By Alexander Perepechko

Published on October 20, 2015

Along with small families and refusal to tolerate combat casualties, antiwar protests demonstrate why Americans and Europeans do not want to fight and die in foreign wars. In this research essay I will investigate one of the forms of these protests – mammismo (can be translated a momism from Italian).

The term mammismo was coined in 1952 by the Italian intellectual Corrado Alvaro (1952). He was looking for reasons for Italy’s poor performance in the two world wars. According to Alvaro, poor mothering was the root cause of many of the shortcomings of Italian men and therefore of Italian society. He blamed Italian mothers for being unable to rise above animal instinct and for bringing up immature sons lacking civic responsibility and high moral qualities. Primitive Italian mothers emasculate, devour, and make dependent male children, he said. Alvaro (1952: 186) criticized Italian society for simultaneously exalting mothers and depriving them of sons sent “inexperienced and unprepared …to desperate and reckless wars.” Therefore, mammismo initially meant that in the case of war nobody loves sons as much as their mothers. Loss, nostalgia, and guilt are keys to mothers’ primary concern for sons. Italian historian Maria D’Amelio (2005) located the beginning of the exclusive mother-son bond in the period of Risorgimento (1750-1870) and traced its development through the two world wars.

Luttwak (2001: 52) modified and applied the concept of mammismo onto warfare in the postindustrial period. Since Italian and other western societies have very low birthrates, mothers in the West view the wounding or death of their only son or daughter in war as an outrageous scandal rather than an occupational hazard. Luttwak argues that today this attitude has enormous impact and powerfully constrains the use of the force in Europe, North America, and other postindustrial regions. How plausible is this generalization?

We already discussed that many politicians do not have conscious understanding of the nonlinear (paradoxical) logic of strategy, which is very different from common sense logic. In fact, this is only the first issue of a dilemma. The second issue is an inadequate weighting of some non-military factors by the military establishment. According to the theory of elites (see Janowitz, 1957: 16), open society elites, on one hand, and military and security elites, on the other hand, may resemble each other organizationally without doing so functionally or morally. Politics plays the critical role in initiating war, governing its conduct, and terminating conflict. However, as Israeli strategist Martin Van Creveld (2013: 233) put it, the imprecise and subjective nature of politics is so complex in reality that not often can military frameworks, rules, and regulations be usefully applied to political decisions. Thus, it is not surprising that military strategists frequently take a reductionist approach to the problem of mammismo. Instead, it will be beneficial to use an inclusivist approach to look at this phenomena.

To begin with, demographic facets of a society (see Leuprecht & Goldstone, 2013) are not often directly converted to political movements and vice versa. And when this conversion happens–a movement or political party representing a demographic group, military mothers in our case–it is not mass or influential. Therefore political expression of mammismo might not be part of the antiwar movement. But is it true? And is there an antiwar movement in the United States today?

In February of 2003, a few weeks before the US military invaded Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Americans did show up in the streets of large cities to denounce the approaching attack. It has been more than a decade since this large antiwar protest in America caught the attention of public, mainstream corporate media, and politicians. Protests since then have been small and rare despite the fact that most Americans have opposed military intervention in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan (Weeks, 2011). How can it be?

Firstly, attendance at antiwar rallies declined sharply because of several organizational reasons (see Gormlie, 2008; Castells, 2015: 284-286). Financial resources available to the movement dissipated. Owing to this factor the antiwar movement in America underwent decentralization. Many new activists left the Obama camp. They felt betrayed by his policies and the actions of his highly bureaucratized Democratic Party. Now, every region has its own activists developing tactics of resistance in addition to more traditional forms of protest. Devoted to their cause, these activists are prepared to be arrested and to suffer. The new face of the peace movement is younger, more militant, lives outside the major US cities, and is new to the antiwar campaign.

Secondly, a clear and important reason for the absence of a large and persistent antiwar movement is the nature of the enemies the United States has been fighting since September 11, 2001. Definitely, there are many differences between Al Qaeda, the Taliban, ISIS, the regime of Saddam Hussein, and the regime of Bashar Assad. Americans hate these groups and regimes (see Kazin, 2015) but do not understand them well (which requires cultural and language skills and time) and are not eager to be involved unless these groups and regimes aim at targets in America.

Thirdly, as we know, Americans hold strict norms of justice in the political area. Since this ideal is shared by so many citizens, antiwar activists have focused on collateral damage. Unintended deaths of large numbers of women and children, innocent victims of strikes from ground or naval forces with a high degree of precision, are predictable. These extrajudicial killings, particularly with drones that are often directed from a CIA building somewhere in northern Virginia, are not often carried by news media (Horton, 2015: 122-123). American news media carries fewer reports and less accurate information about the use of drones than its counterpart in Pakistan. Some of the systematic and investigative work pertaining to US extrajudicial killings has been done by antiwar groups and activists.

Fourthly, neither paleoconservative Patrick Buchanan (2015) nor anarchist Noam Chomsky (2014; see also Baird, 2014) has a large number of supporters, and the adherents they do have mistrust each other. Right and left opponents of intervention agree that US military power does no good in the world but do not agree why. A strong antiwar movement cannot be built in the absence of a common antiwar strategy. Without strong antiwar opposition at home, American national security elites will possibly continue the militarized policies in the Middle East and Eastern Europe that most Americans consider, at best, with ambivalence.

These four reasons in no way exhaust the reasons why the antiwar movement in the United States hibernates. Surprisingly, publications on the recent antiwar movement in the United States do not often point to mammismo. Forum: Mothers and Mammismo in the Italian Diaspora, a workshop held in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK in May 2014, is among few sources on the subject. But even in this source, military aspects of mammismo are not analyzed. It seems as though political scientists, exploring the antiwar movement, and scholars in strategic studies, investigating the phenomena of mammismo, live in parallel universes.

We have to measure the phenomenon of mammismo first. It is necessary 1) to estimate the number of military mothers; 2) to determine the structure of this group and to describe its subgroups; and 3) to estimate the effect of these subgroups on government and political elites.

To estimate the number of military mothers in the US I used data about deployments and casualties among Department of Defense (DoD) service members. The service members were physically located within combat zones or areas of operation, or directly supported the mission outside the designated combat zone (e.g., US Air Force aircrew or support personnel located at an airbase outside the combat zone) (Bonds, Baiocchi, McDonald, 2010). In these operating areas of the Middle East, service members in 2001-2014 participated in five operations: Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn, Inherent Resolve, Enduring Freedom, and Freedom’s Sentinel. Also, American citizens worked as US government contractors in this region. In addition, a few non-military American volunteers fought either for or against radical Islamists and anti-western regimes.

From 2001 to 2014 about 6,836 DoD service members died and 52,340 were wounded (Fischer, 2015). More than 2 million US service members have served in these wars (many in more than one war). The total number of veterans eligible for the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) health care is 1.3 million. In 2001-2015 about 3,212 US contractors died in operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Eight hundred (some sources talk about one thousand) of them were US citizens (Thannhauser & Luehrs, 2015).

Assuming that each combatant has a living mother who loves him or her and wants to protect him or her, I come up with the following estimates (Table 2).

The total number of mothers whose son or daughter was deployed in combat zones or areas of operation is approximately 2 million. Without a doubt, mothers of these combatants were impacted by this. How much they were impacted? We do not have an estimate for the whole sample. However, we can estimate the strength of this impact for various categories of combatants in terms of general and mental health status or death. It is also known that the likelihood of being killed or wounded is higher for non-military volunteer fighters than for DoD service members and US government contractors. Therefore the health and life of these volunteers are at very high risk.

To estimate the impact of the health status or death of a son or daughter who participated in wars on a mother (or family members), three categories are established: “moderate,” “strong,” and “very strong.” Since death and very high risk of death are very powerful and profound, loss, nostalgia, and guilt “very strongly” impact the mothers whose children perished or vanished in the Middle East wars.

Table 2. Health Status or Death of Combatants and Its Estimated Impact on Mothers or Family Members (Middle East Wars, 2001-2014)

Categories of DoD service members, US government contractors, or non-military volunteers	Estimated number	Impacted mother or family members	Estimated strength of impact
1a) perished service members and contractors	8,000	mother	very strong
1b) perished service members and contractors	80,000	family members	strong
2) eligible for VA care	1,300,000	mother	moderate
3) battle wounded	52,000	mother	strong
4) traumatic brain injury (TBI)	327,000	mother	strong
5) post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)	138,000	mother	strong
6) volunteers joined IS – high risk to be killed or wounded	300	mother	very strong
7) volunteers fight IS – high risk to be killed or wounded	200	mother	moderate
8) in combat zones or areas of operation	2,000,000	mother	?

Source: Generated by the author based on Bonds, Baiocchi, McDonald, 2010; DeBruyne, Leland, 2015; Fischer, 2015; Thannhauser & Luehrs, 2015.

1a) About 8,000 combatants perished in the Middle East wars. Most of them were DoD service members. Also, this group includes a small number American contractors worked for the US government (including those working for DoD, State, and USAID). Note that only about 30% of perished contractors were US citizens; 44% were local Iraqis or Afghans, and 32% were from third countries (see Thannhauser & Luehrs, 2015). The irrevocable loss of a son or daughter has a very strong impact on his or her mother.

1b) The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) estimates that for each active duty military loss, 10 people, on average, are impacted. They are mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, fiancés, grandparents, cousins, family friends and other relatives. The number of family members left behind is about 80,000. Assuming that mothers are impacted the most, and taking into consideration that mothers are a minority in this category, the estimated strength of the impact of her perished child for the whole family is probably “strong.”

2) Approximately 1.3 million American men and women who served in the active military in five operations in the Middle East are qualified for VA health care benefits. Mothers of these men and women were at least moderately impacted by the mere fact that their children were sent into potential combat situations in the Middle East.

3) The number of mothers whose son or daughter was wounded in battle is over 52,000. Some warriors, wounded in battle, lost a leg, or arm, or suffered the amputation of multiple limbs. Mothers of these soldiers are strongly impacted.

4) Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is often called the signature wound of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Most reported TBI among service members and veterans has been traced back to improvised explosive devices (IED), used extensively against the American army. Over 327,000 service members received traumatic brain injuries. Loss of consciousness, memory, and other serious psychiatric disruptions of brain function are among the manifestations of TBI. A mother whose son or daughter suffered this injury is in all probability strongly impacted.

5) Combat situations (even potential combat situations!) almost always have a deep and long lasting effect on a soldier. Even unharmed in battles, he or she often needs medical, psychiatric, or other kinds of help upon returning home. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a major mental health trauma of American wars in the 21st century. Over 138,000 men and women were diagnosed with PTSD. Potential negative effects of PTSD on careers and personal lives of new veterans, and the stigma associated with this mental health problem, strongly impact their mothers.

6) As many as 300 American non-military volunteers are fighting side by side with the Islamic State (IS) group – a non-state actor – in Iraq and Syria. The US government believes that these fighters are poised to become a major threat to the homeland (Intel believes, 2014; Ioffe, 2015) and tracks and gathers intelligence on these people. Some American officials would prefer that these foreign fighters die in Syria or Iraq than come back home. This kind of “solution” is not the best strategy in a country like the US where, from 1992 to 2012, the percentage of Muslims among legal permanent residents of non-Christian faith increased from 5% to 10%. The pool for potential radicalization of Muslims in the United States is growing… Muslim and non-Muslim mothers of non-military volunteers fighting alongside the Islamic State are very strongly impacted by the fact that their sons and daughters converted, were recruited by IS, left the West, and joined jihad in the Middle East.

7) Finally, roughly 200 Americans are fighting against IS. Iraq war veterans, evangelicals, and adventurous young men are among these fighters. Many of them are from Texas. These American fighters usually join Kurdish groups and Christian militias – non-state actors – in the Middle East to battle IS militants (Rawnsley, 2015). The number of these non-military volunteers is growing. Their mothers are probably proud that their children are liberators, freedom fighters, and militant proselytizers in the Middle East. However, this does not mean that these mothers do not worry at least moderately about the health and lives of their sons and daughters.

Each of the eight subgroups of mothers uses specific methods to protect their children. Here we describe several tactics used by two subgroups of mothers.

Mammismo among mothers of dead service members and contractors (subgroup 1a of table 2) takes specific organizational forms. Small decentralized organizations and networks, like Families of the Fallen for Change and Military Families Speak Out, are examples of antiwar activism by these military mothers (Vinciguerra, 2012). These organizations oppose war only conditionally, they do not consider themselves pacifist. Some of their members believe in women’s rights. Military mothers lobby Congress and speak to small audiences (often students) about wars in the Middle East. They support American troops but do not want to sent troops into battle unless it is absolutely necessary for national security. These mothers support the draft because it motivates citizens to pay more attention to wars. For instance, military mothers point to the epidemic of military suicides among current military personnel: more troops die at their own hand than in combat.

The number of mothers of jihad children (subgroup 6 of table 2) is small but growing. Going public is difficult for these women. They fear being accused of being failed parents by the mass media, and they fear losing their jobs. Also, it is shockingly difficult to get a western government to intervene: officials do not have experience or well-developed procedures to deal with this problem and try to avoid it by all means. Even when these procedures exist, they are often useless: IS changes its recruitment strategies fast.

Once converts to radical Islam from the West reach Syria, IS recruiters try to get their siblings to join them: the problem quickly aggravates. Even the security services of western countries are not eager to help mothers locate their jihad children or to facilitate communications with them. Security services prefer to use the mothers of jihad children as sources of information. Perhaps security services are not motivated to spend time and resources on a case by case basis and are more interested in a holistic solution to the problem. Indeed, the American FBI (Director Briefs, 2015) is looking for emerging information technologies to deal with the new challenge. Europeans are routinely focused on human technologies. Let us look at a European approach.

Mothers for Life is a network of Muslim and non-Muslim mothers from eight western countries, including the United States, whose children have joined IS and other radical Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq. These mothers call on their children to return home (Mothers call, 2015). Mothers for Life is run by the German Institute on Radicalization and De-radicalization Studies (GIRDS) in Berlin. The approach uses Muslim theology to challenge the religious arguments and chthonic appeals put forward by extremists (see Koehler, 2015). Most young converts leave the West in secret to join radical groups in the Middle East. In doing so, they break with their families including mothers – takfir – who stand in the way of their jihad. Therefore, a mother is extremely important in jihadist Islam and de-radicalizers exploit this fact. According to the Prophet Mohammad, paradise lies at the feet of the mother and her child has to ask her permission to go on jihad or at least to say goodbye. By leaving against a mother’s will to give up his or her own life and take the lives of others, a son or daughter put the mother’s struggle, pain, and honor under his or her feet and walks over it…

So, what?

Indeed, military mothers in the United States and several other postindustrial countries can press on government, politics, and society and thus constrain the use of force abroad. But internally mammismo is polyphonic and regional. Subgroups of military mothers can be defined based on i) the general and mental health status or death of their sons and daughters in wars and ii) the country or organization they served. Different subgroups of mothers are differently impacted by the fact that their sons or daughters were in different combat situations and now have different general and mental health status. In its multiple facets mammismo is a vital ingredient in shaping recent antiwar movements in the United States.

Different subgroups of military mothers have several features in common. They are organized into small decentralized organizations or networks and try to impact governmental and political hierarchies, including military and security services. In the West, political and military elites listen and sometimes take into account the opinion of military mothers. But the organizations and activities of military mothers are not always permitted in all postindustrial countries. For example, the foundation Right of Mother in Russia is declared a “foreign agent” by the regime of Vladimir Putin. This NGO provides free legal help to mothers whose sons served in the army and died on the territory of the Russian Federation or CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) in times of peace. Russian mothers whose sons were sent to fight the hybrid war in Ukraine and perished or disappeared are afraid to ask this organization for legal help (Aismont, 2015).

Giving US troops and pilots more dangerous roles in the war against IS will generate opposition from subgroups 1-6. I assume that this opposition can probably prevent putting American boots on the ground but cannot stop the air war against the Islamic State. War from afar is the option military mothers leave for the American military. And this war is expected to continue indefinitely because delegating war on the ground to locals and foreigners no longer works as a credible alternative to waging it directly by the US Army. Technically advanced, sophisticated, and very expensive systems of weapons for waging war from afar can overpower and control only small swathes of foreign land for short time periods. Terrain and local population with intimate knowledge of this terrain will successfully resist American and European invasions in the long term. The fact that the US is intervening militarily in an openly sectarian conflict without being able to affect the outcome is a key political problem for American political elites in Middle East politics.

Subgroups 6 and 7 are early warnings of a dangerous development. We can have here the situation expressed in the sculpture Mother and Sons of Israeli artist Ruth Coleman: there is a mother and her two sons, each pulling her in another direction. We can view the sons as having left the United States for a religious war in the Middle East. One son fights against IS and the other son fights side by side with the “caliphate.” In geopolitics, this situation is called a double tropism. In our case centripetal force, based on the values of family, citizenship, and motherland, can give up to centrifugal force, rooted in religious wars.

The fact that mammismo in post-heroic America is exposed to double tropism has implications predicted by Van Creveld (1991) 25 years ago. In the 21st century, he predicted, war would be a much less rational political act, not necessarily conducted among states. We see that more and more warfare is waged by non-state actors. Low-intensity conflict dominated by non-state actors is becoming the main type of war. Peaceful economic competition between trading blocs remains a dream, and warfare between ethnic and religious groups, where non-state actors fight for abstract concepts like justice or religion, is a reality. Information war plays a critical role in recent conflicts and, all things considered, information benefits non-state actors.

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