The unexpected challenges of a country's first election | Philippa Neave

譯者: Qi Ruan 審譯者: Chester Cheng

The great philosopher Aristotle said

偉大的哲人亞里士多德說過：

if something doesn't exist, there's no word for it,

如果一件事物不存在， 它就沒有名字。

and if there's no word for something,

如果一件事物沒有名字，

that something doesn't exist.

它就不存在。

So when we talk about elections,

所以當我們談論選舉的時候，

we in established democracies, we know what we're talking about.

我們的國家採用了民主制， 所以知道民主是什麼。

We've got the words. We have the vocabulary.

我們有相關的單字、相關的詞彙。

We know what a polling station is.

我們知道什麼是投票站。

我們知道什麼是選票。

We know what a ballot paper is.

But what about countries where democracy doesn't exist,

但在那些非民主國家，

countries where there are no words to describe the concepts

不存在可以形容「民主社會」 這個概念的詞語時，

該怎麼辦呢？

that underpin a democratic society?

I work in the field of electoral assistance,

我從事選舉援助工作，

so that's to say we assist

也就是說，

我們幫助新興的民主國家組織選舉，

emerging democracies to organize

通常是第一次選舉。

what is often their first elections.

當人們問起我的工作時，

When people ask me what I do,

quite often I get this answer.

我通常會得到這個回答，

"Oh, so you're one of these people who goes around the world

「喔！你就是那些到世界各地，

到不能承受民主的國家， 去強行實施西方民主制的人。」

imposing Western democracy on countries that can't handle it."

Well, the United Nations does not impose anything on anybody.

呃……聯合國不強迫 任何人做任何事，

It really doesn't,

真的不。

and also, what we do

而且，我們所做的

is firmly anchored in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

是篤守 1948《世界人權宣言》的

Article 21, that says

第二十一條：

that everybody should have the right to choose who governs them.

人人有選擇代表 參與治理本國的權利。

這是我們工作的基石。

So that's the basis of the work.

I specialize in public outreach.

我從事公眾推廣顧問。

What does that mean? Another jargon.

這是什麼意思呢？ 聽起來又是個術語。

It actually means designing information campaigns

這其實是設計圖像去表達複雜信息。

so that candidates and voters

這使從來沒有機會參與

who have never had the opportunity to participate or to vote

或投票的候選人和選民，

understand where, when, how to register;

明白在何時何地註冊，如何註冊；

瞭解在何時何地投票，如何投票；

where, when, how to vote;

why, why it is important to take part.

知道參與選舉是多麼的重要。

So I'll probably devise a specific campaign to reach out to women

我可能會設計針對女性的活動，

保證女性可以參與其中，

to make sure that they can take part,

that they can be part of the process.

參與整個過程。

Young people as well.

還有年輕人、

各種人、

All sorts of people.

Handicapped people.

行動不便的人，

We try to reach everybody.

我們嘗試去幫助每一個人。

And it's not always easy, because very often in this work,

但這並非一帆風順的， 因為常常在過程中，

I've noticed now over the years that I've been doing it

在我這麼多年的工作經驗裡，

that words are lacking,

會出現詞彙不足的問題，

and so what do you do?

我們應該怎麼做？

Afghanistan.

這是阿富汗，

It's a country with high levels of illiteracy,

這個國家文盲程度很高。

and the thing about that was, it was in 2005,

在 2005 年的時候，

and we organized two elections on the same day.

我們一天組織了兩次選舉，

The reason was because the logistics are so incredibly difficult,

因為物流條件太差了，

it seemed to be more efficient to do that.

所以一天辦兩場會更有效率。

It was,

的確是比較高效。

but on the other hand, explaining two elections instead of one

但是在另一方面，解釋兩場選舉

was even more complicated.

比解釋一場難多了。

So we used a lot of images,

所以我們用了很多圖像。

and when it came to the actual ballot,

在設計選票時，

we had problems, because so many people wanted to take part,

我們遇到問題， 因為太多人想參加了。

we had 300 candidates for 52 seats

有 300 個候選人

在爭奪阿富汗人民院 52 個議員席位。

in the Wolesi Jirga, which is the parliamentary elections.

而省議會選舉有更多候選人：

And for the Provincial Council, we had even more candidates.

We had 330 for 54 seats.

330 個候選人爭奪 54 個席位。

So talking about ballot design,

所以談到選票的設計，

this is what the ballot looked like.

選票看起來是這樣的。

It's the size of a newspaper.

和報紙一樣大。

This was the Wolesi Jirga ballot --

這個就是阿富汗人民院的選票。

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

Yeah, and --

對，還有──

this was the Provincial Council ballot.

這個是省議會選票，

Even more.

不只一頁。

So you see, we did use a lot of symbols and things like that.

所以你看，我們的確 使用了很多符號之類的東西。

And we had other problems in Southern Sudan.

我們在南蘇丹又遇到了另外的問題。

Southern Sudan was a very different story.

南蘇丹的情況完全不同。

We had so many people who had never, of course, voted,

南蘇丹有很多人從來沒有投票過，

but we had extremely, extremely high levels of illiteracy,

而且他們的文盲程度非常、非常高，

有著很差、很差的基礎設施。

very, very poor infrastructure.

For example -- I mean, it's a country the size of Texas, more or less.

例如，這個國家和德州差不多大。

We had seven kilometers of paved roads,

可是只鋪了七公里的道路，

整個國家只有七公里，

seven kilometers in the whole country,

and that includes the tarmac where we landed the planes

這包括我們降落在 首都朱巴時的機場跑道。

in Juba Airport.

So transporting electoral materials, etc.,

所以運輸選舉材料之類的，

is exceedingly difficult.

變得極度困難。

People had no idea about what a box looked like.

人們完全不知道投票亭長什麼樣。

It was very complicated,

真的太複雜了，

so using verbal communication was obviously the way to go,

所以我們當然選擇了 用口頭方式去溝通，

but there were 132 languages.

但是他們有 132 種語言，

So that was extremely challenging.

所以具有極大的挑戰性。

Then I arrived in Tunisia in 2011.

之後，我在 2011 年去了突尼西亞。

It was the Arab Spring.

當時是阿拉伯之春發生的時候。

A huge amount of hope was generated by that enormous movement

一場盛大的民主運動，

給人們帶來了巨大的希望。

that was going on in the region.

There was Libya, there was Egypt, there was Yemen.

在利比亞、埃及、葉門。

It was an enormous, enormous historical moment.

那是值得紀念的歷史時刻。

And I was sitting with the election commission,

我那時和選舉委員會坐在一起，

and we were talking about various aspects of the election,

我們在談選舉的不同方面。

and I was hearing them using words that I hadn't actually heard before,

我聽到他們用一些我從未聽過的詞彙。

and I'd worked with Iraqis, I'd worked with Jordanians, Egyptians,

我曾與伊拉克人、約旦人、 埃及人一起工作，

and suddenly they were using these words,

然後突然間他們 就開始使用這些詞彙。

and I just thought, "This is strange."

我就想：「這真是奇怪。」

And what really gave rise to it was this word "observer."

但他們真正想表達的是「觀察員」。

We were discussing election observers,

我們正在討論選舉的觀察員。

and the election commissioner was talking about "mulahiz" in Arabic.

選舉委員用阿拉伯語 討論著「mulahiz」。

This means "to notice" in a passive sort of sense,

它的意思接近被動語氣的「注意」。

as in, "I noticed he was wearing a light blue shirt."

例如：「我注意到 他穿著一件淡藍色的襯衫。」

Did I go and check whether the shirt was light blue or not?

我是不是該檢查 他的襯衫真的是淡藍色的？

That is the role of an election observer.

這就是選舉觀察員的角色。

It's very active, it's governed by all kinds of treaties,

這角色非常活躍， 它被各種條約所支配，

and it has got that control function in it.

本身也擁有控制能力。

And then I got wind of the fact that in Egypt,

然後我又聽到埃及的用法，

they were using this term "mutabi’," which means "to follow."

他們用「mutabi」這個詞， 意思是「跟進」。

So we were now having followers of an election.

所以我們現在又有了選舉的跟進員。

So that's not quite right either,

但這也不太對，

because there is a term that's already accepted and in use,

因為我們已經有 使用中、且為人接受的詞，

which was the word "muraqib" which means "a controller."

那就是「muraqib」， 意思是「監控員」。

It's got that notion of control.

類似控制的概念。

So I thought, three words for one concept. This is not good.

所以我就想，三個單詞， 一個概念，這可不太好。

And with our colleagues, we thought perhaps it's our role

和同事討論後， 我們認為我們的角色或許是

to actually help make sure that the words are understood

幫助他們確切地理解這些單詞，

and actually create a work of reference

並建立一份參考資料，

that could be used across the Arab region.

用於阿拉伯語地區。

And that's what we did.

所以我們就這麼做了。

So together with these colleagues,

我和這些同事發起了

we launched the "Arabic Lexicon of Electoral Terminology,"

「阿拉伯語選舉標準術語」項目，

and we worked in eight different countries.

並在八個不同的國家使用。

It meant actually defining 481 terms

實際上，我們定義了 481 個詞語，

如果你想辦場民主選舉，

which formed the basis of everything you need to know

if you're going to organize a democratic election.

所有基本知識都囊括其中。

And we defined these terms,

我們定義了這些詞彙，

and we worked with the Arab colleagues

也和阿拉伯同事一起工作，

and came to an agreement about what would be the appropriate word

進而達成了適用於 阿拉伯世界的詞彙共識。

to use in Arabic.

Because the Arabic language is very rich, and that's part of the problem.

阿拉伯語的詞彙很豐富， 但那正是問題所在。

But there are 22 countries that speak Arabic,

因為有 22 個國家使用阿拉伯語。

and they use modern standard Arabic,

雖然他們使用的 都是標準現代阿拉伯語，

which is the Arabic that is used across the whole region

就是在整個中東地區 通用的阿拉伯語，

in newspapers and broadcasts,

也用在報紙和廣播中。

but of course, then from one country to the next in day to day language and use

但當然，隨著國家間的 日常用語有所改變，

it varies -- dialect, colloquialisms, etc.

阿拉伯語就開始分化了── 方言、俗語等等。

So that was another added layer of complication.

這構成了另一道障礙。

So in one sense you had the problem

在這個情況下有個問題：

that language wasn't fully ripe, if you like,

語言尚未完全成熟；

neologisms were coming up, new expressions.

新詞彙和表達方式卻蜂擁而來，

And so we defined all these terms,

所以我們定義了這些詞彙，

and then we had eight correspondents in the region.

我們在這些地區有八位通訊記者。

We submitted the draft to them,

我們把詞彙表的草稿交給他們，

they responded back to us.

他們就回覆我們：

"Yes, we understand the definition.

「是的，我們明白這些定義。

We agree with it,

我們贊同這個說法，

but this is what we say in our country."

但這是我們國家的說法。」

Because we were not going to harmonize or force harmonization.

因為我們不打算去協調 也不準備強制協調，

We were trying to facilitate understanding among people.

我們就只能嘗試去促進 人與人之間的相互理解，

So in yellow, you see the different expressions in use

所以在黃色的部分，你們能看見，

不同國家的使用者 所使用的各種表達方式。

in the various countries.

因此，我很高興告訴各位， 我們花了三年時間

So this, I'm happy to say, it took three years to produce this

because we also finalized the draft and took it actually into the field,

寫出最終的草稿，放到現實情境中，

sat with the election commissions in all these different countries,

與各國的選舉委員會坐在一起，

debated and defined and refined the draft,

爭論、定義、且精鍊這些草稿，

and finally published it in November 2014 in Cairo.

最後在 2014 年 11 月於開羅出版。

And it's gone a long way. We published 10,000 copies.

這是漫長的旅程。 我們出版了一萬份列印本。

To date, there's about 3,000 downloads off the internet in PDF form.

時至今日，PDF 的 下載量約有三千次。

I heard just recently from a colleague that they've taken it up in Somalia.

我最近剛從一個同事那邊聽說， 他們要把這份文件帶到索馬利亞，

They're going to produce a version of this in Somalia,

他們將製作索馬利亞的版本。

because there's nothing in Somalia at all.

因為目前索馬利亞什麼都沒有。

So that's very good to know.

這聽起來不錯吧。

And this newly formed Arab Organization for Electoral Management Bodies,

有個新成立的 「阿拉伯選舉管理組織」，

which is trying to professionalize

希望讓阿拉伯世界

how elections are run in the region,

所舉辦的選舉更為專業，

they're using it as well.

他們已開始使用這份文件。

And the Arab League have now built up a pan-Arab observation unit,

阿拉伯聯盟現在也建立了 「泛阿拉伯觀察中心」，

and they're using it.

他們也在使用這份文件。

So that's all really good.

這聽起來都很棒。

However, this work of reference is quite high-pitched.

然而，這個框架比較陽春白雪。

It's complex, and a lot of the terms are quite technical,

它很複雜，其中有很多專業詞彙。

so the average person probably doesn't need to know at least a third of it.

對一般人來說，有大概 三分之一的詞彙都不用認識。

But the people of the Middle East

但是在中東地區的人們，

have been deprived of any form of what we know as civic education.

他們被剝奪了 我們所理解的文明教育。

It's part of our curriculum at school.

那些是我們學校課程中的一部分，

It doesn't really exist in that part of the world,

但在那個世界是不存在的。

and I feel it's really the right of everybody

而我認為每個人都有權利

to know how these things work.

知道選舉是如何運作的。

And it's a good thing to think about producing a work of reference

製作一份參考文件，讓普通人理解，

是很棒的一件事。

for the average person,

and bearing in mind that now

雖然我們已經有了

we have a basis to work with,

這樣一份基礎文件，

but also we have technology,

但別忘了，我們還有科技，

so we can reach out using telephone apps,

我們可以使用手機應用軟體、 影片、動畫，接觸到更多的人。

video, animation.

There's all sorts of tools that can be used now

我們現在有各式各樣的工具，

to communicate these ideas to people

能把這些觀點，用人們自己的語言

for the first time in their own language.

第一次傳遞給他們。

We hear a lot of misery about the Middle East.

我們聽說了中東地區 人們很多的痛苦。

We hear the chaos of war. We hear terrorism.

我們聽說了戰亂，聽說了恐怖主義，

We hear about sectarianism and all this horrible negative news

聽說了宗派主義 和各種可怕的負面消息。

that comes to us all the time.

我們經常接收這種消息。

What we're not hearing is what are the people, the everyday people, thinking?

但事我們不知道當地人、 普通人是怎麼想的，

What are they aspiring to?

他們嚮往什麼呢？

Let's give them the means, let's give them the words.

讓我們給予他們方法吧， 給予他們這些詞彙。

The silent majority is silent

沈默的大眾之所以沈默，

because they don't have the words.

是因為他們缺少詞彙。

The silent majority needs to know.

沈默的大眾有知的權利。

It is time to provide people with the knowledge tools

現在是給人們知識工具的時候，

that they can inform themselves with.

這樣他們就能積極參與。

The silent majority does not need to be silent.

沈默的大眾不必再保持沈默。

Let's help them have a voice.

讓我們幫助他們發聲。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）