大英國協存在意義到底是什麼?

　　二戰結束以來，國際格局發生了翻天覆地的變化。隨著大英帝國實力的衰落和各類新型國家、國際組織的興起，大英國協(The Commonwealth)作為一個曾經遠近聞名的國際組織，在當今的時代似乎已經被邊緣化，甚至已經被人們所淡忘。上年年末，隨著大英國協秘書長的選舉換屆，人們再一次把目光重新投入到該組織上來。
在當前的時代格局中，大英國協是否還有必要繼續存在。作為一個國際組織，她究竟應該發揮出什麼樣的作用。組織的目標和宗旨是否還需要重新調整。這些擺在面前的各類現實問題，都需要大英國協的新任秘書長一一進行回答。The new secretary-general will have to be tough, dynamic and crafty if the oddest of post-imperial clubs is to rekindle its sense of purpose大英國協在後帝國時期的各類團體中顯得最為怪異，若其重燃使命則新任秘書長必須強硬有力、富有幹勁與八面玲瓏 been an existential question mark over the Commonwealth for some time,」 says a seasoned diplomat in its secretariat in London. 「The Commonwealth has been dead, absolutely dead, for the past eight years,」 laments Richard Dowden, director of the Royal Africa Society (and a former Economist writer), taking a swipe at the outgoing secretary-general, Kamalesh Sharma, an urbane Indian diplomat who hasrun the show since 2008. As Queen Elizabeth nears 90 after 64 years as its titular head, some wonder if the club will survive when she goes. 「人們對大英國協的存在意義質疑已久」，位於倫敦聯邦秘書處中的一位資深外交家這樣說道。「在過去的八年中，大英國協已經死亡了，絕對的死亡」，英國皇家非洲學會會長（《經濟學人》前撰稿人）理察·道登(Richard Dowden)如此嘆息道。同時道登也藉此抨擊了即將卸任的大英國協秘書長卡姆利什·夏爾馬(Kamalesh Sharma)。夏爾馬是一位來自印度的外交官，性情溫文爾雅，自2008年以來一直在大英國協的政治舞臺上執掌大局。年近90歲的伊莉莎白女王已經坐擁皇位64年了，一些人甚至猜想，一旦女王去世之後這一俱樂部是否還會繼續存在。 citizens of the 53 countries that make up the Commonwealth what it is for, and most will shrug. Its most visible moment, which happens every four years, is a sports jamboree. A few years ago the Royal Commonwealth Society, which promotes the club, conducted a poll asking if respondents would be 「sorry or appalled if your country left the Commonwealth」. People in its poorer members were likeliest to answer 「yes」; those in Britain, Australia and Canada tended to indifference. Few knew much about it; a quarter of Jamaicans thought its head was Barack Obama. 如果詢問大英國協53個成員國的公民大英國協存在的意義到底是什麼，大部分人都只會聳聳肩膀而已。該組織最為引人注目的時刻就是在它每四年舉行一次的大型運動會。皇家大英國協協會(Royal Commonwealth Society)致力於推動大英國協俱樂部的發展。幾年前，該組織曾發起過一項民意測驗，詢問受眾者們「是否會因為所在國家退出大英國協而感到遺憾或震驚」。 較為貧困的成員國國民最有可能作出肯定回答；而英國、澳大利亞和加拿大的受訪者則對此往往漠不關心。很少有人真正了解這個概念；有四分之一的牙買加公民還認為他們的國家元首是歐巴馬(Barack Obama)。modern Commonwealth was born in 1949, partly thanks to Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India’s first prime minister, who had declared his country a republic but wanted to stay friends with the former imperial power and other former British dominions. As other ex-colonies in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean joined, 「Commonwealth values」 (never precisely defined) were promoted, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, when Southern Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) and South Africa struggled to shed their white masters. Under a dynamic secretary-general from Guyana, Sir Shridath (「Sonny」) Ramphal, from 1975 to 1990, the grouping gained clout in world councils. 現代版的大英國協誕生於1949年，它的成立還應部分歸功於印度獨立後的首位總理尼赫魯(Jawaharlal Nehru)。他在當時宣布印度成立共和政體，但仍然試圖與曾經的帝國勢力和之前的英國各自治領地區保持友好關係。隨著非洲、亞洲和加勒比海地區的其他前殖民地國家的加入，尤其是在20世紀七、八十年代南羅德西亞(即後來的辛巴威)與南非奮力擺脫了他們的白人主子之後，「大英國協的價值」(雖然從未得到準確的定義)被人們所提倡。1975至1990年間，在來自蓋亞那的秘書長蘭法爾(Shridath Ramphal)(也被人們稱為「Sonny」)的活力領導下，大英國協在世界舞臺上獲得了一定的影響力。Commonwealth’s purpose is twofold: to advance democracy and human rights; and to aid economic development. But on the first score it lacks a proper mechanism for enforcement. And on the second, it is not a big provider of cash. One of its principal boasts is its ability to help the gamut of island states, many of them tiny, that are members (see box on next page). But nowadays many of them look more eagerly to much richer bodies such as the European Union.大英國協共同體的目標主要有兩個：促進民主人權以及援助經濟發展。但是對於第一個目標，共同體缺乏一個恰當的執行機制；而對於第二個目標，它又不能提供大量的現金貨幣。能夠藉以自誇的主要理由是它能夠幫助各色島國，其中大部分島國都很小，且都是其成員國。但是如今許多島國成員卻在更為急切地尋找更加富裕的團體，比如歐盟。Softly, softly, to a point of silence
 was in 1991, in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, that heads of government declared that the Commonwealth should bolster human rights and democracy. The organization gained respect for the teams it sent to observe elections. In 1995 a ministerial action group was set up to deal with 「persistent and serious violators」 of those principles. Since then several offenders, including Nigeria, Pakistan, Fiji, the Gambia and Zimbabwe, have been ejected or shamed into leaving, usually temporarily. 1991年，在辛巴威的首都哈拉雷，政府首腦們公開聲明大英國協應當促進人權與民主。大英國協因其派遣的選舉觀察團而贏得尊重。1995年，俱樂部成立聯邦部長行動小組，處理「長期且嚴重」違反上述原則的情況。 自此之後，幾個違規國家——包括奈及利亞、巴基斯坦、斐濟、甘比亞和辛巴威——通常都被暫時性地驅逐出聯邦或者因遭羞辱而退出。under Mr. Sharma the organization is generally thought to have atrophied, especially as a vehicle for upholding democracy and human rights. In 2011 the idea of a commissioner for human rights was floated—only tobe sunk byNigeria, South Africa, India and others.Every two yearsCommonwealth heads of government meet for a pow-wow known by its initials, CHOGM, pronounced 「choggum」. The last was in November, in Malta (pictured above); the one before that, in Sri Lanka in 2013, was overshadowed by the host government’s execrable human-rights record. In the words of Hugh Segal, a former Canadian senator, the Commonwealth was 「missing in action」 over Sri Lanka, where 40,000 people, mostly civilians, are thought to have been killed by government forces in the closing stages of the civil war in 2009. 但在夏爾馬任職期間，外界普遍認為這一組織已經衰落，特別是其作為維護民主和人權的工具而言。2011年，聯邦內部曾提出設立人權專員的想法，但在奈及利亞、南非、印度和其他國家的阻撓下這一計劃最終還是擱淺了。每隔一年，大英國協成員國的政府首腦間會定期舉辦一次協商會議，首字母縮寫為「CHOGM」（大英國協首腦會議）。上次會議是去年11月份在馬爾他舉行的，再之前是在2013年的斯裡蘭卡。但當時東道國斯裡蘭卡政府極為糟糕的人權紀錄令那次會議黯然失色。用前加拿大參議員西格爾(Hugh Segal)的話來說，大英國協當時對斯裡蘭卡「沒有任何作為」。據信有4萬人——且絕大多數為斯裡蘭卡公民——在2009年內戰接近尾聲時被政府軍殺害。 Commonwealth has also suffered from its newer members』 perception that it is run by a coterie of 「white」 countries, led by Britain, Australia and Canada. To gain more clout it needs the biggest post-colonial members, particularly India, Pakistan, Nigeria, South Africa and Malaysia, to start pulling their weight. But India’s prime minister has failed to attend the past three CHOGMs. Amartya Sen, an Indian Nobel prizewinner who co-authored a report in 2007 suggesting how to reinvigorate the Commonwealth, bemoans India’s lack of involvement, which he fears is unlikely to change under Narendra Modi. 此外，新成員國也對大英國協有一定的看法,他們認為該組織被英國、澳大利亞和加拿大領導的「白人」國家小集團所操縱。為獲得更大的影響力，大英國協需要最大的幾個後殖民時代的成員開始發揮他們的作用，尤其是印度、巴基斯坦、奈及利亞、南非和馬來西亞。但印度總理缺席了之前的三屆CHOGM峰會。印度諾貝爾獎獲得者阿瑪蒂亞·森(Amartya Sen)在2007年曾參與起草了一份關於如何重振大英國協的建議報告。他對印度的參與感缺失表示遺憾，並且擔心這一狀態在現任總理莫迪(Narendra Modi)的領導下不太可能有所改變。 Sharma says that quiet persuasion has done more to advance democracy than public denunciation would have, for example when Guyana’s government stepped down a year ago after narrowly losing an election. Commonwealth mediation helped Fiji re-embrace democracy and helped guide the Maldives away from its one-party regime in 2009, he insists. He regards his softly-softly approach to Sri Lanka as vindicated by last year’s decision by Mahinda Rajapaksa to bow out as president after losing an election. (A former senior UN official who tracked the proceedings calls this notion 「preposterous」.) 夏爾馬認為，在推進民主的過程中，溫和的勸導比公開的譴責更為有效。例如一年前，蓋亞那政府在一場選舉中因僅差一點而失利便被迫下臺。他堅信正是因共同體在2009年的調停作用使得斐濟重新投入民主政體的懷抱，並且幫助引領馬爾地夫脫離了一黨專政體制。同樣，他將去年拉賈帕克薩總統(Mahinda Rajapaksa)因選舉失利而辭職的決定看做是他對斯裡蘭卡採用溫和舉措的證明。(一位了解全部經過的前聯合國高級官員則稱夏爾馬提出的這一概念「荒謬至極」。) give Mr. Sharma his due, the Commonwealth acts by consensus. Countries are meant to carry equal weight in discussions and there are few sanctions short of expulsion. Even the democracy requirement is flexible; the sultanate of Brunei weirdly passes the test. 為了對夏爾馬作出公平的評價，大英國協通過共識而採取行動。所有國家在討論中都持有相同的話語權重。並且除了逐出機制，也幾乎沒有什麼制裁手段。甚至對民主的標準也是靈活可變的。汶萊的伊斯蘭教君主政體居然也奇怪地通過了該標準的測評。 despite its weaknesses, the Commonwealth is still a club that countries want to join. Though war-ravaged South Sudan is the only one formally on the waiting list, a string of others have been dandled as 「possibles」: Algeria, Burma, Burundi, Ireland, Kuwait, Nepal, Palestine, Yemen. Its very oddness is an attraction. As its proponents often boast, it encompasses a third of the world’s population, a quarter of the UN’s membership and a fifth of the world’s land mass. Most members share a legal heritage and language (though Mozambique broke the English-speaking mould by joining in 1995, followed by Rwanda in 2009). 「The Commonwealth is of great value to the world for what it is, before you consider what it does,」 says Mr. Sharma. 「It contributes to global sanity and global wisdom.」 儘管存在著種種缺陷，大英國協仍是一個令許多國家希望加入的俱樂部。雖然慘遭戰爭蹂躪的南蘇丹是申請加入國名單中唯一的正式成員，但是仍有一批國家「有望」成為大英國協俱樂部的成員，他們是：阿爾及利亞、緬甸、蒲隆地、愛爾蘭、科威特、尼泊爾、巴勒斯坦和葉門。大英國協的與眾不同正是其魅力所在。正如其支持者所鼓吹的那樣，它囊括了世界人口的三分之一，聯合國成員的四分之一以及世界陸地面積的五分之一。絕大多數成員共享同一法定繼承權和語言。(儘管1995年莫三比克和2009年盧安達的加入打破了俱樂部使用英語的固有模式。) 夏爾馬說：「在你考慮大英國協是做什麼的之前，它本身的存在就給世界帶來了巨大價值，因為它為全球的理智和智慧做出了貢獻。」 Commonwealth’s real force is as a unique all-purpose network, whose embrace includes trade, education and an array of 180-odd professional bodies, from law to dentistry. In the recent CHOGM in Malta, Jonathan Marland, a British peer and tycoon, relaunched the Commonwealth Business Forum, gathering 1,200 people from 70 countries, including 25 ministers and 15 heads of state. Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron, praises the club’s ability to 「bring Pakistan and India together in a useful format」; its support for his campaign against global corruption; its climate-change advocacy in the run-up to the global conference in Paris late last year; and its 「forum for discussions in Africa and in the Caribbean, which can feel ignored and unloved」. 大英國協真正的的影響力在於它是個獨特的萬能網絡，其涵蓋的領域包括貿易、教育以及180多個專業團體：從法律界到牙醫業。在近期於馬爾他舉辦的「CHOGM」會議上，英國貴族、商業大亨——馬蘭德勳爵(Jonathan Marland)重新啟動了大英國協商務論壇，並邀請了來自70個國家的1200多人與會，其中包括25位部長級官員和15位國家元首。英國首相卡梅倫(David Cameron)稱讚聯邦「通過一種有效的形式讓印度和巴基斯坦走到一起」。 同時他也對聯邦支持其打擊全球腐敗運動，並在去年年末的巴黎氣候變化大會前夕提出關於氣候問題的倡議，以及「能夠照顧到非洲和加勒比海地區國民可能會感到的被忽視或缺乏關愛的情緒，而在這些地區搭建協商論壇」等種種做法表示欣賞。the ultimate glue of the Commonwealth has undoubtedly been Queen Elizabeth. The headship of the club will not automatically pass to her son and heir. During his life Nelson Mandela was sometimes mooted asa possible successor. But Charles, Prince of Wales, has been steadily advancing his case: Operation Seduction, his friends half-jokingly call it. 但是毫無疑問，大英國協最終的粘合劑向來都是伊莉莎白女王。俱樂部的元首地位不會被自動轉交給她的兒子和繼承人。在曼德拉(Nelson Mandela)尚在世時，他有時會被視作可能的繼任人選。但是威爾斯親王查爾斯一直以來都在堅定地推進他自己的接任計劃——他的朋友們半開玩笑地將這稱作「誘惑行動」（operation seduction，在此指設法徵服民眾的行動方案，譯者注）。 this strange milieu as the next secretary-general steps Patricia, Baroness Scotland, a dual citizen of Britain and the Caribbean island of Dominica, who was attorney-general in Britain’s most recent Labour government. She may tread softly on human-rights issues, though surely not as softly as her predecessor—her early promise to press for gay rights will displease many African members. 斯科特爾女男爵(Patricia, Baroness Scotland)成為了下一任大英國協的秘書長。她擁有英國和加勒比海島國多米尼加雙重國籍，並且還曾擔任英國最近一任工黨政府下的總檢察長一職。但是此次秘書長換屆步入的外在環境卻是如此的奇怪。她或許會較為溫和地處理人權問題，但也絕不會像她的前任那樣溫和——之前她承諾將為男同性戀爭取權利，這必將觸怒許多非洲國家成員。 Commonwealth certainly needs a kick. That carries some risks: it could be mortally wounded if India and a few other big African countries ever walked out. But it is unlikely to die. It is an extraordinary network of disparate peoples bound by an imperial history that seems, even among former subject peoples, to inspire nostalgia as well as resentment. Besides, its assorted people 「have the same sense of humour」, Lady Scotland said earlier this month. 「No one needs to say 『I’m only joking』 when saying something ironic to another Commonwealth citizen.」大英國協當然需要一點刺激。但這也會帶來一定風險：如果印度和其他一些重要的非洲國家退出，會使這個聯合體遭到致命的打擊。但它也不太可能就此解體。大英帝國的歷史將一群迥然不同且原本並無瓜葛的人們聯繫到一起，織成了這張非同尋常的大網。即使對於大英帝國曾經的屬民而言，這段歷史除了激起他們的怨恨心理之外，似乎還牽出了一絲對往昔的懷舊情緒。正如斯科特爾夫人在本月初所言，這個聯合體中的人們雖形色各異，卻「擁有共同的幽默感」。她說：「要是你在跟另一個大英國協國民調侃什麼的話，就沒必要再說『我不過是在開玩笑罷了』」。seasoned: adj. experienced in a particular activity or job 經驗豐富的；老練的；lament: v. to show publicly that you feel sad or disappointed about something 悲嘆；哀悼；  
taking a swipe at (someone/something) (=criticize them): Do you think he was taking a swipe at the President?urbane: adj. behaving in a pleasant, relaxed, and correct way in social situations 彬彬有禮的；溫文爾雅的；run the show:  [口語]組織項目(或活動)；主管一次活動；指揮一切；操縱局面titular: adj. relating to someone who has an important official title but has no real power or authority 名義上的；有名無實的；jamboree: n. experienced in a particular activity or job 歡樂的聚會;appalled: adj. very shocked and upset by something very bad or unpleasant 驚駭的；indifference: n. lack of interest or concern 不關心,不在乎clout: n. power or the authority to influence other people’s decisions：people with financial clout 影響；the gamut of: the complete range of things of a particular type 各類；各色bolster: v. to improve something 改進Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group: 聯邦部長行動小組atrophy: v. if an organization or practice atrophies or is atrophied, it becomes weaker and less effective 衰落commissioner: n. an important official in a government, especially someone who is in charge of a particular department 專員；委員float: v. to suggest an idea or plan in order to see if people like it 提出；建議be sunk by: to prevent sb. or sb.’s plans from succeeding 阻撓pow-wow: n. a meeting or discussion – used humorously 會議

execrable:  adj. extremely bad in quality 極為糟糕的

coterie: n. a small group of people who enjoy doing the same things together, and do not like including others 小圈子bemoan: v.  to complain or say that you are disappointed about something 嘆息；惋惜vindicate: v. to prove that someone is right, or that something they said, did, or decided was right, especially when most people believed they were wrong 證明…是對的；bow out: to stop taking part in an activity, job etc, especially one that you have been doing for a long time 辭職

preposterous: adj.extremely unreasonable or silly 及其荒謬；不可理喻；

due: n. someone’s due is something that they have a right to receive 公平的評價expulsion: n. an occasion when someone is officially forced to leave an organization or activity permanently because of their bad behavior 逐出be dandled as:  to move a baby or young child up and down gently on your knee or in your armsbreak the mould: to change a situation completely, by doing something that has not been done beforesanity: n. the ability to think and speak in a reasonable way and to behave normally 理智peer: n. who is from a high social class in the UK and has a title such as 『Lord』 勳爵一類的貴族relaunch: v.  to advertise and try to sell a product again, especially in a slightly different way from before 重創be mooted as:  to be suggested for people to consider 被視為milieu: n. the things and people that surround you and influence the way you live and think 氛圍；環境tread on: to walk or step on somethingnostalgia: n. a feeling that a time in the past was good, or the activity of remembering a good time in the past and wishing that things had not changed 對往事的懷戀, 懷舊        閱讀《經濟學人》，恰好將政經報導與語言學習完美結合：在冷靜辨識天下局勢之餘，不忘品味正宗英語的內在蘊含。駕馭語言，遍讀群書，方能與世界對話。休憩於金陵，以文會友，辯天下之勢，猶為幸焉。