譯/陳韋廷
將世界比作「叢林」 歐盟最高外交官惹眾怒
European efforts to rally global support for Ukraine are being met with resistance, in part because of the long shadow of colonialism and the impact it still has in large parts of Africa and Asia.
歐洲為烏克蘭爭取全球支持的行動正遭遇阻力,部分是因為殖民主義的長期陰影,及其對非洲跟亞洲大片地區的影響。
The top European Union diplomat's calling the world "a jungle" and Europe "a garden" at risk of being overrun isn't helping.
歐盟最高外交官稱世界是「叢林」,歐洲則是面臨遭蹂躪危險的「花園」,此話毫無助益。
In a speech to aspiring diplomats Thursday, Josep Borrell Fontelles, a septuagenarian Spanish Socialist and the bloc's most senior diplomat, used an extended metaphor premised on this very idea.
在周四一場對胸懷抱負的外交官的演講中,70多歲的西班牙社會黨人兼歐盟最高外交官波瑞爾,使用了基於這一想法的延伸隱喻。
"Yes, Europe is a garden." Borrell told aspiring European diplomats in the Belgian city of Bruges. "We have built a garden. Everything works. It is the best combination of political freedom, economic prosperity and social cohesion that the humankind has been able to build — the three things together."
波瑞爾在比利時布魯日市告訴這些具有雄心的歐洲外交官說:「是的,歐洲是一座花園。我們建了一座花園。一切運作正常。這是人類所能建立的政治自由、經濟繁榮跟社會凝聚力的最佳組合,三者結合在一起。」
"Most of the rest of the world is a jungle, and the jungle could invade the garden," he added, calling the young European diplomats "gardeners" who "have to go to the jungle. Europeans have to be much more engaged with the rest of the world. Otherwise, the rest of the world will invade us, by different ways and means."
他還表示,「世上其他大部分地區都是叢林,叢林可能會入侵花園」,並稱呼年輕的歐洲外交官是「必須前往叢林的園丁。歐洲人必須多參與世界其他地區事務,否則世界其他地方將以不同的方法和手段入侵我們。」
The comments were scripted, and it wasn't the first time he made them. He had employed the jungle metaphor in more limited remarks in August.
這些話都是照稿講出,這也不是他第一次這麼說。今年8月,他曾在較受限的談話中用過叢林隱喻。
On Monday, Borrell stood by his comments, insisting he had been misunderstood.
波瑞爾周一仍堅持自己的講法,堅稱自己遭到誤解。
He said Europe was a privileged place to live and that his message to the aspiring diplomats was to cultivate relationships outside it, because it cannot be "an island in the world away from what was going on elsewhere."
他說,歐洲是一個享有特權的地方,他向這些有抱負的外交官們傳遞的訊息是,培養歐洲以外的關係,因為歐洲不能是「世界上的一座孤島,遠離正在別處發生之事」。
"I do not understand the interpretation that has been given to what I said, I certainly do not share the allegation that it is somehow imperialist, white supremacist or a retrograde message," Borrell told reporters in Luxembourg on Monday.
波瑞爾周一在盧森堡告訴記者:「我不了解外界對我談話的解讀,我當然不同意有人指責它是帝國主義、白人至上或退步的說法。」
Thursday's speech circulated on social media, a gift to Europe's detractors. Among the first to seize on it was the Kremlin's spokesperson, Maria Zakharova.
周四的演說在社群媒體上流傳,給了歐洲批評者一份大禮。克里姆林宮發言人扎哈羅娃是其中一個最先抓住這個機會的人。
"To continue the analogy, the European gardener is in a vegetative state," she quipped on Telegram. "And now seriously. The 'garden' was built by Europe due to the barbaric attitude to the plundering of the 'jungle.' Borrell could not say it better: the most prosperous system created in Europe was nourished by its roots from the colonies, which it ruthlessly oppressed," she added.
她在Telegram上打趣寫道:「若要繼續類比下去,這位歐洲園丁正處於植物人狀態」。她還說:「現在我們嚴肅地說,歐洲能夠建造這座『花園』,是因為以野蠻態度掠奪『叢林』。波瑞爾說得太好了:歐洲創造的最繁榮的制度,根植於來自殖民地的滋養,而這些地方受到歐洲無情壓迫。」