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2006年VOA标准英语-Anti-Government Protesters in Egypt Fight

时间:2007-03-22 16:00:00

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(单词翻译)

By Lindsay Wise
Cairo
20 April 2006

When the Egyptian Movement for Change began organizing anti-government protests in Cairo a year and a half ago, it hoped it would pressure President Hosni Mubarak to step down or introduce significant democratic reforms.  But Mr. Mubarak was easily re-elected in September with 88 percent of the vote.   The opposition1 movement known as Kifaya is now suffering from a loss of membership and momentum2, and asking itself - what next? 

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More than 700 members and supporters of the Kifaya movement and other opposition movements gather in Cairo Thursday July 14, 2005, to demonstrate against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and chanting slogans about unemployment  
  

Last year, chants of "Down with Mubarak" were a familiar sound in the streets of Cairo.  So was the sight of small, but determined3, bands of protesters, waving colorful anti-government banners, surrounded by black-clad riot police.  But today such scenes are rare, and many opposition activists5 in the Kifaya movement admit they are frustrated6 and losing hope.
 
Ahmed Salah is an Egyptian tour guide and coordinator7 of Kifaya's youth division.

"Kifaya as a movement, The Egyptian Movement for Change, is a movement that does not follow a political agenda because it is not a political party, so sometimes it seems like it is going in different directions, it is out of focus," he says.

Salah says many activists have begun leaving the movement in despair over its poor organization, lack of vision, and bitter leadership disputes. 

His branch of Kifaya, Youth for Change, has experienced a dramatic drop in membership from more than 500 to less than 30. 

He says that unless protesters regroup, refocus, and realize they are in for the long-haul, the movement could die out. 
 


More than 700 members and supporters of the Kifaya movement as well as from other opposition movements gathered in Cairo, chanting anti-President Hosni Mubarak slogans, Thursday July 14, 2005  
  
"Many people have been such dreamers," Salah says. "They are dreaming, they are out of reality.  They would think that if we would go out into the streets for a year making a few demos, that if we shout down with Mubarak, Mubarak will fall down, after 25 years in office with emergency laws and all the powers in his hand … Mubarak is a dictator, he is an autocrat8, he is the only ruler. Anybody who would think that just by going out to a few demonstrations9 we can actually change everything like that, these people are very unrealistic.  … It is very important to tell them, no, it is a long path.  It is going to be difficult."
 
Salah joined other Kifaya organizers at a conference last week  to discuss the future of the movement.
 
At the meeting, several-hundred activists took turns at the podium to voice their opinions about what position Kifaya should take on everything from the Iranian nuclear crisis to the independence of Egypt's judiciary. 

Held at "Freedom Hall" in Cairo's Lawyers Syndicate, the conference was an exercise in free expression unthinkable only two years ago.  But it also betrayed Kifaya's lack of focus - perhaps a predictable dilemma10 for an umbrella organization that attempts to unite opposition trends ranging from Islamism to Socialism. 
 
Organizers admit another problem they face comes from the fact that their movement is made up mostly of intellectuals, writers, artists, and other elites11.  In order to endure and grow, they say, Kifaya must establish deeper roots in Egyptian society.
 
Wael Khalil, a technology consultant12 and Kifaya activist4, says the movement should learn from Egypt's banned, but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood13, which earned an unprecedented14 88 seats in recent parliamentary elections, thanks in part to its strong grassroots organization throughout Egypt's far-flung villages and cities.
 
"And I think the lesson to get from the Brotherhood is actually to work in politics in a country like Egypt you have to have roots and work with that roots, so whenever you are mobilizing for a big event, you mobilize through the roots and then you go back to the roots larger than you were before, and start discussing, okay, it was this good, what next?" he asked.
 
Khalil says the government is counting on people becoming disappointed and demoralized, so they will stop being active.  He believes the only solution is to clarify Kifaya's message and raise its profile among ordinary Egyptians through local meetings and community charity work. 

Khalil argues that if Kifaya, which means enough in arabic, offers concrete solutions instead of just criticisms, more Egyptians will sympathize and join the fight.
 
"Sometimes when we walk down the street people come to us and say, well what is the alternative, if not Mubarak, okay, what kind of government are you talking about?  And really start digging into answers to this question that unify15 us," Khalil says. "I do not think it will be one answer but we can get a consensus16, okay, this is what we are talking about.  We are talking about a transitional phase, we are talking about not a new dictator, but a real government that is accountable to the people and if we formulate17 that, I think it will be a good way forward."
 
Cairo-based researcher Josh Stacher is completing a doctoral thesis about Egyptian politics for St. Andrews University in Scotland.  He says Kifaya has not done itself any favors by failing to articulate practical political demands.
 
"It was not enough to come out in the street and say 'Enough'.  It had to go beyond that and it never really did.  And now that the fact that they doing it, they are playing catch up, and they have to reverse a whole bunch of sort of reputations and images about themselves," Stacher says.
 
But George Ishak, a founding leader of Kifaya, argues that activists should take heart knowing that their willingness to speak out already has made a difference.  
 
"You know we achieved three items," he says. "We break the culture of fear, we obtain our right to make demonstrations and we have our right to criticize the president.  It was a red line you cannot reach it before Kifaya.  Because you know in our culture our president is half-president, half-God, so you cannot touch him."
 
The question for Kifaya is whether those gains can be made permanent.  For now, Egypt's opposition is hoping that the "democratic spring" they dreamed of is not just a false start.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 opposition eIUxU     
n.反对,敌对
参考例句:
  • The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
  • The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。
2 momentum DjZy8     
n.动力,冲力,势头;动量
参考例句:
  • We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
  • The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。
3 determined duszmP     
adj.坚定的;有决心的
参考例句:
  • I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
  • He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。
4 activist gyAzO     
n.活动分子,积极分子
参考例句:
  • He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
  • He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。
5 activists 90fd83cc3f53a40df93866d9c91bcca4     
n.(政治活动的)积极分子,活动家( activist的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
  • Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 frustrated ksWz5t     
adj.挫败的,失意的,泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 );挫败;使受挫折;令人沮丧
参考例句:
  • It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
  • The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 coordinator Gvazk6     
n.协调人
参考例句:
  • The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下,负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
  • How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室?
8 autocrat 7uMzo     
n.独裁者;专横的人
参考例句:
  • He was an accomplished politician and a crafty autocrat.他是个有造诣的政治家,也是个狡黠的独裁者。
  • The nobles tried to limit the powers of the autocrat without success.贵族企图限制专制君主的权力,但没有成功。
9 demonstrations 0922be6a2a3be4bdbebd28c620ab8f2d     
证明( demonstration的名词复数 ); 表明; 表达; 游行示威
参考例句:
  • Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
  • The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。
10 dilemma Vlzzf     
n.困境,进退两难的局面
参考例句:
  • I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
  • He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。
11 elites e3dbb5fd6596e7194920c56f4830b949     
精华( elite的名词复数 ); 精锐; 上层集团; (统称)掌权人物
参考例句:
  • The elites are by their nature a factor contributing to underdevelopment. 这些上层人物天生是助长欠发达的因素。
  • Elites always detest gifted and nimble outsiders. 社会名流对天赋聪明、多才多艺的局外人一向嫌恶。
12 consultant 2v0zp3     
n.顾问;会诊医师,专科医生
参考例句:
  • He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
  • Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来,加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。
13 brotherhood 1xfz3o     
n.兄弟般的关系,手中情谊
参考例句:
  • They broke up the brotherhood.他们断绝了兄弟关系。
  • They live and work together in complete equality and brotherhood.他们完全平等和兄弟般地在一起生活和工作。
14 unprecedented 7gSyJ     
adj.无前例的,新奇的
参考例句:
  • The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
  • A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。
15 unify okOwO     
vt.使联合,统一;使相同,使一致
参考例句:
  • How can we unify such scattered islands into a nation?我们怎么才能把如此分散的岛屿统一成一个国家呢?
  • It is difficult to imagine how the North and South could ever agree on a formula to unify the divided peninsula.很难想象南北双方在统一半岛的方案上究竟怎样才能达成一致。
16 consensus epMzA     
n.(意见等的)一致,一致同意,共识
参考例句:
  • Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗?
  • What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么?
17 formulate L66yt     
v.用公式表示;规划;设计;系统地阐述
参考例句:
  • He took care to formulate his reply very clearly.他字斟句酌,清楚地做了回答。
  • I was impressed by the way he could formulate his ideas.他陈述观点的方式让我印象深刻。

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