Slow violence is violence that isn’t felt in an easily comprehensible scale of time, in contrast to typical conceptions of violence as instantaneous and forceful. It includes delayed destruction that’s spread out over space and time. Results of slow violence are often incomprehensible at any given moment, but as a whole, show clear destruction. All may agree that it’s a problem, but issues of slow violence are deferred to the next decision-maker in line, allowing it to leak through more time. Slow violence may also be an extension of more traditional notions of sudden violence, as the fallout from a nuclear test harms generations, long after the initial explosion. The term was coined by Rob Nixon in relation to social issues and environmentalism. Nixon focuses on climate change, and how social actions impact the environment. One idea of his is that atrocities committed at an incomprehensible timescale makes atrocities acceptable. This looks like the ever creeping tides and rise of sea levels that never seem to garner enough political attention. The general public doesn’t advocate against these issues because slow violence doesn’t hold the attention of audiences the same as other disasters. Inundated continually with the same talking points and few immediate results, everyday people lose interest or hope in the issue at hand. Slow violence is felt most by the poorest and most vulnerable in society, as those with more resources are often able to avoid or mitigate it.  Slow violence leads to a distorted understanding of time. The compression of consciousness in time leads to turning points after long periods of gradual harm. Time softens our perception of the violence, but doesn’t lessen the harm. Recognizing our complicity in slow violence helps us to recognize the interconnections between current and future time horizons to work towards change. 

 

Nixon, Rob. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor, Harvard University Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/washington/detail.action?docID=3300958