Ten years ago exactly, I was in Afghanistan. I was covering the war in Afghanistan, and I witnessed, as a reporter for Al Jazeera, the amount of suffering and destruction that emerged out of a war like that. Then, two years later, I covered another war -- the war in Iraq. I was placed at the center of that war because I was covering the war from the northern part of Iraq. And the war ended with a regime change, like the one in Afghanistan. And that regime that we got rid of was actually a dictatorship, an authoritarian regime, that for decades created a great sense of paralysis within the nation, within the people themselves. However, the change that came through foreign intervention created even worse circumstances for the people and deepened the sense of paralysis and inferiority in that part of the world.
就在十年前 我人在阿富汗 在那裡報導阿富汗戰爭 身爲半島電視台記者的我看到了 那樣的戰爭所帶來的 大量的受苦受難和摧毀 然後兩年後 我報導了另一場戰爭-伊拉克戰爭 我被派到戰爭現場 因爲我必須報導那場 發生在伊拉克北方的戰爭 然後戰爭結束了 政權改變了 像在阿富汗發生的那樣 那個政權 我們唾棄的那個政權 確實是一個獨裁的政權 是一個專制的政權 那個政權幾十年來 在國家之內、在人民之間製造了 一個巨大的麻木感 然而外力介入 帶來的改變 給阿拉伯世界人民 帶來更糟糕的情況 加深了阿拉伯人的 麻木感和自卑感
For decades, we have lived under authoritarian regimes -- in the Arab world, in the Middle East. These regimes created something within us during this period. I'm 43 years old right now. For the last 40 years, I have seen almost the same faces for kings and presidents ruling us -- old, aged, authoritarian, corrupt situations -- regimes that we have seen around us. And for a moment I was wondering, are we going to live in order to see real change happening on the ground, a change that does not come through foreign intervention, through the misery of occupation, through nations invading our land and deepening the sense of inferiority sometimes? The Iraqis: yes, they got rid of Saddam Hussein, but when they saw their land occupied by foreign forces they felt very sad, they felt that their dignity had suffered. And this is why they revolted. This is why they did not accept. And actually other regimes, they told their citizens, "Would you like to see the situation of Iraq? Would you like to see civil war, sectarian killing? Would you like to see destruction? Would you like to see foreign troops on your land?" And the people thought for themselves, "Maybe we should live with this kind of authoritarian situation that we find ourselves in, instead of having the second scenario." That was one of the worst nightmares that we have seen.
幾十年來 在阿拉伯世界、在中東 我們生活在專制的政權下 此期間這些政權 在我們的心中製造了某種東西 我現在已經43歲 過去40年我所看到的 幾乎總是那些老面孔 統治我們的無論是國王還是總統 年邁衰老、專制獨裁、 貪污腐敗 這就是在我們身邊看到的政權 有時候我很納悶 我們在有生之年 是否有機會看到這世間真正的改變 看到非外力介入所造成的改變 不必經過被佔領的苦難 不必經過外國入侵我們的國家 不再深化我們的自卑感? 伊拉克人,沒錯,他們去掉了海珊 但是他們看到 國家被外國勢力佔領了 他們感到悲傷 覺得本國的尊嚴受到蹂躪 這就是爲何他們反抗 這就是爲何他們不能接受的原因 而事實上別的政權告訴他們的公民 "你們想看到像伊拉克的情況嗎? 你們想看到內戰和派系鬥爭的殺戮嗎? 你們想看到摧毀嗎? 你們想看到外國軍隊在你們的國家嗎?" 人民想一想自己的情況 "也許我們還是忍受 這種無奈的專制集權吧 免得要接受另一種狀況" 那會是我們所見過最糟的噩夢之一
For 10 years, unfortunately we have found ourselves reporting images of destruction, images of killing, of sectarian conflicts, images of violence, emerging from a magnificent piece of land, a region that one day was the source of civilizations and art and culture for thousands of years. Now I am here to tell you that the future that we were dreaming for has eventually arrived. A new generation, well-educated, connected, inspired by universal values and a global understanding, has created a new reality for us. We have found a new way to express our feelings and to express our dreams: these young people who have restored self-confidence in our nations in that part of the world, who have given us new meaning for freedom and empowered us to go down to the streets. Nothing happened. No violence. Nothing. Just step out of your house, raise your voice and say, "We would like to see the end of the regime."
十年來 我們很不幸地處於 報導摧毀的景象 殺戮的景象 派系衝突的景象 暴力的景象 在一塊偉大的土地上 在一片曾經是 幾千年文明和藝術起源的地區 發生著那樣的景象 我現在來到這裡 要告訴你們的是 我們所夢想的未來 終於來臨了 一個新的世代 受過良好教育 能上網連結 受到普世價值的激勵 具有全球觀的新世代 已經爲我們創造了新的現實 我們找到了一個 表達我們感情的新方法 表達我們夢想的新方法 這些年輕人 他們在我們的國家裡 在阿拉伯世界中重建了自信 他們爲我們帶來 自由的新意義 讓我們有勇氣走上街頭 一點都沒事、沒有暴力、沒事 只要走出家門 擡高你們的聲音 大聲說:"我們要看到這個政權終結"
This is what happened in Tunisia. Over a few days, the Tunisian regime that invested billions of dollars in the security agencies, billions of dollars in maintaining, trying to maintain, its prisons, collapsed, disappeared, because of the voices of the public. People who were inspired to go down to the streets and to raise their voices, they tried to kill. The intelligence agencies wanted to arrest people. They found something called Facebook. They found something called Twitter. They were surprised by all of these kinds of issues. And they said, "These kids are misled." Therefore, they asked their parents to go down to the streets and collect them, bring them back home. This is what they were telling. This is their propaganda. "Bring these kids home because they are misled." But yes, these youth who have been inspired by universal values, who are idealistic enough to imagine a magnificent future and, at the same time, realistic enough to balance this kind of imagination and the process leading to it -- not using violence, not trying to create chaos -- these young people, they did not go home. Parents actually went to the streets and they supported them. And this is how the revolution was born in Tunisia.
突尼西亞發生的就是這個情況 不消幾天功夫 突尼西亞那個撒下幾十億美元 加強情治機構控制的政權 那個撒下幾十億美元 維持、試圖維持 監禁人民的監獄 那個政權就垮台、消失了 那是因爲公衆的聲音 受到激勵的人民走上了街頭 擡高了他們的聲音 維安部隊試圖殺人 情治機構想要逮人 他們發現有個東西叫臉書 他們發現有個東西叫推特 他們想分而治之 他們說 "這些孩子們被蠱惑誤導了" 因此要求他們的父母 上街找他們的孩子們 把孩子們帶回家 他們這麽說的、這麼宣傳的 "把這些孩子們帶回家 因爲他們受到誤導" 可是呢 這些年輕人 他們受到 普世價值的激勵 他們充滿著理想 憧憬偉大的未來 而同時又實事求是 能夠平衡這種憧憬 結果是- 沒有使用暴力 沒有試圖製造混亂 這些年輕人 他們沒有回家 他們的父母上了街頭 反倒是去支持孩子們的 這就是突尼西亞革命的誕生
We in Al Jazeera were banned from Tunisia for years, and the government did not allow any Al Jazeera reporter to be there. But we found that these people in the street, all of them are our reporters, feeding our newsroom with pictures, with videos and with news. And suddenly that newsroom in Doha became a center that received all this kind of input from ordinary people -- people who are connected and people who have ambition and who have liberated themselves from the feeling of inferiority. And then we took that decision: We are unrolling the news. We are going to be the voice for these voiceless people. We are going to spread the message. Yes, some of these young people are connected to the Internet, but the connectivity in the Arab world is very little, is very small, because of many problems that we are suffering from. But Al Jazeera took the voice from these people and we amplified [it]. We put it in every sitting room in the Arab world -- and internationally, globally, through our English channel.
我們半島電視台 好幾年來就被突尼西亞禁止採訪 該國政府不允許我們 半島的記者到該國 但是我們發現街頭的這些人 個個都是我們的記者 不斷湧向我們的新聞室 照片、影片 還有新聞報導 位於杜哈的那個新聞室突然 變成了接收平凡百姓 傳來的這類資料的中心- 上網連結的人、具有雄心壯志的人 他們解放了自己 不再感到自卑 於是我們做了那個決定: 我們開始披露這些新聞 我們要成爲這些無聲人民的喉舌 我們要把這個信息傳播出去 沒錯,這些年輕人當中 有些是連結到網路上的 但是在阿拉伯世界的連結率 很小、很少人連結網路 由於我們遭遇到許多問題 不過半島電視台接收這些人的聲音 然後將他們的聲音放大 把那聲音帶到阿拉伯世界的每個客廳- 也透過英語頻道 跨越國際,帶到全球
And then people started to feel that there's something new happening. And then Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali decided to leave. And then Egypt started, and Hosni Mubarak decided to leave. And now Libya as you see it. And then you have Yemen. And you have many other countries trying to see and to rediscover that feeling of, "How do we imagine a future which is magnificent and peaceful and tolerant?" I want to tell you something, that the Internet and connectivity has created [a] new mindset. But this mindset has continued to be faithful to the soil and to the land that it emerged from. And while this was the major difference between many initiatives before to create change, before we thought, and governments told us -- and even sometimes it was true -- that change was imposed on us, and people rejected that, because they thought that it is alien to their culture. Always, we believed that change will spring from within, that change should be a reconciliation with culture, cultural diversity, with our faith in our tradition and in our history, but at the same time, open to universal values, connected with the world, tolerant to the outside. And this is the moment that is happening right now in the Arab world. This is the right moment, and this is the actual moment that we see all of these meanings meet together and then create the beginning of this magnificent era that will emerge from the region.
於是人們開始感受到 有一種新的情況正在發生 於是班阿里 決定下台 然後埃及開始了 穆巴拉克決定下台 現在利比亞是大家都看到的 此外還有葉門 還有許多其他的國家 正在嘗試重新發現那種 "我們到底憧憬怎樣的 既偉大又平和且寬容的未來呢?" 我想告訴各位 網際網路和連結 已經創造出新的心態 但這種心態 仍一直是忠於 孕育它的 斯土斯地 而且在一方面這一點是與以往 許多創造改變的方案最大的不同是- 以往我們只能想 政府說了算- 而且這往往還是真實的情況 改變是加諸在我們身上的- 人民不能接受那樣 因爲他們覺得那與我們的文化相違 我們一直相信 改變將會從內部湧出 那樣的改變應該是一種和解 一種與文化、與文化多樣性、 與我們的傳統信仰 以及歷史的和解 但另一方面也同時 開放接納普世價值、連結世界 而且具有對外的寬容 現在就是那個時刻 正在阿拉伯世界發生的 這是再好不過的時刻 所有的價值意義都包含其中 於是造成了這個 偉大時代的開端 它將在這個地區湧現
How did the elite deal with that -- the so-called political elite? In front of Facebook, they brought the camels in Tahrir Square. In front of Al Jazeera, they started creating tribalism. And then when they failed, they started speaking about conspiracies that emerged from Tel Aviv and Washington in order to divide the Arab world. They started telling the West, "Be aware of Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda is taking over our territories. These are Islamists trying to create new Imaras. Be aware of these people who [are] coming to you in order to ruin your great civilization." Fortunately, people right now cannot be deceived. Because this corrupt elite in that region has lost even the power of deception. They could not, and they cannot, imagine how they could really deal with this reality. They have lost. They have been detached from their people, from the masses, and now we are seeing them collapsing one after the other.
而菁英們如何面對呢- 那些所謂的政治菁英們? 面對著臉書 他們把駱駝帶到解放廣場 面對著半島電視台 他們開始製造族群分裂 但是當他們失敗了 他們開始說那是台拉維夫 送來的陰謀 試圖分裂阿拉伯世界 他們開始告訴西方 "當心蓋達組織 蓋達正在接收我們的領土 這些人是伊斯蘭基本教義派的 試圖建立新的政教國家 當心這些人 他們接下來攻擊的就是你們 爲的是毀壞你們的偉大文明 所幸的是 現在的人不能被欺騙 因爲在那個地區的 這些腐敗的菁英們 甚至已經失去了欺騙別人的能力 他們以往不能,現在也不能 想象到如何面對這個真實的情況 他們一籌莫展- 他們距離人民、 距離群衆太過於遙遠 因此我們現在看到他們 一個接一個倒下來
Al Jazeera is not a tool of revolution. We do not create revolutions. However, when something of that magnitude happens, we are at the center of the coverage. We were banned from Egypt, and our correspondents, some of them were arrested. But most of our camera people and our journalists, they went underground in Egypt -- voluntarily -- to report what happened in Tahrir Square. For 18 days, our cameras were broadcasting, live, the voices of the people in Tahrir Square. I remember one night when someone phoned me on my cellphone -- ordinary person who I don't know -- from Tahrir Square. He told me, "We appeal to you not to switch off the cameras. If you switch off the cameras tonight, there will be a genocide. You are protecting us by showing what is happening at Tahrir Square." I felt the responsibility to phone our correspondents there and to phone our newsroom and to tell them, "Make your best not to switch off the cameras at night, because the guys there really feel confident when someone is reporting their story -- and they feel protected as well."
半島電視台不是 革命的工具 我們沒有製造革命 然而 當那樣偉大的事件發生時 我們處於報導事件的中心 我們被禁止進入埃及 我們的新聞特派員 有些人被逮捕了 但是我們大多數的攝影師 以及我們的記者- 出於自願-他們潛入埃及 以便能報導解放廣場的情況 整整十八天 我們的攝影機現場轉播 解放廣場上人民的聲音 我記得有一天晚上 有人打電話到我的行動電話來- 我不認識的普通人-從解放廣場打來的 他告訴我"我們請求你們 不要關掉攝影機 如果你們今晚關掉攝影機 那會鬧出人命的 你們讓人們看見 解放廣場發生的一切,是在保護我們" 我頓時感到責任重大 打電話給在那裡的特派員 打電話給我們的新聞室 告訴他們"盡可能 不要在晚間關掉攝影機 因爲有人報導著他們在那裡的故事 那些人會感到自信- 同時也會感到受保護"
So we have a chance to create a new future in that part of the world. We have a chance to go and to think of the future as something which is open to the world. Let us not repeat the mistake of Iran, of [the] Mosaddeq revolution. Let us free ourselves -- especially in the West -- from thinking about that part of the world based on oil interest, or based on interests of the illusion of stability and security. The stability and security of authoritarian regimes cannot create but terrorism and violence and destruction. Let us accept the choice of the people. Let us not pick and choose who we would like to rule their future. The future should be ruled by people themselves, even sometimes if they are voices that might now scare us. But the values of democracy and the freedom of choice that is sweeping the Middle East at this moment in time is the best opportunity for the world, for the West and the East, to see stability and to see security and to see friendship and to see tolerance emerging from the Arab world, rather than the images of violence and terrorism. Let us support these people. Let us stand for them. And let us give up our narrow selfishness in order to embrace change, and in order to celebrate with the people of that region a great future and hope and tolerance. The future has arrived, and the future is now. I thank you very much.
如此我們才有機會 在世界上的那個地區 創造一個新的未來 我們才有機會 繼續前進、思考我們的未來 開放給這個世界的未來 我們不能重蹈伊朗的覆轍 導致胎死腹中的革命 我們要解放自己-尤其是西方- 不要以爲那個地區 只是基於石油的利益 或是基於穩定安全的幻覺 所能獲得的利益 其實,專制的政權 所維持的穩定和安全 只會創造出 恐怖主義、暴力和摧毀 讓我們接受人民的抉擇 我們不要挑選 我們中意的人來主宰他們的未來 未來應該由 人民自己來主宰 即使有時有些聲音 在此時會讓我們驚嚇 但是此時席捲中東的 民主價值 和選擇的自由,對這個世界而言 正是大好機會 無論東方或西方 都將看到安定和安全 也將看到友誼和寬容 湧現在阿拉伯世界裡 而非暴力與恐怖的景象 讓我們支持這些人民 讓我們爲他們撐腰 讓我們放棄 狹隘的自私自利 以便擁抱改變 以便能和那地區的人民一同歡慶 一個偉大的未來 一同歡慶希望與寬容 未來已經來臨 未來就在今朝 謝謝各位聆聽
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Thank you very much.
謝謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Chris Anderson: I just have a couple of questions for you. Thank you for coming here. How would you characterize the historical significance of what's happened? Is this a story-of-the-year, a story-of-the-decade or something more?
Chris Anderson:只有幾個問題 感謝你來此演講 這陣子發生的事 你如何定義其歷史意義 這是本年最大事、十年最大事 還是更大的一件事?
Wadah Khanfar: Actually, this may be the biggest story that we have ever covered. We have covered many wars. We have covered a lot of tragedies, a lot of problems, a lot of conflict zones, a lot of hot spots in the region, because we were centered at the middle of it. But this is a story -- it is a great story; it is beautiful. It is not something that you only cover because you have to cover a great incident. You are witnessing change in history. You are witnessing the birth of a new era. And this is what the story's all about.
Wadah Khanfar:這可能是我們報導過的最大事 我們報導過許多戰爭 許多悲劇、許多問題 許多衝突地區、許多該地區的熱點 因爲我們就在其中 但這事件-這是一件大事,而且很美妙 這不是因為發生了一件大事 我們非得報導不可而已 而是我們目睹著歷史的改變 我們正在見證新時代的來臨 這是這個事件偉大之處
CA: There are a lot of people in the West who are still skeptical, or think this may just be an intermediate stage before much more alarming chaos. You really believe that if there are democratic elections in Egypt now, that a government could emerge that espouses some of the values you've spoken about so inspiringly?
CA:在西方有許多人 仍然有些懷疑 或認爲這只是過渡階段 接下來可能會有更令人擔憂的混亂 你真的相信 如果現在在埃及有了民主的選舉 那就會出現一個政府 擁抱你那麽熱切談論的某些價值?
WK: And people actually, after the collapse of the Hosni Mubarak regime, the youth who have organized themselves in certain groups and councils, they are guarding the transformation and they are trying to put it on a track in order to satisfy the values of democracy, but at the same time also to make it reasonable and to make it rational, not to go out of order. In my opinion, these people are much more wiser than, not only the political elite, even the intellectual elite, even opposition leaders including political parties. At this moment in time, the youth in the Arab world are much more wiser and capable of creating the change than the old -- including the political and cultural and ideological old regimes.
WK:其實人民也會是那樣 穆巴拉克政權垮台後 青年人已經組織了 某些群體和議會 他們看守著轉型的過程 他們試圖將它導入正軌 好讓政府能夠符合 民主的價值 但在此同時 也讓它能夠 合情合理 不至於亂了秩序 依我看法,這些人不僅 比政治菁英 甚至比學術菁英或反對領袖 包括政黨都還要明智 此時此刻阿拉伯世界的年輕人 已經聰明多了 他們有能力創造改變 比那些老人- 比那些舊政權的政治、 文化和意識形態的菁英們 還要聰明
(Applause)
(掌聲)
CA: We are not to get involved politically and interfere in that way. What should people here at TED, here in the West, do if they want to connect or make a difference and they believe in what's happening here?
CA:我們不會那樣介入阿拉伯世界的政治 在TED的人、在西方這裡 能做的是歡迎他們加入 如果他們希望改變也相信 我們在這裡的努力
WK: I think we have discovered a very important issue in the Arab world -- that people care, people care about this great transformation. Mohamed Nanabhay who's sitting with us, the head of Aljazeera.net, he told me that a 2,500 percent increase of accessing our website from various parts of the world. Fifty percent of it is coming from America. Because we discovered that people care, and people would like to know -- they are receiving the stream through our Internet. Unfortunately in the United States, we are not covering but Washington D.C. at this moment in time for Al Jazeera English. But I can tell you, this is the moment to celebrate through connecting ourselves with those people in the street and expressing our support to them and expressing this kind of feeling, universal feeling, of supporting the weak and the oppressed to create a much better future for all of us.
WK:我想我們在阿拉伯世界 發現了一個重要的議題 人們很關心這個巨大的轉型 半島網站的總管 穆罕默德納那布海就在這兒 他向我說我們網站的點閱率 增加了2500% 是來自世界各地的點閱率 從美國來的有50% 我們發現人們關心阿拉伯世界 人們希望知道- 他們從我們的網站接收現場訊息 不幸地,此時此刻在美國 我們只能提供華盛頓特區 半島電視台的英語節目 不過我可以告訴您,此時正是我們 與那些上街頭的人民 連結起來一同歡慶 並表達我們支持的時候 同時也表達這種支持弱小者、 這種支持受壓迫人民的普世感情 以便創造對大家都更好的未來
CA: Well Wadah, a group of members of the TED community, TEDxCairo, are meeting as we speak. They've had some speakers there. I believe they've heard your talk. Thank you for inspiring them and for inspiring all of us. Thank you so much.
CA:好的,瓦達,TED社群有一組成員 是在開羅的TEDX 在我們談話時他們也正在聚會 他們也有演說者來過這兒 我相信他們已經聽到你的談話了 感謝你激勵他們,也激勵了我們 非常感謝你
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