遠洋之戀

【每週一譯】Nothing new under the sun 

五 21

司徒 嘉胤【每週一譯】 English, 時評, 翻譯 3 条留言

【司徒嘉胤】原載
【很早之前一直計劃的每周一譯項目昨天終於著手開始，主要是為了提高理解能力，英語和日語不定，文章盡量選擇在傳統媒體刊登過的（據說語法、邏輯更加嚴禁，疏漏比較少）。此篇是刊登在2011年4月30日的The Econimist的文章，此文章含有強烈的影射含義。】

Nothing new under the sun from The Economist

Some dictators may have fallen, but human-rights abuses continue

THE world really can become a better place—that seemed to be the belief of the protesters who have thronged streets in the Middle East. Sadly, those who spoke this week at the Oslo Freedom Forum, a glittering gathering of veterans of human-rights struggles, instead attested to the wisdom of Ecclesiastes: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done.”

Take the impact of technology. Facebook and other social media services have created opportunities for dissidents and revolutionaries to organise and voice their opposition. But those in power have discovered that they, too, can use the internet, in their case to stifle freedom of speech. The dream of all dictators is to know as much about you as Google does, says Jacob Mchangama, a Danish human-rights lawyer.

Authoritarian states have also learned how to use the language of human rights to legitimise their oppressive tactics, for instance by claiming to defend religious groups. But their tools of abuse—violence, torture and censorship—remain depressingly familiar. The grand tradition of making opponents “disappear,” perfected by the military dictatorship in Argentina in the 1970s, is still flourishing today. In Bahrain doctors and nurses who treated protesters injured by security forces have vanished. Also in Bahrain, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, the former head of the Centre for Human Rights and a fierce critic of the regime, was seized by armed men in the middle of the night. A month later he reappeared, tortured and is now facing trial.

Post-revolutionary leaders can find it all too easy to slip into the abusive habits of their predecessors. In Oslo Lina Ben Mhenni, a Tunisian blogger, talked of her fear that the transitional government will use the methods of the ousted regime of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. When fresh demonstrations broke out in Tunisia in early May, police used tear gas and live ammunition. Journalists were beaten and had their equipment seized.

Nor do governments have a monopoly on violence. From Jamaica to South Africa, gays and lesbians continue to be the victims of vicious intolerance. Lesbians are raped in an effort to “correct” their sexuality. At the Oslo conference the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays, the first group of its kind on the Caribbean island, said it was remarkable that only one of its founders had been murdered in the past decade, such is the violence typically directed at its people.

Yet there was also brighter news in Oslo. As those in power become more inventive in their clampdowns, so do their opponents. Some have started to help victims make their experiences public. In Malawi children who have been raped or forced into marriage are encouraged to write letters to Radio Timweni, a national news programme, which then interviews them. In the age of Facebook and Google, the truth remains the most powerful weapon of all.

　　
　　

—————我是華麗的分割線—————

　　

陽光下，一切如舊

　　有些獨裁者倒臺了，但是人權問題在世間依然持續

　　世界真的可以變得更好——這似乎是擠滿中東國家街頭的抗議者們的信仰。可悲的是，在奧斯陸自由論壇中發言的人，一個閃閃發亮的人權鬥爭的老兵集會，反而證明了傳道書的無限智慧：“已有的事，後必再有；已行的事，後必再行。”

　　在技術浪潮的推動下，Facebook以及其它的社交網絡服務為異見者與革命者組織在野黨、發表政見創造了新機。但是執政者發現自己也能利用互聯網，以扼制自由言論。“所有的獨裁者夢想都是像Google了解你一樣掌控你的信息”——丹麥的人權問題律師Jacob Mchangama如是說。

　　獨裁國家也學會了如何使用“人權用語”來使他們的壓制行動合法化，比如聲稱捍衛宗教組織。但他們的濫用公器——行使暴力、酷刑和審查制度——卻是與包裝之前驚人地相似。在1970年代由阿根廷軍事獨裁所完善的偉大的制造異見人士消失的傳統，至今依舊蓬勃向榮。在巴林，為抗議者提供治療的醫生和護士被安保部隊所傷並“被消失”。依舊是在巴林，人權中心的前領導人、激進的政府評論家Abdulhadi Alkhawaja在午夜被不具名武裝人士逮捕。一個月後，他重新出現在公眾視野，顯然飽受折磨，並且面臨審判。

　　後革命時代的政府領導者們會很容易陷入辱罵前任政府的怪圈。在奧斯陸，突尼斯blogger Lina Ben Mhenni表示，她害怕過渡政府會持續被推翻的宰因·阿比丁·本·阿里政府的執政方式。五月初，新的示威遊行爆發時，警察裝備了催淚瓦斯和真槍實彈來應對抗議人群。

　　然而，並不唯獨由政府機構壟斷了暴力的行使。從牙買加到南非，同性戀者持續不斷地成為惡毒的不容忍同性戀觀念的受害者。女同性戀被以“糾正性向”為由強奸。在奧斯陸的牙買加同性戀－雙性戀論壇上，來自於加勒比島的同類組織表示，在過去的十年中眾多的創始人裏只有一人慘遭殺害，在這樣一個暴力通常針對他們的人民的國家是值得註意的。

　　當然，在奧斯陸還有一些陽光的信息。執政者在壓制方面更加富有創造性——他們的對手也如此。一些人已經著手開始幫助受害者將自己的經歷公諸於眾。在馬拉維，他們鼓勵被強奸和強迫結婚的兒童寫信給新的國家新聞節目Radio Timweni以獲得采訪。在facebook和google存在的年代裏，真相永遠是最具殺傷力的武器。

感謝@yvonnecrab老師提供的幫助。