為了一座古堡，泰國村民面臨強拆

BANGKOK — The thick white walls of the little fort are smudged and streaked with mold, doing little to keep out the racket and heavy fumes of passing traffic.

曼谷——這是一座小小的城堡，厚厚的白色墻壁上滿是星點或條紋狀的霉斑，完全無法抵御過往車輛的喧嘩與濃重的尾氣。

Secluded behind them, for the moment at least, is a tiny village — incongruous here among the temples and palaces — with elaborate wood buildings that date back more than a century.

它的后面隱藏著——至少目前是這樣——一個小村莊，與周圍有著精致木結構建筑的百年寺廟和宮殿顯得格格不入。

Here at Fort Mahakan in Bangkok’s historic core, a deadline for eviction is approaching at the end of next month in a 24-year battle for the fort between the city and the stubborn villagers.

這里是曼谷歷史遺跡核心地帶的曼哈坎堡(Fort Mahakan)，為了這座城堡，頑強的村民已經(jīng)和曼谷市進行了24年的斗爭，驅逐村民的最后期限將在下月月底到來。

It comes in the context of a seemingly endless battle for the city’s past as canals have been paved over, historic teak houses demolished and entire neighborhoods done away with as a new Bangkok of tall buildings and highways takes their place.

這一事件的背景是圍繞這座城市的過去而展開的一場似乎永無休止的斗爭，這里的運河已被填平，古老的柚木屋被拆毀，一個個社區(qū)被整個抹去，被一座布滿高層建筑與高速公路的新曼谷取代。

Fort Mahakan is one of the oldest structures in Bangkok, built in the 18th century as one of 14 citadels guarding the city. Only one other fort remains.

曼哈坎堡是曼谷最古老的建筑之一，建于18世紀，當時有14座城堡守衛(wèi)著這座城市。曼哈坎堡是如今僅存的兩座中的一座。

The settlement, now reduced to 44 buildings and about 300 residents, has resisted for years a government order to move out and make way for a public park.

這個定居點現(xiàn)在減少到只有44棟建筑物和大約300名居民，多年來政府一直命令他們搬走，給一座公園騰出地方，遭到他們的拒絕。

In September, the government brought in a crew of demolition workers and pulled down 12 houses in which the residents had agreed to accept compensation and move.

九月，政府派來了一批拆遷工人，拆除了12戶同意接受補償和拆遷的居民的房屋。

But the other residents, who have banded together in a well-organized bloc, have refused to give up their homes.

但其他居民通過一個組織良好的集團團結在一起，拒絕放棄他們的家園。

The demolition order stems from a royal decree in 1992 to make the ancient Rattanakosin area, which is also home to the Grand Palace and other historic sites, a showpiece of restoration and a magnet for tourists.

拆遷令源于1992年的皇家法令，意在使古代的拉達那哥欣(Rattanakosin)地區(qū)，也就是大皇宮(Grand Palace)和其他歷史遺跡的所在地，成為一個歷史修復的樣版和旅游熱點。

With the support of conservationists, academics and civic groups, the residents have proposed a compromise, giving up part of their land and staying on to help manage the site as a “living heritage museum.”

在自然環(huán)境保護人士、學者和公民團體的支持下，居民提出了一個妥協(xié)方案，放棄了部分土地，并繼續(xù)協(xié)助管理這個地點，使它作為一個“活的遺產(chǎn)博物館”。

“What we want is to stay on this land and develop together with the government,” said Tawatchai Woramahakun, 58, the head of a community organization at the fort. “That way everybody wins.”

“我們想要的是留在這片土地上，并與政府一起開發(fā)它，”該堡壘社區(qū)組織的領袖、58歲的塔瓦差·沃叻瑪哈昆(Tawatchai Woramahakun)說。“這樣所有人都贏了。”

But the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, or B.M.A., has brushed aside that proposal, and the city has set a deadline of Feb. 28 for the villagers to surrender their homes for demolition.

但是，曼谷都市管理局(Bangkok Metropolitan Administration)已經(jīng)放棄了這一建議，該市已將2月28日規(guī)定為最后期限，要求村民們屆時交出房子以供拆除。

“That’s the deadline,” said Chatri Prakitnonthakan, associate professor of Silpakorn University’s faculty of architecture. “There’s always a deadline. I’m not sure if this one is real or not.”

“又是最后期限，”泰國藝術大學(Silpakorn University)建筑學院副教授差立·普拉吉龍他肯(Chatri Prakitnonthakan)說。“總是有最后期限。我不知道這一次是不是真的。”

Deadlines are often negotiating tactics in Thailand, and resistance can prevail, as it has here at Fort Mahakan for a quarter of a century. Deadlines have been set and ignored here in the past.

在泰國，最后期限通常是一種談判策略，抵抗也可以取得勝利，四分之一個世紀以來，發(fā)生在曼哈坎堡的事情正是如此。過去也曾定下最后期限卻被無視。

But some supporters of the villagers worry that the current military government may not back away, and some residents now seem resigned to leaving.

但一些村民的支持者擔心，目前的軍政府可能不會退縮，一些居民現(xiàn)在似乎已經(jīng)決定離開。

“I will ask for their sympathy,” said Sarayut Nilbai, 50, who repairs birdcages for a living and said his father and grandfather had lived here before him.

“我會請求得到他們的同情，”50歲的薩拉尤特·尼爾拜(Sarayut Nilbai)說，他以修理鳥籠為生，并說他的父親和祖父之前都住在這里。

“I’ll have to spend a lot of money to move out and we’ll have to start all over again,” he said. “I have no plans for the future.”

“我必須花很多錢搬走，我們必須一切重新開始，”他說。“我沒有對未來的計劃。”

His neighbor, Paiboon Tularak, 65, who makes birdcages and raises zebra doves for a living, seems to have had enough after decades of resistance, and now says, “What’s the use?”

他的鄰居派汶·都拉叻(Paiboon Tularak)今年65歲，以做鳥籠和飼養(yǎng)斑姬地鳩為生，經(jīng)歷了幾十年的抵抗，他似乎已經(jīng)受夠了，如今他說，“這有什么用?”

“They’ll insist we have to leave,” he said. “It’s time. They don’t think we are important here.”

“他們會堅持我們必須離開，”他說。“是時候了。他們不認為我們待在這里是有必要的。”

For some observers, the struggle over the fate of the people here has a broader significance; it is a clash over the character of historic sites and the meaning of preservation.

對于一些觀察人士來說，這里的人民對命運的抗爭具有更廣泛的意義：它意味著歷史遺跡的特色與保存的意義之間的沖突。

“The government’s definition of history is palaces and temples,” said Mr. Chatri, the architect. “The community is not part of history, by the government’s definition.”

“政府對歷史的定義是宮殿和寺廟，”建筑師差立說。“根據(jù)政府的定義，社區(qū)不是歷史的一部分。”

He said it was also a question of class, with people in poor communities forced by eviction or the cost of living to move out of the city center and to face a long commute to do their jobs.

他說，這也是一個階級問題，貧困社區(qū)的人因拆遷或因生活費用被迫搬出市中心，上下班要花很多時間。

“All these small communities will be turned into areas to serve middle-class people, high-class people, tourists,” Mr. Chatri said. “It won’t be a city for everyone. For middle-class people like us, we want people to clear the garbage, sweep the streets. If you don’t allow these people to live in the city, it’s not fair.”

“所有這些小社區(qū)將變成為中產(chǎn)階級、上層階級與游客服務的地區(qū)，”差立說。“它將不再是每個人的城市。對于像我們這樣的中產(chǎn)階級來說，我們希望有人來清除垃圾，清掃街道。如果你不讓這些人住在城市里，這是不公平的。”

The renewed pressure on Fort Mahakan coincides with a broad campaign by the military government to bring order to this unruly city, clearing the sidewalks of the vendors and food stalls that give Bangkok its character and color.

在曼哈坎堡面臨新壓力的同時，軍事政府正在開展廣泛的運動，希望為這個凌亂的城市帶來秩序，清除人行道邊那些最具曼谷特色、為它帶來色彩的小販和食物攤位。

The government has pushed the clamorous profusion of flower vendors off the sidewalks around the city’s famous flower market.

在這座城市最有名的花卉市場附近，政府趕走了人行道上五彩繽紛的賣花小攤。

As of October, in the latest reported statistics, the government said it had evicted 19,678 vendors from 223 public areas in 42 districts.

根據(jù)最新的統(tǒng)計數(shù)字，政府說，截至10月它已經(jīng)在42個地區(qū)的223處公共區(qū)域里趕走了19678個攤販。

“It’s the mentality of a military government,” Mr. Chatri said, “discipline, rules, order. Clear out every messy thing.”

“這是軍政府的思維方式，”差立說，“紀律、規(guī)則、秩序。清除所有凌亂的東西。”

The government is also pushing forward with a plan for a promenade along the bank of the Chao Phraya River that it says will displace 309 families in 12 communities of riverfront homes and shanties.

政府還推出了一個計劃，沿著湄南河岸修建一條步行大道，政府說，它將取代當?shù)?2個社區(qū)的309戶居住在河岸與棚戶區(qū)的家庭。

One of the most engaged and knowledgeable observers is Michael Herzfeld, professor of the social sciences in the anthropology department at Harvard, who has just published a book about Fort Mahakan called “Siege of the Spirits: Community and Polity in Bangkok.”

哈佛人類學系社會科學教授邁克爾·赫茨費爾德(Michael Herzfeld)是最關注、最了解該地的觀察人士之一，他剛剛出版了一本關于曼哈坎堡的書《精神的圍困：曼谷的社區(qū)和政體》(Siege of the Spirits: Community and Polity in Bangkok)。

“I think the B.M.A. is simply operating on a model of clean lines and no people,” he said. “They forget what a city is for. City life has to be somewhat messy to be bearable.”

“我認為曼谷都市管理局只是在根據(jù)一個邊界分明的模型來運作，沒有考慮到人的因素，”他說。“他們忘記了城市究竟是什么。城市生活必須帶點可以承受的凌亂。”

The city planners, he said, “are living in a kind of world of bourgeois imagination that has little to do with reality.”

他說，城市規(guī)劃者“生活在一種與現(xiàn)實毫無關系的資產(chǎn)階級想象世界里。”

This has happened in the sterile cityscape of Singapore, once one of the most exciting cities in Asia, where vendors have been swept off the streets and grouped together in enclosed “hawker centers.”

新加坡貧瘠的城市景觀正是如此，那里曾經(jīng)是亞洲最令人興奮的城市之一，如今，小攤販已經(jīng)從街頭清理出去，并被集中在封閉的“小販中心”。

Mr. Herzfeld called this approach “spatial cleansing.”

赫茨費爾德稱這種方法是“空間清洗”。

The villagers at Fort Mahakan have worked to show that they can keep their area clean and organized and have put up signs in Thai and English at the oldest and most historic houses.

曼哈坎堡村民努力證明他們可以在自己的區(qū)域內(nèi)保持清潔和秩序，他們還在村中最古老、最具歷史價值的房子前面樹立了泰語和英語的標志。

A sign on one wood house says that it is the site of the first performances of a traditional theater form called likay but that its residents now sell fish maw soup.

一座木屋上的標志寫著，一種名叫梨伽(likay)的傳統(tǒng)戲劇最早就是在這里上演的，但是這座屋子里的居民現(xiàn)在在賣魚肚湯。

One building called Gold Melting House is the site of a former business that melted tiny amounts of gold into bars. Another housed a water-delivery business.

一棟名叫熔金屋(Gold Melting House)的建筑以前是商業(yè)場所，那時人們在這里可以把少量黃金熔鑄成金條。還有一棟房子是一個做送水生意的店。

Others are designated Earthenware House, House of Music, Palace Police and Thai Massage, describing trades that were lodged here.

還有一些房子被標為陶器屋、音樂屋、宮廷警察和泰式按摩，都是在描述這些房子曾經(jīng)的功用。

Just behind these remnants of the past is a scene of what could become the future at Fort Mahakan.

在這些遺址的背后有這樣一個場景，可能預示著曼哈坎堡的未來。

In a vacant lot under the trees lies a jumble of boards and tin roofing and chunks of concrete where a wrecking crew had already done its work on 12 of the houses in September.

一片樹木之下的空地上，放著一堆板材、鐵皮屋頂和混凝土塊，拆遷隊在九月已經(jīng)完成了那里的12座房子的拆除工作。