Jarreth Merz: Filming democracy in Ghana

Translator: Katarína Kondrótová Reviewer: Martin Francis Gilbert Máik

I was born in Switzerland

Narodil som sa vo Švajčiarsku

and raised in Ghana, West Africa.

a vyrastal som v Ghane, v západnej Afrike.

Ghana felt safe to me as a child.

Ghana mi pripadala bezpečne, keď som bol dieťa.

I was free, I was happy.

Bol som voľný, bol som šťastný.

The early 70s

Skoré 70-te roky

marked a time of musical and artistic excellence in Ghana.

boli označované za časy hudobnej a umeleckej excelencie v Ghane.

But then by the end of the decade,

Ale potom, ku koncu toho desaťročia,

the country had fallen back into political instability

sa zem dostala späť do politickej nestability

and mismanagement.

a zlého manažmentu.

In 1979,

Roku 1979

I witnessed my first military coup.

som bol svedkom prvého armádneho štátneho prevratu.

We the children had gathered at a friend's house.

My deti sme sa zhromaždili v kamarátovom dome.

It was a dimly lit shack.

Bola to slabo osvetlená chatrč.

There was a beaten up black and white television

Bola tam takmer rozbitá čierno-biela televízia,

flickering in the background,

ktorá blikala v pozadí,

and a former head of state and general

a vtedajšia hlava štátu a generál zároveň

was being blindfolded

mal previazané oči

and tied to the pole.

a bol priviazaný k tyči.

The firing squad aimed, fired --

Popravná čata zamierila, vystrelila --

the general was dead.

a generál bol mŕtvy.

Now this was being broadcast live.

Toto bolo vysielané naživo.

And shortly after, we left the country,

Onedlho po tom sme opustili krajinu,

and we returned to Switzerland.

a vrátili sa do Švajčiarska.

Now Europe came as a shock to me,

Európa bola pre mňa šokom,

and I think I started feeling the need

a myslím, že som začal pociťovať potrebu

to shed my skin in order to fit in.

zbaviť sa svojej pokožky, aby som zapadol.

I wanted to blend in like a chameleon.

Chcel som splynúť ako chameleón.

I think it was a tactic of survival.

Myslím, že to bola stratégia prežitia.

And it worked, or so I believed.

A fungovalo to -- alebo som si to aspoň myslel.

So here I was in 2008

Roku 2008

wondering where I was in my life.

som sa začal zaujímať o to, kde som sa nachádzal vo svojom živote.

And I felt I was being typecast as an actor.

Cítil som, že som bol ako herec príliš škatuľkovaný.

I was always playing the exotic African.

Vždy som hral exotického Afričana.

I was playing the violent African,

Hral som násilného Afričana,

the African terrorist.

afrického teroristu.

And I was thinking,

A myslel som si:

how many terrorists could I possibly play

koľko teroristov ešte budem musieť zahrať,

before turning into one myself?

aby som sa jedným stal?

And I had become ashamed of the other,

Bol som zahanbený mojím druhým ja,

the African in me.

tým Afričanom vo mne.

And fortunately I decided in 2008

Našťastie som sa roku 2008 rozhodol

to return to Ghana,

vrátiť sa späť do Ghany,

after 28 years of absence.

po 28-ich rokoch absencie.

I wanted to document on film

Chcel som natočiť dokument

the 2008 presidential elections.

o prezidentských voľbách 2008.

And there, I started by searching

Tam som začal hľadať

for the footprints in my childhood.

stopy po mojom detstve.

And before I even knew it,

A pred tým, ako som si to stihol uvedomiť,

I was suddenly on a stage

som sa náhle ocitol na pódiu

surrounded by thousands of cheering people

obkolesený tisíckami jasajúcich ľudí

during a political rally.

počas politického mítingu.

And I realized that, when I'd left the country,

Keď som opustil krajinu, uvedomil som si,

free and fair elections in a democratic environment

že slobodné a čestné voľby v demokratickom prostredí

were a dream.

boli snom.

And now that I'd returned, that dream had become reality,

A teraz, keď som sa vrátil, ten sen sa stal skutočnosťou --

though a fragile reality.

hoci len krehkou.

And I was thinking,

Rozmýšľal som,

was Ghana searching for its identity

či Ghana hľadala svoju identitu

like I was looking for my identity?

rovnako, ako som ju hľadal aj ja?

Was what was happening in Ghana a metaphor

Bolo to, čo sa dialo v Ghane, len metaforou toho,

for what was happening in me?

čo sa dialo mne?

And it was as if through the standards of my Western life,

Bolo to, akoby som, kvôli štandardom môjho západniarskeho života,

I hadn't lived up to my full potential.

nežil naplno.

I mean, nor had Ghana,

A ani Ghana,

even though we had been trying very hard.

hoci sme sa veľmi snažili.

Now in 1957,

Roku 1957

Ghana was the first sub-Saharan country

bola Ghana prvým subsaharským štátom,

to gain its independence.

ktorý získal nezávislosť.

In the late 50s,

V neskorých 50-tych rokoch

Ghana and Singapore had the same GDP.

mali Ghana s Singapúr rovnaký HDP.

I mean, today, Singapore is a First World country

A dnes Singapúr patrí ku vyspelým štátom,

and Ghana is not.

ale Ghana nie.

But maybe it was time to prove to myself,

Ale možno je čas na to, aby som si povedal,

yes, it's important to understand the past,

áno, je dôležité rozumieť minulosti,

it is important to look at it in a different light,

je dôležité pozrieť sa na veci v inom svetle,

but maybe we should look at the strengths in our own culture

ale možno by sme sa mali pozrieť na silu v našej vlastnej kultúre

and build on those foundations in the present.

a stavať na tých základoch aj v súčasnosti.

So here I was, December 7th, 2008.

Tak som tam teda bol, siedmeho decembra 2008.

The polling stations opened to the voters at 7:00 AM,

Volebné miestnosti sa otvárali ráno o 7:00,

but voters, eager to take their own political fate into their hands,

ale voliči, nedočkavo túžiaci vziať osud politiky do vlastných rúk,

were starting to line up at 4:00 AM in the morning.

tam stáli v rade už od štvrtej rána.

And they had traveled from near, they had traveled from far,

Cestovali zblízka aj zďaleka,

because they wanted to make their voices heard.

lebo chceli, aby ich hlasy boli vypočuté.

And I asked one of the voters, I said, "Whom are you going to vote for?"

Opýtal som sa jedného z voličov, "Koho budeš voliť?"

And he said, "I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

A on odvetil, "Prepáč, nemôžem ti to povedať."

He said that his vote was in his heart.

Povedal mi, že ten hlas bol v jeho srdci.

And I understood, this was their election,

Vtedy som pochopil, že to sú ich voľby

and they weren't going to let anyone

a že nedovolia nikomu,

take it away from them.

aby im ich zobral.

Now the first round of the voting didn't bring forth a clear winner --

Prvé kolo volieb neprinieslo jasného víťaza,

so nobody had achieved the absolute majority --

nikto totižto nedosiahol úplnú väčšinu,

so voting went into a second round three weeks later.

a tak sa voľby posunuli do druhého kola, o tri týždne neskôr.

The candidates were back on the road; they were campaigning.

Kandidáti boli späť na cestách; robili kampane.

The rhetoric of the candidates, of course, changed.

Rétorika kandidátov sa však, samozrejme, zmenila.

The heat was on.

Napätie začalo.

And then the cliche came to haunt us.

A potom nás začalo desiť klišé.

There were claims of intimidation

Vyskytli sa tvrdenia, že

at the polling stations,

vo volebných miestnostiach

of ballot boxes being stolen.

boli ukradnuté volebné urny.

Inflated results started coming in

Začali sa objavovať nafúknuté výsledky

and the mob was starting to get out of control.

a dav sa vymykal kontrole.

We witnessed the eruption of violence in the streets.

Boli sme svedkami výbuchu násilia v uliciach.

People were being beaten brutally.

Ľudia boli brutálne bití.

The army started firing their guns. People were scrambling.

Armáda začala strieľať. Ľudia sa snažili uniknúť.

It was complete chaos.

Bol to úplný chaos.

And my heart sank,

Moje srdce klesalo ku dnu,

because I thought, here we are again.

lebo som si pomyslel: opäť sa to opakuje.

Here is another proof

Tu je ďalší dôkaz,

that the African is not capable of governing himself.

že Afričania si nedokážu vládnuť sami.

And not only that, I am documenting it --

A nie len to, ja to dokumentujem --

documenting my own cultural shortcomings.

dokumentujem moje vlastné kultúrne slabiny.

So when the echo of the gunshots

Avšak, keď zvuk zbraní

had lingered,

pretrvával,

it was soon drowned by the chanting of the mob,

bol umlčaný skandovaním davu,

and I didn't believe what I was hearing.

a neverili sme vlastným ušiam.

They were chanting, "We want peace.

Kričali, "My chceme mier.

We want peace."

My chceme mier."

And I realized it had to come from the people.

Potom som si uvedomil, že to musí vychádzať z ľudí.

After all, they decide,

Koniec koncov, mali sa rozhodnúť

and they did.

a rozhodli sa.

So the sounds that were before distorted and loud,

Zvuky, ktoré boli skomolené a hlasné,

were suddenly a melody.

sa odrazu stali melódiou.

The sounds of the voices were harmonious.

Zvuk ich hlasov bol harmonický.

So it could happen.

Môže sa to teda stať.

A democracy could be upheld peacefully.

Demokracia môže byť presadzovaná v mieri.

It could be, by the will of the masses

Môže byť, vôľou más,

who were now urgently pressing

ktoré sa teraz neodbytne tlačili

with all their heart and all their will

svojimi srdcami a vôľou

for peace.

ku pokoju.

Now here's an interesting comparison.

Poviem vám zaujímavé porovnanie.

We in the West,

My na západe

we preach the values,

hlásame hodnoty --

the golden light of democracy,

zlatý svit demokracie --

that we are the shining example of how it's done.

že my sme žiariaci príklad toho, ako sa to robí.

But when it comes down to it,

Avšak, keď sa na to pozrieme,

Ghana found itself in the same place

Ghana sa nachádzala na rovnakom mieste

in which the U.S. election stalled

na ktorých sa zastavili voľby

in the 2000 presidential elections --

Spojených štátov amerických roku 2000 --

Bush versus Gore.

Bush verzus Gore.

But instead of the unwillingness of the candidates

Ale namiesto neochoty kandidátov,

to allow the system to proceed and the people to decide,

aby dovolili systému napredovať a ľuďom rozhodnúť sa,

Ghana honored democracy

Ghana si vážila demokraciu

and its people.

a svojich ľudí.

It didn't leave it up to the Supreme Court to decide;

Nečakala na najvyšší súd, aby sa rozhodol;

the people did.

rozhodli sa ľudia.

Now the second round of voting

Druhé kolo volieb

did not bring forth a clear winner either.

tiež neprinieslo jasného víťaza.

I mean, it was so incredibly close.

Teda, bolo to neuveriteľne blízko.

The electoral commissioner declared,

Volebná komisia vyhlásila,

with the consent of the parties,

so súhlasom strán,

to run an unprecedented

aby usporiadali ďalšie

second re-run.

bezprecedentné kolo.

So the people went back to the polls

Ľudia sa vrátili späť k urnám,

to determine their own president,

aby si určili svojho prezidenta;

not the legal system.

a nie legálny systém.

And guess what, it worked.

A hádajte čo, fungovalo to.

The defeated candidate

Porazený kandidát

gave up power

sa vzdal

and made way for Ghana to move into a new democratic cycle.

a nechal Ghane priestor, aby sa posunula do nového cyklu demokracie.

I mean, at the absolute time

Teda, v čase absolutizmu,

for the absolute need of democracy,

pri obrovskej potrebe demokracie,

they did not abuse their power.

nezneužili svoju moc.

The belief in true democracy and in the people runs deep,

Viera v pravú demokraciu a v ľudí je veľká,

proving that the African is capable of governing himself.

a dokazuje to to, že Afrika je schopná vládnuť sama sebe.

Now the uphill battle for Ghana and for Africa

Namáhavá bitka pre Ghanu a pre Afriku

is not over,

ešte neskončila,

but I have proof that the other side of democracy exists,

ale mám dôkaz, že druhá strana demokracie existuje

and that we must not take it for granted.

a že ju nemáme pokladať za samozrejmú.

Now I have learned

Naučil som sa,

that my place is not just in the West or in Africa,

že moje miesto nie je len na Západe, alebo v Afrike,

and I'm still searching

ale že stále hľadám

for my identity,

svoju identitu,

but I saw Ghana

ale videl som Ghanu

create democracy better.

vytvoriť si lepšiu demokraciu.

Ghana taught me

Ghana ma naučila

to look at people differently

pozerať sa na ľudí inak

and to look at myself differently.

a pozerať sa inak aj na samého seba.

And yes,

Áno,

we Africans can.

my Afričania môžeme.

Thank you.

Ďakujem.

(Applause)

(Potlesk)