VOA标准英语2010年-Can Social Media Bring Democracy to Mi

Egyptian-born columnist¹, Mona Eltahawy, writes about Middle Eastern political affairs for a number of international newspapers

Today, we continue looking at the question of whether new media - Facebook, blogging, tweeting - can bring democracy to the Middle East.   We've heard from those who are critical of U.S. attempts to train Arab youth to be political activists².   They argue that new media function merely as outlets³ for venting⁴ opinions but have had no significant impact on authoritative⁵ regimes, particularly those which are supported by the U.S. and other Western countries.  Mona Eltahawy is an Egyptian-born columnist who writes about Middle Eastern political affairs for a number of international newspapers:

 

Eltahawy: "I find social media to be one of the few tools in the Middle East that keep me optimistic about the region.  Social media have given the most marginalized groups in the region a voice.  And those most marginalized groups are women and minorities of various kinds - religious minorities, ethnic⁶ minorities, sexual minorities, you name it.  They have always been marginalized from the various levels of discourse⁷, and you rarely find them in mainstream⁸ media. 

So they finally have a place now to express themselves, and it's not just for 'stress relief,' because there are many examples I could give you from the region of how social media, for example, have helped convict police officers of torture; of how social media were used to organize the victims of police torture within Egypt; of how social media were used to help a hunger strike in Saudi Arabia in support of political dissidents; of how social media - again in Egypt - were used to raise awareness⁹ about sexual harassment¹⁰ against women in public, to the extent that the Egyptian Parliament is discussing a draft law that would both define and criminalize sexual harassment; and, in a country like Morocco, social media have been used to expose police corruption¹¹. 

So in all those cases, social media are much more than just about stress relief and venting.  They are about people who have been marginalized and finally have the chance to say quite loudly and publically, 'Enough' and 'This is how I feel.'   And I think the people who criticize social media for just being vents¹² for stress relief are asking the wrong question."

Hilleary: "What should they be asking, then?"

Eltahawy: "The question isn't, 'How many regimes have social media overthrown,' because the obvious answer is 'None.'   The question should be, what kinds of changes are social media engendering¹³ in the region?  How are social media enabling those most marginalized groups in the Middle East to mature and go into the realization¹⁴ that their opinions count and that they have the ability to bring about change in a region that is largely run by dictators?  That alone is worth the price."

'Inconsistencies in U.S. foreign policy'

Hilleary: "How do you respond to those people who argue that because of what they call 'inconsistencies' in U.S. foreign policy, the U.S. is in no position to promote democracy?"

Eltahawy: "Well, that's a contradiction in that many people in the Arab world, for example, recognize clearly that various U.S. administrations have supported dictators in the region.  My country of birth Egypt, for example, has had the same president for 29 years, and President Hosni Mubarak has been supported by various U.S. administrations. 

But the thing to do in this case is to encourage the U.S. Administration to encourage, in turn, its ally, President Hosni Mubarak, to open up politically, because as we saw in 2005, sometimes when there's pressure internally in Egypt and externally from its allies - mainly the United States - some small opening, albeit¹⁵ small, happened.  And we saw that in the change to the Egyptian constitution that allowed multiple presidential candidates. 

But it wasn't enough of a change because it still makes it almost impossible for an independent candidate to run.   So yes, I recognize that contradiction of an ally or a dictator then turning around and saying, 'We support democratic efforts.' But this isn't what social media are about.  I think we need to separate the two issues."

We need to say to the U.S. Administration, 'Your support of dictators makes you incredibly unpopular and makes it very difficult for the people of those dictators[hips] to bring about change.'  That's Issue One.

But Issue Two, independently, is social media are an incredibly effective tool that help marginalized people in the region, and I don't think we need to connect the two.  I think that we need to encourage both of those issues to help create a greater opening in the Middle East that will help those marginalized groups have a say."

Consequences

Hilleary: "I've read arguments that say the United States government and certainly NGOs have certain ethical¹⁶ responsibilities, knowing that there are consequences - and we've seen those in many countries.  We've seen it lead to arrests, torture."

Eltahawy: "There are absolute consequences, often very dire¹⁷.  I mean, Egypt convicted and imprisoned¹⁸ a blogger three and a half years ago on charges of insulting Islam and insulting the President, and he was given four years [prison sentence].   And we're not really sure what's going to happen to this young man when he's released at the end of his sentence towards the end of this year.

Bloggers in various countries across the region have been intimidated¹⁹, have been beaten up, have been arrested, have been imprisoned without charge.  We have a Bedouin blogger from Sinai, Egypt, who was just released a few weeks ago after spending at least two years in Administrative²⁰ detention²¹ that was allowed by the emergency law in effect in Egypt for 29 years now. 

So blogging is not a light thing, by no means whatsoever²².  But I think what we need to do is we need to hear the voices of those groups that want to continue blogging and ask them, 'How best can we support you?'  Because they don't want to be patronized.  They don't want to be told, 'This is really dangerous, you know, we don't know if we should support you and put your life in danger.'  They want the freedom to express themselves. 

There are various NGOs and human rights activists in the region who know very well the environment and know very well how to help these young people.  For example, they give workshops on how to use proxies²³ to avoid firewalls and how to kind of keep your footsteps online anonymous²⁴.  We can reach out to those groups and ask them, 'How best can we help you help the bloggers and the social media activists?'"
 

1 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 venting   

消除； 泄去； 排去； 通风

参考例句：

• But, unexpectedly, he started venting his spleen on her. 哪知道，老头子说着说着绕到她身上来。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• So now he's venting his anger on me. 哦，我这才知道原来还是怄我的气。

5 authoritative   

adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的

参考例句：

• David speaks in an authoritative tone.大卫以命令的口吻说话。
• Her smile was warm but authoritative.她的笑容很和蔼，同时又透着威严。

6 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

7 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

8 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

9 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

10 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

11 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

12 vents   

（气体、液体等进出的）孔、口( vent的名词复数 )； （鸟、鱼、爬行动物或小哺乳动物的）肛门； 大衣等的)衩口； 开衩

参考例句：

• He always vents his anger on the dog. 他总是拿狗出气。
• The Dandelion Patch is the least developed of the four active vents. “蒲公英区”在这四个活裂口中是发育最差的一个。

13 engendering   

v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Certain soluble extracts of B pertussis may prove to be effective without engendering serious side effects. 某些可溶性百日咳杆菌提取物，可证明用之有效，也不产生严重副作用。 来自辞典例句
• The engendering, classification, path and control of environmental pollution transference were discussed. 对环境污染转嫁的产生、分类、途径及其控制与防范进行了分析。 来自互联网

14 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

15 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。

16 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

17 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

18 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

19 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

21 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

22 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

23 proxies   

n.代表权( proxy的名词复数 )；（测算用的）代替物；（对代理人的）委托书；（英国国教教区献给主教等的）巡游费

参考例句：

• SOCKS and proxies are unavailable. Try connecting to XX again? socks和代理不可用。尝试重新连接到XX吗？ 来自互联网
• All proxies are still down. Continue with direct connections? 所有的代理仍然有故障。继续直接连接吗？ 来自互联网

24 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。