If Africa was a bar, what would your country be drinking or doing?

一切都從這個問題開始：

I kicked it off with a guess about South Africa,

如果非洲是間酒吧， 你的國家會喝哪種酒、做什麼事？

which wasn't exactly according to the rules

我一開始先猜南非，

because South Africa's not my country.

其實有點犯規，

But alluding to the country's continual attempts

因為南非不是我的國家。

to build a postracial society

但是要暗示這個國家 不斷在嘗試

after being ravaged for decades by apartheid,

建立一個後種族社會，

I tweeted, #ifafricawasabar South Africa would be drinking all kinds of alcohol

在數十年的種族隔離蹂躪之後，

and begging them to get along in its stomach.

我在推特上寫：

And then I waited.

「#如果非洲是間酒吧， 南非大概什麼酒都喝，

And then I had that funny feeling where I wondered if I crossed the line.

還會求這些酒好好待在胃裡。」

So, I sent out a few other tweets about my own country

然後我就等著。

and a few other African countries I'm familiar with.

然後我有一種奇怪的感覺， 懷疑自己是不是有點超過。

And then I waited again,

所以我又推了幾個訊息， 講我自己的國家，

but this time

以及其它幾個我熟悉的非洲國家。

I read through almost every tweet I had ever tweeted

然後我再繼續等，

to convince myself,

但是這次，

no, to remind myself that I'm really funny

我幾乎把我推過的 每一則訊息都讀一遍，

and that if nobody gets it, that's fine.

來說服我自己，

But luckily,

不對，是提醒我自己我有多幽默，

I didn't have to do that for very long.

如果沒人看得懂，那就算了。

Very soon, people were participating.

但是幸好，

In fact, by the end of that week in July,

我不需要自我解嘲太久。

the hashtag #ifafricawasabar

很快，大家就開始加入。

would have garnered around 60,000 tweets,

事實上，在七月的那週結束時，

lit up the continent

推特標籤「#如果非洲是間酒吧」

and made its way to publications all over the world.

就收到了將近六萬則訊息，

People were using the hashtag to do many different things.

整片大陸如醉如痴，

To poke fun at their stereotypes:

並且開始在全世界的 出版品上出現。

[#IfAfricaWasABar Nigeria would be outside explaining

大家拿這個標籤做很多不同的事。

that he will pay the entrance fee,

有的拿來取笑他們的刻板印象：

all he needs is the bouncer's account details.]

「#如果非洲是間酒吧， 奈及利亞會站在外面解釋

(Laughter)

他會付入場費，

To criticize government spending:

反正只要知道保鏢的銀行帳戶。」 （諷刺詐騙集團）

[#ifafricawasabar South Africa would be ordering bottles it can't pronounce

（笑聲）

running a tab it won't be able to pay]

有的拿來批評政府支出：

To make light of geopolitical tensions:

「#如果非洲是間酒吧， 南非會訂購叫不出名字的瓶裝水，

[#IfAfricaWasABar South Sudan would be the new guy

開無法支付的水站。」

with serious anger management issues.]

有的拿來蔑視地緣政治的緊張關係：

To remind us that even in Africa

「#如果非洲是間酒吧， 南蘇丹會是那個

there are some countries we don't know exist:

有嚴重憤怒管理問題的新傢伙。」

[#IfAfricaWasABar Lesotho would be that person

有的拿來提醒我們即使在非洲，

who nobody really knows but is always in the pictures.]

還是有我們不知道的國家存在：

And also to make fun of the countries that don't think that they're in Africa:

「#如果非洲是間酒吧， 賴索托就是那個

[#IfAfricaWasABar Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco

沒有人真的認識， 但老是出現在照片裡的人。」

be like "What the hell are we doing here?!!"]

還有拿來取笑那些 自認不在非洲的國家：

(Laughter)

「#如果非洲是間酒吧， 埃及、利比亞及摩洛哥

And to note the countries that had made a big turnaround:

大概會說：『搞什麼鬼， 我們在這裡幹嘛？』」

[#ifAfricawasabar Rwanda would be that girl

（笑聲）

that comes with no money and no transport but leaves drunk, happy and rich]

有的提到轉變很大的國家：

But most importantly,

「#如果非洲是間酒吧， 盧安達會是那個

people were using the hashtag to connect.

進來時沒半毛錢、沒車的女孩， 但離開時開心、有錢、醉茫茫。」

People were connecting over their Africanness.

但最重要的，

So for one week in July,

大家用這個標籤來連結。

Twitter became a real African bar.

大家用「非洲情」來連結。

And I was really thrilled,

所以七月的某一週，

mainly because I realized that Pan-Africanism could work,

推特真的成了一間非洲酒吧。

that we had before us, between us, at our fingertips

我激動得不得了，

a platform that just needed a small spark

主要是因為我意識到 泛非洲主義可以行得通，

to light in us a hunger for each other.

在我們面前、我們之間、 我們的指尖上，

My name is Siyanda Mohutsiwa,

存在著一個平臺， 只要星星之火，

I'm 22 years old

就可以燎起彼此的渴望。

and I am Pan-Africanist by birth.

我的名字是希妍妲·莫瑚茨娃，

Now, I say I'm Pan-Africanist by birth

我 22 歲，

because my parents are from two different African countries.

我是泛非洲人出身。

My father's from a country called Botswana in southern Africa.

我說我是泛非洲人出身，

It's only slightly bigger than Germany.

因為我的父母來自非洲 兩個不同的國家。

This year we celebrate our 50th year of stable democracy.

我的父親來自非洲南部 一個叫波札那的國家。

And it has some very progressive social policies.

只比德國大一點點。

My mother's country is the Kingdom of Swaziland.

今年我們慶祝國家 邁入穩定民主 50 年，

It's a very, very small country, also in southern Africa.

而且我們的社會政策也非常先進。

It is Africa's last complete monarchy.

我的母親來自史瓦濟蘭王國。

So it's been ruled by a king and a royal family

它是個非常非常小的國家， 也在非洲南部。

in line with their tradition,

它是非洲最後一個君主專制國。

for a very long time.

被君王及王室統治，

On paper, these countries seem very different.

實施他們傳統的王室繼承法

And when I was a kid, I could see the difference.

好長一段時間。

It rained a lot in one country, it didn't rain quite as much in the other.

理論上看這兩個國家 似乎非常不一樣。

But outside of that, I didn't really realize

在我小時候，我還看得到不同點。

why it mattered that my parents were from two different places.

一個國家下很多雨， 另一個國家沒下那麼多雨。

But it would go on to have a very peculiar effect on me.

但是除此之外， 我其實並不了解

You see, I was born in one country

我的父母來自不同的國家 有什麼大不了。

and raised in the other.

但是時間流逝， 它對我產生非常特別的影響。

When we moved to Botswana,

你知道嗎，我在一個國家出生，

I was a toddler who spoke fluent SiSwati

卻在另一個國家成長。

and nothing else.

我們搬到波札那時，

So I was being introduced to my new home,

我還在學步，說一口流利的史瓦濟語，

my new cultural identity,

其它的都不會。

as a complete outsider,

所以我在開始接觸我的新家，

incapable of comprehending anything that was being said to me

我的新文化認同時，

by the family and country whose traditions I was meant to move forward.

完全是個外人，

But very soon, I would shed SiSwati.

無法理解人家告訴我的任何事，

And when I would go back to Swaziland,

即使這個家庭及國家的傳統 是我即將加入的。

I would be constantly confronted by how very non-Swazi I was becoming.

但我很快就丟了史瓦濟語。

Add to that my entry into Africa's private school system,

而且我回史瓦濟蘭時，

whose entire purpose is to beat the Africanness out of you,

我不斷注意到自己 變得有多麼不像史瓦濟蘭人。

and I would have a very peculiar adolescence.

再加上我進入非洲的 私立學校系統，

But I think that my interest in ideas of identity was born here,

它全部的目的就是 要把你「去非洲化」，

in the strange intersection of belonging to two places at once

而且我有一段 非常特殊的青春期。

but not really belonging to either one very well

但是我想我對身分認同的概念 產生興趣就是從這裡開始，

and belonging to this vast space in between and around simultaneously.

在一個很奇怪的十字路口上， 同時歸屬於兩個地方，

I became obsessed with the idea of a shared African identity.

卻又對兩邊都沒有真正的歸屬感，

Since then, I have continued to read about politics

同時存在於這片無際的 交錯環繞空間裡。

and geography and identity and what all those things mean.

我開始迷上共享非洲身分這個想法。

I've also held on to a deep curiosity about African philosophies.

從那時候開始， 我一直在讀有關政治、

When I began to read,

地理、身分認同 及這一切意義的文章。

I gravitated towards the works of black intellectuals

我也一直對非洲哲學 抱持深切的好奇心。

like Steve Biko and Frantz Fanon,

我開始讀的時候，

who tackled complex ideas

我深受黑人知識份子文章的吸引，

like decolonization and black consciousness.

像南非的史蒂芬·比科 及法國的法蘭茲·法農，

And when I thought, at 14, that I had digested these grand ideas,

他們著手在複雜的觀念，

I moved on to the speeches of iconic African statesmen

如去殖民化及黑人的意識問題。

like Burkina Faso's Thomas Sankara

在我 14 歲，認為自己 已經消化了這些偉大的想法後，

and Congo's Patrice Lumumba.

我就進一步去看 非洲政治代表人物的演講，

I read every piece of African fiction that I could get my hands on.

像是布吉納法索的 托馬斯·桑卡拉，

So when Twitter came,

及剛果的帕特里斯·盧蒙巴。

I hopped on with the enthusiasm of a teenage girl

我讀每一本我拿得到的非洲小說。

whose friends are super, super bored of hearing about all this random stuff.

所以當推特出現時，

The year was 2011

我以青少女的熱情 一踴躍上這班列車，

and all over southern Africa and the whole continent,

因為我的朋友都被我這些 無關緊要的話題搞到無聊到爆。

affordable data packages for smartphones and Internet surfing

那是 2011 年，

became much easier to get.

整個非洲南部及整片大陸上，

So my generation, we were sending messages to each other on this platform

平價的智慧型手機上網方案 及網路瀏覽

that just needed 140 characters and a little bit of creativity.

變得更容易取得。

On long commutes to work,

所以我這個世代， 我們都用這種平臺彼此送簡訊，

in lectures that some of us should have been paying attention to,

你只需要 140 個字及一點點創意。

on our lunch breaks,

在去上班的漫長路途上、

we would communicate as much as we could

在我們應該注意聽講的課堂上、

about the everyday realities of being young and African.

在午休時間，

But of course, this luxury was not available to everybody.

我們都盡可能多通訊，

So this meant that if you were a teenage girl in Botswana

聊著非洲青年的現實生活。

and you wanted to have fun on the Internet,

但是當然，不是每一個人 都享受得到這種奢華。

one, you had to tweet in English.

所以這意味著 如果你是波札那的青少女，

Two, you had to follow more than just the three other people you knew online.

而且你想在網路上玩得開心，

You had to follow South Africans, Zimbabweans, Ghanaians, Nigerians.

一，你得用英文發訊息。

And suddenly, your whole world opened up.

二，除了你在網上認識的那三個人， 你得跟隨更多帳號，

And my whole world did open up.

你得跟隨南非人、辛巴威人 迦納人、奈及利亞人。

I followed vibrant Africans who were travelling around the continent,

忽然間，你的整個世界大大開展。

taking pictures of themselves

我的世界的確開展了。

and posting them under the hashtag #myafrica.

我跟隨了幾個活躍的非洲人， 他們在整片大陸上旅行，

Because at that time,

常常拍自己的相片，

if you were to search Africa on Twitter or on Google

還貼出來， 標上「#我的非洲」標籤。

or any kind of social media,

因為當時，

you would think that the entire continent was just pictures of animals

如果你在推特或 Google，

and white guys drinking cocktails in hotel resorts.

或在任何一種社群媒體上搜尋非洲，

(Laughter)

你會以為整個非洲大陸 就是動物的照片，

But Africans were using this platform

及白人在飯店渡假村喝雞尾酒。

to take some kind of ownership of the tourism sectors.

（笑聲）

It was Africans taking selfies on the beaches of Nigeria.

但是非洲人用這種平臺

It was Africans in cocktail bars in Nairobi.

取回觀光部分某種程度的所有權。

And these were the same Africans that I began to meet

是非洲人在奈及利亞的海灘上自拍。

in my own travels around the continent.

是非洲人在奈洛比的 酒吧裡喝雞尾酒。

We would discuss African literature, politics, economic policy.

他們就是我在環遊大陸的旅程中。 開始遇到的同一批非洲人，

But almost invariably, every single time,

我們會討論非洲文學、 政治、經濟政策。

we would end up discussing Twitter.

但是幾乎無一例外，每一次

And that's when I realized what this was.

我們最後都會討論推特。

We were standing in the middle of something amazing,

那也是我明白 這代表什麼意義的時刻。

because for the first time ever

我們正站在奇妙的東西之中，

young Africans could discuss the future of our continent in real time,

因為這是第一次

without the restriction of borders, finances and watchful governments.

非洲青年能夠即時討論 自己大陸的未來，

Because the little known truth is

沒有邊界、財務及政府監控的限制。

many Africans know a lot less about other African countries

因為鮮為人知的事實是

than some Westerners might know about Africa as a whole.

許多非洲人 對其它非洲國家所知極少，

This is by accident,

甚至比西方人 對非洲整體的了解還少。

but sometimes, it's by design.

這是意外造成的，

For example, in apartheid South Africa,

但是有時候也是刻意的。

black South Africans were constantly being bombarded

譬如在種族隔離的南非，

with this message that any country ruled by black people

黑人會不斷被疲勞轟炸，

was destined for failure.

說任何一個黑人統治的國家

And this was done to convince them

都注定要失敗。

that they were much better off under crushing white rule

這麼做是為了說服他們

than they were living in a black and free nation.

被白人壓倒性統治，

Add to that Africa's colonial, archaic education system,

會比生活在一個全黑 又自由的國家要好得多。

which has been unthinkingly carried over from the 1920s --

再加上非洲的殖民式、 古老的教育體制，

and at the age of 15, I could name all the various causes

自 1920 年代 不假思索地沿用至今——

of the wars that had happened in Europe in the past 200 years,

在 15 歲時，我就可以說出所有

but I couldn't name the president of my neighboring country.

過去 200 年中 歐洲發生過的戰爭的各種起因，

And to me, this doesn't make any sense

但是我無法說出鄰國總統的名字。

because whether we like it or not,

對我而言，這一點道理都沒有，

the fates of African people are deeply intertwined.

因為無論我們喜歡與否，

When disaster hits, when turmoil hits,

非洲人民的命運 都深深交織在一起。

we share the consequences.

災難來臨，時局動盪時，

When Burundians flee political turmoil,

我們同當後果。

they go to us,

在蒲隆地人逃離政治動亂時，

to other African countries.

他們逃向我們，

Africa has six of the world's largest refugee centers.

逃向其它非洲國家。

What was once a Burundian problem

非洲有六個世界上最大的難民中心。

becomes an African problem.

曾經只是蒲隆地人的問題，

So to me, there are no Sudanese problems

現在變成非洲人的問題。

or South African problems or Kenyan problems,

所以對我而言， 沒有蘇丹人的問題，

only African problems

或南非人的問題，或肯亞人的問題，

because eventually, we share the turmoil.

只有非洲人的問題，

So if we share the problems,

因為最終，我們共同擔當動亂。

why aren't we doing a better job of sharing the successes?

所以如果我們可以有難同當，

How can we do that?

為什麼我們不能也有福同享？

Well, in the long term,

要怎麼做呢？

we can shoot towards increasing inter-African trade,

長遠來看，

removing borders and putting pressure on leaders

我們可以朝增加非洲內的貿易邁進，

to fulfill regional agreements they've already signed.

消除邊界及對領袖施壓，

But I think that the biggest way for Africa to share its successes

以落實他們已經簽署的區域協定。

is to foster something I like to call social Pan-Africanism.

但是我認為非洲 要同享成功最大的方法，

Now, political Pan-Africanism already exists,

是促進我所謂社群泛非洲主義。

so I'm not inventing anything totally new here.

現在，政治泛非洲主義已經存在，

But political Pan-Africanism

所以我沒有發明什麼全新的東西。

is usually the African unity of the political elite.

但是政治的泛非洲主義

And who does that benefit?

通常是指非洲政治菁英的聯合。

Well, African leaders, almost exclusively.

這樣是誰得到好處？

No, what I'm talking about

嗯，幾乎完全是非洲領袖。

is the Pan-Africanism of the ordinary African.

不是這樣的，我在說的

Young Africans like me,

是普通非洲人的泛非洲主義。

we are bursting with creative energy,

像我這樣的非洲青年，

with innovative ideas.

我們充滿了創意能量，

But with bad governance and shaky institutions,

創新思想。

all of this potential could go to waste.

但是有不好的政府 與不穩定的機構，

On a continent where more than a handful of leaders

所有的潛能終將成為浪費。

have been in power longer

在這片大陸，大多數政要

than the majority of the populations has been alive,

掌權的時間，

we are in desperate need of something new,

都超過大多數人口的壽命，

something that works.

我們迫切需要新的東西，

And I think that thing is social Pan-Africanism.

能行得通的東西。

My dream is that young Africans

我認為那個東西就是社群泛非主義。

stop allowing borders and circumstance to suffocate our innovation.

我的夢想是非洲青年

My dream is that when a young African comes up with something brilliant,

不再允許邊界與環境 窒礙我們的創新。

they don't say, "Well, this wouldn't work in my country,"

我的夢想是當一名非洲青年 想出了絕妙的東西，

and then give up.

他們不會說： 「唉，這在我的國家行不通，」

My dream is that young Africans begin to realize

然後放棄。

that the entire continent is our canvas, is our home.

我的夢想是非洲青年開始了解

Using the Internet, we can begin to think collaboratively,

整片大陸都是我們的畫布， 是我們的家。

we can begin to innovate together.

透過網路，我們可以開始集體思考，

In Africa, we say, "If you want to go fast, you go alone,

我們可以開始一同創新。

but if you want to go far, you go together."

在非洲，我們說， 如果你想走得快，就要一個人走。

And I believe that social Pan-Africanism is how we can go far together.

但是如果你想走得遠， 你就要跟人一起走。

And this is already happening.

我相信社群泛非主義 就是我們一起走遠的方式。

Access to these online networks has given young Africans

這已經發生了。

something we've always had to violently take: a voice.

使用這些社群網路， 讓非洲青年取得