MILITARISM AND PUBLIC HEALTH

Public Health and militarism
Professor John Middleton
Vice president, Association of Schools of public Health in
the European Region
(ASPHER)

Public Health and militarism: Professor John Middleton November 30th 2022
Public health is :
The science and art of promoting health, preventing
disease and prolonging life through the organised efforts of
society
Acheson 1988, after Winslow 1920, WHO 1948

Global & local violence-epidemiology and evidence
www.euro.who.int/violenceinjury
www.who.int/violence_injury
www.who.int/gender
◀️Middleton
J, Sidel V.
Terrorism &
public
health. In
Promoting
Public
Health.
Open
University
and Sage,
2007
Global deaths from interpersonal and collective violence,
2005 and 2015
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
2005 2015
Number
of
deaths
Collective violence
Bellis, M.
A.et al.
London:
NHS and
Dept. of
Health,
2012▶️
Source: GBD 2015 Mortality
and Causes of Death
Collaborators, 2016

The epidemiology of violence
Evidence-based violence prevention: a life course
approach
Asset based community development
Primary, secondary &tertiary prevention role of the
public health community as primary preventers of
violent conflict, through healthy public policies and
tackling major social inequalities in health; and as early
reactors, mitigaters and responders to violence.
New public mental health approaches
A role for public health in conflict resolution with aid
agencies, political scientists, theologians and
international lawyers
A role for public health educational bodies
A leadership and partnership role for public health
www.fph.org.uk/uploads/Violence%20report.pdf
Areas of action for the public health
community in preventing violence

Militarism
The belief that it is necessary to
have strong armed forces and that they should
be used
in order to win political or economic advantages
Cambridge

Social militarization :
Troops as a proportion of workforce-aged
population
Praetorian militarization:
the military’s control or strong influence
over the government

Militarism
Militarism
1 a: predominance of the military class or its ideals
b: exaltation of military virtues and ideals
2 : a policy of aggressive military preparedness
Merriam-Websters

The cause of war is the
preparation for war
The cost of liberty is less than
the price of repression
William Edward Burqhardt Du
Bois

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United
States had no armaments industry. American
makers of plowshares could, with time and as
required, make swords as well. But we can no
longer risk emergency improvisation of national
defense.
In the councils of government, we must guard
against the acquisition of unwarranted influence,
whether sought or unsought, by the military-
industrial complex. The potential for the
disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will
persist. We must never let the weight of this
combination endanger our liberties or democratic
processes.
The military –industrial- complex
Eisenhower, 1961

Research has become central, it also becomes
more formalized, complex, and costly. A
steadily increasing share is conducted for, by,
or at the direction of, the Federal government.
The prospect of domination of the nation's
scholars by Federal employment, project
allocation, and the power of money is ever
present and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet in holding scientific discovery in respect,
as we should, we must also be alert to the
equal and opposite danger that public policy
could itself become the captive of a scientific-
technological elite
The military –industrial-scientific
complex
Eisenhower, 1961

An acceptable level of health for all the people of
the world by the year 2000 can be attained
through a fuller and better use of the world’s
resources, a considerable part of which is now
spend on armaments and military conflicts. A
genuine policy of independence, peace, détente,
and disarmament could and should release
additional resources that could well be devoted
to peaceful aims and in particular to the
acceleration of social and economic development
of which primary health care, as an essential
part, should be allotted its proper share’.
Alma Ata Declaration, Article 10 1978
World Health Organisation

• https://www.sciencedirect.com/
sdfe/pdf/download/eid/1-s2.0-
S0140673685915648/first-page-
pdf

https://www.independent.org/publicatio
ns/article.asp?id=1297

Military spending was
around 10-20% of
Soviet GDP, so
perhaps a compromise
figure of 15%, around
twice USA spending.
https://nintil.com/the-soviet-
union-military-spending/

‘The Peace
dividend’
Yevgeny Vuchetich
‘Let us beat swords
into ploughshares ‘
United Nations Art
Collection, !959

Phil Asquith Lucas Shop Steward
and subsequently Sheffield and
Mansfield council economic
development Departments
John Routley , Lucas Shop steward
and subsequently Unit for Development of
Alternative Products, Coventry Polytechnic,
and National Fire Brigades Union

Health and care
related products
from Lucas
Shop stewards
supported
projects 1978-
1990

"A spider conducts operations that resemble those
of a weaver, and a bee puts to shame many an
architect in the construction of her cells. But what
distinguishes the worst architect from the best of
bees is this, that the architect raises his structure
in imagination before he erects it in reality."
Mike Cooley: Author of
Architect or Bee?
One of the leaders of the
Lucas Shop Stewards Combine
and mastermind of Human
Centred Technology

Coventry
Alternative
Employment
Research ‘CARE’
project, first report
1987

Alvis, Holyhead Road
Lucas
Aerospa
ce
Hillfields
Rolls Royce Parkside
Former Coventry
defence industry
sites

Sandwell Express and
Star, 1st December 1989

Curing the
Tobacco
Economy,
Sandwell
Health
Authority,
1989

Counter
arguments
Action on
Smoking
and Health
(ASH)
2016,

Inclusive design:
‘The inclusion dividend’

INCLUSIVE Design
Five principles on which inclusive design for disabled people is founded:
Technology should serve people not people serving technology
Disabled people are made disabled by services that have been designed to exclude
them and to make them dependent
Disabled people should be involved in design to bring their insights to make better
products
Better design for disabled people is better design for all
Manufacturing systems must be adapted through better design so that goods are not
custom made for disabled people, but are adaptable through modular construction
for different consumer needs.
Middleton, J. (2010) ‘Managing public health – health dividends and good corporate citizenship’, Int.
J. Management Concepts and Philosophy, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp.154–176.

Sandwell Health Action Zone
Sandwell Agency for health and economic
development ‘AHEAD’
Social enterprise development
‘Medilink’
Inclusive design
Time banks

Chris Ramsden,
founder of Medilink,
West Midlands and a
former President of the
Institute of Design

Driving economic success
‘Bespoke services covering
the entire innovation life cycle
from conception of an idea
through to its eventual
realisation of commercial
success’

Institute of
Making,
University College
London
Library of materials
3D printers
Liz Corbin,
Former Director

‘FAB labs’ Iceland above Left
Website pages machines and
world distribution

RaumZeitlabor ,
Mannheim,
Germany
Maker
Spaces
Siiicon Valley
, California
‘Hackerspaces’/ makerspaces
Free
Software
hackerspa
ce Canada

The Green dividend

http://www.campaigncc.org/sites/dat
a/files/Docs/one_million_climate_job
s_2014.pdf

To the present day-
the arms showcase: Ukraine

US Military aid to Ukraine,
State Dept, November 6th
2022

As we peer into society's future, we – you
and I, and our government – must avoid the
impulse to live only for today, plundering
for our own ease and convenience the
precious resources of tomorrow. We
cannot mortgage the material assets of our
grandchildren without risking the loss also
of their political and spiritual heritage. We
want democracy to survive for all
generations to come, not to become the
insolvent phantom of tomorrow.
The military –industrial
complex
Eisenhower, 1961

The military –industrial
complex
Eisenhower, 1961
Only an alert and
knowledgeable citizenry can
compel the proper meshing of
the huge industrial and
military machinery of defense
with our peaceful methods
and goals, so that security
and liberty may prosper
together.

Public Health and militarism
Thank you
Professor John Middleton
Vice president Association of Schools of public Health in the
European Region
ASPHER
Honorary Professor of Public Health, Wolverhampton University
Visitng Professor of public Health Chester University
Johnmiddleton@phonecoop.coop

What is ASPHER ?
The Association of Schools of Public Health in the European
Region (ASPHER) is the key independent European
organisation dedicated to strengthening the role of public
health by improving education and training of public health
professionals for both practice and research.
We have 120 member schools of public health in Europe and
associates globally.
We are developing our partnerships with sister public health
organisations in America, Africa, Asia, Australasia and the
Arab world

Some definitions

Sustainable development:
‘protecting resources from one generation to the next’
Environmental justice:
‘the pursuit of equal justice and equal protection under the law for all
environmental statutes and regulations without discrimination based on race,
ethnicity, and /or socioeconomic status.’
Security:
freedom from danger, social, military, environmental

War has an enormous and tragic
impact -- both directly and
indirectly -- on public health. War
causes death and disability,
destroys families, communities,
and the environment, diverts
resources and destroys
infrastructure needed for human
and health services, limits human
rights, and often begets further
violence.
(War and Public Health, 2000)

What is violence ?
Violence is the intentional use of physical force or power,
threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or
against a group or community, that either results in or has a
high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological
harm, mal-development or deprivation.
(WHO, 2002:5)

What is “Terrorism”?
In Terrorism and Public Health,
109 definitions of “terrorism”
were analyzed; the most
common definitional elements
were violence, force, political
and fear.
“Politically motivated violence
or the threat of violence,
especially against civilians,
with the intent to instill fear.”

Meaning of “Terrorism”
Use of the term “terrorism” is political. U.S.
Government definition of terrorism is limited to acts by
individuals or non-governmental groups. Acts of
violence or the threat of violence against civilians with
the intent to instill fear by nation-states are considered
by the United States to be “acts of war” rather than
“terror.”

References

• https://betterhealthforall.org/2022/01/19/the-2017-milroy-lecture-
secure-healthy-inclusive-and-green-four-dividends-of-a-healthier-
future/

References and resources
Resources :
REWIND http://www.rewind.org.uk
http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/about/
Institute for Strategic Dialogue
http://www.strategicdialogue.org
WAVES Trust
www.wavestrust.org.uk/home.html
Parent Infant Partnership
http://www.pipuk.org.uk
ECPAT http://www.ecpat.org.uk
TASC http://tascwheel.com
Centre for Nonviolent Communication
www.cnvc.org
Medical peace work. Online course work,
course part Health professionals, conflicts and
peace. Berlin: Medical Peace Work, 2015.
http://www.medicalpeacework.org/teaching-
resources/mpw-presentations.html
References
Bellis, M. A., Hughes, K., Perkins, C., Bennett, A. M.,
Protecting people, promoting health: a public
health
approach to violence prevention for England.
London: NHS. and Department of Health, 2012.
World Health Organization. (2014). Global status
report on violence prevention 2014.
http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence
/status_report/2014/en/ update on WHO (2002).
World report on violence and health. Geneva, WHO
Galtung J (1996). Peace by peaceful means: peace
and conflict, development and civilisation. London,
Prio/Sage.
Mercy J et al. (1993). Public health policy for
preventing violence. Health Affairs. Winter:7-29.
Rosenberg M (2003). Nonviolent communication: a
language of life. Encinitas, CA, Puddle Dancer Press.
Santa Barbara J, MacQueen G (2004). Peace
through health: key concepts. The Lancet 364:384-5.

• The Role of Europe’s Schools of Public Health in Times of War:
ASPHER Statement on the War Against Ukraine
https://www.ssph-
journal.org/articles/10.3389/phrs.2022.1604880/full
• Joint Statement on the Special session of the WHO Regional
Committee for Europe https://epha.org/joint-statement-on-the-
special-session-of-the-who-regional-committee-for-europe/
• A Roadmap to Developing ASPHER Technical Guidance Notes on War
and Health
https://www.aspher.org/download/1103/aspher_ukraine_roadmap_
2022-tfw.pdf

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