BULLYING
Outbreaks of intimidation and harassment by class “braggarts” or “leaders” is unfortunately something that repeats itself time and again in history.
Today, psychologists and teachers are voicing their concern at the increase in this phenomenon, known as bullying. This term comes from the English word bully, meaning “big-headed” or “thug”. It was the Swedish psychologist Dan Olweus who started researching the subject at the University of Bergen in 1973.
Some 3.5% of European students from between the ages of 9 and 18 confess to being aggressors, and 6.5% to having been on the receiving end of attacks by their “schoolmates”. These were the results revealed by the data appearing in the publication Tackling Violence in School: The European Approach, analysing the extent of school violence currently suffered in Europe.
On referring to bullying we don’t simply mean arguments between two people. Interpersonal disputes imply a certain “balance” of strength; something which is non-existent in cases of bullying, where a group intimidates a pupil, often with the consent or indifference of the others in the class. The observing group watches the victim being aggressed, often too frightened to react or report the occurrence. The members of this group therefore become both accomplices and secondary victims, given the importance placed by the aggressor on being surrounded by an “audience”.
The figure of the “aggressor” usually corresponds to pupils who see themselves as “popular”, who try to dominate others by making them frightened, and who feel “bigger” when they humiliate others. This image generally hides problems in other parts of their lives, which may be with the family, social relations or their studies. They may feel that they aren’t getting enough attention and aim to get just that by adopting an attitude of power and domination.
Although physical assault (pushing, hitting, stealing or obliging a person to do something against their will) is sometimes used, the intimidation is often verbal (giving nicknames related to a physical characteristic or mocking someone). Bullying is basically the application of psychological violence by means of group harassment intended to wear down the victim’s mental stability and balance.
Having some kind of a physical difference or belonging to a minority; anything can be taken as a pretext for intimidation. Silence or premeditated indifference is also hurtful: refusing to talk to a schoolmate or spreading lies about them causes the victim to be excluded and socially rejected. And, all too often, it involves low self-esteem preventing them from finding their way out of the situation and which, in extreme cases, can even lead to suicide. This said, suicidal behaviour in the adolescent doesn’t always translate into the final intention of death. Self-hurting can serve to call attention or generate feelings of guilt in those around the person in question.
Jokin’s case brought bullying to the forefront. On 21 September 2004, Jokin Zeberio, 14 years old, fourth year student at secondary school in Hondarribia, committed suicide by throwing himself off the town walls, reportedly after having suffered mental and even physical aggression by those who had previously been his friends. The school expelled 8 students from Jokin’s class; the presumed group of aggressors.
But class violence doesn’t only affect students. Teachers are also the target of humiliation and harassment. Similarly, the ease with which students can access computers or mobile phones has given rise to cyberbullying: school violence with the added use of new technologies, bringing a new dimension and wider range of action to the situation.
The Grupo de Análisis y Prospectiva de las Telecomunicaciones (Gaptel) group of telecommunications experts estimates that 50% of all mobile phones in Spain are owned by youngsters and adolescents. Half of these phones have built-in cameras, meaning that they can film videos and take photographs; and we mustn’t forget Bluetooth which, based on a radiofrequency system, permits the instant and wireless exchange of (audio or image) files.
Filming beatings and circulating them to pupils has become an accessible and extremely dangerous “fashion”. It was in Great Britain a few years ago that a group of youngsters introduced this “new use” for the mobile phone. They started filming themselves punching passengers on the underground or buses. These punches have become beatings (in one extreme case, they killed a 37-year-old man, whose death and above all fatal beating, were filmed with a mobile phone), and the “fashion” has crossed borders. An activity that neither respects coexistence or the rights of harassed people to their privacy, image or personal dignity.
Giza Eskubideen Aldarrikapena
http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/bsq.htm
Euskadiko GGKEen Koordinakundea
http://www.ongdeuskadi.org/principal_e.asp
Ikastetxeetan berdinen arteko tratu txarrak gertatzen direnean jarduteko gida
http://www.hezkuntza.ejgv.euskadi.net/r43-573/eu/contenidos/informacion/dia6_erasoak_agresiones/eu_erasoak/adjuntos/tratu_txarrak_e.pdf
Guía de actuación en los centros educativos ante el maltrato entre iguales
http://www.hezkuntza.ejgv.euskadi.net/r43-573/es/contenidos/informacion/dia6_erasoak_agresiones/es_erasoak/adjuntos/tratu_txarrak_c.pdf
Ayuda mediante ikasle.net-en bidezko laguntza
http://www.hezkuntza.ejgv.euskadi.net/r43-573/eu/contenidos/informacion/dif11/eu_5613/dif11_e.html
Descripción del bullying – Fuensanta Cerezo
http://www.acosomoral.org/pdf/fuen.pdf
Un caso de bullying, ¿cómo abordarlo? – Marina Parés Soliva
http://www.acosomoral.org/pdf/cive06.pdf
La violencia de los jóvenes y adolescentes – Begoña Pumar
http://www.axular.net/modulos/usuariosFtp/conexion/archi578A1802200594550.pdf