The Spiral of Violence begins with an injustice, which may or may not cause direct physical harm or pain, but is still a violation of personhood, and is often large-scale, institutionalized, and acts to “other” or separate the oppressor and the oppressed into groups which often dehumanize the other. Next comes the revolt: when the oppression becomes too unbearable, the repressed will respond with more violence against those in power. Following this is repression of the revolt, which generally involves further violence, in attempt to retain the status quo and put an end to the revolution of the oppressed. This cycle can continue endlessly, unless the initial violence, the injustice, is put to an end. This pattern may be seen clearly in the Bosnian war -…show more content… After Croatia's independence was granted after the defeat of the Nazis, Croatias fascist leaders, called the Ustasha, sought to “ethnically cleanse” the nation by expulsions, conversions and violence. They killed many Serbian Orthodox priests and destroyed their churches, even though the Croatian Roman Catholic Church was opposed to these killings. The Islamic community of Croatia, at that point regarded as Croats of Muslim faith, also fought against the Serbs. This, however, lead to the revolt of the Serbs: jumping forward to 1992, Bosnia’s Muslims and Croats voted for independence in a referendum which was boycotted by the Serbs. Following the recognition of an independent Bosnia, Bosnian Serbs laid siege to Sarajevo. The Serbian army sought to establish borders between themselves and other ethnic communities, which turned into even more “ethnic cleansing,” including use of death
