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

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

What does it mean to be a witness?

當目擊證人的意義是什麼？

Why is it important to bear witness

為什麼見證與我們無關的人受苦 是件很重要的事？

to people's suffering,

especially when those people are isolated from us?

尤其當那些人孤立在我們的遠方？

And what happens when we turn away?

如果我們轉身離開，會怎麼樣？

Three years ago, I traveled to the Central African Republic

三年前，我去中非共和國

to report on its ongoing war.

報導一場正在發生的戰爭。

I'd heard warnings of massacres

我聽到警告，

in the country's jungles and deserts,

說在該國的叢林和沙漠中有大屠殺，

but no one could locate these massacres

但沒有人知道這些大屠殺在哪，

or tell me who was killed, or when.

也無法告訴我誰被殺了

或何時被殺。

I drove into this war

我進入這場戰爭時，

with little information.

只知道一點資訊。

I witnessed scenes that were tragic and unreal,

我目擊了悲慘且不真實的景象，

and only at the end did I realize

直到最後，我才了解到，

that I had witnessed the slow preparation of ethnic cleansing.

我目擊了種族清洗的緩慢準備工作。

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

中非共和國是個五百萬人口的國家，

the size of Texas

大小和德州差不多，

in the center of Africa.

位在非洲中部。

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

這個國家以 1960 年法國殖民統治 結束後就開始的長期暴力而聞名。

The war I reported on

我所報導的戰爭，

was between the minority Muslim government,

一方是叫做「塞雷卡聯盟」的 少數穆斯林政府，

called the Seleka,

and citizen militias,

另一方是民兵，

mostly Christian,

多數為基督徒，

called the anti-balaka.

稱為「反巴拉卡聯盟」。

The first sign of the impending cleansing

種族清洗即將發生的第一個徵兆，

was the breakdown of trust within communities.

是社區間的信任瓦解 。

Three days after I arrived in the country,

我到了這個國家之後三天，

I watched the small city of Gaga be abandoned.

我目睹一個叫做卡卡的小城被遺棄。

A battle was about to break out.

戰役即將爆發。

And to save themselves,

為了自救，

many people were working as government spies,

許多人去當政府的間諜，

identifying friends and neighbors

指認他們的朋友和鄰居，

to be killed.

讓他們被殺。

Cities and towns,

城市和鄉鎮，

any place with humans, had become unsafe.

任何有人的地方，

都變得不安全。

So people moved to the jungle.

所以人們搬到叢林裡去。

I felt strangely isolated

當豬和家畜住進了空盪盪的家中時，

as pigs and livestock moved into the empty homes.

我有種很怪異的孤立感。

In a war zone,

在戰區，

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

當人已經離開時，你就知道 你很靠近殺戮的所在了。

The war moved across the jungle and reached Gaga,

戰爭橫越了叢林，到達了卡卡，

and I was surrounded by the thunder of bombs.

我被炸彈的轟隆聲圍繞。

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

政府軍隊進入叢林， 攻擊一個庇護民兵的小鎮。

I rode on motorcycle for hours,

我騎摩托車騎了數小時，

crossing jungle streams and tall elephant grass,

穿過叢林溪流和很高的象草，

but I only got to the town

但我到達小鎮時，

after the government had burned it

政府已經燒毀了它，

and its people were gone.

鎮上已經沒人了。

To see if I could speak to someone,

我想知道是否還有人能跟我談談，

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

我大叫說我是個朋友， 說我不會傷害他們。

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

一個紅衣女子從森林跑出來。

Others cautiously emerged from the trees

其他人小心翼翼從樹後現身，

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

問我：「Est-ce les gens savent?」

"Do people know?"

「大家知道嗎？」

The question surprised me.

這個問題讓我很吃驚。

Their children were hungry and sick,

他們的孩子很飢餓且生病了，

but they didn't ask for food or medicine.

但他們沒有索求食物或藥品。

They asked me,

他們問我：

"Do people know what is happening to us?"

「大家知道我們發生了什麼事嗎？」

I felt helpless as I wrote down their question.

我感到無助，我寫下了他們的問題。

And I became determined

我變得很堅決，

that this moment in their lives

認為他們生命中的這個時刻

should not be forgotten.

不應該被忘記。

In bearing witness to their crisis,

我見證了他們的危機，

I felt a small communion with these people.

我感到和這些人有著小小的交流。

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

在遠處看，這場戰爭 就像是世界新聞中的註腳。

As a witness,

身為目擊證人，

the war felt like history unfolding.

這場戰爭感覺像是歷史展現。

The government denied that it was committing any violence,

政府否認做了任何暴力行為，

but I continually drove through towns

但我不斷經過一些小鎮，

where people described government massacres

鎮民都在描述著一天或一週前

from a day or a week before.

他們遭遇的政府大屠殺。

I felt overwhelmed

我感到無法招架，

and tried to calm myself.

試著讓自己冷靜下來。

As I reported on these massacres,

我在報導這些大屠殺時，

I bought and ate

我買了一些甜點，

little sweets,

吃了它們，

seeking the familiar comfort of their taste.

尋求它們的滋味 所帶來的熟悉舒適感。

Central Africans ate these sweets

中非人吃這些甜點來緩解飢餓，

to ease their hunger,

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

他們逃跑時，留下了 數以千計的塑膠包裝紙。

On the few radio stations still operating in the country,

這個國家只有少數電台還在營運，

I mostly heard pop music.

聽到的多半是流行音樂。

As the war mounted,

隨著戰爭進行，

we received less information about the massacres.

我們接收到的大屠殺資訊變少了，

It became easier to feel a sense of normalcy.

變得比較容易感到正常。

I witnessed the effect of this missing information.

我目擊了資訊消失所造成的效應。

Two weeks later, I slowly and anxiously

兩週後，

我緩慢、焦慮地

drove into an isolated militia headquarters,

進入了一個孤立的民兵總部，

a town called PK100.

一個叫做 PK100 的小鎮。

Here, Christian fighters told me

在這裡，基督徒鬥士告訴我，

that all Muslims were foreigners,

所有的穆斯林都是外國人，

evil and allied with the government.

他們很邪惡且和政府聯手。

They likened Muslims to animals.

他們把穆斯林比喻成動物。

Without neutral observers or media

沒有中立的觀察者或媒體

to counter this absurd narrative,

來反駁這荒謬的看法，

it became the single narrative in these camps.

它就變成了這些營地中唯一的故事。

The militias began to hunt down Muslims,

民兵開始獵殺穆斯林，

and emptied the capital, Bangui,

在首都班基，

of nearly 140,000 Muslims

他們清除了將近十四萬個穆斯林，

in just a few months.

僅花了幾個月的時間。

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

大部份穆斯林被殺害或是逃走的情況

沒被目擊證人記錄下來。

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

雖然我在告訴各位 我到中非共和國做報導，

but I still ask myself why I went there.

但我仍自問，為什麼要去那裡。

Why put myself at risk?

為何要置自己於險地？

I do this work

我做這項工作，因為我覺得，

because I feel that ignored people in all our communities

所有社區裡被忽視的人們，

tell us something important

告訴我們很重要的事：

about who we are.

我們是誰。

When information is missing,

一旦失去了資訊，

people have the power to manipulate reality.

人們就有操弄現實的力量。

Without witnesses,

若沒有目擊證人，

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

我們會以為那成千被屠殺者 仍然活在世上，

that those hundreds of burned homes are still standing.

那數百戶被燒毀的房子仍然屹立著。

A war zone can pass

戰區可能被誤認為是最和平的地方，

for a mostly peaceful place

when no one is watching.

如果沒人看著的話。

And a witness can become precious,

目擊證人會變得難能可貴，

and their gaze most necessary,

他們的凝視至關重要，

when violence passes silently,

當暴力悄悄地來了、過去了，

unseen and unheard.

沒被看見、沒被聽見。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）