’articulation entre biopolitique et néolibéralisme semble impliquer le paradoxe d’une démocratie sans demos, au sens de la dévaluation des luttes politiques collectives pour des droits égaux et pour des meilleures conditions de vie. Finalement, on considère la réinvention de la démocratie par la ré-politisation du pouvoir du demos en tant que pouvoir des catégories sociales soumises à la vulnération. Mots-clés: Crise de la démocratie. Biopolitique. Néolibéralisme. Foucault. Butler.

Civil courage as a communicative act

Hate violence which denigrates a person’s social identity whether it involves physical or verbal aggression off or online – is a communicative act. It transmits a message to the victim that they are devalued and unwelcome. It is a marginalising and exclusionary message. Answering back to hate violence by challenging hateful expression is one way of responding. It is a form of ‘civil courage’. Yet why should anybody want to take a stand and speak out – given the risks involved that perpetrators might turn on those who intervene or respond in some other way? This paper proposes that the importance of civil courage goes beyond being the right thing to do, or the humane thing, when a bystander witnesses hate violence off- or online. Instead, if we comprehend hate violence as a communicative act, and if we understand the particular impact of the exclusionary message it sends (and understand how bystander inaction can magnify the felt sense of social exclusion), then we might appreciate the potential value of an act of civil courage in response. There is a moral imperative for civil courage as it answers back to hate violence by sending an inclusionary message to the victim – as reasoned in this paper.

Philosophy of War and Peace: Anthropocentric Dichotomy of Love/Humanity as Motivation of Heroism (Based on “Letters to a German Friend” by Albert Camus)

The article considers the humanistic anthropocentric position of the French writer and philosopher A. Camus in his “Letters to a German Friend” (1943–1944). During the World War II the writer experienced a real existential drama of conscience caused by situation in the occupied France. The country experienced horror and humiliation of temporary occupation and managed to turn its defeat into victory. Fascism in the eyes of the prominent humanist writer and philosopher of France is revealed in the context of the philosophy of war/peace. This context is specified by a number of statements, such as love/hate, violence/nonviolence, etc. ‘Disturbed Conscience’ of A. Camus, in spite of patriotic reasons, sought intercourse between different pairs of opposition: strength/weakness, heroism/cowardice, etc. The oppositions we/you, our/your appeal to such concepts as the price of sacrifice, the price of loss, the price of victory. The monological epistolary genre allows showing the psychological and moral reality of the war, with possible shifts in time and appeal to the Other. A. Camus strengthens the existential problem, the core of which is the opposition “Me – Other” (according to M. Buber and E. Levinas) and “Me like the Other» (P. Ricker). In fact, he initiates a new ontological and linguistic reality embedded in the paradigm of a new/other discourse of war. The binary oppositions similar/unrelated, friend/foe, one’s own/alien, hero/traitor, winner/ defeated are being demounted in the field of psychology of violence reflected by the author within the psychology of nonviolence. At the same time, the basic oppositional pair patriot/collaborator is integrated into a complex system of psychological controversies being the ground of Camus’ psychology of nonviolence. The writer expands a number of oppositional concepts adding the dichotomy of ‘two Europes’. He anthropologizes the considered problems to the highest extent, placing a man with the whole complex of human values in the center of his ‘arguments of conscience’.