August 23, 2003

A Human Condition without a Name

Introduction

Democide, war, genocide, politicide and mass murder seem a normal state of affairs. Whatever it is that makes people kill each other en masse, seems to disappear in the course of people=s daily life, leaving no indication that there is any disturbance in the normal course of events. To the extent that these concepts are discussed in society, they are left to the government, Aexperts@ in political science, and a few Apeace-activists.@ The language is often euphemistic, Arational,@ and undisturbing. The concepts seem to be outside the range of expertise of the medical profession.

In 1968, Anatol Rapaport, in his AEditor=s Introduction@ to Carl von Clausewitz book, On War, observed that war had been understood as Aa normal and perpetual state of affairs.@ I present evidence which suggests that in today=s mainstream society, democide, war and genocide still meet a considerable amount of denial.

The Numbers killed

Democide

USSR 1917-1987 61,911,000

China (PRC) 1949-1987 35,236,000

Germany 1933-1945 20,946,000

China (KMT) 1928-1949 10,075,000

War

Second World War 1939-1945 46,000,000 (including 6,000,000 Jews)

The Pacific War (a) 1931-1941 20,000,000

First World War 1914-1918 10,000,000

Korean War 1050-1953 5,000,000

Genocide

Bangladesh 1971 3,000,000

Afghanistan 1978-1992 1,750,000

Rwanda 1994 1,000,000

Armenia 1915-1918 1,000,000

World Public Health Problems B A Comparison

Deaths from Democide and in Battle (b)

Democide 1900-1987 169,202,000 90 per 100,000 pop./year

Battle Deaths 1900-1987 36,500,000 19 per 100,000 pop./year

Total 1900-1987 205,702,000 109 per 100,000 pop./year

Total Deaths/Year 1900-1987 2,364,391

Deaths from Diseases (b)

Tuberculosis 1990 2,500,000 44 per 100,000 pop./ year

Malaria 1990 1,500,000 26 per 100,000 pop./year

Suicide (extrapolated) (d) 1988 689,244 12 per 100,000 pop./year

Definitions

Democide

The murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide and mass murder.

Coining the term, in 1999, R. J. Rummel explains, AI... offer, as a concept analogous to public murder, the concept of democide, or murder by government agents acting authoritatively. Its one root is the Greek demos, or people; the other is the same as for genocide, which is from he Latin caedere, to kill. Democide=s necessary and sufficient meaning is the intentional government killing of unarmed persons or people.@

War

A state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict.

Genocide

Among other things, the killing of people by a government because of their indelible group membership (race, ethnicity, religion, language).

The origin of the concept is the 1944 work by Raphael Lemkin at the height of the Jewish Holocaust, [a genocide]. In 1946, the United Nations General Assembly recognized that Agenocide is a crime under international law which the civilized world condemns, and for the commission of which, principles and accomplices are punishable.@

Yet, to kill en masse is not a Disease

It is not a Medical Disease:

There is no entry in two major textbooks of medicine, each with well over 2,000 pages, under Awar,@ Agenocide,@ Amassacre,@ Akilling@ or Amurder.@ (The term Ademocide@ was introduced in the late-nineties and is not expected to be included in 1994 textbooks. However, the term Agenocide@ has been in common use since 1946).

It is not a Psychiatric Disease:

There is no entry in a major textbook of psychiatry, with over 1600 pages, under Agenocide,@ Amassacre,@ Akilling@ or Amurder.@ The one entry under Awar@ guides the reader to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

There is no entry in the psychiatric nomenclature (DSM-IV, 1994) under Awar,@ Agenocide,@ Amassacre,@ Akilling@ or Amurder.@

(The term Ademocide@ was introduced in the late-nineties and is not expected to be included in mid-1990's textbook. However, the term Agenocide@ has been in common use since 1946).

To be affected When One kills, is, however, a Psychiatric Disease B The Soldier as Victim The American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Psychiatry explains, APost-traumatic Stress Disorder was first introduced in DSM-III [1980], spurred in part by the increasing recognition of post-traumatic conditions in veterans of the Vietnam War... A soldier participates in the torture and murder of civilians... The characteristic features that may develop following a traumatic event such as [this], include psychic numbing, re-experiencing of the trauma, and increased autonomic arousal.@

The American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, (DSM-IV, 1994) explains, AThe essential feature of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is the development of characteristic symptoms following exposure to an extreme traumatic stressor involving [the following]:

1. Direct personal experience of an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury, or other threat to one=s physical integrity... [such as] military combat...

2. Witnessing an event that involves death, injury or a threat to the physical integrity of another person... [such as] observing the serious injury or unnatural death of another person due to... war...@

In his book, Traumatic Stress, Van der Kolk, focuses only on the soldier as a victim of war, war itself being unfortunate but normal (that is, not a disease). AWorking with trauma confronts everyone with... >man=s inhumanity to man= and the essential lack of purity of people=s interactions with each other... Military psychiatrists confront the impossible ethical dilemma of having to decide whether soldiers are fit for combat, and thus ready to lay down their lives... Physicians and psychologists are not trained to... confront social illusions about... the dark side of human behavior... The principal task entrusted by society to professionals is... to protect society against the full impact of the tragic aspects of existence... Medicine, psychiatry and psychology must find a way to acknowledge human beings= primitive wish to dominate and remain in control... Professionals are placed in the unique position of witnessing the predatory nature of our species, whose members are capable of victimizing others... War represents the most ancient and most important form of human-made violence in terms of the magnitude of its effects...@

The United Nations does not factor in the Effect of War on Human Development

United Nations Human Development Reports do not contain entries for Ademocide,@ Awar,@ Agenocide,@ Amassacre,@ Akilling@ or Amurder.@ The 2001 Report defines the human development index (HDI) as having four components:

1. Life expectancy at birth

2. Adult literacy

3. Combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment

4. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita

Under the heading, ALeading Global Health Crises and Challenges,@ the Report lists the following:

1. Malnourishment

2. HIV/AIDS

3. Malaria

4. Tuberculosis

5. Cigarette [use].

Data related to mass killing presented in the Report, include only the following:

1. The numbers in the armed forces

2. The volume of trade in conventional weapons

3. National military expenditures.

The United Nations does, however, study Individual Crimes

The 2001 Report notes, AImprovements in this year=s Report reflect the recent progress in measuring human development. One example is in the measurement of crime... The International Crime Victims Survey (ICVS) is a global programme of standardized surveys, [asking] random samples of people about their experiences with crime and the police and their feelings of safety...@

AAn international working group, jointly formed by the United Nations Inter-regional Crime and Justice Research Institute, the Dutch Ministry of Justice, the Dutch Ministry of Justice Research Institute, the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Criminality and Law Enforcement and the British Home Office, is responsible for the conceptual and methodological development of the ICVS...@

AThe ICVS produces data on victimization for eleven crimes

1. Robbery

2. Burglary

3. Attempted burglary

4. Theft of personal property

5. Car theft

6. Car vandalism

7. Theft from car

8. Threat [or] theft of motorcycle or moped

9. Bicycle theft

10. Assault

11. Sexual assault.@

Conclusions

1. These data are consistent with Lloyd deMause=s hypothesis that governments help give expression to the split-off, denied childhood feelings of smallness, insignificance, helplessness, despair and injustice which are within everyone of us B feelings that are stirred and become dangerously close to being conscious when we are part of a group B enveloped by it as by our mother. Our leaders act out these feelings, allowing us to remain unconscious of them and their attendant pain.

The feelings are both persecutory (warning us that separation and individuation might bring displeasure on the part of the authority) and retaliatory (taking our revenge for the injustices we have been made to endure). In the first instance, our leaders comply by punishing us B democide. In the latter instance, they turn our anger against Athe other@ whom they demonize and punish B war.

2. It is, therefore, not surprising that nations engage in democide. The number of helpless, unarmed people killed by their government during the period 1900-1987 (169,202,000), is 4.6 times those killed in battle during the civil and international wars of period (36,500,000).

3. It is not surprising that the reasons nations give for waging war, include centrally:

a. To Adefend@ themselves

b To Aprotect their own interests,@ such as having more status, resources or breathing space

To gain Acredibility@

To meet out Ajustice@

To achieve Apeace.@

4. Neither is it is surprising that the government of the United States, which spends 46 percent of its federal budget on the military, is not serious about investigating the causes of war. The medical profession, as represented by general medicine (including public health) and psychiatry, reflects this acceptance of the status quo.

5. Nor is it surprising that the United Nations, which represents the governments of the world, is also not serious about investigating the causes of war.

To measure the numbers in the armed forces, the volume of trade in conventional weapons and national military expenditures, is a little like measuring the number of terrorists, the volume of their trade in knives and box-cutters, and the cost of maintaining their organizational network.

To focus on individual crimes, such as robbery and theft, comes uncomfortably close to the abuser blaming the victim.

Notes

(a) The figure includes the Arape of Nanjing,@ in 1937.

(b) (i) Detail of death rate calculations:

Type of Death Time Total Deaths World Rate per 100,000 Period Deaths Per Year Population* Population per Year

Democide 1900-1987 169,202,000 1,944,851 2,160,946,000 90

Battle 1900-1987 36,500,000 419,540 2,160,946,000 19

Total 1900-1987 205.202,000 2,364.391 2,160,946,000 109

Tuberculosis 1990 2,500,000 2,500,000 5,743,700,000 44

Malaria 1990 1,500,000 1,500,000 5,743,700,000 26

Suicide (d) 1988 689,244 689,244 5,743,700,000 12

____________________________________________________________________________

* For 1900-1987, the base population was taken to be that at the mid-point of the period, 1944. For the single years, the base population was taken to be that in 1997.

Detail of World Population Size:

Year World Population Reference

Roman Empire 250,000,000 Encyclopedia

Colonization of America 500,000,000 Encyclopedia

1850 1,000,000,000 Encyclopedia

1930 2,000,000,000 Encyclopedia

1944 2,160,946,000 Rummel, R. J.

1975 3,800,000,000 Encyclopedia

1997 5,743,700,000 U.N. Human Development

2015 (medium projection) 7,048,200,000 U.N. Human Development

Rummel, R. J., APower kills, Absolute Power kills Absolutely,@ in Charny, Israel (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Genocide, Volumes 1 and 2 (ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, CA), 1999 (by the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem), p. 25.

The New Columbia Encyclopedia (Columbia University, New York, N.Y.), 1975, APopulation.@

United Nations Human Development Programme, Human Development Report 1999, New York, N.Y., 1999, p 200.

As of the late 1980's, the total number of suicides in the United States had remained constant over the last several decades, at over 32,000, giving a rate of 12 per 100,000 population. This rate was extrapolated to the world, assuming a United States population of 271,800,000 and a world population of 5,743,700,000 in 1997.

American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4^th Edition (American Psychiatric Association, Washington, D.C.), 1994, p. 1251.

Isselbacher and Braunwald, Eds., Harrison=s Principles of Internal Medicine, 13^th Edition (McGraw-Hill, New York, N.Y.), 1994, p. 2,402.

United Nations Human Development Programme, Human Development Report 1999, New York, N.Y., 1999, pp. 197 and 200.

Note that the democide plus battle death rate of 109 per 100,000 per year, is 9.1 times the 12 per 100,000 per year suicide rate in the United States.

References

Introduction

Rapaport, Anatol, AEditor=s Introduction,@ in On War, by Carl von Clausewitz (Penguin Books, New York, N.Y.), 1968), p. 21. Cited in Cumings, Bruce, Parallax Visions -- Making Sense of American-East Asian Relations (Duke University, Durham, N.C.), 2002, p. 39.

The Numbers killed

Democide

USSR

China (PRC)

Idem.

Germany

Idem.

China (KMT)

Idem.

War

The Second World War

Gilbert, Martin The Second World War B A Complete History (Revised) (Owl/Henry Holt, New York, N.Y.), 1989, p. 1.

The Pacific War

Cumings, Bruce, Parallax Visions -- Making Sense of American-East Asian Relations (Duke University, Durham, N.C.), 1999, p. 44.

The New Columbia Encyclopedia (Columbia University, New York, N.Y.), 1975, under ANanjing.@

First World War

The New Columbia Encyclopedia (Columbia University, New York, N.Y.), 1975, under AWorld War I.@

The Korean War

Lindqvist, Sven, A History of Bombing, 2000. Translation, Linda Rugg (The New Press, N.Y.), 2001, p. 131.

Genocide

Bangladesh

Thorp, John, AGenocide in Bangladesh,@ in Charny, Israel (Ed.)., Encyclopedia of Genocide, Volumes 1 and 2 (ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, CA), 1999, (by the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem), pp.115-116.

Afghanistan

Klass, Rosanne, AGenocide in Afghanistan,@ in Charny, Israel (Ed.)., Encyclopedia of Genocide, Volumes 1 and 2 (ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, CA), (by the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem), 1999, pp. 48-50.

Rwanda

Lemarchand, Rene, AGenocide in Rwanda and Burundi, A in Charny, Israel (Ed.)., Encyclopedia of Genocide, Volumes 1 and 2 (ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, CA), (by the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem), 1999, pp. 508-513.

Armenia

Adalian, Rouben, AThe Armenian Genocide,@ in Charny, Israel (Ed.)., Encyclopedia of Genocide, Volumes 1 and 2 (ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, CA), (by the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem), 1999, pp. 61-73.

World Public Health Problems B A Comparison

Deaths from Democide and in Battle

Rummel, R. J., AThe New Concept of Democide,@ in Charny, Israel (Ed.)., Encyclopedia of Genocide, Volumes 1 and 2 (ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, CA), 1999, (by the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem), pp. 24 and 25.

Deaths from Diseases

Hunger

United Nations Children=s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), The State of the World=s Children 1993 (Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, and UNICEF), 1993, Astatistical note@; and Richard Hoehn, AIntroduction,@ in Hunger 1997 B What Governments can do (Bread for the World Institute, Silver Spring, MD), 1996, p. 1; cited in Moore Lappe, Frances, Joseph Collins, and Peter Rosset (Institute for Food and Development Policy), World Hunger B Twelve Myths, Grove Press, New York, N.Y.), 1998, p. 2.

Tuberculosis

Iserman, Michael, ATuberculosis,@ in Bennet and Plum, Eds., Cecil Textbook of Medicine, 20^th Edition (W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia, PA), 1996, p. 1684.

Malaria

Krogstad, Donald, AMalaria,@ in Bennet and Plum, Eds., Cecil Textbook of Medicine, 20^th Edition (W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia, PA), 1996, p. 1893.

Suicide

See Note (d) above.

Ghosh, T. B., and Bruce Victor, ASuicide,@ in Hales, Yudofsky and Talbott, Eds., The American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Psychiatry, 2^nd Edition (American Psychiatric Press, Washington, D.C.), 1994, pp. 1251.

Judd, Lewis, Karen Britton and David Braff, AMental Disorders,@ in Isselbacher and Braunwald, Eds., Harrison=s Principles of Internal Medicine, 13^th Edition (McGraw-Hill, New York, N.Y.), 1994, p. 2,402.

Definitions

Democide

War

Webster=s New Collegiate Dictionary (Merriam, Springfield, MA), 1975.

Genocide

Yet, to kill en masse is not a Disease

It is not a Medical Disease

Isselbacher and Braunwald, Eds., Harrison=s Principles of Internal Medicine, 13^th Edition (McGraw-Hill, New York, N.Y.), 1994, 2,650 pages.

Bennet and Plum, Eds., Cecil Textbook of Medicine, 20^th Edition (W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia, PA), 1996, 2,331 pages.

It is not a Psychiatric Disease

Hales, Yudofsky and Talbott, Eds., The American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Psychiatry, 2^nd Edition (American Psychiatric Press, Washington, D.C.), 1994, 1,694 pages.

American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4^th Edition (American Psychiatric Association, Washington, D.C.), 1994, 886 pages.

To be affected When One kills, is, however, a Psychiatric Disease B The Soldier as Victim

Hollander, Eric, Daphne Simeon and Jack Gorman, AAnxiety Disorders B Post-traumatic Stress Disorder,@ in Hales, Yudofsky and Talbott, Eds., The American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Psychiatry, 2^nd Edition (American Psychiatric Press, Washington, D.C.), 1994, pp. 544-545.

American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4^th Edition (American Psychiatric Association, Washington, D.C.), 1994, p. 424.

Van der Kolk, Bessel, Alexander McFarlane and Lars Weisaeth, Eds., Traumatic Stress B The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body and Society (Guildford Press, New York, N.Y.), 1996, pp. 43-45 and 135.

The United Nations does not factor in the Effect of War on Human Development

United Nations Human Development Programme, Human Development Report 1999, New York, N.Y., 1999, 262 pages.

United Nations Human Development Programme, Human Development Report 2001, New York, N.Y., 2001, 264 pages, pp. 136-138, 162-165, 195-198 and 204-207.

The United Nations does, however, study Individual Crimes

United Nations Human Development Programme, Human Development Report 2001, New York, N.Y., 2001, pp. 133, 135, 208 and 209.

Conclusions

deMause, Lloyd, The Emotional Life of Nations (Karnac Books), 2002, Chapter 4, AThe Psychogenic Theory of History,@ (40 pages total), pp.12-16 of manuscript.

War Resisters League, AWhere your Income Tax Money really goes B The United Sates Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 2003,@ www.warresisters.org.

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