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FEATURED STORY Humanitarian Learned Martial Arts Under The Threat of Death 50 MASUCCESS Section 3.indd 50 1/6/16 6:30 PM FEATURED STORY It’s 1973, Enter the Dragon has just hit the silver screen, a worldwide martial arts boom is in full swing and you want to study the martial arts. But you can’t, because the oppressive regime that rules your country, Chile, has banned them. Imagine, just showing off a front kick in public might mean death! That didn’t stop a courageous Chilean native, Master Javier Duque, an American immigrant who today runs a humanitarian martial arts school in Ottawa, Illinois. By Perry William Kelly MARCH 2016 51 Section 3.indd 51 1/6/16 6:30 PM FEATURED STORY “The ability to see the worst of humanity and let it bring out the best in you Is a life-skill lesson that all school owners operating in the free-enterprise democracy of America can learn from.” 52 MASUCCESS Section 3.indd 52 1/6/16 6:30 PM FEATURED STORY It is a common enough story throughout the world: A defied the p ohibition and, under the shadow of the powerful government group or a dictatorship in control state, managed to find ays to practice and excel at the of a country bans the practice of the martial arts. In martial arts underground. general, there are two main reasons for the ban. The Today, he teaches that kind of courage to his stu- group or dictatorship does not understand the martial dents at the Duque Institute of Martial Arts in Ottawa, arts or, more commonly, has a fear, irrational or not, of Illinois. How practicing martial arts secretly under the the power they might give its civilian practitioners in a threat of potential death if discovered affected him, is potential uprising against the oppressive government. quite an extraordinary story on its own. But how that History is filled with many xamples of this type of background under the thumb of a brutal dictatorship oppression brought to bear on the martial arts (see turned Duque, paradoxically, into a humanitarian is just sidebar story: “Historic Timeline of Countries That as unique. Banned Martial Arts”). So, ask yourself, is your love of martial arts powerful The example that most martial artists are aware enough to risk death to practice it? And if you sur- of was of the Japanese banning the Okinawans from vived that danger and moved to a free country, would carrying weapons in the 1600s, which led to the practice you teach your martial arts classes with dictatorial of martial arts flourishing unde ground. But even here authority, driving your students like a hard-hearted in America as recently as 2000, there were serious drill instructor? Or, like Master Duque, would you be so attempts by legislators to effectively ban mixed martial grateful for your new life that you’d pay it forward and arts, which one politician famously called “human cock- create social programs at your school for underprivi- fightin ,” as a sport. ledged and at-risk kids? Martial arts master, Javier Duque (pronounced, The ability to see the worst of humanity and let it Haw-vee-air’ Doo-kay’), lived under such a ban and bring out the best in you is a life-skill lesson that school strict government oversight of martial arts in his native owners operating in the free-enterprise democracy of Chile, before immigrating to the United States to teach America can learn from. taekwondo, hapkido and kendo. Bravely, Master Duque MARCH 2016 53 Section 3.indd 53 1/6/16 6:30 PM FEATURED STORY Chile’s Chilling Dictatorship Takes Aim at Martial Arts In September 1973, the Chilean regime of Salvador A group of politically-motivated students who began or- Allende was overthrown by a coup d’état that took control ganizing marches against the government quickly realized of both the government and the military. The new regime, that they would have to defend their political leaders lest headed by a military junta under the control of General they were arrested, tortured and killed. So, they developed Augusto Pinochet, was a complete dictatorship where self-defense units in their high schools to secretly teach political opposition and the voices of dissidents were martial arts techniques that students could use against brutally crushed. special agents who were spying on the marches or against Two hundred thousand Chileans were forced into exile the Special Forces units attacking them. They prepared to and the regime’s violence led to the death or disappearance defend themselves in any circumstances. of an additional 3,000 people. Virtually every aspect of Master Duque recalls that, at that time in the news, Chilean life was under some sort of control. “You could see pictures of guys doing sidekicks and low In a move similar to those imposed by other such con- kicks against the police officers.” querors, the regime enacted laws requiring its people to Unfortunately, as with any totalitarian regime, the cost hand over all of their weapons. In the United States, Con- of dissent is often very high. Pinochet’s Secret Service stitutional amendments, the NRA and citizen uproar would was in charge of finding out who as involved in these prevent such a law from being enacted, but in countries like self-defense activities and, consequently, Master Duque Chile, the dictator dictates. Moreover, any physical training lost two very close high-school friends. They were caught related to martial arts was also banned because it was practicing martial arts in secret, arrested and accused of considered “revolutionary.” being “terrorists.” To make the charges stick, the regime’s While Eastern martial arts activities were banned, the agents planted M16 rifles in their houses and the high dictatorship, conversely, permitted the practice of Western school students were eventually executed. boxing. Boxing was a popular sport in Chile and had a large The martial arts ban was lifted in 1980. Ironically, martial governing federation, so it was given a pass by the military. arts practice was re-instituted so that the population could This bureaucratic sleight-of-hand might be more familiar train itself to thwart the martial arts techniques being to North Americans, who have lived through the eras when used by criminals to commit muggings and robberies. How- kickboxing and MMA were banned, while boxing was left ever, the arts were still controlled under highly-restrictive virtually untouched and unregulated in many U.S. states. conditions, which reportedly continue to this day. 54 MASUCCESS Section 3.indd 54 1/6/16 6:31 PM FEATURED STORY Historic Timeline of Countries That Banned Martial Arts 1477: Okinawa’s King Sho Shin bans the carrying of arms, which leads to the underground development of martial arts. 1609: Three thousand samurai under Japan’s reigning Satsuma Clan capture Okinawa, and the Clan bans the ownership of weapons, leading to the secret practice of unarmed martial arts and the use of farm implements (nunchaku, tonfa, sai, bo and kama) as weapons. 1700s: Pencak silat is banned in Indonesia by Portuguese invaders, who kill anyone with martial arts knowledge. The arts are practiced in remote villages or disguised as a dance. Dutch and British colonizers later adopt the ban. 1700s-1937: Capoeira is brought to Brazil by Angolan slaves, who disguise the practice of the art by making it look like a dance. With emancipation in 1888, capoeira falls into the hands of criminals and is outlawed from 1892-1937. 1910-1945: Japan takes control of Korea and bans the practice of all martial arts. 1937: After having lived and trained in Japan in judo with founder Jigoro Kano, sambo pioneer Vasili Oshchepkov is accused by the Soviet Union of being a Japanese spy. He dies in prison. 1946-1950: U.S. Supreme Commander of Allied Powers, Gen Douglas MacArthur, issues a directive that leads to the closing of the Dai Nippon Butokukai ("Greater Japan Martial Virtue Society") and the effective ban of martial arts for five years. The aim is to remove ultra-nationalist persons from public life and prevent the fostering of nationalistic spirit leading to the growth of militarism. 1975: Khymer Rouge, Cambodia’s communist party, bans the traditional martial art of pradal serey. Many boxers are executed or worked to death in labor camps and the art is almost destroyed. 1983-94: Ontario, Canada imposes a six-month moratorium banning kickboxing, due to pressure placed on the provincial government by the boxing community that is losing fans to the new sport. The moratorium eventually lasts for over 20 years. 1984-1989: The Soviet government in Russia outlaws the practice of karate, but the art manages to survive in “underground” clubs until the ban was lifted after the fall of communism. 1996-2000: Senator John McCain, who heads a committee that impacts the granting of broadcast licenses, embarks on a fervent campaign to get mixed martial arts and its main sanctioning body, the UFC, banned across the U.S. His stance changes when athletic commissions in several states implement rules and weight classes in 2000. 2013: East Timor continues its ban of pencak silat, which, since 2011, has been responsible for the injuries of more than 200 practitioners in fights between rival clubs. MARCH 2016 55 Section 3.indd 55 1/6/16 6:31 PM FEATURED STORY Enter the “Chilean Dragon” — Javier Duque Born in Santiago to a father who worked as a teacher for the Chilean martial arts community was raised greatly when he starred Chilean public university’s science department and a mother who in the Chilean martial arts movie, Kiltro (translation, Street Dog).