Taekwon-Do and Social Justice

While searching through one of my folders, I came upon an essay I wrote for Totally Tae Kwon Do Magazine (Issue #138 - August 2020). Usually the essays and articles I write for Totally TKD develop out of drafts that I publish here on this blog, but I noticed that this particular essay didn't evolve from the blog, but was rather a reworking of an academic presentation that I delivered in 2019. So I thought it would be good to share the essay here as well. The essay below is a somewhat amended version of the original one published in 2020. 

 I also recommend anyone who is a Taekwon-Do geek, like myself, to subscribe to Totally Tae Kwon Do Magazine -- it is the only monthly (electronic) magazine dedicated to sharing news, opinions, interviews, and essays on Taekwon-Do. 

...ooOoo...

Taekwon-Do and Social Justice

By Dr Sanko Lewis

A year ago, I presented a paper in South Korea, at Youngsan University’s 1^st 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

Beating Swords into Ploughshares: Pondering Peace and Martial Arts

Beating Swords into Ploughshares:  Pondering Peace and Martial Arts
By Dr. Sanko Lewis

Presentation given at the 5th African Martial Arts Conference (“Solidarity in Action: Beyond Martial Arts Partnership”) on 25 October 2022, in Chungju, South Korea. (Organized by UNESCO-ICM.)

• “A military is a tool of misfortune, all things detest it … when one is compelled to use it, it is best to do so without relish, for there is no glory in victory … When people have many sharp weapons, the country becomes more chaotic” – Laozi (Daodejing, Chptrs 31 & 57)
• “There are men who say ‘I am skilful at marshalling troops, I am skilful at conducting a battle!’ They are great criminals” – Mencius (Jin Xin II, 50)
• “Those who live by the sword, die by the sword” – Jesus (Matthew 26)

Many great spiritual teachers have warned against martial activities. The very idea that we can use martial arts (or ‘skills of war’) for peace promotion is illogical. Yet it is something many martial artists propose. It was this paradox that was the main topic of my PhD dissertation entitled: “Preaching Peace, Practising War: Mohism’s Resolution of the Paradoxical Ethics of War and Self-Defence in East Asian Martial Arts”.

For this conference, I was asked to talk to you about using martial arts for peace, and this I will do, but with some hesitation, for I don’t think we should romanticize the martial arts, lest we forget that just as swords are forged for war, so too were the martial arts. Nevertheless, I’ll suggest that the martial arts can be used to promote peace in two broad ways—or rather, at two levels: first, at a governmental diplomatic level in the form of soft diplomacy; and second, at an personal or intra-personal level.

Martial arts have been used with a relative degree of success for soft power in the form of cultural- and sports diplomacy. “Soft power is the ability to affect others to obtain the outcomes one wants through attraction and persuasion rather than coercion or payment” (Nye, 2019). For example, let’s see how South Korea used martial arts as soft diplomacy. Before South Korea’s export of K-Pop and K-Drama, its main cultural export was martial arts: taekwondo and hapkido. From as early as the 1950s, South Korean martial arts instructors were sent abroad as soft power emissaries. Such instructors were often working closely with the local South Korean embassies and to this day continue to do so with other Korean organizations such as KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency), which falls under South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Through such cultural dissemination, South Korea created positive sentiment in millions of Korean martial arts practitioners around the world—and now possibly billions of K-Pop and K-Drama fans.

Taekwon-Do demonstration team members from North Korean and South Korea,
after performing together under the slogan: "Peace is more precious than triumph".

Taekwondo has also been used specifically for diplomacy between North Korean and South Korea. “The most prominent of these occurred in 2018 and 2019 when a series of joint performances with ROK and DPRK taekwondo demonstration teams were held across the ROK. These demonstrations led to other joint performances at a pre-opening ceremony of the 2019 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in the ROK and at taekwondo facilities in the DPRK. These performances initiated a renewed interest in dialogue between the DPRK and ROK as well as the DPRK and the US. A series of summits followed between the leaders of these three adversaries stuck in a 70-year long stalemate.” (Johnson & Lewis, 2020). Of course, there are limits to the success of these endeavours. Figuratively speaking, taekwondo was able to kick open the doors for peace talks, but the political leaders were not able to maintain the momentum of these peace negotiations. Unfortunately, taekwondo could not kick through the complicated obstacles of geopolitics. 

The Olympic Games provides an opportunity for athletes, sometimes even from antagonistic nations, to come together in a spirit of sportsmanship. Similarly, there are martial arts sporting events that do the same. The Asian Games, which after the Olympic Games is the biggest global sporting event, contains several combative sports beyond those that are in the Olympic Games. While the Olympic Games includes archery, boxing, fencing, judo, and taekwondo, the Asian Games also includes jujitsu, karate, and wushu. Other events like the International Martial Art Games and the numerous world championships of the many martial arts organizations around the world create liminal spaces for people to come together in a spirit of comradery. There are few other scenarios other than at such sporting events where people from antagonistic countries can come together, mingle and even become friends—all because of their shared love for their sport and martial arts.  

Russian and Ukrainian Taekwon-Do practitioners
sitting side-by-side at a Taekwon-Do Championship.
(Photo source unknown.)

For this reason, I was personally disappointed when I heard that World Taekwondo has moved to ban Russian athletes from international competitions, and I heard similar calls from the ITF Taekwon-Do community to ban Russian Taekwon-Do athletes from participating at international ITF Taekwon-Do events because of the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine. My disappointment is not because I support Russia’s action—I do not support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, rather than use Taekwon-Do to drive people further apart, I think Taekwon-Do should be used to bring ‘opponents’ together. “What we need to see is Ukrainian and Russian Taekwon-Do practitioners standing side by side and competing alongside each other as part of one global Taekwon-Do family. This is how, I believe, [martial arts] organizations should affect positive change towards peace. [Martial arts] organizations should create opportunities for Ukrainian and Russian [martial art] practitioners to shake hands with each other in friendship, to bow to each other in respect, and maybe even to hug each other in [martial arts] fraternity. Getting Russians and Ukrainians (and the rest of the world) to see each other’s common humanity should be the goal. Sharing photos of such moments of friendship and mutual respect between supposed enemies should be the publicity [martial arts] organizations ought to strive for—not virtue signalling through calls of bans, othering, and separation” (Lewis, 2022).

 

There are also other ways—more personal or ‘intrapersonal’ ways—that the martial arts may contribute to peace, by forging less violent, more peaceful people. This is effectively summarized by Janet O’Shea, in her book Risk, Failure, Play: What Dance Reveals About Martial Arts Training:

“A relationship between vulnerability and accountability explains the central paradox of martial arts training: that knowing how to fight can make you less likely to fight. Part of this paradox lies in confidence: those who know how to fight are less likely to be targeted, and thus are less likely to need their fight skills. Those who fight recreationally or competitively don’t need to put themselves into violent situations to test their knowledge; they have ample opportunity to experiment in consensual circumstances. In addition, however, fight training forms a powerful reminder of vulnerability. Fight sports teach us that anyone can lose a fight and anyone can win one, they show us that strikes hurt regardless of who they come from; and they signal that fundamental limitations unite us more than differences of shape, size, gender, and age separate us.” (Jane O’Shea, 2019:71.)

There is a curious phenomenon we notice with martial artists; they seem to be more affectionate to each other after a fight. This is strange because one would expect opponents to be more antagonistic, yet the opposite seems to be the case. Usually, after the fight, the behaviours of the opponents are those of friends rather than enemies. Think how often you have seen fighters—such as boxers, wrestlers, and MMA-fighters—hug each other after a fight. In an article recently published by UNESCO-ICM, Caio Amaral Gabriel explores the science behind this phenomenon. He points to a study by Rassovsky et al. from 2019 that shows that sparring increases oxytocin, the hormone associated with social bonding and cooperative behaviour. While more research is needed to determine how we can use this phenomenon for creating more peace-loving people, it does hint at something observed in several Korean studies that training in Taekwondo tend to reduce aggression and violence in individuals (Song, 1999; Han & Son, 2003; Yang, 2003; Lee 2009). There is also lots of anecdotal evidence that people who take up martial arts become calmer and more self-controlled.

A possible explanation for martial arts’ ability to cause people to become less aggressive and more self-controlled is the way in which it nurtures resilience. Good studies show that sport, and especially traditional martial arts, develops resilience. “Resilience […] refers to an individual’s capacity for adapting to changes and stressful events in a healthy way” (Catalano, et al. 2004). Essentially, resilience is the ability to endure stress. At the most basic level, in martial arts one learns to take a hit, whether it be a punch, kick, or throw—and one learns to do so without becoming emotional. There is a sense in which one becomes somewhat desensitised to the blows—and possibly by extension also to the blows thrown at you by life.

In martial arts training, practitioners are constantly confronted with hindrances: confronted with their own limitations which they must push pass or accept and confronted with opponents. Martial artists learn to reinterpret such confrontations not as unsurmountable obstacles or as dangerous enemies. In martial arts training your present limitations are opportunities for growth and your opponent is not an enemy but a training partner, and even failure has the potential to become a teacher.

Furthermore, in the martial arts gym we learn responsibility and self-control. As Janet O’Shea explains:
“When we spar, we expose ourselves to harm at the hands of our sparring partners. We are continually reminded that what could (theoretically) happen isn’t, in a respectful gym, happening: my training partner could break my arm when he gets me in an arm bar; instead he releases his grip. I could knock her out when I land a punch but instead I control its impact” (O’Shea, 2019:99).

As such, under the guidance of a good instructor and with the right mindset, martial art practise may be a microcosm in which to learn how to negotiate conflict, and hopefully thereby foster more peaceful people.

In the United Nations Art Collection stands a sculpture titled “Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares.” The sculpture was inspired by a phrase from the Book of Isaiah, in which the prophet had a vision of the future in which he saw people “beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks”; a future of peace between nations when people will not learn war anymore (Isaiah 2:4). 

I started this talk by saying that I don’t want us to romanticise the martial arts, for ultimately martial arts are the means of war. But, maybe, just maybe we can turn our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning hooks and repurpose the martial arts to be means of peace. 

 

References:

Catalano, R. F., Berglund, M. L., Ryan, J. A., Lonczak, H. S., & Hawkins, J. D. (2004). “Positive youth development in the United States: Research findings on evaluations of positive youth development programs.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 591, 98–124.
Gabriel, C. A. (2022). “[Voices of Youth] Fighting for Peace: Grappling and Striking as Potential to Peacebuilding”. UNESCO-ICM.
Han G.G., Sohn S.D. (2003). “Comparison analysis of aggression and attack and sacrifice factors according to Taekwondo training.” Korean Journal of Physical Education, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 905–922 [in Korean.]
Johnson, A. J. & Lewis, S. (2020). “From Individual Heroes to National Performers: The Shift in Taekwondo’s Peace Promotion Activities.” Physical Activity Review, vol. 8(2), pp. 64-71.
Lee K.H. (2009). “Comparative analysis on aggression according to the degree of Taekwondo training for children.” Korean Journal of Physical Education, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 833–842 [in Korean].
Lewis, S. (1996). “Promoting Peace, Practising War: Mohism’s Resolution of the Paradoxical Ethics of War and Self-Defence in East Asian Martial Arts” [unpublished doctoral thesis], Yongin, Korea, Kyunghee University.
Lewis, S. (2022). “Taekwon-Do vis-à-vis the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.” Soo Shim Kwan-blog. https://sooshimkwan.blogspot.com/2022/03/taekwon-do-vis-vis-russian-invasion-of.html
Lewis, S. & Johnson, A. J. (TBD). “Dissonance Issues Incurred with the Use of Taekwondo for Promoting Peace.” Ido Movement for Culture: Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology. (Accepted for publication in 2024, vol. 23.)
Nye, Jr., Joseph S. (2019). “Soft Power and the Public Diplomacy Revisited.” The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 14 (April 2019): 1-14.
O’Shea, J. (2019). Risk, Failure, Play: What Dance Reveals About Martial Arts Training. Oxford University Press.
Song C. S. (1999). “The Effects of Taekwondo Exercise on School Violence of Middle School Students”, [unpublished master's thesis], Seoul, Korea, Sogang University Graduate School [in Korean].
Yang K. S. (2003). “Taekwondo Training for Primary School Students, Its Degree and Its Relationship with Aggression” [unpublished master's thesis], Daegu, Korea Keimyung University [in Korean].

 

Taekwon-Do vis-à-vis the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

 

Russian and Ukrainian "brothers in Taekwon-Do"
sitting beside each other at a Taekwon-Do championships.
(Reposted from Facebook. Original source unknown.)

Taekwon-Do vis-à-vis the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Dr. Sanko Lewis

 

I’ve been seeing lots of posts on Facebook from the international Taekwon-Do community and specifically from the ITF Taekwon-Do community calling to ban Russian Taekwon-Do athletes from competing at international ITF Taekwon-Do events because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In this post I want to outline why I disagree with this. However, before anybody accuse me of being pro-Russia or anti-Ukraine, let me make it clear: I am against the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and am against this war. A substantial part of my PhD dissertation[1] was about Ethics of War. There is much one can write about that topic but suffice it to say that I resonate with the Taoists on this topic—all wars are tragedies, all wars are lamentable.[2]

 

To return to the main topic of this essay, I do not agree with the banning of Russian Taekwon-Doin from international Taekwon-Do events.

 

First, Taekwon-Do has a history of being used for peace building and soft power diplomacy, by bringing together otherwise apathetic and even antagonistic groups under the banner of Taekwon-Do.[3] Soft power diplomacy uses non-coercive methods such as cultural exchange, sport events, positive media exposure, and so on, to affect positive relations through appeal and attraction. The first soft power diplomacy that Taekwon-Do was engaged in was already in 1959, when Choi Hong Hi, a general in the Republic of Korea (South Korea) military took a Taekwon-Do demonstration team on what was called a “Goodwill Tour”. Many of Taekwon-Do’s most famous grandmasters such as Nam Tae Hi, Kim Bok Man, Han Cha Kyo, and so on were part of that first international trip to Vietnam and Taiwan. Another Goodwill Tour in 1965 travelled to West Germany, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Malaysia, and Singapore. In 1973, the ITF Demonstration Team toured 23 countries, including Eastern Bloc countries such as Poland, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. Such tours not only put South Korea in a positive light abroad, but it also helped to “bridge gaps between political ideologies”[4]. It was with this attitude that General Choi introduced Taekwon-Do to his former enemies: Japan (the former colonizers of Korea) and North Korea (whom he fought against during the Korean War). In fact, one of Choi’s proudest moments were the first time he saw Japanese Taekwon-Do athletes competing with Korean Taekwon-Do athletes at a Taekwon-Do World Championship. Furthermore, it was his lifelong dream that North and South Korea would reunify and that Taekwon-Do may play a part in that. Taekwon-Do has now been affective in bringing South and North Korea together on several significant occasions.

 

Rather than use Taekwon-Do to drive people apart, I think Taekwon-Do should be used to bring ‘opponents’ together. The most famous use of sport diplomacy (which is a form of soft power diplomacy) was in 1971, affectionately referred to as ‘Ping-pong diplomacy’, when table tennis was used to bring the antagonistic Unites States of America and People’s Republic of China together. This event paved the way for President Nixon to visit Beijing in 1972. Similarly, very high tensions between North and South Korea and North Korean and the United States were eased through Taekwon-Do diplomacy, when North Korean and South Korean Taekwon-Do demonstration teams came together to share the same stage during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games. These shared Taekwon-Do activities by North and South Koreans led to summits between North Korean leader Kim Jung Un and South Korean president Moon Jae In, and it is believed that this is what later led to the summits between Pyeongyang and Washington.

 

What we need to see is Ukrainian and Russian Taekwon-Do practitioners standing side by side and competing alongside each other as part of one global Taekwon-Do family. This is how, I believe, Taekwon-Do organizations should affect positive change towards peace. Taekwon-Do organizations should create opportunities for Ukrainian and Russian Taekwon-Do practitioners to shake hands with each other in friendship, to bow to each other in respect, and maybe even to hug each other in Taekwon-Do fraternity. Getting Russians and Ukrainians (and the rest of the world) to see each other’s common humanity should be the goal. Sharing photos of such moments of friendship and mutual respect between supposed enemies should be the publicity Taekwon-Do organizations should strive for—not virtue signaling through calls of bans, othering, and separation.   

 

Second, we ought to be very clear what we hope to achieve with sanctions. The idea that sanctions against Russian Taekwon-Do athletes will send some type of message to Vladimir Putin is, frankly, silly. Broad sanctions against groups of people—in an effort to somehow punish their leaders or in a hope that it would result in an internal overthrow of the government—are not particularly effective. For example, the USA has had sanctions against Cuba and North Korea for decades. This has done practically nothing to change the status quo in those countries. Rather, it just hurt the average Cuban and North Korean, and especially the poorest and weakest among them, while the elites continue to live in relative comfort while remaining in positions of power. Unless the sanctions are specific in nature, to target particular individuals and systems, they do not generally result in change. By banning all Russian Taekwon-Do athletes we are indirectly signaling that all Russians are evil, and not affecting the power structure. Rather, I am in support of World Taekwondo for stripping President Putin of the honorary black belt they bestowed upon him in 2013[5]; and the protests calling for Yongin University (South Korea) to recall the Honorary Doctorate Degree in Judo Studies that they bestowed upon Putin in 2010[6]. These are focused signals of disapproval against the guilty, without scapegoating a whole nation.

 

Third, I think it is hypocritical of the international ITF community to discriminate against Russia, but not against other aggressive or oppressive countries. Consider, for instance, the invasions and attacks by foreign forces of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Pakistan, Algeria, Mali, Senegal, Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan, and the list goes on. The United States of America, the United Kingdom, and several other Western countries, as well as the United Arab Emirates, have attacked or invaded the list of countries above over the last several decades. To this day, there are still American and other forces in places like Iraq and Yemen. It is a well-established fact that the war on Iraq (that began under the Bush administration) was not a justifiable invasion[7], but based on the lie of “weapons of mass destruction” and was more likely motivated by wanting an access to Iraqi resources. Invading forces in Yemen include Saudi Arabia and the United States (which started under the Obama administration). The current famine in Yemen, which is directly related to the wars in the country, is considered the worse famine in the world in the last century[8]. Yet, the international Taekwon-Do community is not calling for the ban on Taekwon-Do athletes from the United States, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, or any other Western country involved in such foreign invasions. Similarly, it generally accepted by the international community that the Chinese government is violating the human rights of the Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in the Xinjiang regions[9]—not to mention China’s oppression of freedoms in Tibet and Hong Kong. Yet, the international Taekwon-Do community is not calling for the ban of Taekwon-Do athletes from China. Without consistency, banning members from one aggressive country but not another is hypocritical and void of integrity (a supposed fundamental tenet in Taekwon-Do).

 

My hope that Taekwon-Do may be used to create spaces that are welcoming to anyone “regardless of religion, race or ideology” may be naïve. Still, it is this “Philosophy of Taekwon-Do”[10] that I am advocating. If Taekwon-Do is to be used politically, let it be in peace building efforts that create unity, not separation. Let Taekwon-Do transcend the “Us vs. Them”-narrative, and instead let Taekwon-Do frame a space for the pursuit of peace—an extended “Do-Jang”—where Ukrainian, Russian, and other Taekwon-Doin from around the world can come together as a “We” around our common goals to be champions of “freedom and justice” and to “build a more peaceful world.”[11]

---

[1] Lewis, S. 2016. Promoting Peace, Practising War: Mohism’s Resolution of the Paradoxical Ethics of War and Self-Defence in East Asian Martial Arts. (PhD Thesis. Department of Sport & Taekwondo, Graduate School of Physical Education of Kyunghee University, Korea.)

[2] Lao Tzu, Daodejing, Chapter 31: “There is no glory in victory [ . . . ] When victorious in war, one should observe the rites of mourning.” (Lau, D. C., trans. (1963). Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.)

[3] Johnson, J. A. & Vitale, G. 2018. “Taekwondo Diplomacy: New Possibilities for Peace on the Korean Peninsula.” Physical Activity Review, 6: 237-250.

[4] Vitale, G. 2022. “A History of TaeKwon-Do Demo’s.” Totally Tae Kwon Do. Republished March 2022. (Originally published July 2009.)

[5] “World Taekwondo revokes Putin’s honorary black belt over Ukraine.” Korea Times. 1 March 2022. URL: https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/sports/2022/03/600_324757.html

[6] “Calls grow for revocation of Putin’s honorary degree at Yong In University.” The Korea Herald. 27 February 2022. URL: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220227000199

[7] Fisher, D & Biggar, N. 2011. “Was Iraq an unjust war? A debate on the Iraq war and reflections on Libya.” International Affairs, 87(3): 687-707.

[8] “Yemen could be ‘worst famine in 100 years’”. BBC. 15 October 2018. URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-45857729

[9] “China: ongoing Human rights violations against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang.” International Federation for Human Rights. 28 June 2021. URL: https://www.fidh.org/en/region/asia/china/china-ongoing-human-rights-violations-against-uyghurs-and-other

[10] Choi, H. H. “Philosophy of Taekwon-Do.” ITF Taekwon-Do Encyclopedia. Vol. 1.

[11] Choi, H. H. “Oath of Taekwon-Do.” ITF Taekwon-Do Encyclopedia. Vol. 1.

Promoting Peace, Practising War: Mohism’s Resolution of the Paradoxical Ethics of War and Self-Defence in East Asian Martial Arts

My pre-Covid19 plan for this month (July 2020) was to travel to Europe and attend the 6th Martial Arts Studies Conference, focusing this year on Martial Arts, Religion, and Spiritually. The conference was supposed to occur in the scenic French city of Marseilles at Aix-Marseille University on the 15th, 16th, and 17th of July. Of course, nothing went as planned this year. At first it was thought that the conference was to be cancelled, but in the end it turned into a cyber conference, and although I couldn't visit southern France, I was still able to participate in the conference by recording my presentation as a video and participating in a live online panel discussion.

There were nine panels; I participated in Panel 4: Ethics in Modern Martial Fighting Games and Martial Arts.

Below is a summary of my presentation, below that the official abstract for my presentation, and at the bottom the actual presentation available on YouTube.

The panel discussion was also recorded; I will upload it once it becomes available.

Summary by Kai Morgan

Are the traditional East Asian martial arts physical methods of violence – or peaceful activities of self-cultivation, grounded in traditions such as Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism? Sanko argues that they are actually both at once – but many practitioners simply ignore the violent aspect, as it’s too complicated and/or uncomfortable to assimilate.

Sanko then asks whether the East Asian philosophy of Mohism can answer this paradox, and enable us to reconcile both faces of the martial arts, as it teaches both active peace promotion, and a duty to physically protect the weak and innocent from harm by means of defensive war . . .

Abstract

Promoting Peace, Practising War: Mohism’s Resolution of the Paradoxical Ethics of War and Self-Defence in East Asian Martial Arts

by Sanko Lewis, PhD

Many traditional East Asian martial arts seem to counsel against the use of violence, yet actively teach physical methods of violence; in essence “promoting peace, practising war.” In part, the paradox exists because East Asian martial arts derive their morals from the generally pacifist religio-philosophical traditions of East Asia, namely Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. There is therefore an internal conflict between the moral traditions that provided the context in which these martial arts developed and the original combative purpose for which the martial arts developed. Previous attempts at resolving the martial arts paradox of promoting peace while practising techniques of violence simply redefined martial arts as either activities of self-cultivation (cf. “Budo”) or as sport, rather than address the main issue of justified violence. Hence this study searched for ways to reconcile peace promotion with “war” practise. The East Asian philosophy of Mohism provides a framework capable of promoting peace while also justifying violence in a morally congruent manner. Mohism’s teaching of universal love and mutual benefit offers an example of active peace promotion, while accepting the duty to physically protect the weak and innocent from harm by means of defensive war. Likewise, traditional martial arts in the form of civilian defensive arts can also justify their training and conditional use of violence for the purpose of protecting innocent victims from attackers.

Keywords: Mohism, ethics, martial arts, self-defense, violence