Announcement of Online Forum on “Structural Violence and Public Policy”

We are proud to announce our next online forum on the topic of “Structural Violence and Public Policy”!  

Date and Time: 14. June, 2022, 3.30pm to 5pm CET

Venue: ZOOM Conference

Agenda:

At the backdrop of anti-terrorism, COVID- 19 pandemic and the imminent war situation in Ukraine, social violence has become a critical public health problem, creating compromised health and social suffering. It is also a complex phenomenon that involves a spectrum of behavioral and social interactions that vary across the lifespan and different social, political and economic contexts.

A term first coined by Johan Galtung, “structural violence” refers to the multiple ways in which social, economic, and political systems expose particular populations to risks and vulnerabilities leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Those systems include income inequality, racism, homophobia, anti- Semitism, Islamophobia, sexism, ableism, and other means of social exclusion leading to vulnerabilities.

Inequitable distribution of social power and resources across different groups produces differential life chances that would shape daily experiences. Business like weapon industry as well as certain public policy like weapon ownership are some key factors which play important roles in structural violence. Take a few examples in the recent US. The shooting sprees at Buffalo supermarket in New York, at Robb Elementary School in Texas, and at the hospital campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma, etc. are tragedies beyond belief.

The effective and sustainable global violence prevention efforts, therefore, must be comprehensive and tackle a wide range of social conditions and structural determinants that fuel violence in economic marginalization, gender inequality, racial discrimination and more.

The upcoming forum aims to tackle the following issues:

1. The reality of structural violence – the historical, social, legal, political and economic marginalization that contributes to personal and community violence
2. Weapon industry and social violence
3. Social norms on gender and race in perpetuating the practice of violence
4. Personal freedom and its potential consequences of social problems
5. Financial policies as a catalyzer to generate social discrepancies
6. Structural violence in today’s USA and Europe
7. Violence prevention through public policies and related mitigation programs

Panelists:

1. MMag. Florian Horn, lawyer, fhorn Rechtsanwaltskanzlei, Austria;
2. Dr. Laszlo Flamm, historian, foreign policy expert, Hungary;
3. Dr. Anat Hochberg-Marom, geo-politics expert, Israel;
4. Dr. Franz Piribauer, public health expert, Harvard;
5. Mag. Bernhard Müller, political scientist, Austria

Moderation:

MMag. Alice Schmatzberger