To start with I would like you to think for a moment about the Second World War and the idea of Eugenics that Mr. Hitler strongly endorsed. As you probably know eugenics refers to rather biological idea of ‘cleaning species’ from inadequate individuals. When applied to social science by Natzi, it proclaimed that human race should be redeemed by removing those who threaten its purity: Jewes, Poles, Gypsies ec. Yes, we all know it from the history lessons and one could think that we have learnt this lessons and the history won’t repeat itself.
As I mentioned in the previous post recently I’ve begun to work with NGO in Soacha region of Bogota. The other day while visiting the community I was talking with a guy who has been working for this organisation for 2 years and I was asking him about some security issues. He said that recently the security has been a bit improved but 2-3 years ago the situation was very bad mostly due to limpieza social(social cleaning). Not familiar with the notion I asked what does this phrase stand for. He explained me that ‘social cleansing consists of serial killings of people who have been economically pushed so far toward the fringes of misery that the more affluent members of society classify them as "undesirable," "throwaway" human beings’( from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_n8_v30/ai_14682952/). How is in charge of these ‘cleanings’? As surprising as it may sound that would be police…To understand the scale of this procedure I recommend you the article quoted. The picture that emerges is scary for couple of reasons from which me, personally strike most 2 of them:
1) The division of society into ‘good/useful and garbage/unusual’ is sanctioned by politicians of the country.
2) The solution to poverty and related to it violence has been identified as ‘using more violence’.
Moreover I think that such movement is not limited to Colombia and Brasil. Considering the recent happenings in London and general atmosphere in the European Union towards closing Shengen in order to protect Europeans from illegal immigrants the question emerges: If there was no law protecting marginalised people against murders how many of them would be slaughtered on the streets of Paris, London, Berlin? Of course this examples are even more complex due to race/ethnicity/religion dimensions that merge with poverty issues.
Why do I write about this? Because I am interested in your opinions about these issues…Is the violence an answer to the poverty problem? If not, how to change peoples’ perception? What actions should be taken on governmental/individual level?
