Feb. 20th - World Social Justice Day

The UN, in its global calendar had allocated February 20th as the 'World Social Justice Day' in order to accord social justice the rightful place it deserves in modern society. Yet it is unfortunate that this particular day has just passed us by, in a somewhat 'low profile' way, as if to say that social justice is 'just another one of those things' that is of relevance only to world bodies such as the UN. The reality however is that today's society can ill-afford to treat social justice so casually because it is social justice that forms the core of current human civilization, making it the condition precedent for human advancement and world peace.

Evolution of justice

The term social justice is of comparatively recent origin compared to its more hackneyed cousins such as sociology, socialism and social contract. Social justice, as the term denotes is coined to study the evolution of justice in the social milieu. It is the continuous probing in to what is generally accepted as justice, in a social regime as it interacts with individual liberty, rights and responsibility, in the context of social well-being and advancement.

Since society is made up of individuals, the individual remains the simplest as well as the basic accountable of units in a society. The individual then forms in to family and finally in to the society at large. Social justice thus has to recognize the symbiotic relationship between the individual and the society and make just laws so that individual interest does not impinge on that of the society.

The individuals are said to be 'born free' but such freedoms get compromised as the individual graduates from individual through family membership to become a member of a social group. Effectively the individual cannot enjoy the freedom of being a mere individual when he has to place himself in the family and finally in a

society. In that process the individual freedoms that are thus not consistent with the wider social interest becomes 'anarchy'.

French revolution

Great civilizations therefore are the ones that synergize individuals in to societies effecting the right balance between individual aspirations and group aspirations. The loss of individual liberty becomes an investment for the greater good of the society and then for individual advancement eventually.

The events preceding the French revolution right up to the Second World War heralded the new thinking among globe trotting colonial powers of the need for social justice. This entailed the acceptance of the rights of other states and rights of the individuals. Communism is a form of social justice and so is capitalism. The difference is that communism emphasizes on social contract of the society while capitalism believes more in the individual's capacity for creativity and initiative.

The vacuum between these two extremes today have been the subjects of different political theories. The ideal system of social justice however is the one that inspires the individual without harming the social fabric where he is a member. The well- known theorists of social mobility such as Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, Jacques Rousseau and even Adam Smith based their theories on natural science and the evolutionary theory of human and social biology. They were able to analyze the history of social evolution and thus enunciate a future course based on those analyses.

Political system

The ultimate aim of every political system is social justice. Even the system of jurisprudence and media are expected to cater to this end. But there is a tendency among individuals that make up these institutions to conjure up pockets of vested interests within those institutions to thwart the very purpose for which they are created. Sri Lanka became independent after a 443 year colonial rule with social dichotomies. Legislation introduced by independent Governments for social justice ran in to difficulties because there were strong groups of vested interest that were bent on preserving their narrow interest at the cost of social justice.

Past forms of governance such as feudalism had little social justice because they were systems that controlled social means and masses through a traditional hierarchy. Hence it prevented individual initiative and a 'level playing field' for all. But feudalism had stability required to control the State hence it prevented disintegration of the nation State. The challenge therefore before social justice in a modern state is to accommodate maximum individual liberty without compromising on national stability and that is why the State is empowered to enact laws to govern the country.

Modern society

The equality of persons before the law however should not be taken to imply that degrees of power and wealth should be same for all, but rather that power shall stop short of violence and never be exercised except by virtue of authority and law. Such equality, as often thought to be, is a chimera of theory and could not exist in reality. But if abuse is inevitable, ought the law not then, at least try to control it? This is precisely because as the forces of vested interest and individuality always try to destroy equality, the force of legislation ought to always attempt preserve it.

Modern society owes much of its advancements to the prevalence of social justice at different times of its history. This world today would not have been what it is, if Isaac Newton was not saved by social forces that went against the tyranny of Hitler; if Newton was not liberated as a son of a yeoman (bodyguard); if Chekhov could not liberate himself from being a grandson of a Serf. Similarly had there been social justice to prevent, Galileo from being imprisoned, Socrates and Jesus Christ from being executed, the world civilization would certainly have reached better heights.

Individual aspiration

Every member of the society is equipped with positive talents and energies. Therefore social justice should facilitate and harness such capacities for social advancement. Civilization owes more to the commoners than Kings and Rulers because commoners have always been in the majority.

In the end then, social justice should; ensure social equity thereby avoiding conflicts; ensure the gift of individual aspiration and talent avoiding frustration and stifling; ensure stability and social cohesion avoiding anarchy and idiocy. Injustice somewhere is a threat to social justice everywhere. [email protected]