Taekwon-Do
and Social Justice
By Dr
Sanko Lewis
A year
ago, I presented a paper in South Korea, at Youngsan University’s 1st
International Academic Taekwondo Conference. I titled my presentation “From
Individual Heroes to National Performers: The Shift in Taekwondo’s Peace
Promotion Duty.” Since then the paper has been accepted for publication in the Physical
Activity Review Vol. 8(2), 2020*, with Dr. John Johnson as co-author. In
the article we point out that the early Taekwon-Do pioneers saw Taekwon-Do
practitioners as heroes of justice.
In his
1957 Korean Karate textbook Pasa Gwanbeop, Park Chul-hee’s envisioned martial
arts training as a way to:
· build an indomitable spirit
· and a sound character
· so that one would dash at the cause of justice,
· and make a contribution to world peace.
In 1965,
Choi Hong-hi wrote in the first book using the term “Taekwon-Do” that Taekwon-Do
should be:
· a weapon for self-defence,
· to defend justice,
· to defend the weak.
Lee
Won-kuk’s Taekwondo Manual from 1968 states that Taekwon-Do trainees
should:
· love peace,
· protect justice and humanitarianism,
· and not initiate fights.
Choi
Hong-hi’s 1975 book Taekwon-Do: The Korean Art of Self-Defense
admonishes practitioners to:
· be gentle to the weak and tough to the strong,
· be champions of freedom and justice,
· and build a more peaceful world.
Based on
these writings, we can deduce how the early pioneers envisioned the ideal Taekwon-Do
practitioner: an individual with a morally sound character, noted for their
courage and indomitable spirit, who toughen their bodies and perfect their
techniques to be able to defend themselves and the weak from abuse, and promote
justice and (world) peace.
For many
modern practitioners, Taekwon-Do is just a sport, so Taekwon-Do athletes may
not feel that their participation in Taekwon-Do necessitate that they take a
particular moral stance or actively step up to protect the weak or stand up for
justice, any more than say a soccer player does. However, those that partake in
Taekwon-Do as a martial art—a “Way”—, rather than just a combat sport, are
implicitly agreeing to use their ability to protect the weak against the
strong. In fact, some martial art philosophers such as Daeshik Kim and Allan
Bäck, for instance, argue that everyone—who wants to be a good person—has a
moral duty to become proficient in self-defense for the sake of
self-preservation and to protect others from harm.
Coming up
for someone that is being bullied or rushing to the aid of a victim of violence
ought to be the default behavior of a Mudo-in 무도인 (“martial-Way-person”). Doing so,
of course, is highly likely to have the violence previously directed at the victim
now directed at your own person. That is why one ought not have false
confidence. Hence, the Taekwon-Do pioneers urged practitioners to have their courage
founded upon the sincerity of hard practice. To oppose violence, one needs to
have a toughened body and proper combative skill combined with courage.
However, the “clear” responsibility to defend the weak against violence is not the only responsibility the early pioneers promoted. They also declared a duty towards upholding and defending justice. It is easy to see the injustice of a stronger person bullying a weaker person, but other injustices are often less obvious. What type of justice(s) should Taekwon-Do practitioners fight for? Is it only regulated to the injustice of bullying and physical violence, or does it include other human rights violations? If you believe that there are systems in place that mistreat or oppress certain people in society then we, as martial artists, should support such movements. Systems and policies that somehow subjugate people—that treat one group of society differently, oppressively—are akin to the abuse by bullies of their victims. If we oppose the abusive behavior of bullies, then we ought to oppose the abusive behavior of bullying systems. But it is all to easy to become swept up by a movement without having thought it through and researched for clear evidence.
The question of “justice” is unfortunately not always clear, and some social justice topics can be quite polarizing. Consider some of the following justice/rights issues; while reading through the list notice the emotional reflexes and immediate opinions that arise within you:
- Climate Justice (How climate change disproportionately impact marginalized communities.)
- Healthcare Access
- Racial Justice
- LGBTQIA+ Rights
- Economic Inequality
- Refugee Crises (The plight of refugees and displaced peoples due to conflict, persecution, or environmental disasters, but also the issue of illegal immigration)
- Gender (In)equality
- Gun Violence
- Agism
- Body Autonomy
- Indigenous Rights
- Disability Rights
- DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion)
- Geopolitical conflicts (e.g., Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Palestine, China-Taiwan, etc.)
I may have strong opinions on specific contentious issues and possibly you have equal but opposing views. How active
should Taekwon-Do practitioners be involved in such matters? Some of these
issues may be cultural and situational, making it difficult for a lay person—i.e.,
someone who is not an ethicist—to decipher. And even when a martial arts
instructor has a particular opinion, they might not be inclined to support it openly
for fear of losing students. (This is where the tenet of integrity comes in.)
If we decide to take the moral teachings of Taekwon-Do seriously, we as Taekwon-Do practitioners ought not ignore the suffering of the weak and oppressed. Based on the writings of the early pioneers, Taekwon-Do practitioners should oppose oppression (injustices) and defend (support) the weak. Practitioners who takes Taekwon-Do's moral teachings seriously cannot ignore the injustices around them. Yet, I would caution against jumping on the bandwagon just because a particular cause is popular at that moment. It is best to make informed decisions rather that rash, emotional ones. Read widely, get informed about important issues, and try talking to people outside of your “bubble.” We are living in a #PostTruth world in which misinformation and disinformation abound, which makes it ever more important to avoid rashness, lest in our emotional foolhardiness we find ourselves fighting on the wrong side. It is not for naught that the Daoist's teach caution over false heroic brashness.
In choosing social injustices to oppose, consider the adage: “choose your battles wisely”. Part of what this means is to choose the battles within your sphere of influence. There are too many injustices in this world for you to fight against. Trying to oppose them all will spread you out too thin and burn you out emotionally, making your contribution ineffective. Choose the battles that present themselves before you, the ones at hand, the ones in your own community where you can make an actual contribution. As the proverb says, “charity begins at home.” It is useless virtue signaling to make TikTok-videos about some abstract social justice issue, but ignore the homeless person on the street corner who has nowhere to sleep because your local city council put spikes under bridges and partitions on park benches.
Likewise, I
would also caution against becoming a “keyboard warrior”—i.e., someone who
“fights” on social media. While cyber space has indeed become an extension of
our normal (off-line) lives, we should be careful not to fall into the trap of
thinking that our online activism is more important or a substitute for ‘real
world’ contributions.
Of course, in our effort to help build a more peaceful world, we ought not initiate fights and try to avoid violence; at the same time, the pioneers told us to bravely dash towards the cause of justice and to protect it, and to defend the weak, regardless of their “religion, race, national or ideological boundaries,” against both physical harm and injustice. On this note, I think we should learn from the experience of being part of a global family through Taekwon-Do. I have been blessed with opportunities to visit different countries where I have trained and conducted seminars: I have also met many visitors to Korea—where I live—from around the world, and have gained friends from very diverse ethnicities, cultures, and religious backgrounds. Through our shared love of Taekwon-Do we were able to transcend our superficial differences to form lasting and valuable friendships. Before painting people who are different to you as the “other,” let this lesson from Taekwon-Do remind us of our common humanity.
There is
also another object lesson to be learned from martial arts practice: it is when
I face my opponent that my training becomes actualized; my opponent is
therefore not an enemy, but an opportunity for growth. If possible, try not to
see those people you consider your ‘enemies’ in society as such—let them not be
‘The Enemy,’ but rather view them as training partners in this journey we call
life. And after the fight is done, let us hug, and shake hands, and bow to each
other.
…ooOoo…
* http://www.physactiv.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2020_82_9.pdf
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