The new political story that could change everything | George Monbiot

翻译人员: psjmz mz 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

Do you feel trapped

你有感到自己陷在

in a broken economic model?

一个破碎的经济模型里吗？

A model that's trashing the living world

一个毁灭现实世界，

and threatens the lives of our descendants?

并威胁子孙后代的模型？

A model that excludes billions of people

这个模型把数亿人排除在外，

while making a handful unimaginably rich?

同时只让少数人 获得难以想象的财富。

That sorts us into winners and losers,

它把我们分为赢家和输家，

and then blames the losers for their misfortune?

然后指责输家运气不好。

Welcome to neoliberalism,

欢迎来到新自由主义，

the zombie doctrine that never seems to die,

这个僵尸学说似乎从没消失过，

however comprehensively it is discredited.

然而这是完全不可信的。

Now you might have imagined that the financial crisis of 2008

你可能想象过 2008 年的金融危机

would have led to the collapse of neoliberalism.

会导致新自由主义的垮台。

After all, it exposed its central features,

毕竟，它暴露了它的核心特征，

which were deregulating business and finance,

即商业和金融的去管制化，

tearing down public protections,

撕碎公众保障，

throwing us into extreme competition with each other,

把我们丢到彼此极端竞争的环境中，

as, well, just a little bit flawed.

却轻描淡写地说， 只是有点瑕疵罢了。

And intellectually, it did collapse.

就理智上来说，它确实崩溃了，

But still, it dominates our lives.

但仍旧主导着我们的生活。

Why?

为什么？

Well, I believe the answer is that we have not yet produced

我认为答案在于我们还没有创造出

a new story with which to replace it.

用来替代它的新故事。

Stories are the means by which we navigate the world.

故事是我们驾驭世界的方式。

They allow us to interpret its complex and contradictory signals.

它让我们可以解释其中 复杂和矛盾的信号。

When we want to make sense of something,

当我们想让事情感觉合理时，

the sense we seek is not scientific sense

我们寻找的这种感觉不是科学意义上的，

but narrative fidelity.

而是叙事的忠实性。

Does what we are hearing reflect the way

我们听到的是不是反映出

that we expect humans and the world to behave?

我们所期望的 人们和世界的行为方式？

Does it hang together?

是否紧密关联？

Does it progress

它是否

as a story should progress?

有像故事一样的进展？

Now, we are creatures of narrative,

我们都是会讲故事的生物、

and a string of facts and figures, however important facts and figures are --

且重视一系列的事实和数据的生物， 然而事实和数据——

and, you know, I'm an empiricist, I believe in facts and figures --

我是个经验主义者， 我相信事实和数字——

but those facts and figures have no power to displace a persuasive story.

但这些事实和数据无法替代 一个有说服力的故事。

The only thing that can replace a story

唯一能取代一个故事的

is a story.

是另一个故事。

You cannot take away someone's story

如果你没能用新的故事替代，

without giving them a new one.

那么你就无法夺走别人的故事。

And it's not just stories in general that we are attuned to,

我们所熟悉的并非只是普通的故事，

but particular narrative structures.

而是有特定叙事结构的故事。

There are a number of basic plots that we use again and again,

有很多我们使用了 一次又一次的基本情节，

and in politics there is one basic plot

在政治中，有一个

which turns out to be tremendously powerful,

基本的情节非常强大，

and I call this "the restoration story."

我称之为 “修复的故事”。

It goes as follows.

套路如下。

Disorder afflicts the land,

混乱折磨着大地，

caused by powerful and nefarious forces

是由那危害着人类利益的

working against the interests of humanity.

强大而邪恶的力量造成的。

But the hero will revolt against this disorder,

但是，英雄将反抗这种混乱，

fight those powerful forces,

与那些强大的力量战斗，

against the odds overthrow them

冲破万难推翻它，

and restore harmony to the land.

恢复大地的和谐。

You've heard this story before.

你以前听过这样的故事。

It's the Bible story.

这是圣经故事。

It's the "Harry Potter" story.

这是哈利波特故事。

It's the "Lord of the Rings" story.

这是指环王故事。

It's the "Narnia" story.

这是纳尼亚传奇故事。

But it's also the story

但这种故事

that has accompanied almost every political and religious transformation

几千年来几乎伴随着每一次

going back millennia.

政治和宗教变革。

In fact, we could go as far as to say

事实上，我们可以说，

that without a powerful new restoration story,

如果没有强有力的新修复故事，

a political and religious transformation

一场政治和宗教改革

might not be able to happen.

可能不会发生。

It's that important.

它就是那么重要。

After laissez-faire economics triggered the Great Depression,

在自由放任经济引发大萧条之后，

John Maynard Keynes sat down to write a new economics,

约翰·梅纳德·凯恩斯 写了一本新经济学，

and what he did was to tell a restoration story,

并且他的做法是 讲一个关于修复的故事，

and it went something like this.

大概是这样写的：

Disorder afflicts the land!

混乱折磨着大地，

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Caused by the powerful and nefarious forces of the economic elite,

是由掌握世界财富的强大而邪恶

which have captured the world's wealth.

的经济精英力量造成的。

But the hero of the story,

但故事的英雄，

the enabling state, supported by working class and middle class people,

在工人阶级和中产阶级 赋权下的这个国家

will contest that disorder,

将对抗这种混乱，

will fight those powerful forces by redistributing wealth,

将会通过重新分配财富 打压这些强势力量，

and through spending public money on public goods

并且通过把公共资金 花在公共产品上

will generate income and jobs,

来产生收入和工作机会，

restoring harmony to the land.

恢复大地的和谐。

Now like all good restoration stories,

当时就如所有讲得好的修复故事，

this one resonated across the political spectrum.

这个故事在整个政界引起了共鸣，

Democrats and Republicans, labor and conservatives,

民主党和共和党，工党和保守党，

left and right all became, broadly, Keynesian.

左派和右派都变成了凯恩斯主义者。

Then, when Keynesianism ran into trouble

然后，当凯恩斯主义在 1970 年代

in the 1970s,

陷入困境时，

the neoliberals, people like Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman,

新自由主义者，比如弗里德里希·哈耶克 和米尔顿·弗里德曼，

came forward with their new restoration story,

出来提出他们新的修复故事，

and it went something like this.

它大概是这样讲的。

You'll never guess what's coming.

你们都猜不到是怎么说的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Disorder afflicts the land!

混乱折磨着大地！

Caused by the powerful and nefarious forces

是由集权国家的强大和

of the overmighty state,

邪恶势力造成的，

whose collectivizing tendencies crush freedom and individualism

它们的集体化倾向 粉碎了自由、个人主义

and opportunity.

和机会。

But the hero of the story, the entrepreneur,

但故事的英雄，企业家，

will fight those powerful forces,

将会反抗这种强大的力量，

roll back the state,

扭转国家的力量，

and through creating wealth and opportunity,

通过财富和机遇，

restore harmony to the land.

恢复大地的和谐。

And that story also resonated across the political spectrum.

这个故事也引起了整个政界的共鸣。

Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and labor,

共和党和民主党，保守党和工党，

they all became, broadly, neoliberal.

总的来说，他们都变成了 新自由主义者。

Opposite stories

具有相同叙事结构

with an identical narrative structure.

的对立故事。

Then, in 2008,

然后，在 2008 年，

the neoliberal story fell apart,

新自由主义的故事分崩离析，

and its opponents came forward with ...

它的对手提出了……

nothing.

啥都没有。

No new restoration story!

没有新的修复故事！

The best they had to offer was a watered-down neoliberalism

他们所能提供的最好的东西 是淡化的新自由主义

or a microwaved Keynesianism.

或微波式的凯恩斯主义。

And that is why we're stuck.

所以我们陷入了困境。

Without that new story,

没有那个新的故事，

we are stuck with the old failed story

我们困在那老旧不堪的、

that keeps on failing.

不断失败的故事中。

Despair is the state we fall into

当我们的想象失败时，

when our imagination fails.

我们陷入了绝望的状态。

When we have no story that explains the present

当我们没有故事来解释现状

and describes the future,

和描述未来时，

hope evaporates.

希望蒸发了。

Political failure is at heart

政治失败的本质，

a failure of imagination.

是想象力的失败。

Without a restoration story

没有新的修复故事

that can tell us where we need to go,

告诉我们需要去往何处，

nothing is going to change,

什么事情都不会发生，

but with such a restoration story,

但有这么一个修复故事，

almost everything can change.

几乎任何事情都可以改变。

The story we need to tell

我们需要讲的故事

is a story which will appeal to as wide a range of people as possible,

需要吸引尽可能多的人，

crossing political fault lines.

跨越不同的政治断层。

It should resonate with deep needs and desires.

它应该与深层需求和欲望共鸣。

It should be simple and intelligible,

它应该简单易懂，

and it should be grounded in reality.

并且它应该根植于现实。

Now, I admit that all of this sounds like a bit of a tall order.

我承认这听起来要求有点高。

But I believe that in Western nations,

但我相信在西方世界，

there is actually a story like this

确实存在这样一个故事，

waiting to be told.

等待被讲述。

Over the past few years,

在过去几年中，

there's been a fascinating convergence of findings

在心理学、人类学、 神经科学和进化生物学

in several different sciences,

等几个不同的科学领域中，

in psychology and anthropology and neuroscience and evolutionary biology,

有许多让人着迷的研究，

and they all tell us something pretty amazing:

并且它们都告诉了我们一些 非常神奇的事情：

that human beings have got this massive capacity for altruism.

人类有这种巨大的利他主义。

Sure, we all have a bit of selfishness and greed inside us,

没错，我们内心都有些自私和贪婪，

but in most people, those are not our dominant values.

但对大多数人来说， 这些都不是我们的主流价值。

And we also turn out to be the supreme cooperators.

我们也是最优秀的合作者。

We survived the African savannas,

我们在非洲大草原上幸存下来，

despite being weaker and slower than our predators and most of our prey,

尽管我们比我们的捕食者 和大多数猎物都更弱更慢，

by an amazing ability to engage in mutual aid,

但我们拥有惊人的相互帮助的能力，

and that urge to cooperate has been hardwired into our minds

这种合作的欲望通过自然选择 已经深深的烙印在

through natural selection.

在我们的大脑中。

These are the central, crucial facts about humankind:

这些是关于人类的核心，关键的事实：

our amazing altruism and cooperation.

我们惊人的利他主义和合作精神。

But something has gone horribly wrong.

但有些地方出了严重的问题。

Disorder afflicts the land.

混乱折磨着大地。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Our good nature has been thwarted by several forces,

我们的良性本能受到了 几股力量的阻挠，

but I think the most powerful of them is the dominant political narrative

但我认为其中最强大的是 我们这个时代占主导地位

of our times,

的政治叙事，

which tells us that we should live in extreme individualism

它告诉我们，我们应该 带着极端个人主义，

and competition with each other.

并彼此竞争。

It pushes us to fight each other, to fear and mistrust each other.

它推动我们相互斗争， 相互恐惧和互不信任。

It atomizes society.

它把社会分裂得支离破碎，

It weakens the social bonds that make our lives worth living.

削弱了使我们的生活 有价值的社会纽带。

And into that vacuum

在这个真空中，

grow these violent, intolerant forces.

这些暴力、不宽容的力量恣意增长。

We are a society of altruists,

我们是一个充满利他主义者的社会，

but we are governed by psychopaths.

但我们被精神变态者统治着。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

But it doesn't have to be like this.

但事情不一定非得这样。

It really doesn't,

它真不该这样，

because we have this incredible capacity for togetherness and belonging,

因为我们拥有团结 和归属的惊人能力，

and by invoking that capacity,

通过调用这种能力，

we can recover those amazing components of our humanity:

我们可以找回人性中 那些惊人的能力：

our altruism and cooperation.

我们的利他主义和协作精神。

Where there is atomization, we can build a thriving civic life

在出现分裂的地方，我们 可以用丰富的参与性文化

with a rich participatory culture.

建设繁荣的公民生活。

Where we find ourselves crushed between market and state,

在那些我们发现自己被市场和 国家压得喘不过气来的地方，

we can build an economics that respects both people and planet.

我们可以建设一个尊重 人类和地球的经济。

And we can create this economics around that great neglected sphere,

我们可以围绕这个 被忽视的领域——公地，

the commons.

来创造出这种经济。

The commons is neither market nor state, capitalism nor communism,

公地不是市场也不是国家， 不是资本主义也不是共产主义，

but it consists of three main elements:

但它包括三个主要元素：

a particular resource;

一种特殊的资源；

a particular community that manages that resource;

一个管理这种资源的特殊社群；

and the rules and negotiations the community develops to manage it.

以及社群为管理它而制定 的规则和谈判方法。

Think of community broadband or community energy cooperatives

想想在英国我们称之为配额的

or the shared land for growing fruit and vegetables

宽带或社区能源合作社，

that in Britain we call allotments.

或者种植水果和蔬菜的共享土地。

A common can't be sold, it can't be given away,

公地不能买卖，也不能送人，

and its benefits are shared equally among the members of the community.

并且它的收益要 在社群成员间平等共享。

Where we have been ignored and exploited,

在我们被忽视和剥削的地方，

we can revive our politics.

我们可以重振我们的政治。

We can recover democracy from the people who have captured it.

我们可以从捕获它的人 那里恢复民主。

We can use new rules and methods of elections

我们可以使用选举的新规则和方法

to ensure that financial power never trumps democratic power again.

去确保金融权利 不会再次超过民主权利。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

Representative democracy should be tempered by participatory democracy

代议制民主应当通过 参与式民主加以调和，

so that we can refine our political choices,

以便我们能够完善我们的政治选择，

and that choice should be exercised as much as possible at the local level.

并且选择应该更多地由地方级做出。

If something can be decided locally, it shouldn't be determined nationally.

如果事情能在本地解决， 它就不应该在国家层面上解决。

And I call all this the politics of belonging.

我把这些全叫做归属政治。

Now, I think this has got the potential to appeal

我认为这相当有潜力能吸引

across quite a wide range of people,

很多的人们，

and the reason for this is that among the very few values

其原因在于在左派和右派

that both left and right share

所共有的少数价值观中

are belonging and community.

有归属感和社群感。

And we might mean slightly different things by them,

我们的意思可能有点不一样，

but at least we start with some language in common.

但至少我们开始用共同的语言。

In fact, you can see a lot of politics as being a search for belonging.

事实上，你可以看到很多 政治是在寻找归属感。

Even fascists seek community,

即便是法西斯主义也寻找社群。

albeit a frighteningly homogenous community

尽管是一个令人感到恐惧的社群，

where everyone looks the same and wears the same uniform

每个人的样子和衣着都统一，

and chants the same slogans.

并喊着类似的口号。

What we need to create is a community based on bridging networks,

我们需要建立的是 一个基于桥接网络的社群，

not bonding networks.

而非键合网络。

Now a bonding network brings together people from a homogenous group,

当今一个键合网络 把同质的人组织在一起，

whereas a bridging network brings together people from different groups.

而一个桥接的网络则 把不同的群体带到一起。

And my belief is that if we create

我的信念是如果我们建立

sufficiently rich and vibrant bridging communities,

足够丰富和充满活力的桥接网络，

we can thwart the urge for people to burrow into the security

就可以阻止人们钻入同一个

of a homogenous bonding community

团结社区的安全洞中，

defending themselves against the other.

保护自己反对他人的冲动。

So in summary,

所以总的来说，

our new story could go something like this.

我们的新故事可能是这样。

Disorder afflicts the land!

混乱折磨着大地！

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Caused by the powerful and nefarious forces

是由那些说不存在社会这东西

of people who say there's no such thing as society,

的强大而邪恶的力量导致的，

who tell us that our highest purpose in life

他们告诉我们说我们最高人生目标

is to fight like stray dogs over a dustbin.

要像垃圾堆的流浪狗一样去战斗。

But the heroes of the story, us,

但故事中的英雄，我们，

we'll revolt against this disorder.

我们将反抗这种混乱。

We will fight those nefarious forces by building rich, engaging,

我们将通过建设丰富、 参与、包容和慷慨的社群

inclusive and generous communities,

来打击这些邪恶势力，

and, in doing so,

因此，

we will restore harmony to the land.

我们将恢复大地的和谐。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

Now whether or not you feel this is the right story,

不管你是否觉得这是个好故事，

I hope you'll agree that we need one.

我希望你会认同 我们需要这样一种思考。

We need a new restoration story,

我需要个新的关于修复的故事，

which is going to guide us out of the mess we're in,

这将会指引我们摆脱 所深陷的困境，

which tells us why we're in the mess and tells us how to get out of that mess.

它告诉我们为什么会陷入困境 以及如何摆脱困境。

And that story, if we tell it right,

这个故事，如果我们讲述得当，

will infect the minds of people across the political spectrum.

将会影响整个政界的人。

Our task is to tell the story that lights the path to a better world.

我们的任务是讲述能够照亮 通向更美好世界之路的故事。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）