Western peacekeeper violence is collectively performed, photographed, sexualized, and then excused
Evidence
Canadians had seen similar photos of grinning soldiers posing behind the tortured bodies of Somalis more than a decade earlier in incidents of peacekeeper violence. The racial and sexualized dimensions of the ‘Somalia Affair,’ although evident in the photos and videotapes of the soldiers themselves, were nevertheless transformed (in military tribunals and in the press) into the story of war: stressed troops and unscrupulous leaders resorted to violence when confronted by savage, ungrateful Somalis bent on the destruction of those whose civilization they did not appreciate or understand. Peacekeeper violence by Western troops towards the populations they assist shares four characteristics: the violence is collective (many participate, watch, and know of these practices), recorded in photos, videos, and diaries, sexualized (with rape and sodomy occurring), and often committed against defenceless populations, including women and children and prisoners. Notwithstanding these telling features, there is always an attempt to transform military violence into something the troops could not help but commit. — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 144 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Western peacekeeper violence shows a recurring pattern of collective, recorded, sexualized abuse — Sherene Razack, Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims…, 144; Prisoner abuse functions as a publicly enacted sexualized ritual of racial violence — Sherene Razack, Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims…, 191; Imperial domination is enacted through sexualized racial violence involving both sexes — Sherene Razack, Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims…, 143 (+6 more)
Broader Connections
- Western peacekeeper violence shows a recurring pattern of collective, recorded, sexualized abuse
#corroborates(0.97) — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 144 - Violence on screen is routinely sanitized by staging it off camera
#complicates(0.72)