经济学人57:日光之下无新事

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　　人权问题

　　Nothing new under the sun

　　日光之下无新事

　　Some dictators may have fallen, but human-rights abuses continue

　　也许有些独裁者已然倒下，但侵犯人权之事依旧存续

　　May 12th 2011 | OSLO | from the print edition

　　Tunisian plainclothes back in action突尼斯的便衣又开始行动了

　　THE world really can become a better place—that seemed to be the belief of the protesters who have thronged¹ streets in the Middle East. Sadly, those who spoke² this week at the Oslo Freedom Forum³,a glittering gathering⁴ of veterans of human-rights struggles, instead attested⁵ to the wisdom of Ecclesiastes: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done.”

　　世界可以更美好——这似乎是中东地区涌上街头抗议的人们的信念。不幸的是，这周奥斯陆自由论坛——备受关注的为人权斗争的一些老兵们的集会上的发言却证实了传道书中的名言：“已有之事后必再有；已行之事后必再行。日光之下并无新事。”

　　Take the impact of technology. Facebook and other social media services have created opportunities for dissidents and revolutionaries to organise⁶ and voice their opposition⁷. But those in power have discovered that they, too, can use the internet, in their case to stifle⁸ freedom of speech. The dream of all dictators is to know as much about you as Google does, says Jacob Mchangama, a Danish human-rights lawyer.

　　就拿科技的作用来说吧。Facebook及其他的社会传媒为持不同政见者及革命分子创造了机会，使他们组能够织起来，表达各自的反对意见。但当权者也发现他们也可以利用互联网来扼杀言论自由。一位丹麦律师Jacob Mchangama说，所有独裁者的梦想都是像google一样了解你。

　　Authoritarian⁹ states have also learned how to use the language of human rights to legitimise their oppressive tactics, for instance by claiming to defend religious groups. But their tools of abuse—violence, torture and censorship—remain depressingly familiar. The grand tradition of making opponents “disappear,” perfected by the military dictatorship in Argentina in the 1970s, is still flourishing today. In Bahrain doctors and nurses who treated protesters injured by security forces have vanished. Also in Bahrain, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, the former head of the Centre for Human Rights and a fierce critic of the regime, was seized by armed men in the middle of the night. A month later he reappeared, tortured and is now facing trial.

　　独裁国家也已经学会了如何以人权之名使其镇压策略合法化,比如声称捍卫宗教团体。但是他们的工具依旧是我们熟悉的、令人沮丧的暴力、折磨及审查制度。20世纪70年代阿根廷的军事独裁统治将“使对手‘消失’”这一重要传统得以完善,如今它依旧盛行。在巴林岛，已经没有医生和护士为被安全部队打伤的示威者治疗了。也是在巴林,昔日人权中心的领导人、该制度的猛烈抨击者 Abdulhadi al-Khawaja,在一个深夜被武装的人抓走。一个月之后,受过虐待的他再度出现,目前正面临审判。

　　Post-revolutionary leaders can find it all too easy to slip into the abusive habits of their predecessors¹⁰. In Oslo Lina Ben Mhenni, a Tunisian blogger, talked of her fear that the transitional government will use the methods of the ousted¹¹ regime of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. When fresh demonstrations¹² broke out in Tunisia in early May, police used tear gas and live ammunition¹³. Journalists were beaten and had their equipment seized.

　　革命后的领导人觉得太容易像他们的前任一样滥用权力了。一位突尼斯籍的博主Lina Ben Mhenni在奥斯陆谈到，她担心过渡政府将使用被赶下台的扎因·阿比丁·本·阿里政权的手段。新的示威游行五月初在突尼斯爆发时,警察使用了催泪瓦斯和实弹。新闻记者遭到毒打,他们的设备也被扣押。

　　Nor do governments have a monopoly on violence. From Jamaica to South Africa, gays and lesbians continue to be the victims of vicious intolerance. Lesbians are raped¹⁴ in an effort to "correct" their sexuality. At the Oslo conference the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays, the first group of its kind on the Caribbean island, said it was remarkable¹⁵ that only one of its founders¹⁶ had been murdered in the past decade, such is the violence typically directed at its people.

　　政府不仅在暴力方面有独占权。从牙买加到南非，同性恋者继续成为这种恶毒的偏狭的受害者。女同性恋者因为澄清自己的性取向而被强奸。在奥斯陆会议的牙买加同性恋及双性恋论坛上,其加勒比海岛上的第一批代表说，过去十年里他们的创始人只有一个被杀，真的是成效卓越——这就是典型的针对他们的暴力事件。

　　Yet there was also brighter news in Oslo. As those in power become more inventive in their clampdowns, so do their opponents. Some have started to help victims make their experiences public. In Malawi children who have been raped or forced into marriage are encouraged to write letters to Radio Timweni, a national news programme, which then interviews them. In the age of Facebook and Google, the truth remains¹⁷ the most powerful weapon of all.

　　当然，在奥斯陆也有好消息。在当权者加强压制的同时，其对手也没有懈怠。有一些开始帮助受害者将其经历公诸于众。在马拉维，他们鼓励受到性侵或者被迫结婚的孩子写信给Timweni电台——一个全国性的新闻节目，然后，他们对其进行采访。在有Facebook与Google的年代，真相仍旧是最有力的武器。

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