Causes, Consequences, and Costs of War and Militarism

Martin Donohoe

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

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)

War Deaths, 1945-2010

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

War Deaths (as of 5/5/13)

• First Gulf War:– 105,000 military and 110,000 civilian deaths

(almost all Iraqis)• Second Iraq War:– 4,488 U.S. soldiers; over 17,000 Iraqi military

• U.S. Afghan War:– 2220 U.S. soldiers; approximately 1,100 coalition

forces

Iraq (1 and 2) and Afghanistan Wars

• Civilian deaths• 193,000 violent; 1 -1.5 million indirect

• Financial cost: $1.5-5 trillion (est.)• Higher estimate includes fighting,

rebuilding, veterans’ health care, economic losses, etc.

Iraq and Afghanistan Wars

• More US soldiers have committed suicide than have died in Afghan War

• 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

Contemporary Warfare

• 21st Century:• Chemical and biological weapons• Small arms• 90% of the 300,000 yearly deaths from

violent conflict• Land mines• 24,000 deaths/yr, tens of thousands

more disabled

Contemporary Warfare

• 21st Century:• 300,000 child soldiers• 10.5 million refugees; 27 million internally

displaced persons• Predator drones• Weaponization of space• Cyberwar

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

Origins of War

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

Origins of War

• Violence Today–Link with poverty, oppression, fueled

by desire for wealth/power–Familial vs. Societal–Gun culture–Media Violence

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)

Origins of War

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

• Chimps vs. Bonobos

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.”

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.”

Exploitation leads to:

• Maldistribution of wealth and resources

• Environmental degradation

• Wars

Consequences of War

• Deaths, injuries, psychological sequelae

• Collapse of health care system (affecting those with acute and chronic illnesses)

• Famine

Consequences of War

• Environmental degradation• Refugees, migrants, internally-displaced

persons• Increasing poverty and debt

• All lead to recurrent cycles of violence

Environmental Consequences of Militarization

• U.S. Military: World’s single largest polluter–8% of global air pollution–2-11% of raw material use–Almost all high and low level

radioactive waste

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

Violence and Rape in War

• Occurs against backdrop of ongoing societal forms of violence against women–Legal, educational, social, and political

marginalization

Status of Women

• Worldwide:–Women do 67% of the world’s work–Receive 10% of global income–Own 1% of all property

• U.S.:–Women earn 79 cents/$1 men

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

The State of U.S. Health Care

• 49 million uninsured patients• Est. 51,000 deaths/year due to lack

of health insurance• US ranks near the bottom among

westernized nations in life expectancy and infant mortality

• Racial disparities in coverage, processes, and outcomes of care

Headline from The Onion

Uninsured Man Hopes His Symptoms Diagnosed This

Week On House

Worldwide Poverty

• 1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water

• 3 billion lack adequate sanitation services

• Hunger-related causes kill as many people in 8 days as the atomic bomb killed at Hiroshima

Maldistribution of Wealth

• Top 250 billionaires worldwide worth $1 trillion, the combined income of bottom 2.5 billion people (45% of world’s population)• U.S: Richest 1% of the population owns

40% of the country’s wealth -poorest 80% own 7%-widest gap of any industrialized nation

Overconsumption (“Affluenza”)

• U.S. = 6.3% of world’s population–Owns 50% of the world’s wealth

• U.S. responsible for:–25% of world’s energy consumption–33% of paper use–72% of hazardous waste production

Income Inequality Kills

Higher income inequality is associated with increased morbidity and mortality at all per capita income levels

Maldistribution of Wealth is Deadly

• 880,000 deaths/yr in U.S. would be averted if the country had an income gap like Western European nations, with their stronger social safety nets–BMJ 2009;339:b4471

Voltaire

“The comfort of the rich rests upon an abundance of the poor”

Hudson River, 2009

Primo Levi

“A country is considered the more civilized the more the wisdom and efficiency of its laws hinder a weak man from becoming too weak or a powerful one too powerful.”

World Military Spending (2012)($1.8 trillion in 2012; U.S. 34% of total)

U.S. Discretionary Spending (2012)

War and Peace

• World military budget– 230X what the UN spends on peacekeeping

• US:– Largest arms supplier• $66 billion in annual sales (2011) = ¾ of global market• Russia second with $5 billion in annual sales

– Profits at top 5 defense firms up 450% since 2002– Greatest debtor to U.N. (including U.N.

peacekeeping fund)

Military Spending and Jobs

• $1 billion in military spending generates 11,200 jobs– 15,1000 in consumer goods production– 16,800 in green energy development– 17,200 in health care– 26,700 in education

Skewed Priorities

• The world spends $1.8 trillion/year on military goods and services

• For 25% of this, we could:– Eliminate starvation and malnutrition– Provide shelter for all– Eliminate illiteracy– Provide clean and safe water– Prevent soil erosion

Skewed Priorities

– Prevent global warming– Stop deforestation– Aid all refugees– Retire developing nations’ debt– Provide clean, safe energy (through efficiency and

renewables)

Skewed Priorities

– Prevent acid rain– Fix the ozone hole– Stabilize world population– Provide basic universal health care and AIDS

control– Eliminate nuclear weapons and land mines

DOD Announcement(September, 2011)

“Pentagon Lacks Funding to Fix Public Schools on Military Bases”

Dwight Eisenhower

“Every gun that is made, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed”

Martin Luther King

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

Foreign Aid

• In total dollars: U.S. #1• As a % of GDP, U.S. ranks 21st among

the world’s wealthiest nations• U.S. Aid: Over 1/3 military, 1/4

economic, 1/3 for food and development• Most U.S. aid benefits U.S.

corporations

Foreign Aid

• Americans think that 24% of the federal budget goes toward foreign aid

• 0.19% of the total federal budget, vs. UN target of 0.7%

U.S. Charitable Giving

• 2.5% of income

• 2.9% at height of Great Depression

The US: Rogue Nation

• History: Native Americans, slavery, current excesses, disparities and injustices

• Co-opting Nazi and Japanese WWII scientists• Minimum 277 troop deployments by the US in its

225+ year history• Over 1,000 bases worldwide today (737 in other 69

other countries)– 54 countries helped facilitate CIA’s secret

detention, rendition, and interrogation program

The US: Rogue Nation

• Since the end of WWII, the US has bombed:–China, Korea, Indonesia, Cuba, Guatemala,

Congo, Peru, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Grenada, Libya, Panama, Afghanistan, Sudan, Yugoslavia, and Iraq

The US: Rogue Nation

• Conservative estimate = 8 million killed• US invasions/bombings often largely at behest

of corporate interests• Drone strikes on allied/other nations and on

U.S. citizens• Continued funding of the Western

Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation

International Non-Cooperation/Isolationism

• Failure to sign or approve:–Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change–Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-

Personnel Land Mines–Convention on Cluster Munitions–Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban

Treaty

International Non-Cooperation/Isolationism

• Failure to sign or approve:–Convention on the Rights of the Child–Convention on the Elimination of

Discrimination Against Women–Convention on Economic, Social and

Cultural Rights

International Non-Cooperation/Isolationism

• Failure to sign or approve:–Convention for the Suppression of

Traffic in Persons–UN Convention on the Rights of

Disabled Persons–UN Declaration of the Rights of

Indigenous Peoples

The US: Rogue Nation

• Failure to follow World Court Decisions

• Failure to recognize International Criminal Court

Solutions• Activism (PSR, IPPNW, etc.)• Education (APHA Militarism

Education Group)• Tolerance and appreciation of

diversity• Redirect money towards social

justice and environmental preservation

• Eliminate WMDs

Solutions• Eliminate military

recruiting in public schools– APHA Resolution

• Increase/Improve foreign aid

• Create Dept. of Peace• Assist victims of war (PHR,

MSF, etc.)• Sign Treaties

Speak Up for the Disenfranchised

“The first job of a citizen is to keep your mouth open.”

- Günter Grass

Have Faith in Your Ability to Affect Change

"If you think you are too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in your tent“

- African Proverb

Save Our Home

Public Health and Social Justice Website

http://www.publichealthandsocialjustice.org

http://www.phsj.orgmartindonohoe@phsj.org