Citation

Williams C. Aggress. Violent Behav. 1996; 1(3): 191-204.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Why do we not readily conceptualize environmental victimization and resultant injury as violence? What could be the social outcome of leaving environmentally-mediated violence without redress? From definitions of environmental victims and environmental cause, this paper argues that such victimization clearly embodies a form of violence. The perception of violence by potential or actual victims rationalizes further violence in the from of "preventive protest" or resistance, which often transmutes to serve ends that are not related to environmental victimization. Reports concerning Ogoni (Nigeria), Bougainville, Bhopal, Brent Spar, French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and UK antiroad protest are reviewed. From a view of the general pattern of victim responses, it is proposed that information flow is one key to avoiding spirals of ongoing violence. Environmentally-related violence is then framed more broadly in terms of global security.