Summary · 摘要
In this Toronto Star op-ed, Gabor Maté argues that Ottawa’s planned memorial to the victims of Communism is less an act of mourning than an instrument of Conservative ideology. Writing as someone who, like the project’s architect Voytek Gorczynski, personally witnessed Communist oppression — his in Hungary, Gorczynski’s in Poland — Maté grants that hatred of Stalinism is earned, but insists that selective remembrance is dishonest. If the principle is truly to honour humans destroyed by aggression, greed and cruelty, then the list of the dead must also include the millions killed by Western and U.S.-backed power: Vietnam, Guatemala, Iraq, Afghanistan, Indonesia, East Timor, Algeria, colonial North America, and the world wars themselves. The deeper point is psychological and moral: rulers habitually condemn the crimes of enemies while refusing to see the same aggressive impulses in themselves and their allies. Maté ends by imagining what it would sound like if a leader like Stephen Harper publicly owned that hostility — a confession he says would deserve, if not a monument, then at least a plaque.
在这篇刊于《多伦多星报》的评论中，加博尔·马泰认为，渥太华计划修建的共产主义受害者纪念碑，与其说是一种哀悼之举，不如说是保守党意识形态的工具。马泰本人——一如该项目的建筑师沃伊泰克·戈尔琴斯基——亲历过共产主义压迫：他在匈牙利，戈尔琴斯基在波兰。马泰承认对斯大林主义的痛恨是有理由的，但坚持认为选择性的纪念是不诚实的。如果设碑的原则真是为了纪念那些被侵略、贪婪与残酷所摧毁的生命，那么这份死者名单也必须包括被西方及美国所支持的强权杀害的数百万人：越南、危地马拉、伊拉克、阿富汗、印度尼西亚、东帝汶、阿尔及利亚、殖民时期的北美，以及两次世界大战本身。其更深层的论点是心理与道德层面的：统治者习惯于谴责敌人的罪行，却拒绝在自身和盟友身上看见同样的侵略冲动。马泰最后设想，若一位像斯蒂芬·哈珀这样的领导人公开承认这种敌意，那将是一份即便配不上一座纪念碑、也至少值得一块铭牌的坦白。
Key points · 要点
- The piece first appeared as an opinion in the Toronto Star (March 8, 2015); Maté calls the proposed four-storey, 54,000-square-foot memorial both an esthetic monstrosity and a tribute to moral obtuseness.本文最初作为评论刊于《多伦多星报》（2015年3月8日）；马泰称这座计划中四层楼高、5.4万平方英尺的纪念碑既是美学上的怪物，也是道德迟钝的写照。
- Maté distinguishes earned grief from cynical politics: architect Voytek Gorczynski has a right to detest Communism after Stalinist oppression in Poland, but the ruling Conservatives’ use of public space and money to advance Tory ideology is less excusable.马泰区分了应得的悲痛与犬儒的政治：建筑师戈尔琴斯基在经历波兰的斯大林主义压迫后有权痛恨共产主义，但执政的保守党动用公共空间与公款来推进自身意识形态，则更难宽宥。
- He affirms remembering the victims of Communism — the gulags and purges, the Ukrainian famine, the Great Leap Forward, the Hungarians killed in Budapest, Tiananmen — but insists the same logic demands remembering the rest.他赞同纪念共产主义的受害者——古拉格与大清洗、乌克兰饥荒、大跃进、布达佩斯被杀的匈牙利人、天安门——但坚持同样的逻辑要求纪念其余的人。
- A truly honest memorial would also count the victims of industrial civilization and Western power: Congo, 3 million Vietnamese, Guatemalan peasants, Iraqis, Afghans, Indonesians, East Timorese, Algerians, North America’s exterminated native peoples and Aboriginal children, and the 50 million dead of two world wars.一座真正诚实的纪念碑还应纳入工业文明与西方强权的受害者：刚果、三百万越南人、危地马拉农民、伊拉克人、阿富汗人、印度尼西亚人、东帝汶人、阿尔及利亚人、北美被灭绝的原住民和原住民儿童，以及两次世界大战中死去的五千万人。
- His central claim is psychological: it is characteristic of rulers to point fingers at rival ideologies while being unable to acknowledge the aggression they share with those they despise.他的核心论点是心理层面的：统治者惯于对敌对的意识形态指指点点，却无力承认自己与所鄙视者共有的侵略性。
- Maté closes by imagining Stephen Harper confessing his own aggressive impulses and selective concern for human rights — sparing allies like the U.S., Israel, Egypt and Mexico — and inviting the architect to broaden his moral horizons while narrowing his architectural hubris.马泰以设想斯蒂芬·哈珀坦承自身侵略冲动与对人权的选择性关注作结——对美国、以色列、埃及、墨西哥等盟友网开一面——并邀请建筑师拓宽道德视野、收敛建筑上的傲慢。
Selected quotes · 摘引
“It is common for people to empathize primarily with the fate of the ethnic or political grouping they identify with: grieving its sufferings, turning a blind eye to its sins.”
人们往往主要对自己所认同的族群或政治群体的命运感同身受：哀悼它的苦难，却对它的罪过视而不见。
“It is characteristic of rulers to point accusatory fingers at nations or ideologies with which they are at odds. Quite beyond the capabilities of most political leaders is to acknowledge the similarities they share with those they despise.”
统治者惯于对与之对立的国家或意识形态伸出指责的手指。而承认自己与所鄙视者之间的相似之处，则远非大多数政治领袖所能企及。
People & works · 人物与著作
- Gabor Maté — author of the op-ed; born in Hungary and a witness to Communist oppression there.加博尔·马泰 —— 本文作者；生于匈牙利，曾亲历当地的共产主义压迫。
- Voytek Gorczynski — Canadian architect of Polish origin who conceived the memorial, having experienced Stalinist oppression in Poland.沃伊泰克·戈尔琴斯基 —— 波兰裔加拿大建筑师，纪念碑的构想者，曾在波兰经历斯大林主义压迫。
- Stephen Harper — Canadian prime minister whose Conservative government backed the project; the subject of Maté’s imagined confession.斯蒂芬·哈珀 —— 加拿大总理，其保守党政府支持该项目；马泰设想中坦白的对象。
- Beverley McLachlin — Chief Justice cited, alongside Ottawa’s mayor, as having expressed alarm about the memorial’s visual impact.贝弗利·麦克拉克林 —— 首席大法官，文中与渥太华市长并列，被指曾对纪念碑的视觉冲击表示担忧。
Source · 来源
- Original · 原始链接: https://drgabormate.com/tories-cynical-monument-to-victims-of-communism
- Channel/Show · 频道/节目: drgabormate.com (originally Toronto Star) · published 2015-03-19