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

Prevodilac: Mirjana Čutura Lektor: Tijana Mihajlović

What does it mean to be a witness?

Šta znači biti očevidac?

Why is it important to bear witness

Zašto je važno biti svedok patnji ljudi,

to people's suffering,

especially when those people are isolated from us?

naročito ako su ti ljudi izolovani od nas?

And what happens when we turn away?

Šta se dešava kada okrenemo leđa?

Three years ago, I traveled to the Central African Republic

Pre tri godine sam otputovao u Centralnoafričku Republiku

to report on its ongoing war.

da izveštavam o ratu koji je tamo bio u toku.

I'd heard warnings of massacres

Čuo sam upozorenja o masakrima

in the country's jungles and deserts,

u tamošnjim džunglama i pustinjama,

but no one could locate these massacres

ali niko nije mogao da locira te masakre

or tell me who was killed, or when.

ili da mi kaže ko je ubijen ili kada.

I drove into this war

Uputio sam se u ovaj rat sa malo informacija.

with little information.

I witnessed scenes that were tragic and unreal,

Bio sam očevidac scena koje su bile tragične i nestvarne,

and only at the end did I realize

a tek na kraju sam shvatio

that I had witnessed the slow preparation of ethnic cleansing.

da sam bio očevidac postepenih priprema etničkog čišćenja.

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

Centralnoafrička Republika je država sa oko pet miliona ljudi,

the size of Texas

veličine je Teksasa

in the center of Africa.

i nalazi se u središnjem delu Afrike.

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

Ova država živi uz neprestalno nasilje

od kada se francuska kolonijalna vladavina okončala 1960. godine.

The war I reported on

Rat o kojem sam izveštavao

was between the minority Muslim government,

bio je između manjinske muslimanske vlade,

called the Seleka,

zvane Seleka,

and citizen militias,

i uglavnom hrišćanske narodne vojske,

mostly Christian,

called the anti-balaka.

zvane „antibalaka“.

The first sign of the impending cleansing

Prvi znak predstojećeg etničkog čišćenja

was the breakdown of trust within communities.

bio je prekid poverenja u zajednicama.

Three days after I arrived in the country,

Tri dana nakon što sam stigao u državu

I watched the small city of Gaga be abandoned.

posmatrao sam kako ljudi napuštaju gradić Gagu.

A battle was about to break out.

Sukob samo što nije izbio.

And to save themselves,

Da bi se spasli

many people were working as government spies,

mnogi ljudi su radili kao špijuni za vladu

identifying friends and neighbors

i identifikovali su prijatelje i komšije

to be killed.

koje je trebalo ubiti.

Cities and towns,

Veliki i mali gradovi,

any place with humans, had become unsafe.

bilo koje naselje sa ljudima, postali su nebezbedni,

So people moved to the jungle.

tako da su se ljudi preselili u džunglu.

I felt strangely isolated

Osećao sam čudnu izolovanost

as pigs and livestock moved into the empty homes.

kada su se svinje i stoka uselili u prazne kuće.

In a war zone,

U ratnom području

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

znate da ubijanja slede kada ljudi odu.

The war moved across the jungle and reached Gaga,

Rat se proširio kroz džunglu i stigao do Gage,

and I was surrounded by the thunder of bombs.

a ja sam bio okružen grmljavinom izazvanom bombama.

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

Vladine snage su ušle u džunglu

da napadnu grad koji je pružao utočište narodnoj vojsci.

I rode on motorcycle for hours,

Satima sam se vozio na motoru

crossing jungle streams and tall elephant grass,

preko potoka u džungli i kroz visoko rastinje,

but I only got to the town

ali stigao sam u taj grad

after the government had burned it

tek nakon što ga je vlada spalila,

and its people were gone.

a stanovnici ga napustili.

To see if I could speak to someone,

Da bih popričao sa nekim,

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

uzviknuo sam da sam prijatelj, da ih neću povrediti.

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

Žena u crvenoj košulji je istrčala iz šume.

Others cautiously emerged from the trees

Ostali su obazrivo izašli iza drveća

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

i upitali: „Est-ce les gens savent?“

"Do people know?"

„Da li svet zna?“

The question surprised me.

Pitanje me je iznenadilo.

Their children were hungry and sick,

Deca su im bila gladna i bolesna,

but they didn't ask for food or medicine.

ali oni nisu tražili hranu ili lekove.

They asked me,

Pitali su me:

"Do people know what is happening to us?"

„Da li svet zna šta nam se dešava?“

I felt helpless as I wrote down their question.

Osećao sam se bespomoćno dok sam zapisivao njihovo pitanje.

And I became determined

Bio sam odlučan

that this moment in their lives

da ovaj trenutak njihovih života

should not be forgotten.

ne treba biti zaboravljen.

In bearing witness to their crisis,

Dok sam bio svedok njihove nesreće,

I felt a small communion with these people.

osećao sam izvesnu prisnost sa ovim ljudima.

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

Iz daleka ovaj rat je izgledao kao marginalna vest iz sveta.

As a witness,

Kao svedoku,

the war felt like history unfolding.

rat je izgledao kao stvaranje istorije.

The government denied that it was committing any violence,

Vlada je negirala da je vršila ikakvo nasilje,

but I continually drove through towns

ali sam se ja neprestano vozio kroz gradove

where people described government massacres

u kojima su ljudi opisivali masakre koje je vlada počinila

from a day or a week before.

dan ili nedelju dana pre toga.

I felt overwhelmed

Bio sam potresen

and tried to calm myself.

i pokušao sam da se smirim.

As I reported on these massacres,

Dok sam izveštavao o ovim masakrima,

I bought and ate

kupovao sam i jeo

little sweets,

male poslastice,

seeking the familiar comfort of their taste.

tražeći poznatu utehu njihovog ukusa.

Central Africans ate these sweets

Lokalno stanovništvo je jelo ove poslastice

to ease their hunger,

da bi ublažilo glad,

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

pri tom ostavljajući trag hiljade plastičnih omotača dok su bežali.

On the few radio stations still operating in the country,

Na nekoliko radio stanica koje su još uvek radile u državi

I mostly heard pop music.

uglavnom sam čuo pop muziku.

As the war mounted,

Kako je rat napredovao,

we received less information about the massacres.

dobijali smo manje informacija o masakrima.

It became easier to feel a sense of normalcy.

Postajalo je lakše imati osećaj normalnosti.

I witnessed the effect of this missing information.

Bio sam svedok posledice ovog nedostatka informacija.

Two weeks later, I slowly and anxiously

Dve nedelje kasnije polako i zabrinuto

drove into an isolated militia headquarters,

sam se odvezao u udaljeno sedište narodne vojske,

a town called PK100.

grad po imenu PK100.

Here, Christian fighters told me

Tu su mi hrišćanski borci rekli

that all Muslims were foreigners,

da su svi muslimani stranci, zli i u savezu sa vladom.

evil and allied with the government.

They likened Muslims to animals.

Poredili su muslimane sa životinjama.

Without neutral observers or media

Bez neutralnih posmatrača ili medija

to counter this absurd narrative,

da se suprotstave ovoj apsurdnoj priči,

it became the single narrative in these camps.

to je postala jedina priča u ovim kampovima.

The militias began to hunt down Muslims,

Narodna vojska je počela progon muslimana

and emptied the capital, Bangui,

i proterala je skoro 140 000 muslimana iz glavnog grada, Bangija,

of nearly 140,000 Muslims

in just a few months.

za samo nekoliko meseci.

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

Većina slučajeva ubijanja muslimana i njihovog bežanja

nije bila zabeležena od strane svedoka.

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

Pričam vam o svom izveštavanju u Centralnoafričkoj Republici,

but I still ask myself why I went there.

ali se i dalje pitam zašto sam otišao tamo,

Why put myself at risk?

zašto sam se izložio riziku.

I do this work

Radim ovaj posao

because I feel that ignored people in all our communities

jer mislim da nam zanemareni ljudi u svim našim zajednicama

tell us something important

govore nešto važno o tome ko smo.

about who we are.

When information is missing,

Kada informacije nedostaju

people have the power to manipulate reality.

ljudi imaju moć da manipulišu stvarnost.

Without witnesses,

Bez očevidaca

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

verovali bismo da su te hiljade masakriranih ljudi i dalje žive,

that those hundreds of burned homes are still standing.

da su te stotine spaljenih kuća još uvek na mestu.

A war zone can pass

Ratno područje može proći

for a mostly peaceful place

kao uglavnom mirno mesto

when no one is watching.

ako niko ne gleda.

And a witness can become precious,

Očevidac može postati dragocen,

and their gaze most necessary,

a njegov pogled krajnje neophodan

when violence passes silently,

kada se nasilje odvija u tišini,

unseen and unheard.

kada se ne vidi i ne čuje.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)