Cities are like siblings in a large polygamous family. Each one has a unique personality and is headed in a distinct direction. But they all have somewhat shared origins. Sometimes I think postcolonial cities are like the children of the two least-favorite wives, who are constantly being asked, "Ah, why can't you be more like your sister?"
各个城市就像一夫多妻家庭里的 兄弟姐妹一样。 每一个城市都有独特的性格, 朝着不同的方向成长。 但它们都有一个共同的根。 有时候我觉得后殖民时期的城市 就像是 最不受丈夫待见的两位妻子的孩子。 总是被说: “你为什么不能像你姐姐一样?”
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The "why" of cities is largely the same, no matter where they are: an advantageous location that makes trade and administration possible; the potential for scalable opportunities for the skilled and unskilled alike; a popular willingness to be in constant flux and, of course, resilience. The "how" of cities, however, is a whole other story. How are they run? How do they grow? How do they decide who belongs and who doesn't?
这个也适用于“为什么”不管在哪, 各个城市都会有相同的发展: 一个占据地利优势的地方 有易于贸易和管理; 无论是否有工作技能 城市都能为他们提供上升的可能; 愿意处在不断变化之中, 当然,还要有适应力。 但如何取得这些优势 则是另外一回事了。 城市如何运作? 城市如何发展? 城市如何决定谁能留下、 谁又不能留下?
Lagos is my home. You can always find the Nigerians by following the noise and the dancing, right?
拉各斯是我的家乡 你总能顺着吵闹的声音和跳舞的动静 找到尼日利亚人,对吧?
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Like any major city, that place is a lot of things, many of which are highly contradictory. Our public transportation doesn't quite work, so we have these privately owned bright yellow buses that regularly cause accidents. Luxury car showrooms line badly maintained and often flooded roads. Street evangelism is only slightly less ubiquitous than street harassment. Sex workers sometimes have two degrees, a bank job and a prominent role in church.
和其他大城市一样, 很多东西在这里汇聚 其中很多东西是相互矛盾的。 拉各斯的公共交通不怎么方便, 于是我们就有了私人开的亮黄色大巴 但事故频发。 卖豪车的展厅外面是破破烂烂、 经常淹水的马路。 路上的传教活动比街头骚扰 只少那么一点。 有的性工作者有双学位, 一份银行工作 也在教堂担任要角。
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On any given day, there can be either a party or a burned body in the middle of a street.
随便哪一天 你在街上看到的如果不是派对 就是一具烧焦的尸体。
There is so much that is possible in Lagos and so much that isn't, and very often the difference between possibility and impossibility is simply who you are, and if you're lucky enough, who you're connected to. Belonging in Lagos is a fluid concept determined by ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender, but most visibly and often most violently, class.
拉各斯有无数可能 也有无数不可能, 可能与不可能之间的区别 往往只是关系到你的身份这么简单。 如果你要足够幸运,得有关系 拉各斯的归属感是一个流动的概念, 决定于种族、性取向和性别, 影响最大、最突出的因素则是 阶级。
Before Nigeria became a country, fisherpeople from the inland creeks started to come down the Lagos lagoon and establish villages along the coast. About 60 years later, my grandfather, Oludotun Adekunle Kukoyi, also arrived in Lagos. Like me, he was an alumnus of the University of Ibadan, a young member of the educated elite in the independence era. Over time, he built an illustrious career as a land surveyor, mapping out now-bustling neighborhoods when they were just waist-high wild grass. He died when I was nine. And by that time, my family, like the families of those fisherpeople, knew Lagos as home.
尼日利亚独立前 渔民开始从内陆溪水地区 转移到了濒海湖附近, 沿着海岸线建起村庄。 60年后,我的爷爷库科伊 也来到了拉各斯。 爷爷和我都是伊巴丹大学的学生, 他是国家独立时期受过教育的人, 属于精英阶级中的年轻人。 作为土地测量师,他工作出色, 他绘制地图的地方 现在已经成了热闹的社区 在当时却是齐腰深的一大片野草。 我九岁时,爷爷去世了。 那时,我的家人与其他渔户一样 把拉各斯当作家。
Among the Yoruba, we have a saying, "Èkó gb’olè, ó gb’ọ̀lẹ," which can be translated to mean that Lagos will welcome anyone. But that saying is becoming less and less true. Many Lagosians, including the descendants of those fisherpeople who arrived generations before my grandfather, are now being pushed out to make room for an emergent city that has been described as "the new Dubai." You see, Lagos inspires big dreams, even in its leaders, and successive governments have declared aspirations towards a megacity where poverty does not exist. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on the eradication of poverty as you would expect, the strategy of choice focuses on eliminating the poor.
约鲁巴语中有一句俗语: "Èkó gb’olè, ó gb’ọ̀lẹ," 翻译过来就是拉各斯欢迎所有人。 但这句话变得越来越不真实。 许多拉各斯人,包括渔民的后代 他们来这儿的时间比我祖父还要长, 现在却被赶出这片土地, 就是为了给发展中的城市腾地方, 这座城市被称作“新迪拜”。 拉各斯让人们畅想未来, 连城市的管理者也不例外, 多届政府均表示出他们的决心 让拉各斯成长为超大城市, 消灭贫困。 然而,并非我们所期望的那样 城市没有致力于消除贫困, 反而采取了清除贫困人口的策略。
Last October, the Governor announced plans to demolish every single waterfront settlement in Lagos. There are more than 40 of these indigenous communities all over the city, with over 300,000 people living in them. Otodo Gbame, a hundred-year-old fishing village with a population about three-quarters that of Monaco and similar potential for beachfront luxury --
去年10月,市长宣布 拆除拉各斯海边所有的居住设施。 当地社区大概有40多个 遍布拉各斯, 居民人数超过30万。 奥图顿巴耶, 是一个拥有百年历史的渔村 人口约是摩纳哥的四分之三 也拥有像摩纳哥那样发展 高端旅游业的潜力,
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was one of the first to be targeted.
这座渔村第一个被盯上。
I first heard of Otodo Gbame after the demolition started. When I visited in November 2016, I met Magdalene Aiyefoju. She is a now-homeless woman whose surname means, "the world is blind." Magdalene's son Basil was one of over 20 people who were shot, drowned or presumed dead in that land grab. Standing outside her shelter, I saw the two white-sand football fields where Basil used to play. Spread all around us were the ruins of schools, churches, a primary health center, shops, thousands of homes. Young children enthusiastically helped to put up shelters, and about 5,000 of the residents, with nowhere else to go, simply stayed put. And then in April, state security personnel came back. This time, they cleared the community out completely, with beatings, bullets and fire. As I speak, there are construction crews preparing Otodo Gbame's beaches for anyone who can afford a multi-million-dollar view. The new development is called "Periwinkle Estate."
我第一次了解奥图顿巴耶是在 拆迁开始之后。 2016年11月我去了渔村, 见到了麦格达琳·阿伊芙朱 她现在成了无家可归的人。 她的姓氏意为“世界被蒙住了双眼”。 麦格达琳的儿子贝索是 20多名受害者之一, 他们在土地收回的过程中 被开枪打死、淹死或者被推定死亡。 在她棚屋的外面,我看到了两个 白色沙子铺成的足球场 贝索以前在这里玩。 我们周围都是被拆毁的学校、教堂 健康中心、商店 以及上千个家。 孩子们热心地帮着搭棚屋, 5千名无家可归的住户 就这么继续留在这里。 到了4月 国家安全部的人又来了 这次,整个社区都被他们 清理干净了, 他们的解决方式是暴力、 枪支和放火。 我说话的这会儿就有建筑工人 在建设海滩 为了那些能享受得起 这几百万美元景色的人 新开发项目叫“长春花地产”。
Forced evictions are incredibly violent and, of course, unconstitutional. And yet, they happen so often in so many of our cities, because the first thing we are taught to forget about poor people is that they are people. We believe that a home is a thing a person absolutely has a right to, unless the person is poor and the home is built a certain way in a certain neighborhood. But there is no single definition of the word "home." After all, what is a slum besides an organic response to acute housing deficits and income inequality? And what is a shanty if not a person making a home for themselves against all odds? Slums are an imperfect housing solution, but they are also prime examples of the innovation, adaptability and resilience at the foundation -- and the heart -- of every functional city. You don't need to be the new Dubai when you're already Lagos.
强行驱离的方式非常暴力, 当然也违反宪法 但却在许多城市屡见不鲜, 因为我们往往会 不把穷人当人。 我们认为拥有一个家是 一个人毋庸置疑的权利 除非他很穷,又或者他的家 以一种特殊的方式 建在了一个特殊的区域。 但“家”这个词有许多定义。 毕竟,如果不是因为住房短缺 和收入不平等 谁还会住在贫民窟呢? 如果不是想尽力为自己建起一个家, 谁又会搭棚屋呢? 贫民窟不是很好的选择 但贫民窟也很好地展现了每一座城市的 创新与适应 是来自内心深处的 感受。 你不需要一个新迪拜 因为你已经有了拉各斯。
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We have our own identity, our own rhythm, and as anyone who knows Lagos can tell you, poor Lagosians are very often the source of the city's character. Without its poor, Lagos would not be known for its music or its endless energy or even the fact that you can buy an ice cold drink or a puppy through your car window.
我们有自己的特点 自己的步调 任何一个了解拉各斯的人都可以告诉你 赋予城市个性的往往是拉各斯的穷人。 没有穷人,拉各斯就没了 她有名的音乐, 没了她源源不断的活力, 你也就不能透过车窗户买杯冰饮, 或买只小狗了。
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The conditions that cause us to define certain neighborhoods as slums can be effectively improved, but not without recognizing the humanity and the agency of the people living in them. In Lagos, where public goods are rarely publicly available, slum dwellers are often at the forefront of innovating solutions. After being disconnected from the grid for months because the power company couldn't figure out how to collect bills, one settlement designed a system that collectivized remittances and got everyone cheaper rates into the bargain. Another settlement created a reform program that hires local bad boys as security. They know every trick and every hideout, so now troublemakers are more likely to get caught and reported to police and fewer of the youth end up engaging in criminal activity. Yet another settlement recently completed a flood-safe, eco-friendly communal toilet system. Models like these are being adopted across Lagos.
让社区变成我们口中的贫民窟的因素 是可以改善的, 但只有在我们意识到 他们也是人的时候 才可以实现。 使用拉各斯的公共产品 对一般人来讲是很难的, 贫民窟的居民总是走在 创新办法的前沿。 他们已经几个月没有电了 是因为供电公司想不出收费方法, 于是切断了供电, 有个贫民窟弄了一个集体收费系统 让每个人都享受到了更优惠的电价。 还有一个贫民窟搞了改革, 招当地的小混混当保安。 他们对街头把戏和藏匿地点了如指掌 闹事的人被抓住送去 警察局的几率更大了, 而青少年犯罪活动则更少了。 还有一个贫民窟最近刚刚完成 一个冲水方便、节能环保的 公用厕所系统工程。 这些成功方法正为拉各斯各地采用
Informal settlements are incorrectly named as the problem. In fact, the real problems are the factors that create them, like the entrenchment of poverty, social exclusion and state failures. When our governments frame slums as threats in order to justify violent land grabs or forced evictions, they're counting on those of us who live in formal housing to tacitly and ignorantly agree with them. Rather, we must remind them that governments exist to serve not only those who build and live in luxury homes, but also those who clean and guard them. Our --
非正式的住所被当成问题, 这是不正确的。 真正的问题在于产生这个现状的原因 比如根深蒂固的贫困、 社会排挤、 国家管理不当。 政府把贫民窟视作威胁 是为了让暴力的土地回收和 强制驱离看上去合理些, 政府指望我们这些住在好房子里的人 心照不宣地同意他们的说法。 相反,我们必须告诉他们 政府不仅要服务那些住在 高档房屋里的人 他们还要服务那些负责清洁和 安保工作的人。 我们的
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our realities may differ, but our rights don't.
我们的情况也许不同 但我们的权利是一样的。
The Lagos state government, like far too many on our continent, pays lip service to ideas of inclusion, while acting as though progress can only be achieved by the erasure, exploitation and even elimination of groups it considers expendable. People living with disabilities who hawk or beg on Lagos streets are rounded up, extorted and detained. Women in low-income neighborhoods are picked up and charged with prostitution, regardless of what they actually do for a living. Gay citizens are scapegoated to distract from real political problems. But people, like cities, are resilient, and no amount of legislation or intimidation or violence can fully eliminate any of us. Prostitutes, women and women who work as prostitutes still haven't gone extinct, despite centuries of active suppression. Queer Africans continue to exist, even though queerness is now criminalized in most parts of the continent. And I'm fairly certain that poor people don't generally tend to just disappear because they've been stripped of everything they have.
拉各斯政府 以及非洲大陆上其他的政府 总是空谈包容的概念, 为了发展进步 不惜清除、剥削甚至牺牲 某些群体的利益 他们觉得这些是可以舍弃的东西。 拉各斯街头乞讨的残疾人 被驱赶到一起,被敲诈 被拘留。 低收入的妇女被带走 以参与卖淫的名目被要求缴纳罚款, 根本不管她们究竟以什么为生。 同性恋者成了替罪羊, 把公众目光引离真正的政治问题。 但人和城市一样,是有适应力的, 无论什么样的法律、恫吓和暴力 都无法让某个群体彻底消失。 妓女、妇女以及卖淫者 仍然存在, 即使对她们的压迫已经 存在了几个世纪。 非洲的同性恋者依然存在, 尽管同性恋在非洲绝大数地方 是犯罪行为。 我相信穷人不会因为失去 所拥有的一切 就这么从我们的视线中消失。
We are all already here, and that answers the question of whether or not we belong.
我们就在这里, 这是对我们是否属于城市 的回答。
When those fisherpeople started to sail down the lagoon in search of new homes, it could not have occurred to them that the city that would rise up around them would one day insist that they do not belong in it. I like to believe that my grandfather, in mapping new frontiers for Lagos, was trying to open it up to make room for other people to be welcomed by the city in the same way that he was. On my way here, my grandma called me to remind me how proud she was, how proud [my grandfather] and my mother would have been. I am their dreams come true. But there is no reason why their dreams -- or mine, for that matter -- are allowed to come true while those of others are turned to nightmares. And lest we forget: the minimum requirement for a dream is a safe place to lay your head.
之前那些来到海边 寻找新家园的渔民们 怎么也不会想到 自己住的地方会发展成城市 有一天不承认他们属于这里。 我相信我的爷爷 在为拉各斯绘制新地图时 他一定是想让拉各斯成为 欢迎每一个人的到来的城市 就像他来时的那样。 在我来这儿之前,奶奶打电话给我 说她有多么为我骄傲, 说如果我爷爷和妈妈还在世的话, 他们会有多么骄傲。 他们的梦想在我这里实现了。 但在他们的梦想或我的梦想 成为现实时, 绝不可以变成其他人的噩梦。 我们不应忘记: 梦其实需要的仅仅是 一个让我们枕着头、感到安心的地方。
It is too late now for Basil, but not for Magdalene, not for the hundreds of thousands, the millions still under threat in Lagos or any of our cities. The world does not have to remain blind to the suffering that is created when we deny people's humanity, or even to the incredible potential for growth that exists when we recognize and value all contributions.
现在对于贝索来说已经太迟了, 但对麦格达琳 以及几十万、上百万 住在拉各斯或其他城市里的人来说, 仍然不晚。 世界不必继续被蒙上双眼 不必无视我们否认他人权利时 造成的苦痛, 不必无视我们认可尊重 每一个人的贡献 而带来的巨大增长潜能。
We must hold our governments and ourselves accountable for keeping our shared cities safe for everyone in them, because the only cities worth building -- indeed, the only futures worth dreaming of -- are those that include all of us, no matter who we are or how we make homes for ourselves.
我们必须让我们的政府 和我们自己 承担起责任 让我们城市中的每一个人 都能获得安全感, 因为值得建设的城市 值得畅想的未来 就是能包容我们所有人的地方, 不管我们是谁, 不管我们在何处为家。
Thank you.
谢谢。
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