Building a safer community by empowering individuals

I want to applaud the City of St. John’s for undertaking its campaign to address violence and crime, called “Building Safer Communities”. While St. John’s is probably one of the safest communities in the world, there remains much work to be done to ensure that everyone feels safe and secure, such as better lighting in alleys and parks, more support for transition houses, anti-domestic-violence awareness campaigns, and the like.

Of course, creating a safer city is not solely the responsibility of the municipal government. The federal and provincial governments also have a major role to play, for example, by providing better support to victims of violence, more support for not-forprofit organizations that address poverty and violence, more affordable housing, more policing, etc.

But government action alone is not sufficient, nor will it be timely. It might take years to change legislation or create new programs, or to put in place the infrastructure that helps vulnerable persons. That being the case, what do we do in the meantime?

The answer is to empower individuals, especially those most at risk of violence — LGBTQ+ youth and women, in particular — to resolve conflicts that have escalated to a physical dimension. My suggestion is to incorporate martial arts in schools and community centres. This will seem alien to many readers, but please hear me out.

Most people have the wrong impression of the martial arts. Because of movies and other popular media, they think it’s about breaking boards or beating each other up in bloody competitions. At its most basic and when taught properly, a martial art is a way of creating stillness in your life, of reducing the chaos that surrounds us.

In addition to generating self-mastery, a martial art helps develop the five elements of physical fitness: coordination, aerobic fitness, balance, flexibility and strength. And, like dance, you practice with other people, so there is a strong social aspect to it.

(The martial arts are so empowering that, in dictatorships, their teaching is usually limited to the police and the military.)

I have been practicing Aikido, a martial art in the Japanese tradition, for over 40 years. During that time, I have seen individuals flourish as they gained mastery over their bodies and attained a higher level of self-confidence. It is heart-warming to see young people who had been bullied at school discover a power within themselves that they didn’t know existed. It’s a wonderful feeling when fear ceases to be the dominant emotion in your life.

Many schools around the world have adopted a martial art as part of their physical education curriculum. Judo, for example, is taught in most schools in Japan and Taekwondo in most schools in Korea. This speaks to how beneficial and how safe these activities are. Given the apparent rise in school violence in this province, the provincial government may want to consider adding a martial art as an elective in the physical education curriculum. (My vote would be for Aikido, since it is effective in neutralizing the attack without harming the attacker.)

In many European cities, martial arts dojos are provided free of charge to eligible groups by the municipal government. So the martial arts are recognized as playing a useful role in keeping individuals and communities healthy and safe.

The City of St. John’s operates community centres that include multi-purpose rooms. It would be useful if a room in each of these centres was dedicated to the martial arts. St. John’s is home to many talented teachers of various martial arts. Many of them struggle to raise the profile of their art and therefore having a space in a community centre would provide added visibility that would make it easier to attract new students.

As the provincial government struggles to reduce school violence, I invite them to explore adding a martial art in its physical education curriculum.

And as the City of St. John’s works to create a safer environment for all its citizens, I invite them to consider adding a martial arts room in its community centres. I believe these would be very worthwhile investments.

Michael Clair St. John’s