联合起来抵制仇恨-我们力挺卢曼华

In recent days, I’ve been thinking greatly about Nelson Mandela, who was undoubtedly the leading global symbol of the fight against racism in my lifetime. Mandela once said “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

近来，我总是想起納尔逊·曼德拉，他无疑是我所生活的这个时代里全世界反抗种族主义的标志性领导人。曼德拉曾说过："没有人生来就因为肤色、背景、宗教的不同而憎恨他人。人们一定是学会了憎恨，而如果他们可以学会憎恨，他们也能学会去爱，因为人们的心中自然而生的是爱，而不是恨。"

It strikes me that in the last few months, there has been worrying trend towards hate, towards fear, towards division within our society. The hard-won gains of progress for equality are being put at risk.

过去几个月，我们的社会中发生了令人忧心的仇恨、恐惧和分裂的事件，这让我警醒。来之不易的人人平等，正在受到威胁。

Mandela has particularly been on my mind because just a few days ago, Anna Lo - the UK’s only parliamentary politician of Chinese origin - has said she will not seek re-election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016. One of the main reasons she is stepping down is the racism that she is so often and continuously confronted with. Not only does Northern Ireland lose a committed and able legislator, but we lose the power of Anna’s example.

我之所以特别想到曼德拉是因为几天之前，大不列颠王国的国会中唯一的一位华裔政治家卢曼华女士表示，她不会寻求连任２０１６年北爱尔兰国会议员。她引退的一个重要原因就是她经常遭受种族主义的困扰。北爱尔兰不但失去了一位忠诚和出色的立法者，我们也失去了卢曼华女士作为反抗种族主义的榜样所带给我们的力量。

The type of racism Anna referred to was encapsulated by Pastor James McConnell, a born-again Belfast preacher, who told his congregation ‘Islam is heathen. Islam is satanic. Islam is a doctrine spawned in hell’. If that language isn’t teaching people to
hate, I don’t know what is.

卢曼华女士提到的种族主义是指贝尔法斯特一位狂热的牧师詹姆斯•麦康奈尔对他的传道会听众所讲的“伊斯兰教是异端，伊斯兰教是邪恶的，伊斯兰教是地狱里生出的教条”。如果这样的言论不是教人们去憎恨，我不知道它还可能是什么。

Yet, when leadership in a different direction was required - Northern Ireland’s First Minister Peter Robinson, who represents every community of Northern Ireland, including the Muslim community, actually defended what Pastor McConnell said. He went further to say that while ‘I wouldn’t trust Muslims for spiritual guidance’, he would trust them ‘to go shopping for me’.

然而，当我们需要一种正向的领导力时，代表着包括穆斯林在内的北爱尔兰每一个族群的北爱尔兰首席部长彼得·罗宾逊却在事实上为麦康奈尔牧师辩护。他进而说道“我不会在宗教问题上相信穆斯林”，但他相信穆斯林“能够买东西”。

Anna was scathing about Robinson’s support for Pastor McConnell, being very clear that this wasn’t the example that should be expected of a First Minister. Since speaking out, she has herself been the subject of intense verbal abuse to the point where she fears for her life and safety.

卢曼华女士对罗宾逊支持麦康奈尔进行了尖锐的批评，她明确指出罗宾逊的言论不是首席部长应有的言行。而自从她仗义执言后，她就开始遭受激烈的言语攻击以至于她开始担心自己的生命和安全。

Despite our political differences, Chinese for Labour stands firmly together with Anna Lo. In a country that has known so much hate over the decades and suffered so much for it, it is desperately disappointing that the First Minister leads towards hate and division. We need leadership in a different direction - from intolerance to tolerance; then beyond tolerance towards respect and appreciation towards one another. And it is an urgent need: in recent weeks there have been two to three racist incidents per day.

尽管我们的政治理念不尽相同，华人工党将坚定地与卢曼华女士站在一起。在这个过去几十年中充斥仇恨并因此备受折磨的国家里，其首席部长带头煽动仇恨和分裂，令人极度失望。我们需要另一个方向的领导力，从偏执转向包容，进而彼此给予尊重和欣赏。这种要求极为迫切，因为在最近几个星期中每天都会有两三起种族主义事件发生。

It is of course not a trend isolated to Northern Ireland. The British Social Attitudes Survey found the proportion of Britons who admit to being racially prejudiced has risen since the start of the millennium.

这当然不是只在北爱尔兰出现的一种趋势。英国社会态度调查发现，承认自己受到种族歧视的人口比例自本世纪开始一直在增长。

The findings come as political leaders struggle to deal with the rise of the UKIP, which campaigned on an anti-immigrant, anti-EU platform and has sent shockwaves through the political establishment and put pressure on mainstream parties to toughen their stances on immigration.

面对主张反对移民、反对欧盟的英国独立党崛起，各大政党领导人都在设法应对。该党政治势力的发展所带来的冲击，让主流政党在压力下收紧了各自在移民问题上的立场。

Even more significantly, UKIP topped the poll despite the fact a number of their candidates made unsavoury comments in the run up to the election: branding entire nations as undesirable neighbours, expressing discomfort at foreign languages spoken in public spaces as well as deeply homophobic statements.

更加严重的是，英国独立党在民意测验中高居榜首，并未受到其候选人选前发表的不光彩言论的影响。这些言论包括将整个国家的民众都视为令人厌恶的邻居，对在公共场合使用外语表示憎恶和极端反对同性恋的言论等。

The UKIP leadership may cry foul when confronted with this inconvenient truth, but the question is - If UKIP aren't racist, how come so many racists seem to like them?

英国独立党的领导层在面对这些难以忽视的真相时或许会进行反驳，但问题是，如果英国独立党不是种族主义者，那么他们为什么会得到很多种族主义分子的青睐呢？

Their rise is perhaps not a surprise. In times of economic difficulty - with frustration and desperation prevalent - it is easy to prey on people’s fears. If you think of both the results of the election and the Social Attitudes Survey, the UKIP vote and the
admission of prejudice were highest in areas struggling economically. Our progress in the fight for equality and against racism has seen huge success in the years of unrivalled growth in the late 90s and 2000s.

英国独立党的崛起也许不值得我们惊讶。在经济艰难的时期，由于挫败感和绝望的情绪蔓延，利用人们的恐惧来做文章就变得更容易了。如果考察一下选举和社会态度调查的结果，就会发现英国独立党的选票和支持率在经济出现问题的地区都是最高的。而在上世纪９０年代后半期和２１世纪初英国经济大幅增长的时期，我们寻求平等、反对种族主义的工作就取得了极大的成就。

What UKIP have done - relatively subtly bar a few of their candidates - is introduce the teachings of hate into our politics. As with all of history’s successful ideologues, they have pointed out a few things people will have noticed changing in their
community, they distort them and point the finger of blame.

英国独立党最近对其一些竞选人实施禁言，是给我们的政治注入仇恨的学说。如同历史上所有的空想家一样，他们利用那些人们感受到的正在发生的社会变化，先扭曲事实，然后加以指责。

That is not to say we don’t need a debate about immigration. We do. But UKIP don’t want a debate. They want to blame. 

这并不是说我们不需要就移民问题进行辩论。我们需要辩论，但英国独立党不想辩论，他们只想指责。

That type of rhetoric and racial hostility have no place in a modern open Britain. Anyone condoning or encouraging such hostility and differences, be they politicians, comedians or television presenters should be exposed and made top pay the price. Myths have to be dispelled, the roots of racism have to be tackled, barriers that divide us broken down and racism exposed.

这种夸张和种族的仇恨在一个现代和开放的英国没有容身之地。任何宽待和鼓励这种敌意的人，无论他是政客、喜剧明星，还是电视主持人都要被曝光并付出代价。我们需要正本清源，铲除种族主义的根源，冲破分裂我们的障碍，将种族主义驱逐出去。

We must be confident and empowered to challenge racism as soon as it rears its ugly head, because each time we ignore it, the racists feel emboldened. We will never expose every act of racism but we can make it clear that it will not be tolerated using the tools available to us - laws and policies.

每当种族主义露出它那丑陋的嘴脸时，我们必须要凭着信心和权力去抵制它，因为我们每一次忽视，都会让种族主义者更加有恃无恐。我们不可能曝光每一起种族主义行径，但我们可以依靠法律和政策表明态度，即我们决不容忍种族主义。

We need people like Anna to stand up against racism and racists. We must challenge any person or party who tries to lead us towards hate and division, rather than tolerance and unity.

我们需要卢曼华女士这样的人士去抵制种族主义和种族主义者。对任何企图将我们引向仇恨和分裂，而不是包容和团结的个人或政党，我们都要怀有警惕之心。

This country has given everyone who has come to it so much, but modern Britain has also been built on the contribution of all the communities that have made their home here. A friend of mine once said ‘I’m sick and tired of being told to integrate, I want to contribute’.

对于每一个来到这里的人，这个国家都给予了很多。但现代英国也是基于在这里安家的所有族群的努力所发展起来的。我的一个朋友曾说，“我已经厌烦了被告知要融入这个社会，我只想做出贡献”。

That is what the future of our country should be about: how people contribute. To see the unique strengths and talents of every person in our country as a source of potential. Yes - new migrants and naturalised Brits need to learn English and engage with the culture of this wonderful country. However, their deep connections to other parts of the world shouldn’t be seen a as a cause for concern, but rather an incredible opportunity for Britain as a whole. 

我们国家的未来应当是关于人们如何为社会做出贡献。将这个国家中每一个人独特的优点和才干视为潜力。是的，新移民和归化的英国国民需要学习英语并融入这个伟大国家的文化。但是，他们和世界其他地方的紧密联系并不应被当成问题，相反那是带给英国的难得机遇。

It is this optimistic view of Britain that we saw on Sunday when 4,000 people gathered in Belfast and Londonderry for a rally against racism. People who, having learnt the lessons of Northern Ireland’s painful past, stood with Anna against hate.

令人鼓舞的是，我们看到在上周日有４０００人聚集在贝尔法斯特和伦敦德里郡进行反种族主义抗议，他们已经从北爱尔兰伤痛的历史中得到启发，从而支持卢曼华女士反对仇恨的斗争。

And as people have been taught to hate, so they can be taught to love. That is the leadership we now need, with a vision of our future built on the contributions of people of every walk of life, of every colour or creed, and very talent and ability.

既然人们可以被教唆去仇恨，他们也可以被教导去爱。这才是我们现在需要的领导人，能有远见认识到我们国家的未来取决于社会各行各业的贡献，无论他们的肤色和信仰有何不同，才干和能力有何差异。

By Sonny Leong, Chair, Chinese for Labour.

作者：梁辛尼，华人工党主席