守住法國人的多元主義

Charlie Hebdo and the Assault on French Identity

守住法國人的多元主義

Wednesday was the day when Michel Houellebecq’s latest novel, “Soumission” (Submission), hit the bookstores. It has been all Houellebecq all the time lately, as shrewd marketing from his publishing house made sure that this provocative book on France becoming an Islamic republic in 2022 would get prime-time coverage — and draw maximum controversy.

上周三是米歇爾·維勒貝克(Michel Houellebecq)最新小說《投降》(Soumission)在書店上架的日子。最近，維勒貝克曝光度很高，他的出版社開展了精明的市場營銷活動，確保讓這本內(nèi)容富有挑釁性的作品獲得黃金時段的報道——并引起最大程度的爭議。這本書講的是在2022年，法國成了一個伊斯蘭共和國。

So Wednesday began with Mr. Houellebecq on morning radio, explaining that, contrary to what he said in 2010, Islam is not “the dumbest religion” after all, and that there is “space for negotiation.” Asked whether his novel was intended to scare people, he replied: “The scariest part of the novel is actually the part before the Muslims come to power.”

所以上周三是這么開始的，早上，維勒貝克在電臺解釋說，和他2010年的說法相反，伊斯蘭教畢竟并不是“最愚蠢的宗教”，而且“協(xié)商的空間”是存在的。當被問及他的小說是否旨在嚇唬人時，他回答說：“這部小說的最可怕的部分，實際上是在穆斯林掌權之前。”

To Mr. Houellebecq, the “terrifying degree of contempt” in which, in his view, politicians, judges and journalists are now held in France, is much scarier than electing a decent Muslim president.

維勒貝克認為，現(xiàn)在法國的政客、法官和記者受到了“極度的蔑視”，這比選出一名像樣的穆斯林總統(tǒng)可怕得多。

Mr. Houellebecq’s light and, at the same time, terribly serious comments were still resonating when, three hours later, two heavily armed men entered the newsroom of Charlie Hebdo and perpetrated the worst massacre Paris has witnessed in decades, killing 12 people. It soon became clear that the attackers had acted to punish those free spirits who not only dared to publish, almost 10 years ago, the cartoons of Muhammad printed in a Danish newspaper that had sparked deadly protests, but never backed down after.

維勒貝克的這些評論輕描淡寫，卻又極為嚴重，三個小時后，可以說他的話音未落，就有兩名全副武裝的男子闖入《查理周報》的編輯部，犯下了巴黎幾十年來最嚴重的屠殺罪行，造成12人死亡。情況很快清晰起來，襲擊者此舉是為了懲罰一些信仰自由的人，在大約10年前，這些人就敢于刊登穆罕默德的漫畫，這些原載于一家丹麥報紙的漫畫引發(fā)了流血抗議，而此后他們一直沒有退縮過。

So much for “space for negotiation.” A nation in shock soon forgot Mr. Houellebecq’s niceties about the advantages of “moderate Islam.” Radical Islam had taken over the news. Again.

“協(xié)商的空間”也不過如此。震驚的法國人迅速忘記維勒貝克對“溫和的伊斯蘭”的美好描寫。再一次，新聞報道被激進的伊斯蘭所占據(jù)。

An American colleague has asked me whether the attack on Charlie Hebdo was comparable to 9/11. There is a big difference: While this attack came as a shock to the French because of the target and the high number of casualties, it did not come exactly as a surprise. We have been living with this threat for a long time now.

一位美國同事問我，《查理周報》攻擊是否堪比“9·11”。其實差別很大：雖然在受到襲擊的目標和傷亡人數(shù)上，這次襲擊令法國人感到震驚，但襲擊本身并不是特別讓人意外。我們已經(jīng)在這種威脅中生活很長一段時間了。

We have witnessed other hideous terrorist crimes, like Mohammed Merah’s killing of seven people, including three children at a Jewish school, three years ago in three separate attacks in southwestern France. We’ve had journalists and NGO workers kidnapped and assassinated in Syria and Africa. We know that the involvement of French armed forces in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Islamic State in Africa and the Middle East — an involvement that enjoys broad popular support — makes us a target for revenge. We are wary of the success of the Islamic State’s recruiting campaigns in our mosques, which have sent more than 1,000 young French jihadis to the Syrian and Iraqi battlegrounds.

我們目睹了其他丑惡的恐怖主義罪行，比如三年前，穆罕默德·默拉(Mohammed Merah)在法國西南部三起獨立的襲擊事件中殺害了七個人，其中包括一所猶太學校的三名兒童。在敘利亞和非洲，我們已經(jīng)有一些記者和非政府組織工作人員遭到綁架和暗殺。我們知道，法國軍隊參與了打擊基地組織(Al Qaeda)和在非洲和中東地區(qū)打擊伊斯蘭國(Islamic State)的戰(zhàn)斗——法國人普遍支持這種參與——我們因此成了報復的對象。伊斯蘭國在法國清真寺里開展的招募活動很成功，已經(jīng)令1000多名年輕的法國圣戰(zhàn)者趕赴敘利亞和伊拉克戰(zhàn)場，對此我們頗為警惕。

Yet we also have a big, quiet and nonradicalized Muslim community living among us. Islam is the second religion in France, behind Catholicism. France is home to the biggest Muslim community in Europe, as well as the biggest Jewish community. So in order to try to keep everybody reasonably happy together, we have promoted secularism, giving way to a new motto: Liberté, égalité, fraternité, laïcité.

然而，在我們中間，也生活著一個龐大的、安靜的、非激進的穆斯林群體。伊斯蘭教是法國第二大宗教，僅次于天主教。法國有歐洲最大的穆斯林社區(qū)，以及最大的猶太社區(qū)。因此，為了盡量讓大家都能基本滿意，我們提倡世俗主義，喊出一個新的口號：自由、平等、博愛、政教分離。

This is the country where Muslim girls and Jewish boys can’t wear a veil or a yarmulke in public schools. Or where a couple is politely asked to leave if the woman declines to uncover her fully veiled face, as required by the law, during a performance of “La Traviata” at the Paris Opéra. It does not make us popular in the Arab world, but somehow it works at home: Muslim schoolgirls attend classes unveiled, and the couple left the Opéra without protesting.

在這個國家的公立學校里，穆斯林女孩不能戴面紗，猶太男孩也不能戴圓頂小帽。一對夫婦在巴黎歌劇院觀看《茶花女》時，如果女方拒絕按照法律要求，揭開自己的面紗，充分露出自己的臉部，那么他們會被禮貌地要求離開。這些做法不會讓我們得到阿拉伯世界的喜愛，但在法國就是行得通：穆斯林女學生上課時不戴面紗，那對夫婦離開了歌劇院，未作任何抗議。

But France is also the country of Charlie Hebdo. The 45-year-old satirical newspaper is quintessentially French, in its provocative irreverence, its not-so-tasteful yet very witty humor, its refusal to spare any taboo. The popularity of its cartoonists — the ones who were sprayed with bullets on Wednesday — extended well beyond Charlie Hebdo. They had created legendary characters for teenagers’ comic books and the gray pages of enlightened newspapers; they were regular guests on TV.

但法國也是《查理周報》的家鄉(xiāng)。這家有45年歷史的諷刺報紙具有典型的法式風格，它無所顧忌地發(fā)起挑釁，它的幽默感有些沒品，但諧趣十足，拒絕對任何禁忌讓步。上周三那些倒在槍林彈雨中的漫畫家，人氣遠遠超出了《查理周報》本身。他們?yōu)榍嗌倌曷嫊烷_明報紙的灰色頁面創(chuàng)造了傳奇人物;他們是電視上的常客。

But the eccentric team at Charlie Hebdo stubbornly stood its ground when it started to receive threats after publishing the Muhammad cartoons. In 2011, after another devastating front page headlined “Charia Hebdo,” the newspaper’s offices were destroyed in an arson attack. The journalists moved over temporarily to Libération, then to new offices. Unbowed, however, they did not change a thing, giving equal treatment to rabbis, priests, imams, sports figures and politicians.

但《查理周報》的這個離奇團隊，在刊登關于穆罕默德的漫畫并收到威脅之后，仍然固執(zhí)地堅守陣地。2011年，它推出了一個極為挑釁的頭版，題為《伊斯蘭教法周報》(Charia Hebdo)，導致辦公室遭到縱火破壞。記者們暫時搬到《解放報》(Libération)辦公，之后又搬到新的辦公室。但是，他們一如既往，給予拉比、牧師、阿訇、體育人物和政治家平等待遇。

“It may sound a bit pompous, but I’d rather die standing than live on my knees,” the newspaper’s editor, Stéphane Charbonnier, who was known as Charb, told Le Monde two years ago. On Wednesday, he died standing.

“這聽起來有點像是夸夸其談，但我寧愿站著死，也不愿跪著生，”周報編輯斯特凡納·沙博尼耶(Stéphane Charbonnier)，筆名沙博(Charb)，兩年前對《世界報》(Le Monde)說。上周三，他站著死去。

In a moving tribute on French TV, Robert Badinter, a former justice minister who led the fight to abolish the death penalty in 1981, said that these cartoonists, our beloved bad boys, were “true heroes” because they had been “soldiers of freedom.”

法國電視臺播放了一場令人動容的悼念活動，前司法部長、1981年廢除死刑活動的領導者羅伯特·巴丹泰(Robert Badinter)說，這些漫畫家是我們心愛的壞男孩，是“真正的英雄”，因為他們是“自由戰(zhàn)士”。

This is why the French are in shock. This is not blind terrorism. It is terrorism targeted at the heart of the French identity: Mohammed Merah targeted Jewish schools and Muslim immigrants who had joined the French Army because they were symbols of our diversity. The attackers on Wednesday targeted Charlie Hebdo because it is a symbol of our freedom.

這就是法國人震驚的原因。這不是盲目的恐怖主義。這是以法國身份的核心為目標的恐怖主義：穆罕默德·默拉把猶太學校和法國陸軍中的穆斯林移民當做目標，因為他們是我們多樣性的象征。周三的襲擊者把《查理周報》當做目標，因為它是我們自由的象征。

So what should we do, torn between “moderate Islam” and “radical Islam”? How should we deal with Islam? The attack on Charlie Hebdo “is not only a crime, it is a trap,” warned Mr. Badinter. The trap, of course, is to confuse the two. Just like Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, who immediately stoked fears of “Islamic fundamentalism” as if it applied to the whole French Muslim community, and as if it were the principal issue.

那么，夾在“溫和的伊斯蘭教”和“激進的伊斯蘭教”之間的我們應該怎么辦?我們應該如何應對伊斯蘭教?巴丹泰警告稱，對《查理周報》的攻擊“不僅是一場犯罪，還是一個圈套”。當然，這里的圈套是指混淆這兩種伊斯蘭教，就像國民陣線(National Front)的領導人馬琳·勒龐(Marine Le Pen)那樣。襲擊過后，她立即煽動“伊斯蘭教原教旨主義”恐慌，就好像這是一個主要問題，整個法國穆斯林群體都信奉原教旨主義一樣。

We are obsessed with the rise of Islam. Like Mr. Houellebecq, French intellectuals can debate Islam and secularism for hours. “Le Suicide Français” (The French Suicide) — a book by Éric Zemmour, a political essayist whose views have been compared to those of Ms. Le Pen — has topped the best-seller list.

我們對伊斯蘭教的崛起傾注了許多注意力。和維勒貝克一樣，法國知識分子能就伊斯蘭教和世俗主義討論數(shù)小時?！斗▏淖詺ⅰ?Le Suicide Français)高居暢銷書排行榜榜首。該書的作者是政論家埃里克·澤穆(Éric Zemmour)，他的觀點被拿來與勒龐的觀點相提并論。