Yoshinori Kobayashi's
I think the comfort women issue is a historical tragedy that must not be repeated. However, reflections on the issue cannot be confined to an examination of historical facts and a discourse of political correctness. We should also look at the internal conflict between power and morality.
Political theorists have argued that power can be examined as comprising of three distinct relationships. The most direct relationship is to make one do something that one does not want to, or to prevent one from doing something that one wants to do. For example, the Japanese colonial rulers directly coerced comfort women. The women, whose lives were threatened, had no choice but to follow orders -- the Japanese army had the power to force the women to do that which they did not want to do.
A less direct relationship exists when the colonial rulers control the options of colonized people's behavior, thus the latter would rather opt for what the rulers prefer.
For instance, Shi may have correctly stated that Taiwan's comfort women were sold to agents by their parents, because of unbearable economic burdens,and then transferred to the Japanese army. The families of these girls and women could have chosen to stay poor, but they chose to serve the Japanese army "of their own free will." On the surface this was a choice of free will, but in fact, the power relationship between the colonizers and the colonized had predetermined the options. Hence, the colonized did not have a choice in the matter.
Because of the injustice of the asymmetrical power relationship, the argument that the decision was based on free will carries no merit. Accordingly, the Japanese government cannot maintain its innocence, even if its coercion is not obvious.
A third relationship is that which occurs when someone is forced to do something against one's interests but is made to believe the behavior is actually in line with his or her own interests. This is illustrated by the notion that comfort women not only voluntarily served, but thought such acts were morally justified. This was because serving as comfort women for the Japanese army brought not only economic benefits, but also the pride and prestige in being associated with the rulers.
Here, even though the Japanese government did not actually recruit the women, the colonized people believed that serving their rulers was compatible with their own interests. Such a deeply-entrenched power relationship, however, made the colonized internalize the values and ideologies of their rulers.
On moral grounds the colonial government might have not been guilty of coercing the women, but the asymmetrical power relationship is per se immoral. Therefore, the colonial government should still be condemned, whether or not facts prove the women were coerced.
Nevertheless, when judging Shi and the Japanese colonial government with the same moral standards by which we measure the power relationship, we must not ignore the asymmetrical power relationships surrounding us. During the KMT's authoritarian era, military brothels, referred to as "military paradises" or "831," also existed for some time.
This involves at least the second and third levels of the asymmetrical power relationship. Should we also condemn the oppressing government at that time? In addition, the sex industry is now rampant in Taiwan, but those engaged in the business argue that they commit no crime, but rather just sell their bodies to provide a service.
This self-justification involves the third level of the asymmetrical power relationship. They believe the power relationship between capital and labor is symmetrical in a capitalist society, so they sell their bodies of their own free will and provide services just like other businesses.
But the asymmetrical capital-labor power relationship is no different from the essence of power under the Japanese colonial rule and the KMT's authoritarian era. We mistakenly believe a capitalist market is fair, but ignore the asymmetrical power relationship inherent therein.
Taken from this perspective, we should examine the conditions of all minority groups in Taiwan society. We should not only fight for justice on behalf of our comfort women, but also demand an overall reflection on the power asymmetry in society. Only a power relationship that corresponds to social justice has moral justifications. The idea of "free will" is not the only moral standard and does not necessarily allow one to shrug off responsibility.
David Huang is an associate research fellow at the Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica.
Translated by Wu Pei-shih
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