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It isn’t easy to track down a positive word about the Middle East these days. Then again, Juan Cole is not your typical observer. A professor of history at the University of Michigan, he is also a prolific and popular blogger on current affairs. An American, he spent part of his childhood in France and Ethiopia. A left-leaning idealist, he comes across as far more optimistic than the dour Occupy crowd. A cosmopolitan in constant touch with 20-somethings, he seems to be addressing boomers in his latest book, “The New Arabs,” which is replete with explanations that digital natives would never need. (Don’t know what the “meatspace” is? Read on.)
在如今，关于中东，你很难听到什么正面的说辞。此外，胡安·科尔(Juan Cole)可不是一般的观察家。他是密歇根大学的历史教授，也是既高产又受欢迎的时事博客写手。他是美国人，但童年时期曾经在法国和埃塞俄比亚生活过。他是个左倾的理想主义者，比那些阴沉沉的“占领者”们要乐观得多。他是个世界主义者，还经常和20多岁的人打交道，他的新书《新阿拉伯人》(The New Arabs)中有很多注释是数码一代根本不需要的，所以更像是对婴儿潮一代发表的讲演——你不知道什么叫“肉体空间”（meatspace，来自赛博朋克和科幻小说术语，指和“网络世界”“虚拟世界”相对的“现实世界”——译注）？接着往下读。
“The New Arabs” chronicles the heart-stirring youth revolts in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. Early on, Cole does some defying of his own. “The rise of the Internet,” he notes, “may not have been as central to these social movements as some Western press coverage assumed.”
《新阿拉伯人》按时间顺序记载了发生在埃及、突尼斯和利比亚激动人心的青年反抗运动。一开始，科尔的观点有些矛盾，“互联网的崛起在这些社会运动中所起的作用，或许并不像某些西方媒体所报道的那样重要，”他指出。
To be sure, Cole affirms that online networks dramatically amplified the reach and resonance of protesters’ demands for state accountability. Take the iconic story of Mohamed Bouazizi. Ripped off and slapped by a government employee, the young Tunisian self-immolated in front of his local city hall, igniting the first of the uprisings. Internet buzz propagated the myth that Bouazizi had graduated from college, making an educated underclass think of him as one of their own and thus take up his cause. In fact, because of poverty, Bouazizi had not even finished high school. Nor was his name Mohamed; it was Tarek. Ah, the baptismal power of social media.
科尔认为，抗议者们要求政府更有责任感，而网络也确实极大地扩展了他们的影响力，为他们带来更多共鸣。就拿已经成为典型的穆罕默德·布瓦吉吉(Mohamed Bouazizi)的故事来说吧。这个突尼斯年轻人被政府官员敲诈和掌掴，于是在当地市政厅门前自焚，成为起义的导火线。互联网迅速放大了布瓦吉吉的神话，说他是大学毕业生，这会令一个受过教育的下层社会成员觉得他是自己人，想继承他的事业。事实上，由于贫穷，布瓦吉吉连中学都没念完。他的名字也不是穆罕默德，而是塔里克(Tarek)。啊，这就是社交媒体的洗脑力量。
Still, the Internet is only one strand of a much broader web that Cole weaves. His is a huge challenge: to map the outbreaks of tumult that have crisscrossed Tunisia, Egypt and Libya over the past decade. Strikes, bread shortages, lack of water, inflation, unemployment — all on top of a generational thirst for personal autonomy and political liberty. It makes for chaotic reading. Policy wonks get their fill. The rest of us need patience.
不过，科尔编织了一张更大的网络，互联网只是其中一环。他的网络是一个巨大的挑战——要描绘出过去十年内突尼斯、埃及和利比亚爆发的各种骚乱。罢工、面包短缺、缺水、通货膨胀、失业——这一切都落在渴望个人自治与政治自由的一代人头上。这些事件令这本书充满混乱。热衷政治的读者会心满意足，而其他读者则需要耐心。
Yet Cole does eventually deliver. In a particularly vivid section, he describes the breathtaking pluralism of those who put themselves on the front lines to protect Egyptian demonstrators. Coptic Christian youths served as bodyguards for their Muslim peers. They knew that as Muslims prostrated during Friday prayer — the prelude to pouring into the streets — their bowed heads would invite attack. Soccer thugs found new purpose as bouncers around Tahrir Square. Muslim Brothers, too, shielded secular friends, especially on the day some jobless tour guides rode camels straight into crowds of activists.
但是科尔最终还是做到了。他描述了那些站在最前列去保护埃及抗议者的人们，这是激动人心的多元主义，这个部分也格外生动。埃及信奉基督教的年轻人为他们的穆斯林伙伴充当保镖，因为他们知道穆斯林在周五要匍匐礼拜——这是他们走上街头抗议的序曲——而穆斯林们都低着头，军警会攻击他们。足球流氓们有了新的的活动：在塔里尔广场附近保护抗议者。穆斯林兄弟会也去保护他们世俗的朋友，特别是在有些失去工作的导游骑着骆驼径直冲进行动分子人群的那一天。
The book hits its stride in Libya. Catching revolution fever after Tunisia and Egypt, young Libyans took advantage of the world’s eyeballs. Their online savvy combined with old-fashioned lobbying to secure a no-fly zone above Libya. When one of Qaddafi’s sons shut down Internet access, he was outwitted: Using their cellphones, dissenters called a special number that automatically turned their voice mail messages into tweets.
这本书对利比亚的报道也很精彩。年轻的利比亚人目睹了突尼斯与埃及的革命狂热，也想趁机利用世界的关注。他们把网络智慧和老式的议会游说结合起来，保证利比亚上空有了禁飞区。卡扎菲的一个儿子关闭了互联网，但他被人们的智慧击败了。不同政见者们用手机拨打一个特殊的号码，可以自动把他们的语音信息传到Twitter上去。
Ultimately, though, it was rebels in the fields, factories and alleys who kept Qaddafi and his gang on the run. Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, stopped nothing. Sunset marked an opportunity to refuel with food and arms. Dusk prayers served “as a signal to begin the uprising,” even among those who were secretly fighting to separate mosque and state.
但最后，还是发生在农田、工厂与小巷中的抗议行动导致了卡扎菲和同党的下台。穆斯林的斋月也没有导致事态停止。日落后，人们就有机会补充食物和武器。晚祷成了“起义的信号”，甚至那些密谋让伊斯兰教与政府分离的人们也遵守这个信号。
For all of the “liking” and “sharing,” Cole shows that the revolution’s most important triumphs took place in the sphere of physical effort — the “meatspace.”
至于社交网络上那些“赞”和“分享”，科尔的书表明，革命最重要的胜利都是现实社会中的努力所带来的——也就是我们前面所说的“肉体空间”。
But to what end? Is the Middle East truly transforming? Tunisia offers a clue. In the wake of the uprisings, “over a hundred new political parties had been founded.” By contrast, the previous regime “allowed only eight.” And those parties will be busy. A “celebrated” Tunisian rapper supports Shariah law. A “prominent intellectual” scorns Shariah as the product of Judaism and therefore a travesty. Above all, a teacher observes, “Now we have to learn democracy.”
但是胜利到什么程度呢？中东真的改头换面了吗？突尼斯的情况可以提供线索。起义之后，“成立了100多个新政党”。相反，之前的政权“只允许八个政党存在”。这些政党将会很忙。一个“有名的”突尼斯说唱歌手支持伊斯兰教法。一个“著名知识分子”鄙视伊斯兰教法，称其是犹太教的产物，是拙劣的模仿品。一个教师指出：“现在我们必须学习民主。”
Unorthodox wisdom for an era in thrall to instant gratification.
对于一个受困于当下满足感的时代来说，这堪称异端的智慧。
