Hatred: Economics of War

 

There is a famous quote by Erich Hartman, “War is a place where young people who don’t know each other and don’t hate each other, kill each other, by the decision of old people who know each other and hate each other, but don’t kill each other.”

Erich Hartmann was a German fighter pilot during World War II. In the history Ariel Warfare, he was most successful fighter plane piolet, who flew 1,404 combat missions, apart from participating in aerial combat on 825 separate operations. In his credit he had shot a total of 352 Allied aircrafts which accounted 345 Soviet and 7 American planes. Interesting during the course of his career, he was forced to crash-land his fighter 16 times due either to mechanical failure or damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had shot down; he was never shot down by direct during enemy assault!

I always cherish his quote since I read it first. We should teach our kids and try to imbibe the feeling of killing another human being for the sake of war of hatred.

If we look at world history a complete subversion of rights and loss of freedoms not just under colonial rule but also the brutal regime of Adolph Hitler, who had created a ministry to centralize Nazi control of all aspects of German cultural and intellectual life.  In the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Hitler appointed Joseph Goebbels as the Reich Propaganda Minister. An unstated goal was to present to other nations the impression that the Nazi Party had the full and enthusiastic backing of the entire population. It was responsible for controlling the German news media, literature, visual arts, filmmaking, theatre, music and broadcasting. The results of such a ministry which aimed at spreading the Nazi ideology, are well documented.

While observing the war history of 30 years in between Rwanda and the Balkans, Edward L. Glaeser from Harvard University, in his publication, "The Political Economy of Hatred" Quarterly Journal of Economics (Vol 120, No.1, Feb., 2005) concluded that much of human misery is due to religious and ethnic conflicts!

He writes that Hatred is fostered with stories of an out-group's crimes, but the impact of these stories comes from repetition not truth. Hate-creating stories are supplied by politicians when such actions help to discredit opponents whose policies benefit an out-group. Egalitarians foment hatred against rich minorities; opponents of re-distribution build hatred against poor minorities. Hatred relies on people accepting, rather than investigating, hate-creating stories.

His interpretation is that hatred declines when there is private incentive to learn the truth. Increased economic interactions with a minority group may provide that incentive.

He concludes that this framework was used to illuminate the evolution of Anti-Black hatred in United States South, episodes of anti-Semitism in Europe, and the recent surge of Anti-Americanism in Arab World.

Laura Dugan and Erica Chenoweth in their publication in Criminology (Vol 58, Issue 4) in their publication "Threat, embodiment, or both? The effects of Political Power on Violent hate crimes" observed the fact, the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism found that hate crimes reported to the police rose 12.5 per cent from 923 in 2016 to 1,038 in 2017 in the 10 largest U.S. cities, with the most common motivations being anti-Black, anti-Semitic, anti-gay, and anti-Latino.  It was observed that hate crimes had typically spiked during election years in the US.

It was also claimed and documented that President Trump's hostile rhetoric toward specific groups has emboldened individuals to perpetrate violence against those he targeted.

We have been following  news about the disturbance from Syria to Yemen and South Sudan to Venezuela, the political turmoil and war has  caused human anguish on a scale unseen in a generation.

In her article "Misery as Strategy: The Human Cost of Conflict", Caroline Flintoft, Senior Advisor, Humanitarian Fallout of Conflict discusses the issue in detail is a must read for every concerned human being.

These conflicts due to political reasons have taken highest human death toll and refugee crisis. By 2016, the number of people displaced globally has stood at 65.6 million, which is the greatest number since World War II.

 Yemen and Syria have long history of civil war and it has taken lives of many. It is estimated that over 22 million Yemenis, 75 per cent of the population, need humanitarian assistance to live and about 8.4 million are on the struggling for food and water.

During the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, the war in Syria also has seen horrendous human suffering as a result of actions by all sides. It was  reported that in his regime he repeatedly used tactics that deliberately harm civilians for political and military gain. Just to take back the  areas occupied by opposition he has been to drain them of resources, degrade infrastructure and target civilians and rebels with same force

The government forces, backed by Russian air power, have bombed civilians which included schools and hospitals  in rebel-held areas. The use of chemical weapons against civilians was also reported.

On the other side, the rebel groups too have carried out their own atrocities on civilians. The Islamic State (ISIS) had used chemical weapons, though at much smaller scale than the regime, and mass executions.

There was another conflict between South Sudan and Venezuela. The stories of human suffering have been flooded due to civil war among various parties.

The civilians are facing attack from both Government troops and rebel forces apart from armed groups of all stripes, leaving them without the means of sustaining their livelihood.

It is interesting to note from the report of Crisis Group, that humanitarian crisis in Venezuela’s is not resulted from the war, but from political crisis and political indecisions.

As a result, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans are fleeing poverty, hunger and deadly disease epidemics due to economic disaster. It is pointed to know that the President Nicolás government rejects economic reform, fearing such measures would threaten its grip on power and resources.

We can easily conclude that all the happenings of human sufferings is due to the greed of power and wealth. Whatever the philosophies of leadership is being taught fails, when one cannot support a healthy system of human life. There are many such examples all over the world that how the hatred among different people has been used as a tool by leaders and politicians to gain power. Please give me an example of a leader who has worked for the betterment of normal human being and if any, tell me how many years he or she has sustained?!