I'm 150 feet down an illegal mine shaft in Ghana. The air is thick with heat and dust, and it's hard to breathe. I can feel the brush of sweaty bodies passing me in the darkness, but I can't see much else. I hear voices talking, but mostly the shaft is this cacophony of men coughing, and stone being broken with primitive tools. Like the others, I wear a flickering, cheap flashlight tied to my head with this elastic, tattered band, and I can barely make out the slick tree limbs holding up the walls of the three-foot square hole dropping hundreds of feet into the earth. When my hand slips, I suddenly remember a miner I had met days before who had lost his grip and fell countless feet down that shaft.
我在加纳地下50米深的一个非法矿井里 空气污浊闷热,充斥着尘土 让人很难呼吸 我可以感觉到来来往往大汗淋漓的人们从我身边擦过 但是在一片黑暗中,我也看不见什么其他的东西了 我听到周围有人说话的声音 但更多是咳嗽声 混杂着用简陋工具砸碎石头的噪音 跟其他人一样,我头上顶着一个时亮时灭的廉价探照灯 用一条破烂的皮筋绑在脖子上 我勉强摸到墙上光溜溜的树枝扶手 它们支撑着这个一米见方 深上百米的井筒 我的手滑了一下,立即想到数天前碰到的一名矿工 他一手抓空 就掉下了无底深井
As I stand talking to you today, these men are still deep in that hole, risking their lives without payment or compensation, and often dying.
当我今天站在这里跟你们演讲的时候 这些矿工们还在这样的矿井里 冒着生命危险干活,没有工资,没有补贴 还经常丢命
I got to climb out of that hole, and I got to go home, but they likely never will, because they're trapped in slavery.
我最后爬出了矿井得以回家 而这些被奴役的矿工可能永远没有回家的那一天
For the last 28 years, I've been documenting indigenous cultures in more than 70 countries on six continents, and in 2009 I had the great honor of being the sole exhibitor at the Vancouver Peace Summit. Amongst all the astonishing people I met there, I met a supporter of Free the Slaves, an NGO dedicated to eradicating modern day slavery. We started talking about slavery, and really, I started learning about slavery, for I had certainly known it existed in the world, but not to such a degree. After we finished talking, I felt so horrible and honestly ashamed at my own lack of knowledge of this atrocity in my own lifetime, and I thought, if I don't know, how many other people don't know? It started burning a hole in my stomach, so within weeks, I flew down to Los Angeles to meet with the director of Free the Slaves and offer them my help.
在过去的28年里我一直在拍摄本土文化的纪录片 走访了6大洲70多个国家 而在2009年,我非常荣幸地 能以独立参展商的身份出席了温哥华和平峰会 在那里我遇到了很多令人倾佩的人 我认识了一位Free the Slaves 非政府组织的支持者 这个组织致力于根除现代社会的奴役现象 我们聊起了奴隶制度 而此时我才开始真正了解奴役的现实 虽然我一直都知道世上奴隶制尚存 但完全不知道事态的严重性 在我们的谈话结束后,我感觉非常的糟糕 并且为自己对这样残暴的现象缺乏认知 感觉到惭愧 我不知道,还有多少人也一样不知道? 这个想法让我坐立难安 几周后我就飞去了洛杉矶 去见Free The Slaves组织的负责人,想要有所作为
Thus began my journey into modern day slavery. Oddly, I had been to many of these places before. Some I even considered like my second home. But this time, I would see the skeletons hidden in the closet.
由此开始了我深入现代奴隶制度的旅程 奇怪的是,那些地方我都去过 有的我还把他们当成是我的第二故乡 但是这一次,我要去挖掘那些见不得光的秘密
A conservative estimate tells us there are more than 27 million people enslaved in the world today. That's double the amount of people taken from Africa during the entire trans-Atlantic slave trade. A hundred and fifty years ago, an agricultural slave cost about three times the annual salary of an American worker. That equates to about $50,000 in today's money. Yet today, entire families can be enslaved for generations over a debt as small as $18. Astonishingly, slavery generates profits of more than $13 billion worldwide each year.
据保守估计 当今全世界有超过2700万人被奴役 这个数字是在跨大西洋奴隶贸易中 从非洲被贩卖的黑奴总数的两倍 150年前,一个农奴的价格 抵得上美国一名普通工人 年薪的三倍 相当于今天的5万美金 但是在今天,一整个家庭被世代奴役的代价 可能就只有18美金的欠债 让人震惊的是,奴隶在全球产生的利润 每年超过130亿美金
Many have been tricked by false promises of a good education, a better job, only to find that they're forced to work without pay under the threat of violence, and they cannot walk away.
他们当中很多人都是被虚假承诺所骗 轻信所谓好的教育机会、好的工作机会 而被迫无偿工作 经受暴力威胁,并且无法逃脱
Today's slavery is about commerce, so the goods that enslaved people produce have value, but the people producing them are disposable. Slavery exists everywhere, nearly, in the world, and yet it is illegal everywhere in the world.
今天的奴隶制度关乎商业利益 奴隶制造的商品具有价值 但是创造价值的人却是被随意处置的 奴隶制度存在于世上的几乎每一个角落 即使它无论在何处都是违法的
In India and Nepal, I was introduced to the brick kilns. This strange and awesome sight was like walking into ancient Egypt or Dante's Inferno. Enveloped in temperatures of 130 degrees, men, women, children, entire families in fact, were cloaked in a heavy blanket of dust, while mechanically stacking bricks on their head, up to 18 at a time, and carrying them from the scorching kilns to trucks hundreds of yards away. Deadened by monotony and exhaustion, they work silently, doing this task over and over for 16 or 17 hours a day. There were no breaks for food, no water breaks, and the severe dehydration made urinating pretty much inconsequential. So pervasive was the heat and the dust that my camera became too hot to even touch and ceased working. Every 20 minutes, I'd have to run back to our cruiser to clean out my gear and run it under an air conditioner to revive it, and as I sat there, I thought, my camera is getting far better treatment than these people.
在印度和尼泊尔,我被带到砖窑里 那里的景象极其怪异 感觉就像走进了古埃及或者但丁描述的地狱 在50多摄氏度的高温中 男人,女人,小孩,事实上是一整个家庭 在厚厚的灰尘笼罩下 机械地把砖块往自己的头顶上垒 每次叠上18块 然后搬运到离砖窑几百米远的卡车上 单调和疲惫消磨着他们 他们安静着劳动着,一遍又一遍的干着同样的活 一天16到17个小时 中途不能休息,不能吃饭,不能喝水 由于极度的缺水 他们基本上也不需要上厕所 由于那里面的闷热和尘土 我的相机烫得没法拿 也无法运转 每20分钟,我就必须跑回车上 清理我的设备,让它在空调底下吹着冷气 它才能重新启动 我坐在车上想,就连摄像机受到的待遇 都比这些活生生的人要好得多
Back in the kilns, I wanted to cry, but the abolitionist next to me quickly grabbed me and he said, "Lisa, don't do that. Just don't do that here." And he very clearly explained to me that emotional displays are very dangerous in a place like this, not just for me, but for them. I couldn't offer them any direct help. I couldn't give them money, nothing. I wasn't a citizen of that country. I could get them in a worse situation than they were already in. I'd have to rely on Free the Slaves to work within the system for their liberation, and I trusted that they would. As for me, I'd have to wait until I got home to really feel my heartbreak.
回到窑内,我忍不住想哭 但是身旁的废奴主义同伴迅速地拉住了我 他说:“Lisa 别哭,别在这里哭” 然后他跟我解释到 在这样的地方抒发自己的情绪是很危险的 不仅对我而言危险,对这些工人们也是 我没有办法给他们提供任何直接的帮助 我不能给他们钱,我什么也给不了 我不是那个国家的公民 我的行为很有可能 会让他们的境遇比现在更糟 我只能指望Free the Slaves组织能够在体系内发挥作用 解放他们 我相信他们可以做到 就我来说,我必须等回到家以后 才能去品尝这份心痛
In the Himalayas, I found children carrying stone for miles down mountainous terrain to trucks waiting at roads below. The big sheets of slate were heavier than the children carrying them, and the kids hoisted them from their heads using these handmade harnesses of sticks and rope and torn cloth. It's difficult to witness something so overwhelming. How can we affect something so insidious, yet so pervasive? Some don't even know they're enslaved, people working 16, 17 hours a day without any pay, because this has been the case all their lives. They have nothing to compare it to. When these villagers claimed their freedom, the slaveholders burned down all of their houses. I mean, these people had nothing, and they were so petrified, they wanted to give up, but the woman in the center rallied for them to persevere, and abolitionists on the ground helped them get a quarry lease of their own, so that now they do the same back-breaking work, but they do it for themselves, and they get paid for it, and they do it in freedom.
在喜马拉雅,我见到了做苦力的小孩 背着石头走上几公里的山路 到路边等着的卡车旁 那些大石板 比搬运石板的孩子还要重 孩子们用树枝,绳子,破烂的衣服制成背带 把石板 绑在自己身上 目睹这样沉甸甸的场景是一件极其痛苦的事 我们怎么才能干预这些隐藏于舆论之外 但却堪称普遍的恶事? 一些人甚至都不认为他们在被人奴役 每天工作十六七个小时 得不到半点酬劳 因为他们生来就过着这样的日子 没有任何比较 如果这些人要为自己争取自由 奴隶主就烧掉他们所有的房子 这些人一无所有 他们吓坏了,他们想要放弃 但是照片中间这位女士团结众人坚持到底 在当地的废奴主义者 帮助他们争取采石场的租约 这样,他们继续干着同样的重活 但现在是为自己而干,能拿到酬劳 他们拥有了自由
Sex trafficking is what we often think of when we hear the word slavery, and because of this worldwide awareness, I was warned that it would be difficult for me to work safely within this particular industry.
非法性交易 是我们在听到奴役时最常联想到的 因为全球皆知 我曾被警告说,若我坚持拍摄这个行业 人身安全将难以得到保障
In Kathmandu, I was escorted by women who had previously been sex slaves themselves. They ushered me down a narrow set of stairs that led to this dirty, dimly fluorescent lit basement. This wasn't a brothel, per se. It was more like a restaurant. Cabin restaurants, as they're known in the trade, are venues for forced prostitution. Each has small, private rooms, where the slaves, women, along with young girls and boys, some as young as seven years old, are forced to entertain the clients, encouraging them to buy more food and alcohol. Each cubicle is dark and dingy, identified with a painted number on the wall, and partitioned by plywood and a curtain. The workers here often endure tragic sexual abuse at the hands of their customers. Standing in the near darkness, I remember feeling this quick, hot fear, and in that instant, I could only imagine what it must be like to be trapped in that hell. I had only one way out: the stairs from where I'd come in. There were no back doors. There were no windows large enough to climb through. These people have no escape at all, and as we take in such a difficult subject, it's important to note that slavery, including sex trafficking, occurs in our own backyard as well.
在加德满都 我由一些从前是性奴的女人随护 她们带着我走下一段段狭窄的楼梯 到了一个肮脏昏暗的地下室 这里本身不是一间妓院 它更像是间餐厅 包厢餐厅在业内被人熟知 是强迫卖淫的场所 一个个小隔间里,性奴们 女人和小孩 有些只有七岁大 被迫取悦客户 好让他们消费更多的食物和酒 每个小隔间都很暗很脏 墙上画着号码 由三夹板和窗帘隔开 在这里工作的人 通常都要忍受客人们残忍的性虐待 记得当时站在几乎是一片黑暗当中 我刹那间感到一阵强烈的恐惧 那一刻我在想 被困在这个地狱里是多么的恐怖 这里只有一个出口:就是我来时走过的楼梯 没有后门 没有能过人的窗户 这些人完全无法逃跑 当我们面对如此艰难的课题 重要的是要知道奴役,包括非法性交易 在我们的后院里同样存在
Tens of hundreds of people are enslaved in agriculture, in restaurants, in domestic servitude, and the list can go on. Recently, the New York Times reported that between 100,000 and 300,000 American children are sold into sex slavery every year. It's all around us. We just don't see it.
几千人成为农奴 餐馆奴工、家庭奴工 还不止这些 最近,纽约时报报道 美国每年有10万到30万小孩 被买卖成为性奴 这些事就发生在我们身边,我们只是不知道罢了
The textile industry is another one we often think of when we hear about slave labor. I visited villages in India where entire families were enslaved in the silk trade. This is a family portrait. The dyed black hands are the father, while the blue and red hands are his sons. They mix dye in these big barrels, and they submerge the silk into the liquid up to their elbows, but the dye is toxic.
纺织业 也是我们听到奴役劳动时经常联想到的 我在印度拜访过一个村子 全家人都是丝绸贸易的奴隶 这是一家人的“肖像” 那双被染黑了的手属于这家的父亲 蓝色和红色的手属于两个儿子 他们在大桶里搅拌燃料 然后把丝绸深深地浸进去,直到染料淹到手肘 这些染料都是有毒的
My interpreter told me their stories.
翻译告诉我他们的故事
"We have no freedom," they said. "We hope still, though, that we could leave this house someday and go someplace else where we actually get paid for our dyeing."
“我们没有自由”,他们说道 “可我们还是希望,哪天可以逃离这个屋子 去其他的地方 在那里工作能拿到报酬”
It's estimated that more than 4,000 children are enslaved on Lake Volta, the largest man-made lake in the world. When we first arrived, I went to have a quick look. I saw what seemed to be a family fishing on a boat, two older brothers, some younger kids, makes sense right? Wrong. They were all enslaved. Children are taken from their families and trafficked and vanished, and they're forced to work endless hours on these boats on the lake, even though they do not know how to swim.
据估计,有超过4000名儿童 在沃尔特湖水库被奴役 那里是世界上最大的人工湖 我们一到那里,我就去看了个大概 我看到似乎是一家人在船上捕鱼 两个哥哥,几个小点的孩子,挺像的吧? 错!他们都是奴隶 孩子们从家里被带出来 被贩卖 被迫在船上无休止的工作 他们在湖上工作,甚至还不会游泳
This young child is eight years old. He was trembling when our boat approached, frightened it would run over his tiny canoe. He was petrified he would be knocked in the water. The skeletal tree limbs submerged in Lake Volta often catch the fishing nets, and weary, frightened children are thrown into the water to untether the lines. Many of them drown.
这个小男孩8岁大 当我们的船靠近的时候 他在发抖 他怕我们的船会撞上上他的独木舟 他很害怕会掉到水里 湖面下浸着些树的枝干 经常会挂住渔网 这些疲惫、害怕的孩子们就被扔到水中 去解开渔网 很多人都淹死了
For as long as he can recall, he's been forced to work on the lake. Terrified of his master, he will not run away, and since he's been treated with cruelty all his life, he passes that down to the younger slaves that he manages.
从他记事开始, 就被迫在湖上工作 他非常害怕主人,不敢逃跑 由于他从小就被残酷对待 他也用同样的方法 对待比他小的奴隶
I met these boys at five in the morning, when they were hauling in the last of their nets, but they had been working since 1 a.m. in the cold, windy night. And it's important to note that these nets weigh more than a thousand pounds when they're full of fish.
我在早上五点时看到这些男孩子们 在收最后一个渔网 可他们从凌晨1点就开始工作了 在这样寒冷,刮风的晚上 要知道这些渔网装满鱼的时候 重量有上千斤啊!
I want to introduce you to Kofi. Kofi was rescued from a fishing village. I met him at a shelter where Free the Slaves rehabilitates victims of slavery. Here he's seen taking a bath at the well, pouring big buckets of water over his head, and the wonderful news is, as you and I are sitting here talking today, Kofi has been reunited with his family, and what's even better, his family has been given tools to make a living and to keep their children safe. Kofi is the embodiment of possibility. Who will he become because someone took a stand and made a difference in his life?
我要介绍你们认识Kofi 他从一个渔村被解救出来 见到他是在一个收容所里 Free the Slaves组织用于复元奴役受害者的一个地方 照片上他正在井边洗澡 把一桶桶水往头上倒 好消息是 此时此刻 Kofi 已经和家人团聚了 更让人欣喜的是,他们一家已能够自己谋生 并确保孩子们的安全 Kofi 身上体现了一种可能性 正因为有人表明了立场,影响了他的人生 他的未来才可能有所改变
Driving down a road in Ghana with partners of Free the Slaves, a fellow abolitionist on a moped suddenly sped up to our cruiser and tapped on the window. He told us to follow him down a dirt road into the jungle. At the end of the road, he urged us out of the car, and told the driver to quickly leave. Then he pointed toward this barely visible footpath, and said, "This is the path, this is the path. Go." As we started down the path, we pushed aside the vines blocking the way, and after about an hour of walking in, found that the trail had become flooded by recent rains, so I hoisted the photo gear above my head as we descended into these waters up to my chest. After another two hours of hiking, the winding trail abruptly ended at a clearing, and before us was a mass of holes that could fit into the size of a football field, and all of them were full of enslaved people laboring. Many women had children strapped to their backs while they were panning for gold, wading in water poisoned by mercury. Mercury is used in the extraction process.
开车行驶在加纳的一条路上 与Free the Slaves的伙伴一起 一个骑着电单车的同行人突然加速 靠近我们的车,敲着车窗 他让我们跟他改走一条土路通向丛林 在路的尽头,他催促我们下车 让司机赶紧走 然后他指着地上一排很不明显的脚印说 “就是这里,就是这条路。走!” 我们拨开挡路的藤蔓 徒步走了约一个小时 小径被近期的雨水淹没了 我把拍摄器材举过头顶 趟着齐胸口深的水继续走 又走了两个小时 蜿蜒的小径戛然而止 我们面前的空地上出现了一大片坑洞 每个都有一个橄榄球场那么大 每个坑洞里都有奴隶在工作 很多妇女还背着自己的小孩 他们在淘金 在被汞污染的脏水里行走 汞是用来提取金子的
These miners are enslaved in a mine shaft in another part of Ghana. When they came out of the shaft, they were soaking wet from their own sweat. I remember looking into their tired, bloodshot eyes, for many of them had been underground for 72 hours. The shafts are up to 300 feet deep, and they carry out heavy bags of stone that later will be transported to another area, where the stone will be pounded so that they can extract the gold.
这些人被奴役 在加纳的另一处矿井里 当她们走出矿井时 全身汗湿 我记得他们布满红血丝的眼睛里充满疲惫 其中很多人已在井下工作72个小时 这些井有差不多有90多米深 他们抬出来装满重石的袋子 这些石头被运送到另外一个区域被捣碎 以便提取金子
At first glance, the pounding site seems full of powerful men, but when we look closer, we see some less fortunate working on the fringes, and children too. All of them are victim to injury, illness and violence. In fact, it's very likely that this muscular person will end up like this one here, racked with tuberculosis and mercury poisoning in just a few years.
乍看之下,砸石场的男人个个健壮 但我们凑近了却发现 一些在边缘地带的工人身有残疾 还有一些小孩 他们都是伤病暴力的受害者 事实上,这些肌肉强健的男人 若干年后很有可能会跟这个人一样 被汞中毒和肺结核苦苦折磨
This is Manuru. When his father died, his uncle trafficked him to work with him in the mines. When his uncle died, Manuru inherited his uncle's debt, which further forced him into being enslaved in the mines. When I met him, he had been working in the mines for 14 years, and the leg injury that you see here is actually from a mining accident, one so severe doctors say his leg should be amputated. On top of that, Manuru has tuberculosis, yet he's still forced to work day in and day out in that mine shaft.
这是Manuru。当他父亲死的时候 他的叔叔把他卖到自己在工作的这个矿场 在他叔叔死后,Manuru要继续背负他叔叔的欠债 他被迫继续在矿场工作 我见到他时,他已在矿场工作了14年 照片中看到的这个腿伤 是在一次凿矿意外中造成的 当时情况危急,医生说要截肢 除了这个伤以外 他还患有肺结核 即使这样,他也必须每天 在井下没日没夜的工作
Even still, he has a dream that he will become free and become educated with the help of local activists like Free the Slaves, and it's this sort of determination, in the face of unimaginable odds, that fills me with complete awe.
即使如此,他也梦想着能够重获自由 在Free the Slaves这样的组织帮助下 接受教育 就是这样的信念 面对令人难以想象的苦难 让我充满敬畏
I want to shine a light on slavery. When I was working in the field, I brought lots of candles with me, and with the help of my interpreter, I imparted to the people I was photographing that I wanted to illuminate their stories and their plight, so when it was safe for them, and safe for me, I made these images. They knew their image would be seen by you out in the world. I wanted them to know that we will be bearing witness to them, and that we will do whatever we can to help make a difference in their lives. I truly believe, if we can see one another as fellow human beings, then it becomes very difficult to tolerate atrocities like slavery. These images are not of issues. They are of people, real people, like you and me, all deserving of the same rights, dignity and respect in their lives. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think of these many beautiful, mistreated people I've had the tremendous honor of meeting.
我希望我们给这些被奴隶的人一道光 当我在拍摄的途中 我带了很多蜡烛 在翻译的帮助下 我把蜡烛分给了我的拍摄对象 我希望能点亮他们的故事 和他们的困境 当我们都安全的时候 我拍了这一系列的照片 他们知道这些影像 会被外面的人看见 我想要让他们知道,我们将为他们作证 尽我们所能 让他们的人生有所改变 我确实相信 当我们把他们当做同胞 就会很难容忍奴役这样的暴行 这些影像非关于议题,而是关于人 真实的人,和你我一样 都值得在生命里 获得一样的权利、尊严和尊重 我没有一天不想 这些美丽、但却受到不公正待遇的人们 这些我三生有幸能够遇见的人们
I hope that these images awaken a force
我希望这些影像
in those who view them, people like you, and I hope that force will ignite a fire, and that fire will shine a light on slavery, for without that light, the beast of bondage can continue to live in the shadows.
能够在你们这样的观者心中唤起一股力量 我希望这股力量的星星之火 能够成为被奴役者的希望之光 因为若没有这光亮 奴役之兽将继续活在阴影里
Thank you very much.
谢谢大家
(Applause)
(掌声)