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Public Health, War, and Militarism

Public Health, War, and Militarism. Martin Donohoe. Am I Stoned?. A 1999 Utah anti-drug pamphlet warns: “Danger signs that your child may be smoking marijuana include excessive preoccupation with social causes, race relations, and environmental issues”. Perspective.

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Public Health, War, and Militarism

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  1. Public Health, War, and Militarism Martin Donohoe

  2. Am I Stoned? A 1999 Utah anti-drug pamphlet warns: “Danger signs that your child may be smoking marijuana include excessive preoccupation with social causes, race relations, and environmental issues”

  3. Perspective • The earth spins at 1,038 mph at the equator, between 700 mph and 900 mph at mid-latitudes • The earth rotates around sun at 18.5 miles/sec • The solar system orbits the center of the Milky Way Galaxy at 137 miles/sec • One rotation per 225 million years

  4. Perspective • The sun is one of hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy • The Milky Way is one of over one hundred billion galaxies in the known universe • The universe may be one of an infinite number of universes

  5. The Planets

  6. Our Solar System

  7. Jupiter = one pixel, Earth = invisible

  8. Sun = one pixel, Jupiter = invisible

  9. History of war • 10,000 yrs ago – agriculture • Stable populations, division of labor, warrior class • 3500 yrs ago – bronze weapons and armor • 2200 yrs ago – iron • 1900 yrs ago – widespread use of horses

  10. History of war • Ninth Century China - bombs • Thirteenth Century China – rockets • Forgotten until the 19th Century • 1783 – Balloon (Montgolfier brothers)

  11. History of War • 1803-1814 (Napoleonic Wars): English General Henry Shrapnel fills cannonballs with bullets and exploding charges to increase killing capacity • 1903 – airplane (Wright Brothers) • 20th Century – nuclear weapons, increasingly sophisticated chemical and biological weapons

  12. Atomic Weapons - History • Hiroshima, August 6, 1945 • 15 kiloton bomb, 140,000 deaths • Nagasaki, August 9, 1945 • 22 kiloton bomb, 70,000 casualties

  13. Atomic Weapons Today Approximately 17,300 nuclear weapons in at least 9 countries Down from over 71,000 at height of Cold War 4,300 active U.S./Russian warheads today 1,800 on hair-trigger alert Several thousand megatons (100,000 Hiroshimas)

  14. History of War • Violent conflict ubiquitous in the animal kingdom: • Interspecies conflict – food, territory • Intraspecies conflict – food, territory, mates (usually not directly fatal) • Violence among non-human primates • Gorilla infanticide • Chimps vs. Bonobos

  15. Origins of War • Foragers vs. Agriculturalists • Agriculture • Hierarchical society • Private property • Money • Subjugation of women • Infectious/chronic diseases

  16. Origins of War • Violence Today • Link with poverty, oppression, fueled by desire for wealth/power • Familial vs. Societal • Gun culture • Media Violence

  17. History of War • 20th Century: • Small arms • 90% of the 300,000 yearly deaths from violent conflict • Land mines • 24,000 deaths/yr (est.), tens of thousands more disabled • Predator drones • Weaponization of space • Cyberwar

  18. History of War • Belief that each new invention would eliminate warfare • Instead - increased casualties, killing at a distance

  19. Epidemiology of Warfare • Deaths in war: • 17th Century = 19/million population • 18th Century = 19/million population • 19th Century = 11/million population • 20th Century = 183/million population • Increasing casualties to civilians • 85-90% in 20th Century (vs. 10% late 19th Century)

  20. Contemporary Wars • 250 wars in the 20th Century • 72 million lives lost in 20th Century wars, another 52 million through genocides • Incidence of war rising since 1950

  21. War Deaths, 1945-2010

  22. War Deaths • Korean War: 3 million • Vietnam War: 1.7 million • Iran-Iraq War: 700,000 • Soviet War in Afghanistan: 1.5 million • Second Congo War: 3.8 million • Second Sudanese Civil War: 1.9 million

  23. Gulf War I • 105,000 military and 110,000 civilian deaths (almost all Iraqis) • Over 2.25 million refugees • 2/3 of US casualties from “friendly fire” • Cost $61 billion ($82 billion in 2003 dollars) • Environmental devastation

  24. War Deaths (as of 12/1/12) • Second Iraq War: • 4,485 U.S. soldiers; 17,000 Iraqi military • U.S. Afghan War: • Over 2,000 U.S. soldiers; 1,200 coalition forces • Civilian deaths • 193,000 violent; 1 million indirect • Financial cost of these two wars: $1.5-5 trillion (est.) • Higher estimate includes fighting, rebuilding, veterans’ health care, economic losses, etc.

  25. Casualties Among Soldiers and Civilians Continue • More US soldiers have committed suicide than have died in Afghan War • More military contractors killed than US soldiers • Veteran health care needs massive (TBI, psychiatric disorders, etc.) • 26% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are uninsured and not part of the VA health care system • Young veterans: ½ believe war in Afghanistan was not worth fighting; 60% for Iraq War

  26. Josef Stalin “The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.”

  27. Colonial Exploitation • Christopher Columbus’ log entry upon meeting the Arawaks of the Bahamas: “They…brought us…many…things…They willingly traded everything they owned…They do not bear arms…They would make fine servants…With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”

  28. Colonial Exploitation • Cecil Rhodes (Rhodesia, Rhodes Scholarship, DeBeers Mining Company): “We must find new lands from which we can easily obtain raw materials and at the same time exploit the cheap slave labour that is available from the natives of the colonies. The colonies would also provide a dumping ground for the surplus goods produced in our factories.”

  29. Exploitation leads to: • Maldistribution of wealth and resources • Environmental degradation • Wars

  30. Consequences of War Deaths, injuries, psychological sequelae Collapse of health care system (affecting those with acute and chronic illnesses) Famine

  31. Consequences of War • Environmental degradation • Refugees, migrants, internally-displaced persons • 26 million displaced • Increasing poverty and debt • All lead to recurrent cycles of violence

  32. Environmental Consequences of Militarization • World’s single largest polluter • 8% of global air pollution • 2-11% of raw material use • Almost all high and low level radioactive waste

  33. Violence Against Women • Common among U.S. servicewomen • A deployed female soldier is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire • Rape in war widespread, often genocidal • Some refugee camps unsafe

  34. “Comfort Women” • Japanese soldiers forced between 100,000 and 200,000 women into sexual slavery (“comfort women”) • Some underwent forced hysterectomies to prevent menstruation, make them constantly “available” • More than half died due to mistreatment

  35. “Comfort Women” • 3-5 year detention • 5-20 rapes per day • For 3 yrs of enslavement, low estimate is 7500 rapes per woman • Japan has not compensated any victims • Historical blindness to atrocities

  36. Violence and Rape in War • Occurs against backdrop of ongoing societal forms of violence against women • Legal, educational, social, and political marginalization

  37. Economic Disparities • Women 79 cents/$1 Men • Median income of black U.S. families as a percent of white U.S. families 62% • 60% in 1968 • 63% for Hispanic families

  38. Status of Women Women do 67% of the world’s work Receive 10% of global income Own 1% of all property

  39. Worldwide, every minute 380 women become pregnant (190 unplanned or unwanted) 110 women experience pregnancy-related complications 40 women have unsafe abortions 1 woman dies from childbirth or unsafe abortion Reason: Lack of access to reproductive health services

  40. “Mother’s Day Proclamation, 1870”Julia Ward Howe Arise then...women of this day!Arise, all women who have hearts!… Say firmly:"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,For caresses and applause.

  41. “Mother’s Day Proclamation, 1870”Julia Ward Howe Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearnAll that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.”… From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up withOur own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!

  42. “Mother’s Day Proclamation, 1870”Julia Ward Howe Let women … …promote the alliance of the different nationalities,The amicable settlement of international questions,The great and general interests of peace.

  43. Critical Public Health Issues

  44. Poverty and Hunger US: 15% of residents and 22% of children live in poverty Rates of poverty in Blacks and Hispanics = 2X Whites Poverty associated with worse physical and mental health

  45. Jacob Riis

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