Social cleansing () is social group-based killing that consists of the elimination of members of society who are considered undesirable, including, but not limited to, the homeless, criminals, street children, the elderly, the poor, the weak, the sick, the needy and disabled people.Ordoñez 1996, p. 18.Schwartz 1995, p. 384.Sanford 2008, p. 110. This phenomenon is caused by a combination of economic and social factors, but killings are notably present in regions with high levels of poverty and disparities of wealth.Federici 2010, p. 12. Perpetrators are usually of the same community as the victims and they are often motivated by the idea that the victims are a drain on the resources of society.Federici 2010, p. 18. Efforts by national and local governments to stop these killings have been largely ineffective. The government and police forces are often involved in the killings, especially in Africa, Asia, and South America.
Causes
Africa In African countries, social cleansing almost always takes the form of witch hunting which is most common in areas with poor economic circumstances. Several social and economic theories exist as to why such circumstances have arisen and led to accusations of witchcraft, including warfare, natural disasters, unequal patterns of development, and larger forces of globalization. Most scholars agree that the cause of social cleansing efforts is a result of "interaction of economic conditions and cultural factors".Miguel 2005, p. 1169. All of these theories must be linked to larger societal trends, including the devaluation and social marginalization of women as well as the placement of blame on individuals for their own economic misfortunes in lieu of recognition of global and local economic forces at play.Federici 2010, p. 14.Zachrisson 2007, p. 34. However, several scholars have emphasized the outside groups and circumstances related to these killings to dispute the idea that they are simply a cultural norm.Federici 2010, p. 11.Miguel 2005, p. 1159.
Economic In many countries, income disparities have led to social tensions and a climate of "mutual suspicion". The wealthy and powerful are perceived as having obtained their wealth through "evil arts", while the economically disadvantaged are accused of responsibility for misfortunes of the community. There is also evidence that the causes of social cleansing are linked to globalization and economic liberalization, "to the extent that it has stripped entire populations of their means of subsistence, torn communities apart, deepened economic inequalities and forced people to compete for diminishing resources." Many African communities have been destabilized as communal lands have been privatized, local currency has been devalued, and public services have been eliminated.Federici 2010, pp. 15–16. Sometimes these larger economic trends have been linked to more specific events. For example, in Southern Zimbabwe, violent wars led certain areas to be neglected in development efforts, leading to a lack of resources and increasing disparities of wealth in these areas.Zachrisson 2007, p. 33. In Tanzania, scholars have found positive correlations between extreme rainfall (both floods and droughts) and large negative income shocks and famine. These periods have been statistically linked to increases in murder of witches.Miguel 2005, p. 1166.
Cultural Several cultural explanations for social cleansing in Africa are related to religion. One that has been offered by scholars is the presence of Pentecostals, whose focus on the occult has been spread by the media and increased social anxiety. Pentecostals have been recorded as preaching connections between illness and the devil, which has combined potently with existing indigenous beliefs, most notably in Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania. In Tanzania, a positive correlation exists between witch killing and areas where populations practice traditional religions, where the belief in witchcraft is strong.Miguel 2005, p. 1154. While scholars have suggested that the presence of these beliefs is important because it demonstrates the fact that perpetrators generally do believe that their victims are practicing witchcraft, they also recognize the fact that populations with traditional religious beliefs often have a low socio-economic status, which supports their assertion that poverty is still the primary factor in motivating killings.Federici 2010
Latin America The most widespread myth about social cleansing in Latin America is that these killings are all related to drug use.Schwartz 1995, p. 383. However, the phenomenon is larger than the drug problem and is related to state ideology, a culture of violence, and inequitable wealth distribution.Ordoñez 1996. Within Colombia specifically, economic factors account for many of the reasons behind these killings, but such factors are additionally "aggravated by external political and economic pressures from the United States".Schwartz 1995, p. 385
Economic Latin America has an extremely large number of individuals living below the poverty line, and these individuals are largely blamed for their impoverished state.Schwartz 1995, pp. 387–88 Many of these individuals are in critical poverty, meaning that they do not even have the ability to secure food and shelter.Ordoñez 1996, p. 27. This critical poverty is connected to inflation rates that has led the cost of living to increase and the minimum salary to be hardly adequate for survival.Ordoñez 1996, p. 28. Since the 1990s, the gap between the rich and poor has widened, and funds for welfare programs and social services has decreased while funding for security forces to protect "the haves from the have-nots" have tripled in Colombia specifically.Ordoñez 1996, pp. 27–28.
Culture of violence
Latin America's history has long been plagued by political violence, which over time has morphed into class-based violence.Schwartz 1995, p. 393 Despite mostly formally democratic governments, the "legacy of authoritarianism" lingers, and the presence of "armed actors" is prevalent as a result of a long history of violence between military, paramilitary, and guerrilla groups.Koonings 2001, p. 402. The presence of the culture of violence has had various effects on the underclass in countries in Latin America. The military and especially the police have been known to use violence to harm citizens, rather than protect them.Koonings 2001, p. 404.
Private "vigilante" security forces have likewise used violence against the poor with the idea of promoting law and order, especially in Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru. Though many guerilla groups are much less violent than when they originally emerged, they are a presence and an additional source of violence, especially in Colombia. Tension between political groups has led these guerilla groups, the government, and vigilante actors to suspect peasants of working with their enemy and to intimidate them into leaving land in the countryside for the city. Other poor rural residents have been forced to leave because of general violence or lack of public services. Violence at the local level is also extremely common by organized criminals such as street gangs, drug bosses, vigilante justice groups, and local civil patrols.
When poor residents are forced to move to the city, they often must turn to prostitution, crime, or begging in inner-city ghettos, which puts them in an extremely vulnerable position in the presence of these violent groups.Ordoñez 1996, pp. 28–29. Men in particular become even more entrenched in the culture of violence as many join gangs to escape "social exclusion and economic disadvantage" and establish a sense of identity and masculinity.Wilding 2010, p. 741. Finally, violence exists at a level even smaller than the community: the home. Children are often victims of "physical, mental, and sexual abuse by adult members of their own families".Ordoñez 1996, p. 22. In Guatemala specifically, social cleansing occurs with the "backdrop of genocide," and homicide rates are still extremely high after "three decades of armed conflict" during the Guatemalan Civil War.Sanford 2008, p. 108.
Violence experienced across the region has led to an erosion of social capital, which was described by Colombians as including "'social mistrust,' 'lack of unity,' 'fear' and 'lack of social institutions.'"McIlwaine and Moser 2001, p. 971.
In Brazil
Victims and methods The most common murder victim in Brazil is a young, black male living in a favela, or a Brazilian slum.Wilding 2010, p. 730. These young men typically are, or are assumed to be, gang members and criminals.Wilding 2010, p. 723. Violence and murder are most common in areas that are economically disadvantaged and socially marginalized.Wilding 2010, p. 726. Women are often targets by association, though the effects of social cleansing and violence against women are largely absent in existing research.Wilding 2010, p. 733 Killings are often in public places, with victims being beaten or shot in the street.Wilding 2010, p. 739. Police groups sometimes simply enter the community in a large armoured vehicle called a "caveirão" and start shooting.Wilding 2010, p. 743. This vehicle contributes to the "anonymity and impunity for the perpetrators".
Perpetrators and motivations Social cleansing in Brazil is the result of a "murky symbiosis [that] has developed between the official security forces and paramilitary and vigilante-type actors" that carry out "law enforcement against the 'marginal classes.'" State actors often act against the poor "as a form or result of exclusion and oppression".Wilding 2010, p. 725. Gangs serve as a scapegoat for the levels of violence and lack of security in many communities. Private groups and some gangs perpetrate killings in attempts to take policing into their own hands.Wilding 2010, p. 732. While some killings are a result of groups attempting to punish criminals for misdemeanors, others are a result of perceived threats of poor citizens, such as members of workers' movements.Koonings 2001, p. 405.
In Colombia
In the 1980s, "social cleansing" groups started to be created. Their main mission was "to make justice" by killing all non-appropriate people in social terms, like prostitutes, street-living people, trans people, and drug addicts.World Bank 2000, p. 6.
Victims and methods Victims of social cleansing in Colombia are members of society who are considered "undesirable" and "disposable".Ordoñez 1996, p. 20. They are economically disadvantaged, usually live on the streets, and are considered to be a burden on society, "the cause of the country's problems, rather than a consequence of them".Ordoñez 1996, p. 19.
Street children One of these groups is street children, who are without homes due to abuse, forced displacement, or the death of their parents. Death rates for street children have been as high as six to eight children per day.Ordoñez 1996, p. 21. Children are often shot in their sleep or stabbed to death on the streets or in the police station. A 1993 case in which a nine-year-old girl was strangled to death in Bogota brought attention to this problem and led to nominal reforms.Schwartz 2001, p. 389. The National Police targets street children specifically under the assumption that they are drug users and criminals. This is to some extent true, as many use drugs to relieve pain and avoid hunger and must shoplift to survive.Schwartz 2001, p. 388. Despite living in conditions of extreme vulnerability to "aggression and danger", the National Police poses the greatest threat to street children's survival, as they drive them off the streets and target them in social cleansing.
Poor criminals, drug users, and drug dealers