Public Health, War, and Militarism

1. Public Health, War, and Militarism Martin Donohoe

2. Am I Stoned? A 1999 Utah anti-drug pamphlet warns: “Danger signs that your child may be smoking marijuana include excessive preoccupation with social causes, race relations, and environmental issues”

3. Perspective • The earth spins at 1,038 mph at the equator, between 700 mph and 900 mph at mid-latitudes • The earth rotates around sun at 18.5 miles/sec • The solar system orbits the center of the Milky Way Galaxy at 137 miles/sec • One rotation per 225 million years

4. Perspective • The sun is one of hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy • The Milky Way is one of over one hundred billion galaxies in the known universe • The universe may be one of an infinite number of universes

5. The Planets

6. Our Solar System

7. Jupiter = one pixel, Earth = invisible

8. Sun = one pixel, Jupiter = invisible

9. History of war • 10,000 yrs ago – agriculture • Stable populations, division of labor, warrior class • 3500 yrs ago – bronze weapons and armor • 2200 yrs ago – iron • 1900 yrs ago – widespread use of horses

10. History of war • Ninth Century China - bombs • Thirteenth Century China – rockets • Forgotten until the 19th Century • 1783 – Balloon (Montgolfier brothers)

11. History of War • 1803-1814 (Napoleonic Wars): English General Henry Shrapnel fills cannonballs with bullets and exploding charges to increase killing capacity • 1903 – airplane (Wright Brothers) • 20th Century – nuclear weapons, increasingly sophisticated chemical and biological weapons

12. Atomic Weapons - History • Hiroshima, August 6, 1945 • 15 kiloton bomb, 140,000 deaths • Nagasaki, August 9, 1945 • 22 kiloton bomb, 70,000 casualties

13. 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)

14. 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

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

16. Origins of War • Violence Today • Link with poverty, oppression, fueled by desire for wealth/power • Familial vs. Societal • Gun culture • Media Violence • Glorification of militarism

17. Militarism • The deliberate extension of military objectives and rationale into shaping the culture, politics and economics of civilian life so that war and the prepapration for war is normalized, and the development and maintenance of strong military institutions is prioritized • An excessive reliance on military power and the threat of force in pursuing policy goals in international relations

18. Militarism • Positively correlated with: • Conservatism • Nationalism • Religiosity • Patriotism • Authoritarianism

19. Militarism • Negatively correlated with: • Respect for civil liberties • Tolerance of dissent • Democratic principles • Sympathy and welfare toward the troubled and poor • Foreign aid for poorer nations • Subverts other societal interests (health, environment, education, social programs)

20. History of War • 20th Century: • Small arms • 90% of the 300,000 yearly deaths from violent conflict • Land mines • 110 million planted since 1960 in 70 countries • 24,000 deaths/yr (est.), tens of thousands more disabled

21. American Weapons Gone AWOL • Iraq – U.S. supplied Saddam Hussein, arms ultimately used against U.S. in Iraq Wars; 30% of weapons given to Iraqi forces between 2004 and 2007 never accounted for; more recently, U.S.-supplied weaons finding their way to ISIS and Iranian-backed Shiite militias

22. American Weapons Gone AWOL • Afghanistan – U.S. armed anti-Soviet soldiers, weapons ultimately ended up with Taliban; 40% of those recently given to Afghan army and police can’t be traced • Libya – guns sent from Qatar as part of U.S.-approved deal (2011) now with Islamic militants

23. American Weapons Gone AWOL • Somalia – almost ½ of arms supplied to Uganda and Burundi to fight al-Shabaab sold off by underpaid troops, ended up with Somali militants • Yemen – U.S. lost track of $500 million worth of small arms and other gear it sent to Yemeni government before 2015 collapse

24. History of War • 20th Century: • Predator drones • Potential for drone use by terrorists • Weaponization of Arctic/space • Nanotech weapons • Cyberwar

25. History of War • Belief that each new invention would eliminate warfare • Instead - increased casualties, killing at a distance

26. 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)

27. Contemporary Wars • 250 wars in the 20th Century • 72 million lives lost in 20th Century wars, another 52 million through genocides • 190 million deaths in 20th Century directly or indirectly related to war • Incidence of war rising since 1950

28. War Deaths, 1945-2010

29. Contemporary War Deaths

30. Worldwide Violence (2013) • 526,000 killed by armed violence/yr • 396,000 intentional homicides • 55,000 direct conflict deaths • 54,000 unintentional homicides • 21,000 killed during legal interventions • 7.9 violent deaths/100,000 persons/yr

31. Gun Violence • U.S. death toll for all wars from the Revolutionary War to Afghanistan: 1.2 million (Congressional Research Service) • Number killed by firearms since 1968 (suicides, homicides, and accidental shootings): 1.4 million (CDC)

32. Gun Violence • Americans own 300 million guns (#1 in world in privately owned firearms) • Almost ½ of world’s civilian-owned firearms • Nearly ½ stored improperly in homes with children

33. Gun Violence • 33,000 deaths/yr due to firearm-related violence, suicides, and accidents (highest among industrialized countries) • Every day in U.S.: 31 homicides, 55 suicides, 2 unintentional shootings involving guns • 84,000 injuries annually

34. Gun Violence • US firearm homicide rate 25X higher/suicide rate 8X higher than in other industrialized countries • Direct + indirect societal costs = $230 billion/yr

35. Gun Violence • FL, MI, and MT have passed laws limiting doctors’ speech/prohibiting counseling re firearms (tied up in courts) • CDC prohibited from studying gun violence using federal funds since 1990s

36. Gun Violence • Access to firearms increases the risk of being a victim of homicide • Women are especially at risk of homicide when a firearm is present • Access to firearms greatly increases the risk of suicide • Firearms are not very effective (if at all effective) at deterring crime

37. War Deaths • Revolutionary War: 25,000 • Civil War: 625,000 • World War I: 17 million • World War II: 60 million • Korean War: 2.9 million • Vietnam War: 3.8 million

38. War Deaths • 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

39. Gulf War I • 105,000 military and 110,000 civilian deaths (almost all Iraqis) • Over 2.25 million refugees • 2/3 of US casualties from “friendly fire” • Cost $61 billion ($82 billion in 2003 dollars) • Environmental devastation

40. War Deaths (as of 7/15) • Second Iraq War: • 4,497 U.S. soldiers • Approximately 18,000 Iraqi military • Estimates of civilian deaths range from 150,000 violent deaths to 1 million deaths • U.S. Afghan War: • Over 2,000 U.S. soldiers; 1,200 coalition forces • Over 20,000 civilians

41. Costs of Iraq/Afghanistan Wars • Financial cost of these two wars: $1.5-5 trillion (est.) • Higher estimate includes fighting, rebuilding, veterans’ health care, economic losses, etc. • Massive amounts of fraud

42. Casualties Among Soldiers and Civilians Continue • 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 • VA access limited for those who are insured • Providers being pressured not to diagnose PTSD • Young veterans: ½ believe war in Afghanistan was not worth fighting; 60% for Iraq War

43. Josef Stalin “The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.”

47. 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.”

48. 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.”

49. Exploitation leads to: • Maldistribution of wealth and resources • Environmental degradation • Wars

50. Consequences of War Deaths, injuries, physical and psychological sequelae Collapse of health care system (affecting those with acute and chronic illnesses) Famine