Why I risked my life to expose a government massacre | Anjan Sundaram

Translator: Eva González Berruezo Reviewer: Eva Garcia Pinos

What does it mean to be a witness?

Què significa ser un testimoni?

Why is it important to bear witness

Per què és important ser testimoni

to people's suffering,

del sofriment de la gent,

especially when those people are isolated from us?

especialment quan aquestes persones es troben lluny de nosaltres?

And what happens when we turn away?

I què succeeix quan els donem l'esquena?

Three years ago, I traveled to the Central African Republic

Fa tres anys, vaig viatjar a la República Centreafricana

to report on its ongoing war.

per informar d'una guerra en curs.

I'd heard warnings of massacres

Havia sentit avisos de massacres

in the country's jungles and deserts,

a les selves i deserts del país,

but no one could locate these massacres

però ningú podia situar les massacres

or tell me who was killed, or when.

ni dir-me qui havien matat o quan.

I drove into this war

Em vaig dirigir cap a aquesta guerra

with little information.

amb molt poca informació.

I witnessed scenes that were tragic and unreal,

Vaig ser testimoni d'escenes tràgiques i irreals

and only at the end did I realize

i només al final em vaig adonar

that I had witnessed the slow preparation of ethnic cleansing.

que havia estat testimoni de la preparació lenta d'una neteja ètnica.

The Central African Republic is a country of about five million people

La República Centreafricana és un país amb uns cinc milions d'habitants,

the size of Texas

la mida de Texas

in the center of Africa.

al centre d'Àfrica.

The country has known chronic violence since French colonial rule ended in 1960.

La violència crònica afecta el país des de la fi del domini francès el 1960.

The war I reported on

La guerra de la que estava informant

was between the minority Muslim government,

era entre el govern de minoria musulmana,

called the Seleka,

els Seleka,

and citizen militias,

i les milícies civils,

mostly Christian,

de majoria cristiana,

called the anti-balaka.

els antibalaka.

The first sign of the impending cleansing

El primer senyal de la neteja imminent

was the breakdown of trust within communities.

va ser la pèrdua de confiança dins les comunitats.

Three days after I arrived in the country,

Tres dies després d'arribar al país,

I watched the small city of Gaga be abandoned.

vaig veure com la petita ciutat de Gaga era abandonada.

A battle was about to break out.

La guerra estava a punt d'esclatar.

And to save themselves,

I, per salvar-se,

many people were working as government spies,

molta gent treballava d'espia per al govern,

identifying friends and neighbors

identificant amics i veïns

to be killed.

perquè els matessin.

Cities and towns,

Les ciutats i els pobles,

any place with humans, had become unsafe.

qualsevol lloc amb humans, era insegur.

So people moved to the jungle.

I la gent es va traslladar a la selva.

I felt strangely isolated

Em vaig sentir estranyament aïllat

as pigs and livestock moved into the empty homes.

quan els porcs i les aus es van apropiar de les cases buides.

In a war zone,

En una zona de guerra,

you know that you are near the killing when people have left.

se sap que l'extermini està a prop quan la gent marxa.

The war moved across the jungle and reached Gaga,

La guerra va avançar per la selva i va arribar a Gaga,

and I was surrounded by the thunder of bombs.

i vaig quedar rodejat per les bombes.

Government forces drove into the jungle to attack a town sheltering a militia.

Les forces del govern entraren a la selva

per atacar un poble que ocultava una milícia.

I rode on motorcycle for hours,

Vaig viatjar en moto durant hores,

crossing jungle streams and tall elephant grass,

creuant rierols per la selva i el farratge d'elefant,

but I only got to the town

però només vaig poder arribar al poble

after the government had burned it

després que el govern l'hagués cremat

and its people were gone.

i la gent hagués marxat.

To see if I could speak to someone,

Per veure si podia parlar amb algú,

I shouted out that I was a friend, that I would not hurt them.

vaig proclamar que era un amic, que no els faria mal.

A woman in a red shirt ran out of the forest.

Una dona amb una samarreta vermella va sortir de la selva.

Others cautiously emerged from the trees

Altres van sortir d'entre els arbres

and asked, "Est-ce les gens savent?"

i van preguntar, "Est-ce les gens savent?"

"Do people know?"

"La gent ho sap?"

The question surprised me.

La pregunta em va sorprendre.

Their children were hungry and sick,

Els nens estaven famolencs i malalts,

but they didn't ask for food or medicine.

però no demanaven medicines ni menjar.

They asked me,

Em van preguntar,

"Do people know what is happening to us?"

"La gent sap el que ens està passant?"

I felt helpless as I wrote down their question.

Em vaig sentir impotent mentre escrivia la seva pregunta.

And I became determined

I em vaig proposar

that this moment in their lives

que aquest moment de les seves vides

should not be forgotten.

no fós oblidat.

In bearing witness to their crisis,

En ser testimoni de la seva crisi,

I felt a small communion with these people.

vaig sentir-me agermanat amb aquestes persones.

From far away, this war had felt like a footnote in world news.

Des de lluny, aquesta guerra havia estat un peu de pàgina a les notícies.

As a witness,

Com a testimoni,

the war felt like history unfolding.

la guerra semblava la història en curs.

The government denied that it was committing any violence,

El govern negava estar cometent cap tipus de violència,

but I continually drove through towns

però jo anava passant per pobles

where people described government massacres

on la gent descrivia massacres del govern

from a day or a week before.

que havien passat un dia o una setmana abans.

I felt overwhelmed

Em sentia aclaparat

and tried to calm myself.

i vaig intentar calmar-me.

As I reported on these massacres,

Mentre informava sobre aquestes massacres,

I bought and ate

vaig comprar i menjar

little sweets,

llaminadures,

seeking the familiar comfort of their taste.

buscant el consol familiar del seu sabor.

Central Africans ate these sweets

Els centreafricans menjaven les llaminadures

to ease their hunger,

per calmar la fam

leaving a trail of thousands of plastic wrappers as they fled.

i deixaven un rastre de milers d'embolcalls de plàstic en la seva fugida.

On the few radio stations still operating in the country,

A les poques ràdios que encara funcionaven al país,

I mostly heard pop music.

sobretot se sentia música pop.

As the war mounted,

A mesura que la guerra s'intensificava,

we received less information about the massacres.

rebíem menys informació sobre les massacres.

It became easier to feel a sense of normalcy.

Era més fàcil tenir un sentiment de normalitat.

I witnessed the effect of this missing information.

Vaig ser testimoni de l'efecte d'aquesta falta d'informació.

Two weeks later, I slowly and anxiously

Dues setmanes després, vaig conduir

drove into an isolated militia headquarters,

lentament i preocupada cap al quarter general de la milícia,

a town called PK100.

una ciutat anomenada PK100.

Here, Christian fighters told me

Aquí, els combatents cristians em van dir

that all Muslims were foreigners,

que tots els musulmans eren estrangers,

evil and allied with the government.

malvats i aliats del govern.

They likened Muslims to animals.

Comparaven els musulmans amb els animals.

Without neutral observers or media

Sense observadors neutrals ni mitjans de comunicació

to counter this absurd narrative,

per contrarestar aquest relat absurd,

it became the single narrative in these camps.

això es va convertir en l'únic relat d'aquests camps.

The militias began to hunt down Muslims,

Les milícies van començar a caçar musulmans

and emptied the capital, Bangui,

i a buidar la capital, Bangui,

of nearly 140,000 Muslims

de gairebé 140.000 musulmans

in just a few months.

en només uns mesos.

Most of the killing and fleeing of Muslims went unrecorded by witnesses.

La majoria de les matances i fugides dels musulmans no van quedar registrades.

I'm telling you about my reporting in the Central African Republic,

Us estic explicant la meva cobertura a la República Centreafricana,

but I still ask myself why I went there.

i encara em pregunto per què hi vaig anar.

Why put myself at risk?

Per què posar-me en risc?

I do this work

Faig aquesta feina

because I feel that ignored people in all our communities

perquè crec que les persones ignorades a totes les nostres comunitats

tell us something important

ens diuen alguna cosa important

about who we are.

sobre qui som.

When information is missing,

Quan la informació falta,

people have the power to manipulate reality.

les persones tenen el poder de manipular la realitat.

Without witnesses,

Sense testimonis,

we would believe that those thousands of massacred people are still alive,

creuríem que els milers de persones massacrades encara estan vives,

that those hundreds of burned homes are still standing.

que els centenars de cases cremades encara estan dempeus.

A war zone can pass

Una zona de guerra pot semblar

for a mostly peaceful place

el lloc més pacífic del món

when no one is watching.

quan ningú el vigila.

And a witness can become precious,

Un testimoni es pot convertir en un tresor

and their gaze most necessary,

i la seva mirada en imprescindible

when violence passes silently,

quan la violència passa silenciosament,

unseen and unheard.

sense ser vista ni sentida.

Thank you.

Gràcies.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)