Understanding Motivation for Violence
The motivation for violence ranges from personal to racial discrimination, social injustice to economic inequalities. Sometimes violence can erupt due to political unrest. There could be multiple factors contributing to violence in a particular society such as cultural norms, misogynist behavior, lack of education, economic crisis, social and economic injustice, lack of resources, poverty, destructive cultural practices as well as spiritual and mental illness. However, these factors are often neglected in the study.
Another concern I came across in my research was why it seems as if violence cannot be abolished. It was a challenge to find an answer to the question of what steps should be taken towards eradicating violence. As we know, violence has existed in all societies since the beginning of time due to race, nationality, and religious affiliation. It has been part of human nature — despite law enforcement — and it still exists in society but manifests itself in different forms; violence, in some cases, is more prevalent in some societies than others.
Most of the time, laws and police enforcement play the role of managing a symptom rather than finding the root cause of the issue. Thus, failing to eradicate a problem existing in a society. For example, in the light of recent events, violence and social injustice against African Americans have led to the “Black Lives Matter Movement” and the “Me Too Movement” was formed to battle against the violation of women’s rights.
On BBC News, Tarana, the founder of the MeToo Movement, said there are similarities between Black Lives Matter and her movement. “They’re about fighting against injustice. Both movements are predicated on undoing systems of oppression.” Which applies to all forms of oppression.
Tarana stated that she feels like the deaths of black men in police custody still get more attention than black women. “Not to diminish anything about those black men who unjustly lost their lives,” she added.
Article 2, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), states that everyone is entitled to all the freedoms listed in the UDHR, “without distinction of any kind such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or another opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or another status.” The last words of this sentence — “other status” — have frequently been cited to expand the list of people specifically protected.
