Eric Liu: Why ordinary people need to understand power

翻译人员: Yumeng Guo 校对人员: Ziyue Wu

I'm a teacher and a practitioner

我在美国进行公民教育，

of civics in America.

也是公民教育的践行者。

Now, I will kindly ask those of you who have just fallen asleep

现在，请那些刚才睡着的人打起精神。（笑声）

to please wake up. (Laughter)

Why is it that the very word "civics"

为什么人们一听到“公民教育”这个词

has such a soporific, even a narcoleptic effect

就昏昏欲睡，甚至如患了发作性睡病一般？

on us?

I think it's because the very word signifies something

我想是因为这个词

蕴含崇高的道德，

exceedingly virtuous, exceedingly important,

具有重要的意义，

and exceedingly boring.

却那么的无聊。

Well, I think it's the responsibility of people like us,

我认为，我们，聚在这里的，

people who show up for gatherings like this

in person or online, in any way we can,

以及在网上观看的人，有责任以力所能及的任何方式，

to make civics sexy again,

让公民教育再度焕发生机，

as sexy as it was during the American Revolution,

正如美国革命

as sexy as it was during the Civil Rights Movement.

或美国民权运动时期那样生机勃勃。

And I believe the way we make civics sexy again

而且，我相信让公民教育再度焕发生机的途径是

is to make explicitly about the teaching of power.

阐清权力的教育。

The way we do that, I believe,

要实现它，我认为，

is at the level of the city.

关键是从城市这一层面入手。

This is what I want to talk about today,

这就是今天我想跟大家谈论的主题。

and I want to start by defining some terms

我想从解释一些概念开始，

and then I want to describe the scale

然后我会阐述我们目前

of the problem I think we face

面临的问题，

and then suggest the ways that I believe cities

进而给出解决办法，即城市是

can be the seat of the solution.

解决问题的根本。

So let me start with some definitions.

那么，由一些定义开始吧。

By civics, I simply mean the art

所谓公民教育，是一种艺术，

of being a pro-social, problem-solving contributor

是在一个自主管辖的社区，身为一名关爱社会、

in a self-governing community.

为解决问题做贡献的公民的艺术。

Civics is the art of citizenship,

公民教育是身为一个公民的艺术，

what Bill Gates Sr. calls simply

这正是比尔•盖茨之父所谓的

showing up for life,

“展现生命”，

and it encompasses three things:

它包含三个方面内容：

a foundation of values,

价值观的基础、

an understanding of the systems that make the world go round,

对于让世界正常运转的体系的理解、

and a set of skills

以及一套

that allow you to pursue goals

让你追寻目标并让他人跟随你的愿景的技能。

and to have others join in that pursuit.

And that brings me to my definition of power,

这就引到了我对权力的定义，

which is simply this:

一个简单的定义如下：

the capacity to make others do

让他人按照你的意愿

what you would have them do.

去做事情的能力。

It sounds menacing, doesn't it?

这听起来有些邪恶，不是吗？

We don't like to talk about power.

我们从来都不喜欢谈论权力，

We find it scary. We find it somehow evil.

我们觉得这个词可怕，而且有些邪恶。

We feel uncomfortable naming it.

试图去定义它会让我们感觉不自在。

In the culture and mythology of democracy,

在民主的文化背景下，

power resides with the people.

权力掌握在人的手里。

Period. End of story.

句号。到此为止。

Any further inquiry not necessary

没有必要进一步探讨权力，

and not really that welcome.

因为它不那么受欢迎。

Power has a negative moral valence.

权力违背道德价值观，

It sounds Machiavellian inherently.

而且它本质上就有些权谋术的味道，

It seems inherently evil.

似乎本质上就是邪恶的。

But in fact power is no more inherently good or evil

但是，事实上，权力在本质上不分好坏对错，

than fire or physics.

就像自然界的火、物理原理那样，

It just is.

权力只是权力，仅此而已。

And power governs

权力支配着

how any form of government operates,

任何政府的运作，

whether a democracy or a dictatorship.

或民主的政府，或独裁的政府。

And the problem we face today, here in America in particular,

我们今天面临的问题，在美国尤甚，

but all around the world,

但是个全球性的问题，

is that far too many people are profoundly illiterate

即太多太多的人对权力

in power —

一无所知——

what it is, who has it,

权力是什么，谁拥有权力，

how it operates, how it flows,

它如何运作，如何流转，

what part of it is visible, what part of it is not,

权力的哪部分为人所知，哪部分鲜为人知，

why some people have it, why that's compounded.

为何有些人拥有权力，为何权力总是交错繁杂。

And as a result of this illiteracy,

这种一无所知的结果就是，

those few who do understand

那些极少数了解

how power operates in civic life,

权力是如何在公民生活中运作的人，

those who understand

那些了解

how a bill becomes a law, yes,

如何让一个法案变成一个法律条文，

but also how a friendship becomes a subsidy,

如何将友谊转化为财富，

or how a bias becomes a policy,

如何让一个偏见变成一项政策，

or how a slogan becomes a movement,

或如何让一个口号发展成一场运动的人，

the people who understand those things

正是了解这些事情的人

wield disproportionate influence,

对广大民众施加不同程度的影响力，

and they're perfectly happy

而且他们及其乐于

to fill the vacuum created by the ignorance

填补民众的无知造成的空洞。

of the great majority.

This is why it is so fundamental for us right now

这就是为什么

to grab hold of this idea of power

以这种方式来理解权力并将其大众化

and to democratize it.

对当下的我们这么重要。

One of the things that is so profoundly exciting

现在，有一件令人极度振奋

and challenging about this moment

又极具挑战性的事情。

is that as a result of this power illiteracy

那就是广大民众对权力的一无所知

that is so pervasive,

there is a concentration

形成了知识、理解和影响力的聚集。

of knowledge, of understanding, of clout.

I mean, think about it:

我的意思是，考虑一下：

How does a friendship become a subsidy?

如何将友谊转化为财富？

Seamlessly,

很自然地，

when a senior government official decides

一个政府高级官员

辞掉政府的工作，成为一名谋取私利的说客，

to leave government and become a lobbyist

for a private interest

and convert his or her relationships into capital

将其人脉资源转化为

for their new masters.

新利益集团的财富。

How does a bias become a policy?

偏见如何转变为一项政策？

Insidiously, just the way that

比如，不知不觉地，拦截盘查

stop-and-frisk, for instance,

变成官僚的数字游戏，

became over time a bureaucratic numbers game.

从这转变的方式便可见一斑。

How does a slogan become a movement?

一个口号如何变成一场运动？

Virally, in the way that the Tea Party, for instance,

举个例子来说，

从在美国革命中扛起“不要践踏我”的旗帜的茶党身上

was able to take the "Don't Tread on Me" flag

from the American Revolution,

就能知道答案。

or how, on the other side,

或者，另一方面，

a band of activists could take a magazine headline,

一群激进分子从刊在杂志上的头条，

"Occupy Wall Street,"

“占领华尔街”开始，

and turn that into a global meme and movement.

发展成为一场全球性的运动。

The thing is, though, most people

事实上，大多数人

aren't looking for and don't want to see these realities.

并不情愿，也不期望看到这些事实。

So much of this ignorance, this civic illiteracy,

所以，无知，对公民教育的无知，

is willful.

很大程度上是有意的。

There are some millennials, for instance,

例如，00后中新一代中，

who think the whole business is just sordid.

很多人认为整个政界都是肮脏的，

They don't want to have anything to do with politics.

他们不想与政治有任何交集，

They'd rather just opt out

他们甘愿退出，

and engage in volunteerism.

而致力于社会志愿服务。

There are some techies out there

也有很多极客

who believe that the cure-all

认为解决一切权力失衡或权力滥用的万能良药，

for any power imbalance or power abuse

is simply more data,

在于更多的数据，

more transparency.

和更大的透明度。

There are some on the left who think power resides

一方面有人认为权力

only with corporations,

只掌控在企业手里，

and some on the right who think power

另一方面有人认为权力

resides only with government,

只掌控在政府手里。

each side blinded by their selective outrage.

他们都是被各自的选择性愤怒蒙蔽了双眼。

There are the naive who believe that

有些幼稚的人，

good things just happen

坐等美好的事情来临，

and the cynical who believe that bad things just happen,

也有愤世嫉俗的人，相信糟糕的事情注定会发生。

the fortunate and unfortunate alike

还有那些幸运的或不幸运的人

who think that their lot is simply what they deserve

认为他们的命数已定，

rather than the eminently alterable result

而不是悬而未决的，

of a prior arrangement, an inherited allocation,

他们不知道权力的倾倚会左右命运。

of power.

As a result of all of this creeping fatalism in public life,

社会上这种无可救药的宿命论的结果就是，

we here, particularly in America today,

尤其在当今的美国，

have depressingly low levels

我们，对公民教育、公民参与以及公民意识，知之甚少。

of civic knowledge, civic engagement, participation,

awareness.

The whole business of politics has been

政界里里外外都已

effectively subcontracted out to a band of professionals,

“分包”给一群专家、

money people, outreach people,

富豪、圈外人、

message people, research people.

掌握信息的人、研究人员。

The rest of us are meant to feel like amateurs

剩下的人注定感觉如外行一般，

in the sense of suckers.

是不折不扣的失败者。

We become demotivated to learn more

我们变得没有动力去探究

about how things work.

事情怎样运作，

We begin to opt out.

我们开始被排除在外了。

Well, this problem, this challenge,

那么，这个问题，这个挑战，

is a thing that we must now confront,

我们必须直面。

and I believe that when you have

如果你一直

this kind of disengagement, this willful ignorance,

冷漠下去，一直有意地视而不见，

it becomes both a cause and a consequence

这种冷漠就会促成我刚才所说的

of this concentration of opportunity

财富、势力的聚集，

of wealth and clout that I was describing a moment ago,

这种聚集又会加深你的冷漠的态度。

this profound civic inequality.

这是深刻的公民权力不平等。

This is why it is so important in our time right now

这就是为什么，以权力的教育来理解公民教育

to reimagine civics as the teaching of power.

是如此得重要，如此得迫在眉睫。

Perhaps it's never been more important

也许从没有像在今天

at any time in our lifetimes.

这么重要过。

If people don't learn power,

如果人们不懂得权力，

people don't wake up,

如果人们不觉醒，

and if they don't wake up,

如果人们不觉醒，

they get left out.

就会被遗弃。

Now, part of the art of practicing power

施展权力的艺术，部分在于

means being awake and having a voice,

保持警醒，并有自己的见解，

but it also is about having an arena

也在于拥有一个可以

where you can plausibly practice deciding.

施展决断力的舞台。

All of civics boils down to the simple question

所有公民教育的问题都可归结为这一简单问题：

of who decides,

谁来决策？

and you have to play that out

因此，你必须有一个地方，有一个舞台来施展。

in a place, in an arena.

And this brings me to the third point that I want to make today,

这就引到了我今天想强调的第三点，

which is simply that there is no better arena

当今而言，没有比城市

in our time for the practicing of power

更适合作为施展权力的舞台。

than the city.

Think about the city where you live,

想一下你生活的城市，

where you're from.

你来自的城市，

Think about a problem in the common life of your city.

想一个你的城市里日常生活中的问题，

It can be something small,

可以是小事情，

like where a street lamp should go,

比如路灯应安装在何处；

or something medium like

或是稍微大一点的事情，

which library should have its hours extended or cut,

比如某个图书馆开放时间该延长还是缩短；

or maybe something bigger,

或是更大的事情，

like whether a dilapidated waterfront should be

比如废弃的海滨是否应

turned into a highway or a greenway,

改建为高速路或绿化带，

or whether all the businesses in your town

或者当地所有的公司

should be required to pay a living wage.

是否需支付生活工资。

考虑一下你希望你的城市要做出的改变，

Think about the change that you want in your city,

and then think about how you would get it,

并且考虑你如何实现它，

how you would make it happen.

如何让它成为现实。

Take an inventory of all the forms of power

列出你所在的城市里

that are at play in your city's situation:

全部形式的权力：

money, of course, people, yes,

金钱？当然了。人？是的。

ideas, information, misinformation,

理念、信息、错误的信息、

the threat of force, the force of norms.

武力的威胁、规范的力量，

All of these form of power are at play.

所有形式的权力都在发挥着作用。

Now think about how you would activate

现在考虑一下你如何激发

or perhaps neutralize these various forms of power.

或调和这些不同形式的权力。

This is not some Game of Thrones

这不是《权力的游戏》中

empire-level set of questions.

帝国层面的问题，

These are questions that play out

这是地球上任何地方都

in every single place on the planet.

在上演的问题。

I'll just tell you quickly about two stories

下面我快速地讲两个故事，

drawn from recent headlines.

这两个故事都来自于近期头条新闻。

In Boulder, Colorado,

在科罗拉多州的博尔德，

voters not too long ago approved a process

选民在不久前通过了一项决议，

to replace the private power company,

将一个私有的电力公司，

literally the power company, the electric company Xcel,

即艾克赛尔能源公司，

with a publicly owned utility

转变为公有制，

that would forego profits

不谋利润，

and attend far more to climate change.

而会更多关注气候变化。

Well, Xcel fought back,

艾克赛尔公司回击抵抗，

and Xcel has now put in play a ballot measure

目前，它在通过一种投票的方式，

that would undermine or undo

试图干扰或驳回

this municipalization.

这次公有化运动。

And so the citizen activists in Boulder who have been pushing this

因此推动这项运动的博尔德的积极人士，

now literally have to fight the power

现在不得不对抗电力公司

in order to fight for power.

来争取权力。

In Tuscaloosa, at the University of Alabama,

在塔斯卡卢萨，阿拉巴马大学，

there's an organization on campus

校园里有个组织

called, kind of menacingly, the Machine,

听起来有些邪恶，叫“机器”。

and it draws from largely white sororities

其成员多大来自学校白人姐妹会和兄弟会。

and fraternities on campus,

and for decades, the Machine has dominated

数十年来，“机器”控制了

student government elections.

学生的政府选票。

Well now, recently, the Machine

最近，“机器”

has started to get involved

开始参与到真正的城市政治中。

in actual city politics,

and they've engineered the election

他们主导了

of a former Machine member,

一个前“机器”成员的参选，

a young, pro-business recent graduate

让这位近期毕业的年轻的成员

to the Tuscaloosa city school board.

进入塔斯卡卢萨市教育局。

Now, as I say, these are just two examples

如前所述，这只是从近期新闻头条中

drawn almost at random from the headlines.

随意摘取的两个故事。

Every day, there are thousands more like them.

每天都有类似的数以千计的例子。

And you may like or dislike

无论你喜不喜欢我刚刚描述的

the efforts I'm describing here

发生在博尔德和塔斯卡卢萨的事情，

in Boulder or in Tuscaloosa,

but you cannot help but admire

你都不得不欣赏

the power literacy of the players involved,

他们的施展权力的素养

their skill.

和能力。

You cannot help but reckon with and recognize

你也不得不考虑到并且意识到

the command they have

他们掌握公民权力的一些最基本的问题——

of the elemental questions

of civic power —

what objective, what strategy, what tactics,

目的是什么，策略是什么，战术是什么，

what is the terrain, who are your enemies,

战场是什么，谁是敌人，谁是战友？

who are your allies?

Now I want you to return

现在，让我们回过头，

to thinking about that problem or that opportunity

考虑你的城市中的问题、机会、挑战，

or that challenge in your city,

and the thing it was that you want to fix

还有你期望在你的城市中解决的事情

or create in your city,

或创造的事物。

and ask yourself,

问问你自己，

do you have command of these elemental questions of power?

你是否熟稔这些问题，这些权力的最基本的问题？

Could you put into practice effectively

你能有效地将你知道的东西付诸实践，

what it is that you know?

达到你的目的吗？

This is the challenge and the opportunity for us.

这对于我们是挑战，也是机遇。

We live in a time right now

在我们如今生活的年代，

where in spite of globalization

即便朝着全球化发展，

or perhaps because of globalization,

也许正因为全球化进程，

all citizenship is ever more resonantly,

市民交互影响的程度更深，无一例外，

powerfully local.

尤其在本地。

Indeed, power in our time is flowing

确实，当今的权力正以更快的速度

ever faster to the city.

汇聚到城市。

Here in the United States, the national government

在美国，中央政府囿于党派，

has tied itself up in partisan knots.

Civic imagination and innovation and creativity

公民的设想、创新力、创造力

are emerging from local ecosystems now

正在当地的圈子中产生，并向外辐射，

and radiating outward,

and this great innovation,

而且这股本地化的伟大创造力和伟大浪潮，正汹涌而来。

this great wave

of localism that's now arriving,

and you see it in how people eat

你会从人们吃饭、工作、社交、购物、交通等

and work and share and buy and move

and live their everyday lives,

日常生活点滴中看到。

this isn't some precious parochialism,

这不是矫揉造作的偏狭，

this isn't some retreat into insularity, no.

这不是退却到狭隘，不是的。

This is emergent.

这是自然发生的。

The localism of our time is networked powerfully.

当今的时代，本地化正强有力地进行。

And so, for instance,

比如说，

consider the ways that strategies

看看那些致力于让城市更适于自行车通行的理念吧，

for making cities more bike-friendly

have spread so rapidly from Copenhagen

这些理念扩散得如此迅速，

从哥本哈根，到纽约，到奥斯丁，到波士顿，到西雅图。

to New York to Austin to Boston to Seattle.

Think about how experiments in participatory budgeting,

再想想“参与式预算”的实践，

where everyday citizens get a chance

每天市民都有机会

to allocate and decide upon

分配和决定

the allocation of city funds.

市政资金的流向。

Those experiments have spread from Porto Alegre, Brazil

这些实践已经从巴西的阿雷格里港

to here in New York City, to the wards of Chicago.

推广到纽约和芝加哥。

Migrant workers from Rome to Los Angeles

从罗马到洛杉矶，还有其间的其他城市的移民工人，

and many cities between

are now organizing to stage strikes

正组织罢工，

to remind the people who live in their cities

来提醒那些在其城市居住的人们设想一下

what a day without immigrants would look like.

在没有移民的城市里，一天的生活会是什么样。

In China, all across that country,

在中国，全国范围内，

members of the New Citizens' Movement

中国新公民运动的成员

are beginning to activate and organize

正在组织行动，

to fight official corruption and graft,

反对政府官员贪污腐败。

and they're drawing the ire of officials there,

他们激怒了官员，

but they're also drawing the attention

但他们也吸引了

of anti-corruption activists all around the world.

全世界的反腐败组织的目光。

In Seattle, where I'm from,

在我来自的地方——西雅图，

we've become part of a great global array of cities

我们成为了全球一系列城市中的一员。

that are now working together

这一系列城市团结在一起，

bypassing government altogether,

绕开政府，

national government altogether,

绕开中央政府，

in order to try to meet the carbon reduction goals

努力实现京都议定书规定的

of the Kyoto Protocol.

减少碳排放量的目标。

All of these citizens, united,

所有这些市民，联合在一起，

are forming a web,

形成一个网络，

a great archipelago of power

虽地域分散，力量却集中，

that allows us to bypass

让我们可以绕开

brokenness and monopolies of control.

垄断权力的控制。

And our task now is to accelerate this work.

我们现在的任务是加速这一进程，

Our task now is to bring more and more people

我们现在的任务是吸引越来越多的人

into the fold of this work.

加入到我们的行动中。

That's why my organization, Citizen University,

这也是我的组织——公民大学

has undertaken a project now

在进行的一个项目的原因。

to create an everyman's curriculum

这个项目致力于为所有人提供

in civic power.

公民权力的课程。

And this curriculum starts with this triad

这个课程以我刚才所述的三方面为起点，

that I described earlier of values,

systems and skills.

即价值观、系统和能力。

And what I'd like to do is to invite all of you

我想邀请你们所有人，

to help create this curriculum

帮助我建立这个课程，

with the stories and the experiences

请你们分享故事和经历，

and the challenges that each of you lives and faces,

以及生活中的挑战，

to create something powerfully collective.

来汇聚成强大的智慧的结晶。

And I want to invite you in particular to try

我想请你们参与一项实践练习，

a simple exercise drawn

这是一个简单的实践，

from the early frameworks of this curriculum.

来自这项课程的初步框架。

I want you to write a narrative,

我想请你写下一段故事，

a narrative from the future of your city,

一段来自你的未来城市的故事。

and you can date it, set it out one year from now,

你来决定这个城市来自多远的未来，

可以是一年后，五年后，十年后，

five years from now, a decade from now,

a generation from now,

也可以是一代人之后，

and write it as a case study looking back,

以那时的视角回过头来看现在，

looking back at the change

看现在的你希望

that you wanted in your city,

你的城市做出怎样的改变，

looking back at the cause that you were championing,

看现在的你在鼎力支持着什么事业，

and describing the ways that that change

并描述一下你期望的改变和你从事的事业

and that cause came, in fact, to succeed.

如何走向成功；

Describe the values

描绘一下

of your fellow citizens that you activated,

你所鼓舞的市民们拥有的价值观，

and the sense of moral purpose that you were able to stir.

以及你所激发出的人们的品行道德；

Recount all the different ways

叙述一下

that you engaged the systems of government,

你参与到政府体制、

of the marketplace,

经济市场、

of social institutions, of faith organizations,

社会机构、组织信仰、

of the media.

媒体的不同的方式；

Catalog all the skills you had to deploy,

将你要施展的技能分门别类，

how to negotiate, how to advocate,

如何协商，如何鼓舞，

how to frame issues,

如何分析问题，

how to navigate diversity in conflict,

如何在矛盾中调和不同的意见，

all those skills that enabled you

正是这些技能让你

to bring folks on board

带领人们踏上正轨，

and to overcome resistance.

克服困难。

What you'll be doing when you write that narrative

你写下这段故事，与此同时，

is you'll be discovering how to read power,

你会发现如何解读权力，

and in the process, how to write power.

如何用书面的形式表达权力。

So share what you write,

请分享你写下的故事，

do you what you write,

并将你的故事付诸实践，

and then share what you do.

进而分享你的所作所为。

I invite you to literally share

我请你们把你们的故事

the narratives that you create

以文字的形式分享到

on our Facebook page for Citizen University.

到公民大学的脸谱网站上。

But even beyond that, it's in the conversations

不仅于此，此时此刻

that we have today

世界各地正在进行的

all around the world in the simultaneous gatherings

同我们一样的集会中，

that are happening on this topic at this moment,

在谈论公民教育这个话题。

and to think about how we can become

考虑一下我们如何学习权力，

one another's teachers and students in power.

做彼此的老师和学生。

If we do that, then together

如果我们齐心协力，

we can make civics sexy again.

就能让公民教育再度焕发生机。

Together, we can democratize democracy

我们一起，能让民主思想大众化，

and make it safe again for amateurs.

让人人都享有民主的丰硕果实。

Together, we can create a great network of city

我们一起，能创造出

一个地球上前所未有的自主管辖的城市，

that will be the most powerful collective laboratory

for self-government this planet has ever seen.

这个城市将充满强有力的合作。

We have the power to do that.

我们有能力实现它。

Thank you very much.

非常感谢你们。

（掌声）

(Applause)