By Bernard Rowan
It gladdened me to read the comments of the South Korean foreign minister. The Busan comfort woman statue location needs further thought. South Korea has every right to memorialize this monstrous injustice committed by the Japanese military. However, all parties must remember the recent agreement with Japan and the age-old truth that old enemies become new friends. Japan and South Korea share many more interests. The comfort women issue continues to divide. The statue needs to be moved. Why?
There's more to learn from this historic evil than pedestrian discussions and denunciations. This statue sets up nonverbal behavior that doesn't heal. The welcoming intent of South Korea to foreign representatives and peoples of other countries is an overriding interest. It recommends against vulgar, "in your face" reminders of past problems.
The evils committed on the comfort women in Korea and other Japanese colonies during the last century deserve admissions, compensation, documentation and communication. Japan's conduct of war perpetrated distortions of human reason that rationalized group rape in the service of the Emperor of Japan. The behavior and actions of the Japanese military and others objectified victims of rape. Military rapists blessed themselves as members of a cult of nationalism, using wartime risk, health, and racial and gender stereotypes to prosecute inhumanity.
Military men violated the comfort women, while state honor, devotion and sacrifice controlled them. This complex construction of the Japanese state and military systematically devalued human beings. It led the perpetrators and victims to ignore humanity in a daily observance of sexual perversion trumped up as a rite of war survival and merit.
There are deep lessons to analyze and learn from the comfort women injustice. They include the inherent tendencies of nationalism and militarism to commit violence against innocents. They include the misanthropy laden in traditional understandings of gender roles. They also include the need for new and just descriptions of this chapter in human history.
About nationalist and militarist thinking, the meaning of women having to sacrifice themselves for men should continue to prompt further actions about the continuing possibility and reality of rape cultures in national military contexts. The comfort women displayed a spirit of survival. They stand against prostituting human beings, beginning with women but extending to many others too.
In gender terms, any context that places women in a second position to men makes rape possible. War is a problem. It's connected to the problem of rape as a problem of men. Their common denominator is the use of violence by men.
Historians (and not just those of the comfort women subject) should continue to explore the correlation between military and political ideologies and policies justifying violence in time of war. Studies of war and states should increase understanding that "normal" and "legitimate" military and state accounts and speeches often perpetuate unjust violence. They can work to degrade innocent lives. Accurate and reflective treatments should be part of educating all citizens, including young people in school.
A statue representing the comfort women near the Japanese consulate doesn't carry out much. Create better ways and places to encourage sober thinking on the topic. Perhaps a national museum on comfort women and how to move humanity forward should happen, and put the statue there. Korean governments and organizations have created many fine museums on what arguably form less important subjects. Given the continuing and enduring concern of Korean people about this topic, do it right and build a proper center for educating Koreans and people from all over the world about this subject.
However, don't throw the past in the face of a national ally. Don't stoke this reaction. The 2015 agreement between Korea and Japan made up perhaps the greatest hope coming from this tragedy and evil that it won't occur again. It showed two maturing democratic societies and governments working practically. With all due respect to the serious and genuine sympathies, concerns, and memories of those involved and their families, this statue ‘s location steps backward.
Bernard Rowan is associate provost for contract administration and a professor of political science at Chicago State University. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and a former visiting professor at Hanyang University. Reach him at browan10@yahoo.com
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There's more to learn from this historic evil than pedestrian discussions and denunciations. This statue sets up nonverbal behavior that doesn't heal. The welcoming intent of South Korea to foreign representatives and peoples of other countries is an overriding interest. It recommends against vulgar, "in your face" reminders of past problems.
The evils committed on the comfort women in Korea and other Japanese colonies during the last century deserve admissions, compensation, documentation and communication. Japan's conduct of war perpetrated distortions of human reason that rationalized group rape in the service of the Emperor of Japan. The behavior and actions of the Japanese military and others objectified victims of rape. Military rapists blessed themselves as members of a cult of nationalism, using wartime risk, health, and racial and gender stereotypes to prosecute inhumanity.
Military men violated the comfort women, while state honor, devotion and sacrifice controlled them. This complex construction of the Japanese state and military systematically devalued human beings. It led the perpetrators and victims to ignore humanity in a daily observance of sexual perversion trumped up as a rite of war survival and merit.
There are deep lessons to analyze and learn from the comfort women injustice. They include the inherent tendencies of nationalism and militarism to commit violence against innocents. They include the misanthropy laden in traditional understandings of gender roles. They also include the need for new and just descriptions of this chapter in human history.
About nationalist and militarist thinking, the meaning of women having to sacrifice themselves for men should continue to prompt further actions about the continuing possibility and reality of rape cultures in national military contexts. The comfort women displayed a spirit of survival. They stand against prostituting human beings, beginning with women but extending to many others too.
In gender terms, any context that places women in a second position to men makes rape possible. War is a problem. It's connected to the problem of rape as a problem of men. Their common denominator is the use of violence by men.
Historians (and not just those of the comfort women subject) should continue to explore the correlation between military and political ideologies and policies justifying violence in time of war. Studies of war and states should increase understanding that "normal" and "legitimate" military and state accounts and speeches often perpetuate unjust violence. They can work to degrade innocent lives. Accurate and reflective treatments should be part of educating all citizens, including young people in school.
A statue representing the comfort women near the Japanese consulate doesn't carry out much. Create better ways and places to encourage sober thinking on the topic. Perhaps a national museum on comfort women and how to move humanity forward should happen, and put the statue there. Korean governments and organizations have created many fine museums on what arguably form less important subjects. Given the continuing and enduring concern of Korean people about this topic, do it right and build a proper center for educating Koreans and people from all over the world about this subject.
However, don't throw the past in the face of a national ally. Don't stoke this reaction. The 2015 agreement between Korea and Japan made up perhaps the greatest hope coming from this tragedy and evil that it won't occur again. It showed two maturing democratic societies and governments working practically. With all due respect to the serious and genuine sympathies, concerns, and memories of those involved and their families, this statue ‘s location steps backward.
Bernard Rowan is associate provost for contract administration and a professor of political science at Chicago State University. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and a former visiting professor at Hanyang University. Reach him at browan10@yahoo.com
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