Like many of you, I'm often frustrated by the democratic process. It's messy, it's complicated, it's often inefficient. Our political leaders feel disconnected from the concerns of ordinary people. Many feel that voting every few years for leaders disconnected from their daily challenges is pointless. But before we reject democracy, let's imagine what it could be. And I believe that African activists are redefining democracy by putting protest at its center, what I refer to as "protest democracy."
我与你们很多人一样, 常对民主进程感到沮丧。 它混乱、复杂, 并且通常效率低下。 我们的政治领导人不够关心 民生问题。 许多人认为,每隔几年选出一个 无法解决他们日常困难的领袖, 根本毫无意义。 但是,在我们否定民主以前, 来想象一下它可以变成什么样。 我相信非洲的活动家 正在以抗议为核心重新定义民主, 我称它为:“抗议民主”。
International organizations and academic experts define democracy as regular, multiparty electoral competition. But democracy should not only be about elites competing at the ballot box. For it to have meaning, it's something we must engage in every day. When I say "protest democracy," I'm challenging how we think about democratic action. Viewing democracy as only elections is no longer adequate and threatens democracy itself. So we must protest democracy to give it a renewed meaning.
国际组织和学术专家 定义的民主是: 定期的多党选举竞争。 但民主不应该仅仅是 精英们在竞争选票。 想让它变得有意义, 那它应该是与我们的日常生活 息息相关的事。 当我提出“抗议民主”时, 我挑战的是我们 对民主行动的看法。 把民主只看成是选举, 已经过时了, 并且还会对民主本身造成威胁。 因此我们必须要对民主提出异议, 来重新定义它。
What would this look like? We need to turn to African societies, where ordinary people are increasingly taking to the streets to transform their lives. African social movements have often been at the forefront of conceptualizing democracy in this way. This may come as a surprise to those of who think that the only way Africans engage in politics is through the barrel of the gun. But increasingly, young people are taking to the streets and abandoning organized violence in favor of more effective nonviolent action.
新的民主会是什么样子呢? 让我们看看非洲社会。 在那里,普通人正纷纷走上街头, 去改变他们的生活。 非洲的社会运动常常处于 这种民主概念化方式的前沿。 对于那些认为非洲人民 参政的唯一方式是 动用枪杆子的人来说, 这会让他们感到惊讶。 越来越多的青年人走上街头, 放弃有组织的暴力行为, 支持更有效的非暴力活动。
I've spent much of the past two decades talking to African activists, both violent and nonviolent. Across Africa, young people are rising up to challenge almost every type of regime known to humanity. This is my friend Thiat. He's a rapper from Senegal. He led a large movement in Senegal that was successful in preventing the president from stealing a third term. From Morocco to Lesotho, young people are rising up against entrenched monarchies: in Egypt and Sudan, against brutal dictatorships; in Uganda and Ethiopia, against powerful militarized states with quasi-democratic veneers; in South Africa, where this image was taken, and Burundi, against democratically elected leaders who have done little to improve the conditions for ordinary people. Across the continent, protest is not exceptional, but a normal part of life. Africans use protests to challenge both dictators as well as power cuts. In a way, Africans are protesting democracy itself, enriching its possibilities for us all.
过去二十年,我花了很多时间 与非洲的活动家们交谈, 暴力派和非暴力派的都有。 在整个非洲,年轻人开始站出来, 质疑人类所知道的几乎每一种政权。 这是我的朋友西亚特。 他是塞内加尔的一名说唱歌手。 他在塞内加尔领导了 一个大规模运动, 成功阻止了总统窃取第三次任期。 从摩洛哥到莱索托, 青年人挺身而出, 反抗根深蒂固的君主制; 在埃及和苏丹, 他们对抗残酷的独裁统治; 在乌干达和埃塞俄比亚, 他们反抗拿民主做掩饰的 强大军国主义国家。 在南非——就是拍这张照片的地方—— 还有布隆迪, 反对那些民主选举的领导人, 因为这些领导人 对改善民生毫无作为。 在整个非洲大陆, 抗议并不罕见, 而是正常生活的一部分。 非洲人民通过抗议来反对独裁者, 也抗议断电状况。 在某种意义上,非洲人民 是在抗议民主本身, 来为每个人争取民主的可能性。
There have been two major waves of African protest, and we are currently living through the third, which began around 2005. It includes the so-called Arab Spring, which took place mostly on the continent. The first wave took place in the 1940s and 1950s and led to Africa's decolonization. Kwame Nkrumah led a broad coalition in Ghana that overthrew British rule, providing a template for nonviolent movements globally. The second wave took place in the 1980s and 1990s against austerity measures that imposed harsh conditions on African economies. These protests led to the overthrow of autocratic regimes and led to the introduction of multiparty elections across the continent.
已经有过两大非洲抗议风潮了, 我们现在正在经历第三波, 这一波大约从 2005 年开始, 它包括所谓的“阿拉伯之春”, 主要发生在非洲大陆。 第一波发生在 1940、1950 年代, 它导致了非洲的殖民地自治化。 克瓦米·恩克鲁玛(Kwame Nkrumah) 在加纳领导了一个大联盟, 推翻了英国的统治, 为全世界提供了一个 非暴力运动的典范。 第二波发生在 1980 和 1990 年代, 为了反对财政紧缩措施 给非洲经济强加的苛刻条件。 这些抗议导致了独裁政权的垮台, 并且在全非洲大陆引进了 多党选举制。
The ongoing third wave is correcting the shortcomings of the earlier two. If the first wave brought liberation but not democracy, and the second, elections but only for the elites, then it is the third wave that is most concerned with transforming democracy into the rule of the people. It includes movements like Y'en a Marre in Senegal, Le Balai Citoyen in Burkina Faso, Tajamuka in Zimbabwe, LUCHA and Filimbi in the Democratic Republic of Congo, movements that work outside of more conventional nongovernmental organizations and political parties to challenge the economic and political system itself, often at great risk. Brilliant young activists like LUCHA's Fred Bauma have been detained and tortured, often with little to no outcry from the international community. The list goes on, as you can see from some of the data we collected. There have been large popular protests in over 40 African countries since 2005, and if you look, you'll recognize that in 2011, the year of the so-called Arab Spring, was actually the spike of this broader wave. Contrary to popular belief, many of these protests have been successful. We know of the dictators falling in Tunisia and in Egypt, but popular movements have prevented presidents from stealing third terms in Senegal, in Malawi and Burkina Faso as well.
正在进行的第三波, 意在修正前两次的不足。 如果说第一波带来了自由, 但没有带来民主, 而第二波,有了选举, 但仅限精英, 那这第三波, 则主要专注于将民主转变成为 人们当家作主。 这一波运动包括 塞内加尔的 Y'en a Marre、 布基纳法索的 Le Balai citoyen、 津巴布韦的 Tajamuka、 刚果民主共和国的 LUCHA 和 Filimbi 等运动。 这些运动的范畴超越了 较传统的非政府组织 和政治党派, 挑战的是经济和政治系统自身, 而这样做通常都存在巨大的风险。 像在 LUCHA 中, 弗雷德·鲍乌马( Fred Bauma) 这样杰出的青年活动家 遭到了拘留和酷刑, 却没有怎么引起国际社会的抗议。 从我们收集到的数据中可以看出, 这样的例子还有很多。 自从 2005 年, 在非洲 40 多个国家 都有较大规模的群众抗议。 从图上可以看到出,在 2011 年, 所谓“阿拉伯之春”发生的那年, 正是这一波更大风潮的高峰。 可能有悖大家认知的是, 这些抗议中有很多是成功的。 据我们所知,在突尼斯和 埃及有独裁者垮台, 群众运动已成功阻止了 总统窃取第三次任期, 在塞内加尔、马拉维、 布基纳法索也一样成功。
What's driving this upsurge of protest? Demographically, Africa is both the youngest and the fastest-growing continent, with the largest age gap between the people and their rulers. It is urbanizing at a tremendous pace. Economically, African countries have been growing for over a decade now, largely driven by investments from Asia. But little of this wealth is trickling down. Formal jobs in the industrial sector are actually decreasing, with informal labor the only option left for people to eke out a living. As a result, inequality is skyrocketing, and political leaders are increasingly disconnected from their much younger populations.
是什么原因导致了抗议的风潮? 从人口统计学来看, 非洲既是最年轻的, 也是发展速度最快的大陆, 但人民和统治者之间的 年龄差距最大。 其城市化的速度也是很快的。 经济上,非洲国家已经 持续十多年增长, 主要由亚洲的投资推动。 但这些财富并没有惠及于民。 工业部门的正式工作其实在减少, 人们仅能凭借非正式的 体力工作勉强糊口。 因此,不平等现象暴涨, 政治领袖们也逐渐脱离了 年轻群众。
For those of us from outside of Africa, we're familiar with parts of this story: a massive spike in inequality, the product of a decline in good jobs for good wages that were once considered the hallmark of an advanced society; the capture of our political parties by elites accompanied by the hollowing out of civil society that once provided a voice to ordinary people; that sinking feeling that no matter what you do, external factors related to the global economy can disrupt our lives for the worse. Our political leaders seem helpless, insisting on austerity, even as public goods diminish to levels unseen in decades. And this is when they're not succumbing to exclusionary nationalism, blaming our woes on the weak rather than the powerful. What those of us from North America and Western Europe consider to be new has been the normal condition of African life since the 1970s. So who better to learn from than those who have been engaged in resistance to these conditions for the longest period of time?
对于我们这些来自非洲之外的人, 我们对这部分故事很熟悉: 不平等现象出现高峰—— 工作好、报酬高曾被认为是 先进社会的标志, 而这种工作的减少造成了不平等; 我们的政党被精英们占据, 再加上曾为普通人发声的 人民社会也名存实亡; 以及那种绝望的感觉—— 不管你做什么, 与全球经济相关的外界因素 都会扰乱我们的生活,让它更糟糕。 我们的政治领导人好像很无助, 还在坚持紧缩政策, 即使公共物资已经减少到 数十年未见的水平。 而且这是他们还没有屈服于 排斥性民族主义时, 将我们的不幸归咎于 弱势群体而非有权势者。 那些对于来自北美和西欧的 我们来说很新鲜的事, 在非洲却从 1970 年代就是常态了。 那么,难道不是该向那些 曾参与反抗这些状况 且反抗时间最长的人学习吗?
What can we learn from African protest democracy? First, democracy must begin with ordinary people. Viewing democracy as only elections has led to widespread disillusionment. We must instead work to center ordinary people in democratic life. Protest provides us one way to do that. Regardless of your age, sexuality, your gender, whether you're a citizen or a non-citizen, able-bodied or disabled, anyone can participate. In contrast to elections, protests are not confined by rigid electoral cycles. They offer a much more immediate form of action in our era of instant feedback.
我们从非洲的抵抗民主运动中 能学到什么? 首先,民主需要起始于普通大众。 单纯把民主当作一场场选举, 已经造成了大范围的幻想破灭。 我们要努力让人民大众成为 民主生活的中心。 抗议是我们用到的一种方式。 不论你的年龄、性取向和性别是什么, 也不论你是不是公民、身体是否残疾, 任何人都可以参与。 与选举不同, 抗议并不会受到死板的 选举周期的限制。 在我们要求迅速反馈的时代, 抗议提供的是一种即刻的行动。
Second, while protests may be messy, this is what makes them powerful. Protests are contentious and contested processes, defined by contingent actions, often devoid of clear messaging, characterized by incomplete organization. These dynamics are what makes it easy to dismiss protests as riots or to assume they are of limited political utility. But it also makes them easier to suppress. Too often, governments do not view protests as elementary to democracy. Instead, they violently crush social movements or work to discredit their message.
第二,虽然抗议看似混乱, 但这也正是其强大之处。 抗议是存在争议和质疑的过程, 是根据情况而异的行动, 通常没有清晰的信息, 特征是组织不完整。 这些不定因素让抗议行动 容易被当作暴动而受到驱散, 或是假设抗议的政治效用有限。 但这也使抗议很容易被镇压。 通常,政府不会认为 抗议是民主的基本要素。 反之,他们会暴力镇压社会运动, 或想办法诋毁抗议的理念。
Third, as I already hinted, protest is the space from which new political imaginations may emerge. Protests are about coloring outside the lines, a way for ordinary people to rewrite the rules of the game that too many feel are stacked against them. Many young people in Africa have grown up in societies where a single ruler has ruled their entire lives. Protest is the space for new possibilities to emerge, as young people begin to discover their own power.
第三,正如我已暗示过的, 抗议,是可以让新的 政治想象力得以浮现的空间。 抗议,是打破规则, 是一种允许普通人 重写游戏规则的方式—— 重写对普通人不利的游戏规则。 许多非洲年轻人成长的社会 是一个统治者控制了 他们一辈子的社会。 抗议为出现新的可能性提供空间, 因为年轻人开始发现自己的力量了。
Consider the situation of my friend Linda Masarira, a single mother of five, who is leading protests against the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. She has been beaten, arrested, harassed. But Linda perseveres, because as she told me a few months ago, protest has given her a sense of meaning and direction. And though she knows the odds against her, Linda perseveres.
以我的朋友琳达·玛莎里拉 ( Linda Masarira)为例, 她是养育五个孩子的单身母亲, 在津巴布韦领导 对穆伽比政权的抗议活动。 她曾被殴打、拘捕、骚扰。 但是琳达始终坚持不懈, 因为她几个月前对我说, 抗议活动赋予了她意义和方向感。 尽管她知道自己胜算不高, 但仍在坚持。
Like Linda and other young African activists, we all must work to redefine democracy as something more than just elections and political parties. Democracy is a creative process, and protest has always been the vehicle for expanding our political imaginations beyond what we are told is possible.
像琳达和其他年轻的 非洲活动家一样, 我们都要努力重新定义民主, 让民主不再只是关乎选举和政党。 民主是一个创造性的过程, 而抗议一直是帮助我们 扩展政治想象力、 突破他人限制的载体。
(In Swahili) Thank you very much.
(斯瓦希里语)非常感谢。
(Applause)
(掌声)