A few weeks ago, somebody tweeted during the midterm elections in the United States that Election Day should be made a holiday. And I retweeted, saying, "Well, you're welcome to come to my country and vote. You'll get the whole week off to allow the military to count it."
Beberapa minggu lalu, ada yang men-tweet saat pemilu paruh waktu di AS bahwa hari pemilu harus dijadikan tanggal merah. Lalu, saya retweet, dan bilang, "Kamu bisa datang ke negara saya dan ikutan coblos. Kamu akan libur semingguan penuh selama pihak militer merekap hasilnya."
I come from Togo, by the way. It is a beautiful country located in West Africa. There are some cool, interesting facts about my country. Togo has been ruled by the same family for 51 years, making us the oldest autocracy in Africa. That's a record. We have a second-coolest record: we have been ranked three times as the unhappiest country on earth. You are all invited.
Saya berasal dari Togo. Itu adalah negara indah di Afrika Barat. Ada beberapa fakta keren dan menarik tentang negara saya. Togo sudah dikuasai lini keluarga yang sama selama 51 tahun, jadi negara kami ini penganut sistem otokrasi tertua di Afrika. Itu adalah sebuah rekor. Rekor kedua terkeren dari Togo: Togo sudah 3 kali dapat peringkat negara paling tidak bahagia di dunia. Kalian semua datanglah kemari.
(Laughter)
(tertawa)
So just to let you know, it's not very cool to live under an autocracy. But the interesting thing is that I have met, throughout the course of my activism, so many people from different countries, and when I tell them about Togo, their reaction is always, "How can you guys allow the same people to terrorize you for 51 years? You know, like, you Togolese, you must be very patient." That's their diplomatic way of saying "stupid."
Sekadar memberitahu, Hidup di bawah otokrasi sama sekali tidak keren. Tapi menariknya, saya sudah bertemu banyak orang dari berbagai negara berkat aktivisme saya, dan reaksi mereka selalu begini saat bercerita tentang Togo, "Kok orang yang sama bisa berkuasa selama 51 tahun di negara kalian? Yah, kalian orang Togo pasti sabar banget." Itu bahasa diplomatis mereka yang arti aslinya "bodoh."
(Laughter)
(tertawa)
And when you live in a free country, there's this tendency of assuming that those who are oppressed tolerate their oppression or are comfortable with it, and democracy is projected as a progressive form of governance in such a way that those people who don't live under democratic countries are seen as people who are not intellectually or maybe morally as advanced as others.
Dan saat kalian hidup di negara bebas, ada kecenderungan berasumsi orang-orang yang tertindas menerima penindasan itu atau malah merasa nyaman, dan demokrasi digambarkan sebagai wujud pemerintahan yang progresif dengan cara menganggap warga negara non-demokrasi sebagai rakyat yang tidak maju secara intelek atau mungkin moral sama seperti yang lain.
But it's not the case. The reason why people have that perception has to do with the way stories are covered about dictatorships. In the course of my activism, I have had to interview with so many news outlets out there, and usually it would always start with, "What got you started? What inspired you?" And I reply, "I wasn't inspired. I was triggered." And it goes on. "Well, what triggered you?" And I go on about how my father was arrested when I was 13, and tortured, all the history ... I don't want to get into details now, because you'll start sleeping. But the thing is, at the end of the day, what interests them the most is: How was he tortured? For how many days? How many people died? They are interested in the abuse, in the killing, because they believe that will gain attention and sympathy. But in reality, it serves the purpose of the dictator. It helps them advertise their cruelty.
Tapi sebenarnya bukan begitu. Alasan mengapa bisa ada persepsi seperti itu berkaitan erat dengan bagaimana cerita kediktatoran dibungkus. Selama saya berkampanye, saya pernah harus melakukan wawancara dengan banyak media berita di luar sana, dan biasanya permulaannya selalu, "Apa motivasimu memulai ini? Apa yang menginspirasimu?" Lalu saya bilang, "Saya tidak terinspirasi, malah terpicu." Masih ada lanjutannya. "Apa yang memicumu?" Saya bercerita tentang ayah saya yang ditangkap dan disiksa saat saya 13 tahun, saya tidak mau ceritakan sampai ke detailnya, nanti kalian bisa ketiduran. Intinya, di akhir, yang paling menarik buat mereka adalah: Bagaimana penyiksaannya? Berapa hari? Berapa banyak yang meninggal? Mereka malah tertarik pada kekerasan dan pembunuhannya, sebab menurut mereka, itu akan memancing perhatian dan simpati. Sebenarnya, itu malah menguntungkan si diktator. Itu membantu mempromosikan kekejamannya.
In 2011, I cofounded a movement I call "Faure Must Go," because Faure is the first name of our president. Togo is a French-speaking country, by the way, but I chose English because I had my issues with France as well. But then --
Tahun 2011, saya ikut mendirikan gerakan yang saya sebut "Faure Must Go," karena Faure adalah nama presiden pertama kami. Togo negara berbahasa Perancis, omong-omong, tapi saya lebih pilih bahasa Inggris karena berbahasa Perancis sulit. Tapi --
(Laughter)
(tertawa)
But then, when I started Faure Must Go, I made a video, and I came on camera, and I said, "Well, Faure Gnassingbé, I give you 60 days to resign as president, because if you don't, we the youth in Togo will organize and we will bring you down, because you have killed over 500 of our countrymen to seize power when your father died. We have not chosen you. You are an imposter, and we will remove you." But I was the only known face of the movement. Why? Because I was the only stupid one.
Tapi saat saya memulai gerakan Faure Harus Pergi, Saya membuat video, dan muncul di layar, kemudian saya bilang, "Faure Gnassingbé, Anda punya waktu 60 hari untuk mundur, karena jika Anda menolak, kami, muda-mudi Togo, akan bersatu untuk melengserkan Anda, sebab Anda sudah membunuh lebih dari 500 orang warga negara kami untuk berkuasa saat ayah Anda wafat. Kami tidak memilih Anda. Anda hanyalah gadungan, dan Anda akan dilengserkan." Tapi hanya saya yang dikenal dalam gerakan ini Mengapa? Soalnya hanya saya yang bodoh.
(Laughter)
(tertawa)
And the backlashes followed. My family started receiving threats. My siblings called me one morning. They said, "You know what? When they come here to kill you, we don't want to die with you, so move out." So yes, I moved out. And I'm so angry at them, so I haven't talked to them in five years.
Lalu ada reaksi-reaksi perlawanan. Keluarga saya mulai diancam. Kakak adik saya pernah menelepon pada suatu pagi. Mereka bilang, "Kamu tahu? Kalau mereka kemari membunuhmu, kami ogah mati bersamamu, jadi minggat sana." Ya, saya sungguhan minggat dari rumah. Saking marahnya, saya belum bicara dengan mereka selama 5 tahun.
Anyway, moving forward ... For the past nine years, I have been working with countries to raise awareness of Togo, to help the people of Togo overcome their fear so they, too, can come and say they want change. I have received a lot of persecution that I cannot disclose, a lot of threats, a lot of abuse, psychologically. But I don't like talking about them, because I know that my job as an activist is to mobilize, is to organize, is to help every single Togolese citizen understand that, as citizens, we hold the power, we are the boss and we decide. And the punishment that the dictators are using to intimidate them must not prevent us from getting what we want. That is why I said it is very important to cover the stories of activists in the way that it helps mobilize people, not in the way that it helps deter their action and force even more their subjugation to the oppressive system.
Oke, mari kita lanjut ... Selama 9 tahun belakangan ini, saya terus bekerja sama dengan banyak negara untuk meningkatkan perhatian terhadap Togo, membantu mengatasi ketakutan rakyat Togo supaya mereka juga bisa maju dan bilang mereka ingin perubahan. Saya telah menerima banyak penghakiman yang tak bisa saya beberkan, banyak ancaman, kekerasan, semuanya bersifat psikis. Tapi saya tidak suka membicarakan itu, karena saya tahu, tugas aktivisme saya adalah menggalang perhatian, mengorganisir gerakan, membantu setiap orang Togo paham bahwa sebagai warga negara, kitalah yang punya kuasa, kitalah bos yang membuat keputusan. Lalu, hukuman yang dipakai para diktator untuk mengintimidasi tidak boleh menghalangi kita mencapai apa yang kita inginkan. Maka dari itu, saya bilang penting untuk meliput cerita para aktivis dari sudut pandang yang membantu menggalang perhatian orang, bukannya semakin menghalangi aksi aktivisme dan menambah kontrol dalam sistem yang menindas rakyat.
During these years that I've been an activist, there are days that I felt like quitting because I couldn't take it. Well then, what kept me going? The one thing that kept me going: I remember the story of my grandfather, and how he used to walk 465 miles from his village to the city, just to protest for independence. Then I remember the sacrifice of my father, who was tortured so many times for daring to protest against the regime. Back in the '70s, they would write pamphlets to raise awareness on the dictatorship, and because they couldn't afford to make copies, they would reproduce the same pamphlet 500 times each and distribute them. It got to a point where the military knew their handwriting, so as soon as they stumbled upon one, they'd go and get them. But I look at that and I'm like, you know, today you have a blog. I don't have to copy the same thing 500 times. I blog and thousands of people read it. By the way, in Togo, they like calling me the WhatsApp girl, because I am always on WhatsApp attacking the government.
Bertahun-tahun saya menjadi seorang aktivis, ada kalanya saya ingin berhenti karena sudah tidak kuat lagi. Lantas, apa yang memotivasi saya untuk tetap maju? Satu hal yang memotivasi saya: Saya ingat cerita tentang kakek saya, beliau dulu berjalan 748 kilometer dari desa ke kota hanya untuk berdemonstrasi meminta kemerdekaan. Lalu, saya ingat tentang pengorbanan ayah saya, yang disiksa berkali-kali karena berani berdemonstrasi melawan rezim. Dulu, pada tahun 70-an, mereka biasa membuat banyak pamflet supaya orang-orang tahu tentang rezim otoriter, dan karena mereka tidak punya uang untuk menduplikat pamfletnya, mereka membuat ulang pamflet yang sama sebanyak 500x dan menyebarkan semuanya. Pihak militer sampai hafal tulisan tangan mereka, jadi begitu ketemu satu lembar, pihak militer bakal menangkap mereka. Tapi saya merasa, zaman sekarang sudah ada blog. Saya tidak perlu menulis hal yang sama sebanyak 500 kali. Ribuan orang membaca tulisan blog saya. Oh ya, di Togo, saya suka disebut sebagai "si gadis WhatsApp," karena saya selalu menyerang pemerintah di WhatsApp.
(Laughter)
(tertawa)
So it's much easier. When I'm angry at the government, I just make an angry note, and I send it out and thousands of people share it. I'm rarely this composed. I'm always angry, by the way.
Jadinya lebih gampang. Kalau lagi marah sama pemerintah, saya cukup bikin ujaran amarah, lalu saya kirim tulisan saya, dan ribuan orang membagikannya. Saya jarang sekalem ini. Saya malahan marah terus.
(Laughter)
(tertawa)
(Applause)
(sorakan dan tepuk tangan)
So I was talking about the necessity to showcase our stories, because when I think about the sacrifices that were made for us, it helped me keep going. One of the very first actions of our Faure Must Go movement was to come up with a petition, asking citizens to sign so that we can demand new elections, as the constitution allows. People were scared to put their names because, they said, they don't want to get in trouble. Even in the diaspora, people were scared. They were like, "We have family at home."
Jadi, saya membicarakan tentang pentingnya bercerita tentang Togo, karena kalau saya ingat banyaknya pengorbanan demi Togo, saya jadi tetap bersemangat. Salah satu aksi pertama dari gerakan Faure Must Go adalah membuat petisi dan meminta tanda tangan orang-orang supaya kami bisa meminta pemilu baru, seperti dalam konstitusi negara kami. Orang-orang takut nama mereka tercantum karena kata mereka, mereka tidak mau bermasalah. Bahkan orang-orang diaspora ketakutan. Reaksi mereka, "Ada keluarga di rumah."
But there was this woman who was in her 60s. When she heard about it, she took the petition, and she went home, and by herself she collected over 1,000 [signatures]. That inspired me so much, and I was like, if a 60-year-old that has nothing more to gain in this regime can do this for us, the young ones, then why should I quit? It is the stories of resistance, the stories of defiance, the stories of resilience, that inspire people to get involved, not the stories of abuse and killings and hurt, because as humans, it's only natural for us to be scared.
Tapi ada suatu wanita berumur 60-an. Habis mendengar tentang gerakan kami, kertas petisinya dia ambil, lalu dia pulang, dan dia mengumpulkan lebih dari 1000 tanda tangan sendirian. Itu sangat menginspirasi saya sampai saya merasa, kalau ada orang umur 60-an yang tidak bisa dapat apa-apa lagi dalam rezim ini malah bisa melakukan ini untuk yang masih muda, terus kenapa saya malah menyerah? Justru cerita-cerita perlawanan, cerita-cerita tentang ketangguhan, menginspirasi orang-orang agar ikut beraksi, bukannya cerita tentang kekerasan, pembunuhan, dan rasa sakit, karena sebagai manusia, wajar kalau kita ketakutan.
I would like to share with you a few characteristics of dictatorships so that you can assess your own country and see if you are also at risk of joining us.
Saya ingin membagikan kepada kalian sebagian ciri-ciri kediktatoran supaya kalian bisa menilai negara kalian sendiri dan tahu apakah kalian berisiko senasib dengan kami.
(Laughter and cheers)
(tertawa)
(tepuk tangan)
(Applause)
Number one thing to look at: concentration of power. Is the power in your country concentrated in the hands of a few, an elite? It can be a political elite, ideological elite. And you have a strongman, because we always have one guy who is presented as the messiah who will save us from the world.
Hal pertama yang harus diawasi: pemusatan kekuasaan. Apakah negara kalian dikuasai oleh orang-orang tertentu saja? Bisa jadi kelompok politik atau ideologi tertentu. Dan kalian punya seorang tiran, karena di sekitar kita selalu ada yang digambarkan sebagai mesias yang akan menyelamatkan kita dari dunia ini.
The second point is propaganda. Dictators feed on propaganda. They like giving the impression that they are the saviors, and without them, the country will fall apart. And they are always fighting some foreign forces, you know? The Christians, the Jewish, the Muslims, the voodoo priests are coming for you. The Communists, when they get here, we'll all be broke. These kinds of things. And our president, in particular, he fights pirates.
Poin kedua adalah propaganda. Itu adalah bahan bakar diktator. Mereka suka memberi kesan bahwa mereka adalah juru selamat, dan tanpa mereka, negara akan runtuh. Kau tahu, mereka juga suka melawan sejenis kuasa luar. Orang Kristen, Yahudi, Muslim, pendeta voodoo, semuanya mengincarmu. Kita semua akan miskin dengan komunis di negara kita. Hal semacam itulah. Presiden kami, sebagai contoh, dia melawan bajak laut.
(Laughter)
(tertawa)
I am very serious. Last year, he bought a boat that's 13 million dollars to fight pirates, and 60 percent of our people are starving. So they are always protecting us from some foreign forces.
Saya benar-benar serius. Tahun lalu, dia membeli perahu seharga 13 juta dolar untuk melawan bajak laut, padahal 60% rakyat kami kelaparan. Jadi, mereka selalu melindungi kita dari semacam kekuasaan asing.
And this leads to point three: militarization. Dictators survive by instigating fear, and they use the military to suppress dissident voices, even though they try to give the impression that the military is to protect the nation. And they suppress institutions and destroy them so that they don't have to be held accountable. So do you have a heavily militarized country?
Nah, ini ada kaitannya dengan poin ketiga: militerisasi. Diktator bertahan hidup dengan menyebarkan ketakutan, dan mereka menggunakan militer untuk meredam opini berlawanan, meskipun mereka mencoba membawa kesan militer ada untuk melindungi negara. Mereka juga menekan dan menghancurkan badan-badan institusi agar mereka tidak perlu disuruh bertanggung jawab. Jadi, apa negara kalian sangat berbasis militer?
And this leads to point four, what I call human cruelty. You know when we talk about animals, we say animal cruelty when animals are abused, because there's no charter acknowledged by the UN saying animal rights charter. Point one: all animals are created equal. So you don't have that. So whenever animals are abused, we say animal cruelty. But when it comes to humans, we say human rights abuses, because we assume that all humans have rights. But some of us are actually still fighting for our right to have rights. So in that condition, I don't talk about human rights abuse or violation.
Lanjut ke poin keempat yang saya sebut kekejaman terhadap manusia. Kalau kita lagi bicara tentang hewan, kekejaman terhadap hewan adalah menyiksa hewan, karena tidak ada piagam resmi dari PBB yang namanya piagam hak hewan. Alasan pertama: semua binatang diciptakan sama, jadi tidak ada begituan. Ketika hewan disiksa, kita bilang itu kekejaman terhadap hewan. Namun, kalau bicara tentang manusia, ada istilah pelanggaran HAM, kita berasumsi semua manusia memiliki hak asasi Tapi beberapa dari kita masih memperjuangkan hak asasi kita. Jika demikian, saya tidak bicara tentang pelanggaran atau kekerasan HAM.
When you live in a country and you have an issue with the president and the worst thing that can happen is he bans you from the presidency, you are lucky. When you come to my country and have an issue with the president, you just run, disappear; you vanish from the universe, because they can still find you in Turkey. So people like myself, we don't get to live in Togo anymore. And people like myself, we don't get to live in the same place for more than a month, because we don't want to be traced. The way they abuse people, the type of cruelty that happens in all impunity under dictatorships are beyond human imagination. The stories of some of the activists that were killed, their bodies dumped in the sea, that were tortured to the point where they lost their hearing or their sight -- those stories still haunt me. And sometimes, as an activist, I am less concerned about dying than how it will happen. Sometimes I just sit down and I imagine all scenarios. What are they going to do? Are they going to cut my ears first? Or are they going to cut my tongue because I'm always insulting them? It sounds cruel, but it is the reality. We live in a very cruel world. Dictators are cruel monsters, and I am not saying it to be nice.
Kalau kalian bermasalah dengan presiden di negara kalian, palingan kalian hanya dilarang mencalonkan diri jadi presiden, kalian masih beruntung. Kalau kalian keberatan dengan presiden di negara saya, sebaiknya kalian kabur; lenyap dari alam semesta, karena mereka masih bisa menemukanmu di Turki. Orang-orang macam saya tidak bisa tinggal di Togo lagi. Orang-orang seperti saya, tidak bisa menetap selama lebih dari sebulan, karena kami tidak mau dilacak. Cara mereka menyiksa orang, kekejaman yang bebas dari pidana di bawah rezim kediktatoran, berada di luar pemikiran manusia. Cerita tentang beberapa pegiat yang dibunuh, jenazah mereka dibuang ke laut, menjadi korban penyiksaan hingga buta atau tuli -- kisah seperti itu masih menakutiku. Terkadang, sebagai seorang pegiat, saya lebih peduli bagaimana saya akan mati daripada kematian sendiri. Ada kalanya saya terdiam dan membayangkan semuanya. Apa yang akan mereka lakukan? Memotong telinga saya dulu? Atau memotong lidah saya karena saya selalu menghina mereka? Kedengarannya kejam, tapi begitulah realitanya. Kami hidup di dunia yang sangat kejam. Diktator adalah monster kejam, dan saya tidak sedang memperhalus kata-kata saya.
So yes, that is the final characteristic. The list goes on, but that's the final thing that I want to share about autocracies, so that you look at your country and see if there are risks there. It is important that you acknowledge the gains of freedom that you have today, because some people had to give their lives for you to have it. So don't take this for granted. But then at the same time, you also need to know that no country is actually destined to be oppressed, while at the same time, no country or no people are immune to oppression and dictatorship.
Jadi begitu ciri terakhirnya. Masih ada banyak lagi, tapi itu hal terakhir yang mau saya bagikan tentang otokrasi, supaya kalian bisa mencari ciri-ciri tersebut dalam negara kalian. Menyadari kebebasan yang kalian miliki hari ini begitu penting. karena beberapa orang harus mengorbankan nyawa mereka demi kebebasan kalian. Jangan menganggap enteng kebebasan. Tapi, di saat bersamaan, kalian juga harus tahu tidak ada negara yang sebenarnya ditakdirkan untuk ditindas, tapi di satu sisi, tidak ada negara atau orang yang kebal terhadap penindasan atau kediktatoran.
Thank you.
Terima kasih.
(Applause)
(tepuk tangan)