Experiences of War

Whenever there is an armed conflict, one can be sure of the fact that the civilians in that place have undergone extreme forms of violence, both physical and psychological. These different forms of violence, which the civilians become exposed to, are built up by their perpetrators as time goes by, and it will affect them in several different ways; for the rest of their lives. Just think about the apathetic children our state just now decided to deport from Sweden. They had undergone terrible trauma, and are today in a state where they cannot even move, talk, or eat. (The fact that we have decided to deport them is another political issue which will not be discussed here, but I still have to say that I find it outrageous). However, the Mayan war widows in Guatemala who Judith N. Zur describes in Violent Memories had their entire lives thrown upside down during the terrible time of rural terror (1978-1985) called la violencia. When reading about these Mayan war widows, or about how the shadow networks has been created, or watching the film Welcome to Sarajevo; one comes to realize that the culture and history that exists before a period of war is at the same time extremely important to individuals in order to try to survive and build up your identity and meaning after the culture you knew became eradicated. One also realizes that the fear built up during the war and the physical and psychological violence that civilians are exposed to will have very serious effect on them for the rest of their lives, and that reconstructing a ‘self’, finding meaning, remembering, handling the truth is necessary for a culture to survive and to develop.
First, there are several ways in which both the physical and psychological violence can be built up in armed conflicts. According to Zur, during la violencia, the army used physical violence when they burnt down cornfields and villages. They destroyed health-centres, schools and they took over the churches. They made the NGO’s flee. They raped women and killed their animals. This physical violence generates psychological violence. The psychological violence is very important in the beginning of a conflict, since the purpose of it is to break down your enemy. Zur writes that physical violence like public executions was during la violencia “intended to completely efface the identities of individuals” (Zur, 1889:78). Well, one thing is for certain; it creates “conditions of extreme insecurity…and increased deprivation” (Zur, Violent Memories, 1998:71), which probably was the purpose of the violence in the first place. It is a way to “terrorize [people] through destroying individual autonomy and destabilizing their communities” (Zur, 1998:71). Because, by eliminating the religious leaders, the NGO’s and important buildings; the individual is weakened. And this is then the purpose of the physical violence, by creating fear and terror; the perpetrator hopes to make the community crumble.
Second, it is also common in armed conflicts that the civilians are exposed to other forms of psychological violence. An army can use disinformation to “heighten the level of fear in a community” (Zur, 1998:74), or start myths of violence – also with the same purpose. During la violencia, according to Zur; “[o]ne of the most insidious manifestations of psychological terror was the military regime’s manipulation of language” (Zur, 1998:74), which was executed simply to achieve domination over the civilians. By manipulating the language the perpetrators sought to “increase the sense of intimidation” (Zur, 1998:74). Civilians were forced to change their language, certain words could not be said, and meanings disappeared to them. The fear created when being forced to carefully consider every word coming from your mouth, and the loss of meaning was the purpose of this psychological violence. Also, manipulation of language is “having the power to stigmatize persons and activities which question official realities” (Zur, 1998:75). Here manipulation of language was used to stigmatize the civilians in order to make them less threatening.
Further, how does the physical and psychological violence come to affect the civilians after the conflict is over? Does it affect them for the rest of their lives? In what ways does it affect them? I believe that the fears experiences during times of terror will definitely have an effect on the victims for ever, since their entire social reality has been destroyed. Consciously and unconsciously victims battles with the requests to forget, or try to protect themselves from certain memories. According to Zur; “the conscious devices include silence, mutism, negation, forgery and confusion” (Zur, 1998:160). And the unconsciously tool used for protection against memories of experiences is denial. People will experience chaos while their memory/associations/perception does not work. The K’iche women believe that “wisdom is based on knowledge and memory (and intelligence and feelings)” (Zur, 1998:161) which means that loosing their memory and knowledge during this time creates a feeling of chaos in them. What they know, what they can associate with is no longer there. They start to feel lost and unwise. Because, when a person’s entire social reality suddenly collapses, it will have an effect on them. The experience of personal loss or the experience of drastic changes in a person’s familiar world can create “disorientation and numbness, denial, severe anxiety and finally, anomie or despair” (Zur, 1998:161). It can be very hard to find words that describe experiences, and it can be extremely hard to find yourself without any language or any cultural belonging.
Further, when your entire worldview has crumbled, it is extremely hard to try to reconstruct your ‘self’, to give rise to representations of the ‘self’, to find meaning and cultural belonging. But during these time periods, it is very important to create memories and trying to handle the truth, in order to start some kind of a healing process. But, since one’s private memory often is different from the ‘official memory’ which is what the perpetrator wants you to remember, your own memory is violated and this “affects victims for years because the violence is internalized” (Zur, 1998:170). This makes to victim find it even harder to start to reconstruct a ‘self’ and create an identity, since “it hinders attempts to re-establish continuity with the past” (Zur, 1998:187) which is very important to the victims. However, people will have to continue struggle with their healing process, and while doing so, they sometimes collectively share memories/stories in their communities, while trying to merge past events into their present lives. According to Zur, for victims of violence “memories become whole only in social contexts, taking their shape according to group processes and the conceptual structures of certain groups” (Zur, 1998:172) which means that by collectively sharing memories/stories is starting to shape a culture, where their own memories in a way becomes real. It is part of a cultural understanding. And it is also through this process that a self-image can be created.
Furthermore, in order so survive, victims of violence are forced to act and take on responsibilities even though they might not have any energy for it. In their new world they have to try to find a continuity of the ‘self’. And sometimes victims of violence have to look into the past, into their old identities and structures and morals, to be able to create a feeling of continuity and to be able to create a new ‘self’. According to Zur: “[i]dentity or knowing who you are, is ‘to be oriented in moral space” (Zur, 1998:181). When victims of violence try to conform to their new identities, they can sometimes reinterpret meanings of occurrences in the past because “suffering is initially caused by meanings, [so therefore] altering meanings can reduce the suffering” (Zur, 1998:181).
When individuals become victims of violence, and loose their cultural belonging (where their worldview is shaped), they find it hard to interpret the world and their experiences on their own. Therefore people start networking, trying to recreate their culture, trying to share meanings, memories and create new identities. This is what people do in order to survive, because just like Nordstrom claims: “ [p]eople survive in communities” (Nordstrom, 2004:132). The shadow networks described in Shadows of War are a way of surviving the post-war periods for the victims of violence. Even though

“[t]here is no doubt that some of the communities that revolve around illicit exchange and profiteering are grounded in violence, fear and exploitation…others are invested in establishing ordered communities and stable relations” (Nordstrom, 2004:133).

Communities mean different things to different people. But, most of all they mean survival, survival and development after periods of fear and terror. The physical and psychological violence that the victims have been exposed will have significant effects on them for the rest of their lives. But as time passes by, and because of the necessity of continuity; they will create new identities based on their shared meanings, memories and history. This is crucial for their survival, and for their own development.

Works Cited

Nordstrom, Carolyn. Shadows of War: Violence, Power, and International Profiteering in the Twenty-First Century. London: University of California Press, Ltd, 2004.
Zur, Judith N. Violent Memories: Mayan War Widows in Guatemala. Oxford: Westview Press, 1998.