Injustice to one is injustice to all. And fighting for justice in one case benefits all cases. This is the lesson we have learned from Tai Ji Men.
by Willy Fautré*
*Introduction to the webinar “Justice for Tai Ji Men Is Justice for All,” co-organized by CESNUR and Human Rights Without Frontiers on February 20, 2024, World Day of Social Justice.
Today, the 20th of February, is the World Day of Social Justice.
It was in 2007 that the United Nations General Assembly decided to observe this day annually with the purpose of reminding us of the need to build fairer and more equitable societies.
Injustice has a very dangerous ripple effect that must be combated right from the beginning. Imagine society as a pond disturbed by a pebble thrown into its still waters. The ripples created by this disturbance represent the far-reaching consequences of injustice. When a group is denied basic rights or faces discrimination, the impact extends beyond the immediate targets. A ripple effect ensues, affecting neighboring communities and eventually damaging the entire social landscape.
Grave injustices go on persisting everywhere around the world, including in democracies. Even if it is to a lesser extent than in totalitarian, dictatorial or autocratic regimes, it should never be underestimated or disregarded. That is the reason why social justice is increasingly put at the centre of international, national and regional policy agendas.
Social stability and harmony largely depends on social justice. Under the colonial rule of Japan, the Taiwanese were constantly victims of injustices. After the shadows of the Second World War and the defeat of Japan, the local Taiwanese society was soon plunged into another very long period of appalling injustice.
Soon riled by rampant corruption in the government, the people of Taiwan condemned the Chinese Nationalist Government’s “take-over” of Taiwan as “plundering” Taiwan. This injustice led to the eruption of the well-known but fateful 228 incident of 28 February 1947 and four decades of White Terror.
Thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured, and killed during about 40 years because they wanted democracy, rule of law, and justice.
When democracy was finally allowed to slowly emerge, the quest for transitional justice was declared a priority but an end could not immediately be put to bad behaviors in the state apparatus, and injustice persisted.
Tai Ji Men was a victim of state injustice because of its political neutrality. In 1996, Dr. Hong Tao-Tze, the leader of the Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy, was indicted by Prosecutor Hou Kuan-Jen for alleged fraud and tax evasion. He was arrested with his wife and two dizi. They all spent several months in prison. An egregious injustice.
Under the White Terror, they would have disappeared into the opaque prison system of that time. They might well have been killed during their detention.
Thanks to the blood shed by the victims of forty years of White Terror and the sacrifice of their lives for the sake of social justice, Dr. Hong, his wife and the dizi did not die in prison but were finally released and fought in courts for justice. It took them ten years to be recognized as innocent of and to be acquitted of all the charges, including tax evasion, by the Supreme Court in July 2007.
The fight for social justice during forty years of dictatorship progressively led to social justice for all, and partly for Tai Ji Men. The fight of Tai Ji Men for social justice in their own case is indeed not finished, despite the decision of the Supreme Court.
The National Tax Bureau went on prosecuting them for allegedly not having paid a tax bill that was declared illegal 17 years ago by the highest court of the country. The National Taxation Bureau even confiscated part of their properties in August 2020.
Dr Hong has understood for a long time that fighting for social justice and for one’s own rights is also fighting for social justice for all, now and for the future generations, as it had been the case for himself and Tai Ji Men.
When the fight against social injustice by the National Tax Bureau against Tai Ji Men comes to an end with a victory, it will be acknowledged that Tai Ji Men and the dizi will have paid a high price for it, but they will have built a jurisprudence of which the current and future generations of Taiwanese taxpayers will be the heirs and beneficiaries.
Coming back to my early comparison with the ripple effect of injustice, my conclusion is that the fight for justice is a collective responsibility, as the well-being of one group is intrinsically tied to the well-being of all. This is beneficial to every citizen and for the state as social justice contributes to keeping quiet the waters of society peacefully and harmoniously. This is the mission of Tai Ji Men and the dizi today and tomorrow.