青城山山顶:2011：愤怒之年？ 双语

Is there such a thing as a global mood? It certainly feels like it. I cannot remember a time when so many countries, all over the world, were gripped by some form of street protest or popular revolt. 2011 is turning into the year of global indignation.

存不存在“全球心态”这样一种东西？感觉上肯定存在。我想不出还有什么其它时期，在全球范围内有如此众多的国家被某种形式的街头抗议或民众起义所困扰。2011年正变成全球愤怒之年。

The Arab spring at the beginning of the year set the tone – with the fall of the Tunisian and Egyptian regimes, now followed by the ousting of Muammer Gaddafi in Libya and the insurrection in Syria.

年初的“阿拉伯之春(Arab spring)”为全年定下了基调：在突尼斯和埃及政权垮台后，如今，利比亚的穆阿迈尔•卡扎菲(Muammer Gaddafi)被赶下了台，而叙利亚也爆发了动乱。

But milder forms of popular revolt are breaking out across the globe. Europe has experienced political riots in Athens, sit-ins in Madrid and looting in London. In India, thousands of demonstrators turned out across the country to support Anna Hazare, a social activist and hunger striker, who has panicked the Indian government into agreeing to new anti-corruption measures. China has seen public demonstrations and online protests sparked by a factory accident and a high-speed train crash. In Chile, the past two months have seen huge marches by students and trade unions demanding higher social spending. In Israel, the main boulevards of Tel Aviv have been occupied by ordinary people protesting against the cost of living.

然而，一些形式更为温和的民变正席卷全球。在欧洲，雅典爆发了政治骚乱，马德里出现了静坐示威，伦敦则发生了打砸抢事件。在印度，数千名示威者出现在全国各地街头，支持社会活动家与绝食抗议者安纳•哈扎尔(Anna Hazare)。哈扎尔引起了印度政府的恐慌，已被迫同意出台新的反腐措施。在中国，一起工厂事故和高铁撞车事故引发了公开示威与在线抗议活动。在智利，过去两个月内爆发了大规模的学生与工会游行，要求加大社会支出。在以色列，特拉维夫市的主要街道上满是抗议生活成本高昂的民众。

Of course, there are also big differences between the upheavals around the world. Why dignify the actions of a British hoodie caving in the window of a department store, by comparing him with a Libyan risking his life for freedom? The link between a Chinese housewife demonstrating against a chemical plant in Dalian and an Israeli office worker demanding affordable housing might also seem tenuous.

当然，世界各地的动荡也存在着重大差别。为何要美化一个穿连帽衣的英国小混混破坏百货大楼窗户的行为，将其与甘冒生命危险争取自由的利比亚人相提并论？将一位中国大连家庭主妇参加抗议化工厂的示威，与一名以色列办公室职员要求得到买得起的住房联系起来，似乎同样也很牵强。

Conclusions drawn in the face of such disparate events do have to be cautious. But there are common traits. Many of the revolts of 2011 pit an internationally-connected elite against ordinary citizens who feel excluded from the benefits of economic growth, and angered by corruption.

面对这些如此不同的事件，做总结的时候肯定要非常谨慎。但它们确实也存在着一些共同点。2011年的许多民变，都是感觉未享受到经济增长好处、并对腐败感到愤慨的普通民众，对全球联系紧密的精英阶层的反抗。

Rage at the wealth and corruption of the ruling elite fuelled the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt. Allegations of corruption and official misdoing have been central to the popular protests in India and China. Anger about lack of opportunity for the young and the erosion of middle-class living standards are common themes in demonstrations in Spain, Greece, Israel and Chile.

对执政精英的财富规模与腐败程度的愤怒，引发了突尼斯和埃及的起义活动。对于腐败现象与官员犯罪的指控，是印度和中国公众抗议活动的主因。而对年轻人缺乏机会以及中产阶级生活水准不断下滑的不满，则是西班牙、希腊、以色列与智利示威活动的共同主题。

Many of the countries hit by unrest have explicitly accepted rising inequality as a price worth paying for rapid economic growth. In China, Deng Xiaoping set the stage for the Communist party’s embrace of capitalism decades ago when he announced – “To get rich is glorious.” In Britain, Peter Mandelson, architect of Tony Blair’s New Labour, pronounced himself “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich”. Chile was the pioneer of free-market reforms in Latin America. In India, an economic boom has seen billionaires’ mansions constructed near abject slums.

许多爆发骚乱的国家都明确承认这样的说法：即贫富差距不断拉大，是经济迅速增长必须付出的代价。在中国，邓小平数十年前就为共产党接纳资本主义打好了伏笔——他当时曾公开宣称“致富光荣”。在英国，托尼•布莱尔(TonyBlair)的新工党(New Labour)设计师彼得•曼德尔森(Peter Mandelson)宣称，自己对“人们变得富得流油毫不紧张”。智利是拉美自由市场改革的先行者。而在印度，拜经济繁荣所赐，亿万富翁的豪宅与不忍卒视的贫民窟毗邻而建。

And yet many of these same countries also have strong egalitarian political traditions that still strike a popular chord. Mr Hazare has consciously aped the methods and language of Mahatma Gandhi. Many of Israel’s demonstrators decry the free-market policies of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and speak nostalgically of the socialist traditions of the kibbutz movement. The indignados of Madrid, Athens and Paris demand support for a “European social model”, which promises free education and healthcare and a decent income for all.

但同样是这些国家，其中许多还有着深厚的平均主义政治传统，这些传统迄今仍然能引起公众的共鸣。哈扎尔有意识照搬了圣雄甘地(Mahatma Gandhi)的做法和语言。以色列的许多示威者公开谴责本杰明•内塔尼亚胡(Benjamin Netanyahu)的自由市场政策，并怀旧地谈到了基布兹运动(kibbutz movement)的社会主义传统。马德里、雅典与巴黎的愤怒者强烈要求支持“欧洲社会模式(European social model)”——该模式承诺了免费的教育与医疗以及普遍体面的收入。

It is tempting to see all these upheavals as linked by a globalisation that boosted the incomes of the wealthy, while creating an international labour market that holds down the wages of the unskilled, at least in the west. Globalisation has also fostered the communications networks that allow ideas and images of revolt to skip around the world.

我们很容易将所有这些动荡与全球化联系起来，因为全球化提升了富人的收入，同时创造了一个压低（至少在西方如此）非熟练工人工资的国际劳动力市场。全球化还培育了一个沟通网络，从而使得反抗的想法与图像得以在全球快速传播。

However, the creation of a global mood is a mysterious thing. In 1968, before the word “globalisation” or the internet were even invented, there were student rebellions around the world. The year 1989 saw not just the fall of the Berlin wall, but the Tiananmen Square protests in China. Perhaps 2011 will come to rank alongside 1968 and 1989 as a year of global revolt?

然而，全球心态的产生是一件神秘的事情。1968年那会，“全球化”一词或互联网甚至尚未被发明出来，世界各地就出现了学生造反运动。1989年，不仅柏林墙被推倒，中国也爆发了天安门广场抗议活动。或许，2011将与1968、1989年一道，被列为全球起义之年？

And yet there is one striking exception to this pattern – the US. America exhibits many of the social and economic trends that have got people out on the streets in other countries: rising inequality, a threat to middle-class living standards, anger against the political and business elite. Yet, so far, all this rage – whether on the left or the Tea Party right – has been expressed in the media or at the ballot box, but not by disorder on the streets.

但是，这一模式存在着一个引人注目的例外——那就是美国。美国显示出了许多在其它国家促使人们走上街头的社会与经济趋势：贫富差距不断拉大、中产阶级生活水平面临威胁，以及民众对于政治与商业精英阶层的愤怒。然而迄今为止，所有这些愤怒——不管是左派的还是茶党(Tea Party)右派的——都通过媒体或选票、而不是通过街头混乱而得到了表达。

Some argue that ordinary Americans are suffering from a form of false consciousness in which anger about economic issues gets misdirected into rage about guns or religion. But that is too patronising. America’s political culture has always been more individualistic and less egalitarian than that of other nations. And while there are huge rewards for the successful in the US, there is a belief that malefactors will be punished. Some may recoil at the spectacle of executives forced to do the “perp walk” or presidents impeached for their sexual peccadilloes. But it sends a message that nobody is above the law and that corruption will not be tolerated.

一些人辩称，美国普通老百姓受到一种错误思想的影响，这种思想将人们对经济问题的怒火，错误引向了对枪支或宗教问题的不满。但这种看法有些自视过高。与其它国家相比，美国的政治文化向来更强调个人主义、轻视平均主义。在美国，尽管成功人士会获得巨额回报，但人们同样相信作恶者将受到惩罚。一些人也许对高管被迫“游街示众(perp walk)”、或总统们因性犯罪遭弹劾的情形感到畏缩。但它传递了一个讯息，即没有人可以超越法律，且腐败将不会被容忍。

President Barack Obama has been accused of not believing in “American exceptionalism”. But this is one of form of American exception he has reason to be grateful for.

人们曾指责美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)不信仰“美国特殊论(American exceptionalism)”。但这正是美国不同于他国的一种形式，而他有理由对此心存感激。