在学年末,开始奔忙参与各种“学术活动”,三星期前在法兰克福,两星期前在首尔。结果是法兰克福的那伙人,因为会议的主题是关于后殖民主义,一半以上都是来自所谓的global south的所谓的’people of colour’,而在首尔这帮人,一半德国人,剩下的一半里一半会讲德语,还都研究一些关于日本和韩国的陈年旧事,简直成了德语学界东方学会。这我可没料到,因为主题是关于border的,不是关于东亚史的。有这么一些插曲值得一提。
后来我在首尔遇到这些德国人,聊起此事,大家说德国的anti-german leftist势力还是很庞大的。但这些搞历史的人一点也不批判,其中只有一个,长得挺像齐泽克,论调也蛮齐泽克。那天晚上我们在吃烤肉(顺便说一下,我在韩国每吃烤肉事后必胃痛),这位齐泽克男Robert和一个美国小哥Mat在辩论。美国小哥M在研究“国际反共产主义运动”的历史,所以,你们可以想见。我跟R帮腔讲了几句,然后说:“不管怎样,你们自由派需要我们。” M说:擦,我才不是自由派呢。过了一会儿,他又说了句什么,R大笑,拍着我说:“you are right, he’s a fucking liberal”,然后我们干了一杯。
但是我喜欢后殖民主义者吗?其实不然。在法兰克福的那场,最终成了一个关于文化/肤色/身份的陷阱。尤其是谈个人经验的时候。我去了一个关于个人教育体验的panel,于是”women of colour”成了有话语权的群体,”白人男性”注定没法说话。于是这边有个小哥,白人小哥,就做迷茫状了,说在这样的场合下不知道如何说话,是否应该回家去反省?这位报告者,一位显然是在德国长大的,棕色女子,说:“你是应该回家,然后反省。”
I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an Emperor – that’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone, if possible — Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another; human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there’s room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.
The way of life can be free and beautiful.
But we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.
To those who can hear me I say, “Do not despair.” The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass and dictators die; and the power they took from the people will return to the people and so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
Soldiers: Don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel; who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don’t hate; only the unloved hate, the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers: Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written, “the kingdom of God is within man” — not one man, nor a group of men, but in all men, in you, you the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
Then, in the name of democracy, let us use that power! Let us all unite!! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie! They do not fulfill their promise; they never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people!! Now, let us fight to fulfill that promise!! Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.
Soldiers: In the name of democracy, let us all unite!
楼下街道两旁种满了橘子树(也许是橙子,也许是别的什么),于是我每次走过都会哼起”点亮橘子树”,刘若英2001年的歌,到现在已经十年,我也已经很多年没有听过了。有一个现象是,如果有段时间总是听什么,后来再也不听什么,隔了很久之后,一旦听到那个”什么”,那段时间就会历历在目。对我来说,”将爱”和沪西的日子紧紧相随,我不喜欢将爱,在那之后再也不会特意去听。刘若英是磁带的年代,我的电脑里没有一首MP3是她的歌,但我买过Love and the City之前她所有专辑的磁带,它们陪伴了那些动不动就感时伤怀的少年时光(靠,十年过去,少年成了怨妇,依然还是动不动就感时伤怀)。