How to recover from activism burnout | Yana Buhrer Tavanier

翻译人员: Yunzhi Cui 校对人员: Lipeng Chen

In the summer of 2017,

那是 2017 年的夏天，

a woman was murdered by her partner in Sofia.

在索非亚，一个女人被她的伴侣谋杀了。

The woman, let's call her "V,"

让我们把这个女人称作 “V”，

was beaten for over 50 minutes

在她死亡之前，

before she died.

她被殴打长达 50 分钟。

The morning after,

第二天早上，

her neighbors told the press that they heard her screams,

她的邻居告诉媒体，说他们听到了她的尖叫，

but they didn't intervene.

但是他们没有干涉。

You see, in Bulgaria and many other societies,

在保加利亚和其他很多社会中，

domestic violence is typically seen as a private matter.

家庭暴力普遍被看作是一件私事。

Neighbors, however, are quick to react to any other kind of noise.

然而，邻居却总是迅速对其它噪音作出回应。

We wanted to expose and affect the absurdity of this.

我们想要去曝光、去改变这件荒谬的事情。

So we designed an experiment.

所以我们设计了一个实验。

We rented the apartment just below V's for one night.

我们租了 “V” 的公寓正下方那间房间一个晚上。

And at 10pm,

在晚上 10 点的时候，

Maksim, the artist in our group,

马克西姆，我们组中的艺术工作者，

sat on the drum set we had assembled in the living room

坐在我们于客厅架好的鼓前，

and started beating it.

然后开始敲鼓。

Ten seconds.

10 秒。

Thirty seconds.

30 秒。

Fifty seconds.

50 秒。

A minute.

1 分钟。

A light came on in the hallway.

一束光打在了走廊上。

One minute and 20 seconds.

1 分钟 20 秒。

A man was standing at the door, hesitant to press the bell.

一个男人站在门口， 犹豫要不要按门铃。

One minute and 52 seconds.

1 分钟 52 秒。

The doorbell rang,

门铃响了。

a ring that could have saved a life.

一个本可以挽救一条生命的门铃。

"Beat." is our project exploring the ominous silence

“敲”，我们的这个项目探索了

surrounding domestic violence.

围绕家庭暴力的沉默。

We filmed the experiment, and it became instantly viral.

我们拍摄下了这个实验，它瞬间引起热议。

Our campaign amplified the voices of survivors

我们的这项实验放大了

who shared similar stories online.

那些在网上分享了 自己故事的幸存者的心声。

It equipped neighbors with specific advice,

它也给了邻居详细的建议，

and many committed to taking action.

他们很多都付诸了行动。

In a country where every other week,

在这样一个国家——每隔一周，

the ground quietly embraces the body of a woman

就有一个女人的尸体悄然拥入大地的怀抱，

murdered by a partner or a relative,

她被伴侣或者亲戚杀死——这样的国家里，

we were loud,

我们响亮地发声，

and we were heard.

我们的话语得到了关注。

I am an activist,

我是一个活动家，

passionate about human rights innovation.

热衷于人权革新。

I lead a global organization for socially engaged creative solutions.

我带领了一个全球组织， 致力于构思社会参与的创新解决方案。

In my work, I think about how to make people care and act.

在我的工作中，我思考如何鼓动人们去关心、去行动。

I am here to tell you that creative actions can save the world,

我想站在这里告诉你：创新行为可以拯救世界，

creative actions and play.

创新行为和玩乐。

I know it is weird to talk about play and human rights in the same sentence,

我知道在同一句子中谈论玩乐和人权很奇怪，

but here is why it's important.

但接下来我要说出这很重要的原因。

More and more, we fear that we can't win this.

更多的是，我们害怕我们赢不了这场斗争。

Campaigns feel dull,

活动变得乏味，

messages drown,

信息被淹没，

people break.

人们精神崩溃。

Numerous studies, including a recent one published by Columbia University,

很多研究，包括最近哥伦比大学发表的一项，

show that burnout and depression are widespread amongst activists.

显示：力竭和抑郁在活动家群体中广泛蔓延。

Years ago, I myself was burned out.

几年前，我也曾经历力竭。

In a world of endless ways forward, I felt at my final stop.

在这个还有有无数条路可走的世界上， 我却觉得自己走到了最后一站。

So what melts fear or dullness or gloom?

所以什么化解了恐惧，枯燥或忧郁呢？

Play.

玩乐。

From this very stage, psychiatrist and play researcher Dr. Stuart Brown

从这个阶段开始，心理学家、 “玩乐”研究者斯图亚特·布朗博士说道，

said that nothing lights up the brain like play,

没有任何东西像玩乐一样可以点亮大脑，

and that the opposite of play is not work,

与玩乐对立的不是工作，

it's depression.

而是抑郁。

So to pull out of my own burnout,

所以为了让我自己摆脱力竭，

I decided to turn my activism into what I call today "play-tivism."

我决定把我的活动主义方向变为 ——“玩乐活动主义”。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

When we play, others want to join.

当我们玩乐的时候，其他人会希望加入。

Today, my playground is filled with artists,

今天，我的游乐场上充满了艺术家，

techies and scientists.

技术人员和科学家。

We fuse disciplines in radical collaboration.

我们通过深度合作融合了行为准则。

Together, we seek new ways to empower activism.

共同努力，我们寻找新的方法来为活动主义赋能。

Our outcomes are not meant to be playful,

我们的成果并不会是充满玩乐的，

but our process is.

但是我们的过程是。

To us, play is an act of resistance.

对我们来说，玩乐是坚强的表现。

For example, "Beat.," the project I talked about earlier,

比如说，我之前提到的“敲”项目，

is a concept developed by a drummer and a software engineer

是由一位鼓手和一位软件工程师发明的概念，

who didn't know each other two days before they pitched the idea.

他们在推广这个概念的两天前甚至不认识对方。

"Beat." is the first winner in our lab series

“敲”是我们实验系列中的第一个优胜者，

where we pair artists and technologists to work on human rights issues.

以这种方式，我们把艺术家和 技术人员们配对去研究人权问题。

Other winning concepts include a pop-up bakery

其他的优胜概念包括一个弹窗面包店，

that teaches about fake news through beautiful but horrible-tasting cupcakes --

通过外表华丽但味道极差的小蛋糕 来宣讲假新闻相关知识……

(Laughter)

（笑声）

or a board game that puts you in the shoes of a dictator

还有一个桌游，让你扮演一名独裁者，

so you get to really grasp the range of tools and tactics of oppression.

来让你真正了解压迫的工具和手段范围之广。

We did our first lab just to test the idea,

我们的第一个实验室只是为了验证这个想法，

to see where it cracks and if we can make it better.

去检验它是否有漏洞， 我们能否修复它。

Today, we are so in love with the format that we put it all online

如今，我们如此喜爱这种模式 以至于我们把它放到网上

for anyone to implement.

让每一个人都能实施它。

I cannot overstate the value of experimentation in activism.

我认为，无论怎样宣扬 活动主义实验的重要性都不过分。

We can only win if we are not afraid to lose.

只有不怕失败，我们才能胜利。

When we play, we learn.

玩乐的时候，我们学习。

A recent study published by Stanford University

斯坦福大学最近发表的一项关于

about the science of what makes people care

“是什么令人们关心起来”的科学研究

reconfirms what we have been hearing for years:

再次证实了我们多年以来经常听到的事实：

opinions are changed not from more information

观念的转变不是由更多信息导致的

but through empathy-inducing experiences.

而是通过能引发情感共鸣的体验。

So learning from science and art,

所以从科学和艺术我们得知，

we saw that we can talk about global armed conflict through light bulbs,

我们可以通过灯泡讨论全球武装冲突，

or address racial inequality in the US

或者通过明信片响应

through postcards,

美国种族不平等问题，

or tackle the lack of even one single monument of a woman in Sofia

又或者应对在索菲亚， 甚至一座女性雕像都没有的问题，

by flooding the city with them,

方法是让女性雕像遍布该城，

and, with all these works,

通过这些工作，

to trigger dialogue, understanding and direct action.

来开启对话、理解和直接行动。

Sometimes, when I talk about taking risks and trying and failing

有时，当我在谈论人权的时候，

in the context of human rights,

提到冒险、尝试和失败时，

I meet raised eyebrows,

我会遇到一些冷眼，

eyebrows that say, "How irresponsible,"

这些冷眼仿佛在说：“真不负责任！”

or, "How insensitive."

或者，“真麻木不仁！”

People often mistake play for negligence.

人们常把玩乐当作忽视。

It is not.

其实不然。

Play doesn't just grow our armies stronger or spark better ideas.

玩乐不仅仅让我们的队伍更强，或者激发灵感。

In times of painful injustice,

当令人痛心的不公发生时，

play brings the levity we need to be able to breathe.

玩乐给我们带来能让我们喘息的轻松。

When we play, we live.

玩乐的时候，我们活着。

I grew up in a time

我小的时候，

when all play was forbidden.

所有的玩乐形式都是被禁止的。

My family's lives were crushed by a communist dictatorship.

我们全家的生活都被一个“共产主义”独裁政权摧垮了。

For my aunt, my grandfather, my father,

为我姨、我的祖父、我父亲，

we always held two funerals:

我们都举行了两场葬礼：

one for their bodies,

一个埋葬他们的肉体，

but, years before that,

但在多年前，

one for their dreams.

另一个埋葬他们的梦。

Some of my biggest dreams are nightmares.

我最大的梦中有一些是噩梦。

I have a nightmare that one day all the past will be forgotten

在一个噩梦中，有一天， 所有的过去都被遗忘了，

and new clothes will be dripping the blood of past mistakes.

只有新衣上还沾着 过去的错误所留下的血迹。

I have a nightmare

在一个噩梦中，

that one day the lighthouses of our humanity will crumble,

有一天，人性的灯塔已然倒塌，

corroded by acid waves of hate.

被仇恨之浪侵蚀着。

But way more than that,

但尽管如此，

I have hope.

我还抱有希望。

In our fights for justice and freedom,

在为公正与自由而战时，

I hope that we play,

我希望我们玩乐起来，

and that we see the joy and beauty of us playing together.

我希望我们在我们共同玩乐时 找到其中的快乐与美。

That's how we win.

这，就是我们取胜的办法。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）