Allow me to start this talk with a question to everyone. You know that all over the world, people fight for their freedom, fight for their rights. Some battle oppressive governments. Others battle oppressive societies. Which battle do you think is harder? Allow me to try to answer this question in the few coming minutes.
请允许我以一个问题开始 你清楚世界各地 有人为了自由而奋斗 有人为了权利而战 有的人反抗压迫他们的政府 有的人对抗强权的社会阶层 你们觉得哪种挑战更难? 请允许我在后面的几分钟里 再来回答这个问题
Let me take you back two years ago in my life. It was the bedtime of my son, Aboody. He was five at the time. After finishing his bedtime rituals, he looked at me and he asked a question: "Mommy, are we bad people?"
跟随我回到两年前我的生活里 那是在我儿子阿布迪快要睡觉的时候 那时候他只有5岁 在完成了睡前祷告后 他看着我,问道: “妈妈,我们是不是坏人呀?”
I was shocked. "Why do you say such things, Aboody?"
我一下没了主意 “阿布迪,你为什么要说这些呢?”
Earlier that day, I noticed some bruises on his face when he came from school. He wouldn't tell me what happened. [But now] he was ready to tell.
那天早些时候,当他从学校回来时 我发现他脸上有些瘀伤 他不肯告诉我发生了什么 [但现在]他肯说了
"Two boys hit me today in school. They told me, 'We saw your mom on Facebook. You and your mom should be put in jail.'"
“今天在学校里 两个男生揍了我 然后他们对我说:’我们在脸谱网上看到你妈妈了 你跟你妈妈都应该被送进监狱' "
I've never been afraid to tell Aboody anything. I've been always a proud woman of my achievements. But those questioning eyes of my son were my moment of truth, when it all came together. You see, I'm a Saudi woman who had been put in jail for driving a car in a country where women are not supposed to drive cars. Just for giving me his car keys, my own brother was detained twice, and he was harassed to the point he had to quit his job as a geologist, leave the country with his wife and two-year-old son. My father had to sit in a Friday sermon listening to the imam condemning women drivers and calling them prostitutes amongst tons of worshippers, some of them our friends and family of my own father. I was faced with an organized defamation campaign in the local media combined with false rumors shared in family gatherings, in the streets and in schools. It all hit me. It came into focus that those kids did not mean to be rude to my son. They were just influenced by the adults around them. And it wasn't about me, and it wasn't a punishment for taking the wheel and driving a few miles. It was a punishment for daring to challenge the society's rules.
我从来都不害怕告诉阿布迪任何事情 因为我的成就,我一直是一个自豪的母亲 但当我儿子的眼中流露出质疑 当这一切袭来 我知道这是很关键的一刻 你要知道,在沙特女人是不允许开车的 我就是因为这个 曾经进过监狱 也就是因为把车钥匙给了我 我的亲哥哥被拘留了两次 之后他不断被骚扰 以至于不得不放弃他地理学家的工作 带着他的妻子和两岁大的儿子 逃离了这个国家 我父亲坐在一个周五的讲道里 在无数信徒面前 听阿訇训斥女司机 辱骂她们是妓女 那些信徒们有的是我们的朋友 有的是我父亲的亲人 我曾面对过一个有组织的诽谤组织 利用当地媒体与不实的谣言 在家庭聚会、在街头巷尾、 在学校中讹传 这深深地伤害了我 这件事的重点是 那些孩子并不是有意欺负我儿子的 他们其实是被周围的成人带坏的 这不仅仅是针对我的 不是因为开车走了几公里所带来的惩罚 它的本质是镇压那些 敢于质疑传统旧社会秩序的人
But my story goes beyond this moment of truth of mine. Allow me to give you a briefing about my story. It was May, 2011, and I was complaining to a work colleague about the harassments I had to face trying to find a ride back home, although I have a car and an international driver's license. As long as I've known, women in Saudi Arabia have been always complaining about the ban, but it's been 20 years since anyone tried to do anything about it, a whole generation ago.
但我的故事并没有就此结束 让我来简洁地 介绍一下我整个的故事吧 那是在2011年5月 我在跟我的同事抱怨: 为什么找个交通工具回家 总会碰到骚扰 尽管我有一辆车并且考取了国际驾照 我早就知道 沙特阿拉伯的女性 对于禁止驾车这条禁令一直很不满 但自上次有人试图打破这个禁令 已经过了20年 那是一代人以前了
He broke the good/bad news in my face. "But there is no law banning you from driving."
他打断了我的犹豫 “但是没有成文的法律规定你不能开车啊”
I looked it up, and he was right. There wasn't an actual law in Saudi Arabia. It was just a custom and traditions that are enshrined in rigid religious fatwas and imposed on women. That realization ignited the idea of June 17, where we encouraged women to take the wheel and go drive. It was a few weeks later, we started receiving all these "Man wolves will rape you if you go and drive." A courageous woman, her name is Najla Hariri, she's a Saudi woman in the city of Jeddah, she drove a car and she announced but she didn't record a video. We needed proof.
我查了查 他是对的 在沙特阿拉伯并没有这么一条法律 禁止妇女开车是一种习惯和传统 体现在有严格的宗教教令 并强加在妇女身上 意识到这个之后 我们准备在6月17号做些举动 我们鼓励妇女去接触车 然后开车出去 仅仅几个礼拜之后 我们就开始收到这些 “如果你们出去开车了 那些男人们会强奸你们的” 有一个勇敢的女性 她叫 纳迦拉 哈里里 她是个来自 吉达市的沙特女性 她去开了车并告诉了人们 但是她并没有录像 我们要有身先士卒的证明
So I drove. I posted a video on YouTube. And to my surprise, it got hundreds of thousands of views the first day. What happened next, of course? I started receiving threats to be killed, raped, just to stop this campaign.
所以我行动了 往YOUTUBE上传了视频 出乎我意料的是 第一天就有成千上万的点击 然后呢,意料之中的 我开始收到各种恐吓 他们以性命和强奸为要挟 来阻止这个运动
The Saudi authorities remained very quiet. That really creeped us out. I was in the campaign with other Saudi women and even men activists. We wanted to know how the authorities would respond on the actual day, June 17, when women go out and drive. So this time I asked my brother to come with me and drive by a police car. It went fast. We were arrested, signed a pledge not to drive again, released. Arrested again, he was sent to detention for one day, and I was sent to jail. I wasn't sure why I was sent there, because I didn't face any charges in the interrogation. But what I was sure of was my innocence. I didn't break a law, and I kept my abaya — it's a black cloak we wear in Saudi Arabia before we leave the house — and my fellow prisoners kept asking me to take it off, but I was so sure of my innocence, I kept saying, "No, I'm leaving today." Outside the jail, the whole country went into a frenzy, some attacking me badly, and others supportive and even collecting signatures in a petition to be sent to the king to release me. I was released after nine days.
沙特当局保持沉默 这出乎我们预料 我在这样一个团队里: 里面有其他沙特女性 ,甚至有男性支持者 我们好奇 当局将对我们6月17号 沙特女性集体出去开车 会有什么反应 这一次我请我哥哥跟我一起开车 旁边有一辆警车 它开的很快 我们被抓起来了 在签署了不再开车的保证书之后 我们被释放了 第二次被抓 他被送去拘留了一天 而我被送进了监狱 我不确定我为什么被关起来 因为在询问的时候我没有任何指控 但我确定我是清白的 我确定我没有触犯法律 而且我始终戴着长袍 — —那是条黑色袍子 我们在沙特阿拉伯出门前要戴着 跟我一起被关押的囚犯们让我把黑袍拿下来 (他们觉得我暂时走不出监狱) 但我确认我是无罪的 所以我不停说 “不行 我马上就要走了” 监狱外面 整个国家一片混乱 有的人仍在诽谤中伤我 也有些人支持我 甚至有人在联名请愿 想把请愿书给国王 请求释放我 在9天后 我被释放了
June 17 comes. The streets were packed with police cars and religious police cars, but some hundred brave Saudi women broke the ban and drove that day. None were arrested. We broke the taboo.
6月17号终于来了 街道上到处是警车 和地方警察的车 但仍有上百位勇敢的沙特女性 在那天打破了这个禁忌 出来开车 最终 没有一个人被抓起来——我们打破了这个禁忌
(Applause)
(掌声)
So I think by now, everyone knows that we can't drive, or women are not allowed to drive, in Saudi Arabia, but maybe few know why. Allow me to help you answer this question.
我在想 现在人们都知道我们不能开车 或者说,在沙特阿拉伯 妇女不允许开车 但很少有人知道其中的缘由 我来告诉你们吧
There was this official study that was presented to the Shura Council -- it's the consultative council appointed by the king in Saudi Arabia — and it was done by a local professor, a university professor. He claims it's done based on a UNESCO study. And the study states, the percentage of rape, adultery, illegitimate children, even drug abuse, prostitution in countries where women drive is higher than countries where women don't drive.
根据官方研究 这个研究被提交给了协商议院—— 这个理事评议会 由沙特阿拉伯国王委任 一位当地教授做的这项研究 一位大学教授 他说这个研究基于一项联合国教科文组织调查 这个调查表明 在那些妇女开车的国家 强奸、通奸、私生子和滥用药品的比例 要比那些 妇女不开车的国家比例更高
(Laughter)
(笑声)
I know, I was like this, I was shocked. I was like, "We are the last country in the world where women don't drive." So if you look at the map of the world, that only leaves two countries: Saudi Arabia, and the other society is the rest of the world.
对 我知道 我也这样被惊到了 就像“我们沙特是地球上最后一个 还不接受妇女开车的国家” 如果你看下世界地图 那就是: 沙特和除了沙特的其他国家
We started a hashtag on Twitter mocking the study, and it made headlines around the world.
我们在推特上嘲讽这项研究做了个话题 然后这就成了世界头条新闻
[BBC News: 'End of virginity' if women drive, Saudi cleric warns]
[BBC新闻:沙特神职人员警告道,如果妇女开车 这将会是她们贞操的终结]
(Laughter)
(笑声)
And only then we realized it's so empowering to mock your oppressor. It strips it away of its strongest weapon: fear.
我们那时才明白讽刺压迫者 可以给予自己如此强大的力量 因为它除去了压迫者最强大的武器:恐惧
This system is based on ultra-conservative traditions and customs that deal with women as if they are inferior and they need a guardian to protect them, so they need to take permission from this guardian, whether verbal or written, all their lives. We are minors until the day we die. And it becomes worse when it's enshrined in religious fatwas based on wrong interpretation of the sharia law, or the religious laws. What's worst, when they become codified as laws in the system, and when women themselves believe in their inferiority, and they even fight those who try to question these rules.
它建立在极保守的 传统及习俗 而妇女常常处于弱势 她们需要保护者来保护她们 她们需要从保护者得到许可 口头的或者是书面的 所有人都是这样 我们妇女直到死亡都是弱者 当宗教教令建立在对伊斯兰教令 或者地方法令 错误的解释上时 情况变得更糟了 当压迫者变成了 法律教令的制定编纂者 当妇女们认为她们本来就是卑贱的 当压迫者去打击那些试图反抗的人 这就是最糟糕的情况了
So for me, it wasn't only about these attacks I had to face. It was about living two totally different perceptions of my personality, of my person -- the villain back in my home country, and the hero outside.
对我来说 我所面对不仅仅是针对我的攻击 这是两种完全不同的生活 有关我个性 个人的理解 在我的祖国家乡,我成了卑鄙的小人 在外面 我又是英雄
Just to tell you, two stories happened in the last two years. One of them is when I was in jail. I'm pretty sure when I was in jail, everyone saw titles in the international media something like this during these nine days I was in jail.
就说说这两年发生的事情吧 其中一个发生于我在监狱里 我很确定 当我被关进监狱时 所有人都从国际媒体上看到了报道 我在里面时 他们的报道是这样的
But in my home country, it was a totally different picture. It was more like this: "Manal al-Sharif faces charges of disturbing public order and inciting women to drive."
但在我的祖国 完全就是另外一幅情形了 就像这样 “马纳尔谢里夫面临扰乱社会秩序 并教唆妇女开车的指控
I know.
我知道(这很假)
"Manal al-Sharif withdraws from the campaign."
“马纳尔谢里夫退出了运动”
Ah, it's okay. This is my favorite.
哦这还好 下面这个很有意思
"Manal al-Sharif breaks down and confesses: 'Foreign forces incited me.'"
“马纳尔谢里夫投降了并坦白 有外国势力指使我”
(Laughter)
(笑声)
And it goes on, even trial and flogging me in public. So it's a totally different picture.
更进一步 甚至有人在公共场合审判并鞭打我 这完全就是另外一幅景象
I was asked last year to give a speech at the Oslo Freedom Forum. I was surrounded by this love and the support of people around me, and they looked at me as an inspiration. At the same time, I flew back to my home country, they hated that speech so much. The way they called it: a betrayal to the Saudi country and the Saudi people, and they even started a hashtag called #OsloTraitor on Twitter. Some 10,000 tweets were written in that hashtag, while the opposite hashtag, #OsloHero, there was like a handful of tweets written. They even started a poll. More than 13,000 voters answered this poll: whether they considered me a traitor or not after that speech. Ninety percent said yes, she's a traitor. So it's these two totally different perceptions of my personality.
去年我曾被邀请在 奥斯陆自由论坛上做演讲 我觉得我周围 都是来自人们的爱与支持 他们觉得我可以激励他们 不久 我飞回祖国 发现他们痛恨那次演讲 他们称之为 对沙特国家 及人民的背叛 甚至有人在推特上建了个“审判奥斯陆演讲”的话题 在那个话题下有约一万条消息 反观“奥斯陆英雄”这个话题 也有约120条消息 人们甚至开始投票表决 有约1万3千人参加了投票 选我是个罪犯,还是个英雄 百分之九十的人表示,她是个罪犯 这对我来说是两种 完全不同的观点
For me, I'm a proud Saudi woman, and I do love my country, and because I love my country, I'm doing this. Because I believe a society will not be free if the women of that society are not free. (Applause) Thank you. (Applause) Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. (Applause)
我身为沙特女性而骄傲 我也热爱我的国家 正因为我热爱我的国家 我从事这些 因为我觉得如果这个社会中的女性不自由 这个社会也不会自由 (掌声) 谢谢 (掌声) 谢谢 谢谢 (掌声)
Thank you.
谢谢
But you learn lessons from these things that happen to you. I learned to be always there. The first thing, I got out of jail, of course after I took a shower, I went online, I opened my Twitter account and my Facebook page, and I've been always very respectful to those people who are opining to me. I would listen to what they say, and I would never defend myself with words only. I would use actions. When they said I should withdraw from the campaign, I filed the first lawsuit against the general directorate of traffic police for not issuing me a driver's license. There are a lot of people also -- very big support, like those 3,000 people who signed the petition to release me. We sent a petition to the Shura Council in favor of lifting the ban on Saudi women, and there were, like, 3,500 citizens who believed in that and they signed that petition. There were people like that, I just showed some examples, who are amazing, who are believing in women's rights in Saudi Arabia, and trying, and they are also facing a lot of hate because of speaking up and voicing their views.
但人们会从经历中学习 我也是这样 我从监狱出来的第一件事 当然我先洗了个澡 我上网打开推特账号和脸谱 我对那些对我发表意见的人 总是很尊敬 我总是听听他们的想法 我从不只用单薄的文字辩解 我会采取行动 当他们都说我应该退出这项行动时 我对管理总局发了第一封投诉 他们还没发我驾照呢 也有些人们很支持我 譬如那3000个 联名请愿释放我的 我们写了一封请愿书给协商议院 想要为妇女开车解禁 有大概3500位公民支持 在请愿书上签字 有一些这样的人,我只是举个例子 他们令人吃惊 他们觉得沙特阿拉伯的女性应该拥有合法权利 有关由于公开讲话和表白他们的这一看法 他们面对有些人的憎恨 他们仍为此努力
Saudi Arabia today is taking small steps toward enhancing women's rights. The Shura Council that's appointed by the king, by royal decree of King Abdullah, last year there were 30 women assigned to that Council, like 20 percent. 20 percent of the Council. (Applause) The same time, finally, that Council, after rejecting our petition four times for women driving, they finally accepted it last February. (Applause) After being sent to jail or sentenced lashing, or sent to a trial, the spokesperson of the traffic police said, we will only issue traffic violation for women drivers. The Grand Mufti, who is the head of the religious establishment in Saudi Arabia, he said, it's not recommended for women to drive. It used to be haram, forbidden, by the previous Grand Mufti.
沙特阿拉伯如今正在加强妇女权利的道路上 一步一步地前进着 由阿卜杜拉国王的皇家法令认可 我们国家国王指定的协商议院 去年已经有了约30位议员 大约是百分之20 她们占了协商议院百分之20的席位(掌声) 同时 协商议院 在先前驳回允许妇女驾车的请愿书4次后 去年2月他们最终接受了 (掌声) 曾经会被送入监狱 被判决鞭刑 或者发往审判 交通部门的发言人后来说 我们如今只管违反交通法规的女驾驶员 在沙特阿拉伯的宗教领袖 大穆夫提 表示 我们不建议妇女开车 而以前 根据大穆夫提 的意思 妇女驾车是被严格禁止的
So for me, it's not about only these small steps. It's about women themselves.
我觉得 我们所做的不仅仅是这几个进步 这是关于所有女性自身的
A friend once asked me, she said, "So when do you think this women driving will happen?"
我的一个朋友曾经问我 她说 “那你觉得我们女性什么时候才会普遍开起车来?”
I told her, "Only if women stop asking 'When?' and take action to make it now."
我告诉她 “除非你停止问‘什么时候’这种问题 而立刻行动起来”
So it's not only about the system, it's also about us women to drive our own life, I'd say.
我认为,这不仅关乎社会意识形态 这代表我们妇女能主宰自己的命运了
So I have no clue, really, how I became an activist. And I don't know how I became one now. But all I know, and all I'm sure of, in the future when someone asks me my story, I will say, "I'm proud to be amongst those women who lifted the ban, fought the ban, and celebrated everyone's freedom."
我不知道我是如何变成这样一个行动派的 也不清楚我如何就成为我现在的样子 但我知道 我也确信 当以后有人让我讲起我的故事 我会说“能成为那些 激起禁忌 与之战斗并最终赢得每个人的自由 那广大妇女中的一员 我非常自豪”
So the question I started my talk with, who do you think is more difficult to face, oppressive governments or oppressive societies? I hope you find clues to answer that from my speech.
回到最一开始我提出的问题 对抗政府或者挑战传统社会 你觉得哪个更难? 我希望从我的演讲里面你们能找到答案
Thank you, everyone.
谢谢你们
(Applause) Thank you. (Applause) Thank you. (Applause)
(掌声) 谢谢 (掌声) 谢谢(掌声)