Social justice cannot be separated from granting human rights to everybody. An international webinar discussed how they were denied to Tai Ji Men.
by Daniela Bovolenta
![The poster of the webinar.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/The-poster.jpeg)
![The poster of the webinar.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/The-poster.jpeg)
On February 20, 2024, United Nations World Day of Social Justice, CESNUR and Human Rights Without Frontiers organized one of their webinars on the Tai J Men case, with the title “Justice for Tai Ji Men Is Justice for All.”
Willy Fautré, co-founder and director of Human Rights Without Frontiers, opened the webinar. He mentioned the forthcoming anniversary of the 228 Incident in Taiwan, the bloody repression of protests in 1947 that initiated the dark White Terror period. The White Terror ended, and some social justice was restored to the Taiwanese people. Fautré noted that problems remained, however, as evidenced by the Tai Ji Men case, which is also an instance of denial of social justice.
Fautré presented a video with a message from Dr. Hong Tao-Tze, the Shifu (Grand Master) of Tai Ji Men. He presented social justice as a core value for global, regional, and national development. Social justice, Dr. Hong said, is denied by unbalanced development, a problem that was magnified by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. After a crisis that almost extinguished the opportunities for those most vulnerable throughout the world, we are called again to affirm social justice with a cooperative effort uniting international institutions, governments, and private actors, Dr. Hong said.
![Dr. Hong’s message.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Dr.-Hongs-message.jpeg)
![Dr. Hong’s message.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Dr.-Hongs-message.jpeg)
Fautré then introduced the two speakers of the first session, Marco Respinti, an Italian scholar and journalist who serves as director-in-charge of “Bitter Winter,” and Hans Noot, president of the Dutch Gerard Noodt Foundation for Freedom of Religion or Belief.
Respinti started from the famous Eloquent Peasant story from ancient Egypt, where a peasant persecuted by an evil landlord presents his case to the Pharaoh and speaks so well that he is granted justice, and his persecutor is punished. This is, Respinti noted, an ancient formulation of the “Golden Rule” of the Christian Gospel, stating that in the end you will be treated by others in the way you have treated them. It would seem, Respinti said, that this did not come true for Tai Ji Men in Taiwan. They treated everybody with love and conscience yet were mistreated and persecuted. However, Respinti concluded, the Golden Rule always comes true in the end. One day will come when Tai Ji Men’s Shifu and dizi will be rewarded for their good deeds and the evil of their persecutors will be publicly recognized.
![Hans Noot speaks.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Hans-Noot.jpeg)
![Hans Noot speaks.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Hans-Noot.jpeg)
Noot stated that to promote social justice, inequalities and unbalances should be corrected in four key sectors: education, of which millions are still deprived: economic inequality, in a world where enormous wealth continues to be concentrated in the hands of a few companies and individuals; discrimination, which targets ethnic and religious minorities in various parts of our planet; criminal justice, which is still not administered fairly and honestly everywhere. These problems, Noot noted, are not purely technical. They need a moral foundation, such as the one offered by Dr. Hong and Tai Ji Men through their appeal to conscience and love, which they continued to promote even when they were themselves the victims of severe injustice.
Alessandro Amicarelli, a London-based attorney who serves as president of the European Federation for Freedom of Belief (FORB), chaired the second session. He presented a video featuring demonstrations held in Taiwan on December 19, 2021, denouncing the systemic problems of Taiwan’s tax system that extend to violations of freedom of religion or belief, as evidenced by the Tai Ji Men case. The protesters criticized in particular the immoral system of bonuses given to tax bureaucrats who quickly enforce tax bills, rightly or wrongly, a system that obviously favors injustice and corruption.
![From the second video.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/From-the-second.jpeg)
![From the second video.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/From-the-second.jpeg)
Amicarelli then presented the testimonies of five young dizi (disciples) of Tai Ji Men, all students. He noted that on February 20 the United Kingdom remembers the coronation of King Edward VI on 20 February 1547. He became king when he was only nine years old. Like him, Amicarelli said, many young dizi had to confront serious problems and fight for justice at an early age.
Violet Pu, a freshman in high school, told the story of how she participated in Tai Ji Men protests with her parents as a child. Later, she focused on her school activities and no longer attended demonstrations, questioning whether they would achieve any result. Last winter, however, she decided to join again the protests, having understood that tax injustice is a serious obstacle on Taiwan’s path to democracy and one that will not be overcome if citizens do not make their voices heard. She also felt that within Tai Ji Men she is able to find a unique atmosphere of friendship and joy.
![Violet Pu at the webinar.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Violet-Pu-.jpeg)
![Violet Pu at the webinar.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Violet-Pu-.jpeg)
Rapunzel Lu, a 10-year-old Primary 3 student, reported that she learned in school how to react to bullying by standing firm and, if needed, taking her protest to school authorities. Both Tai Ji Men and many other Taiwanese taxpayers, she said, are similarly bullied by the National Taxation Bureau. Dr. Hong and Tai Ji Men stood firm and took their protest to the highest authorities. They also tried to teach other oppressed Taiwanese taxpayers to do the same. Lu said she has participated both in protests, handling flyers to passers-by at the entrance of the Executive Office in Taipei, and in musical and dance performances, realizing they are two facets of the same struggle to affirm peace, conscience, and justice in the world.
![The moving testimony of Rapunzel Lu.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/moving-testimony.jpeg)
![The moving testimony of Rapunzel Lu.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/moving-testimony.jpeg)
Eugene Cheng, a second-year high school student, aged 14, stated that at his age he should still be protected by the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. This Convention was and is consistently violated in Taiwan by discrimination of young Tai Ji Men dizi, Cheng said. Not only slander of Tai Ji Men puts them at risk of being bullied in school, but injustice compels them to devote most of their free time to protesting, rather than engaging in activities more usual for teenagers. Cheng reported that he visited with his mother Taiwan’s National Human Rights Museum, where he learned about the White Terror, of which there are vivid memories in his family. The museum proclaims that history should “not” repeat itself, Cheng said, yet this risk exists until justice is rendered to Tai Ji Men and other victims of human rights abuses in Taiwan.
![Eugene Cheng speaks.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Eugene-Cheng.jpeg)
![Eugene Cheng speaks.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Eugene-Cheng.jpeg)
Ray Su, a fourth-year university student, focused on impunity as a serious problem in Taiwanese society. Recently, the discipline officer of a junior high school class was fatally stabbed ten times by students who went unpunished because of inadequate laws on crimes committed by minors. Those who persecuted Tai Ji Men, including Prosecutor Hou Kuan-Jen, were also not punished, and were even promoted despite the fact that the Control Yuan confirmed they had consistently violated the law. Rather than being dominated by anger, Su learned from Dr. Hong how to calmly protest and seek justice for everybody.
![Ray Su’s testimony.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Ray-Su.jpeg)
![Ray Su’s testimony.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Ray-Su.jpeg)
Athena Li, a fresh graduate from a medical university, reported that she was very passionate about justice since she tried to protect fellow school pupils who were victims of bullying. Later, she realized that the Tai Ji Men case is also an example of bullying where peaceful citizens are bullied by the government. Dr. Hong, she said, never reacted with violence or anger. He incited his dizi to study the general problems of Taiwan’s tax system and protest peacefully. He also continued to advocate for peace and love domestically and internationally, including through international events, some of which Li attended in Sweden, Turkey, India, and the U.S.
![Athena Li at the webinar.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Athena-Li-.jpeg)
![Athena Li at the webinar.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Athena-Li-.jpeg)
The seminar was concluded by Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist of religions and the editor-in-chief of “Bitter Winter.” He said he was moved by the testimonies of young dizi to tell a story about his own youth. He had an interest in “exotic” religions and started collecting material on them since he was nine. Later, it was his doctoral dissertation on American philosopher John Rawls that converted this interest into a profession. While Rawls had lost his faith after World War II, as he had not been able to reconcile the idea of a just God with the Holocaust, he still acknowledged the influence of religion on the American movements for social justice. This led Introvigne to study the influence of some religious minorities, such as the Latter-day Saints (Mormon) and the Unification Church, on American politics, which also needed studying their history and theology. When many years later he discovered the Tai Ji Men case, he found similarities with what he had studied in his youth. Tai Ji Men offered a spiritual foundation for social justice and global peace, Introvigne said, and for this as it often happens it was persecuted.
![From the final video. The event concluded with a video where Tai Ji Men dizi wished a happy Lunar New Year to everybody with beautiful music and dances, and a message from Dr. Hong.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/From-the-final-.jpeg)
![From the final video. The event concluded with a video where Tai Ji Men dizi wished a happy Lunar New Year to everybody with beautiful music and dances, and a message from Dr. Hong.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/From-the-final-.jpeg)
The event concluded with a video where Tai Ji Men dizi wished a happy Lunar New Year to everybody with beautiful music and dances, and a message from Dr. Hong.