排外主义与极端主义同样可怕

Acontinent that not so long ago thought its modernity eternally secure now finds precious liberties under siege. In France, the attack by Islamist extremists on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo marked an assault on the pivotal Enlightenment value of freedom of expression. Elsewhere — most recently in Germany — Islamophobic extremists are challenging the tolerance on which Europe has built its peace. This is an unholy alliance against democracy.

不久前还自认为其现代性永久稳固的欧洲大陆，如今发现其所珍视的自由受到了围攻。发生在法国的伊斯兰极端分子对讽刺杂志《查理周刊》(Charlie Hebdo)办公楼的袭击，标志着一次对启蒙运动核心价值观——言论自由的攻击。在其他地方（最新的例子是德国），具有伊斯兰恐惧症的极端分子正在挑战社会宽容，而欧洲和平正是基于宽容而建立起来的。这是一个反民主的邪恶联盟。

The response to the killings in Paris was heartening. Leaders found the right words. François Hollande looked uncommonly presidential as he said that France had been attacked because it was a nation of freedom. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who seems to have been making the important connections between the various threats to Europe’s democratic order, talked of an assault on the “values we all hold dear”. Days earlier she had called on her compatriots to boycott the swelling protests in some German cities orchestrated by the self-styled Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West.

对此次发生在巴黎的杀戮惨剧，国际社会的反应令人欣慰。各国领导人发表了恰当的言论。法国总统弗朗索瓦•奥朗德(François Hollande)说，法国之所以受到攻击，是因为它是一个自由的国度；他说出这话的那一刻看起来异乎寻常地有总统气派。德国总理安格拉•默克尔(Angela Merkel)似乎在逐渐认清危及欧洲民主秩序的各种威胁之间的重要联系，她说这是一次对“我们共同珍视的价值观”的攻击。几天前，她还呼吁她的同胞共同抵制在一些德国城市不断蔓延的抗议活动。这些抗议是由一个自称“爱国的欧洲人反对西方世界伊斯兰化”(Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West)的组织所策划的。

The crowds pouring into the squares and streets of Paris holding aloft Je Suis Charlie placards, and the vigils in cities across Europe, were a reminder that, for all their disenchantment with ruling elites, people will not lightly surrender their liberties. From time to time you hear it said that we are living in an age when authoritarianism will flourish at the expense of democracy. I am not so sure that freedom and human dignity will be so easily given up. As Mr Hollande said, liberty will always be stronger than barbarism.

在巴黎，人群涌入广场和街头，高举“我是查理”的标语牌。遍布欧洲许多城市的守夜活动则提醒我们：尽管对统治精英不抱有任何幻想，但人民不会轻易放弃属于自己的自由。你会不时地听到有人说，在我们所生活的这个时代，威权主义会以牺牲民主为代价蓬勃发展。我则不太相信自由和人类尊严会被这么轻易放弃。正如奥朗德所说，自由将永远比野蛮更强大。

The purpose of the murderers in Paris, of course, was to frame a different conflict. They are as eager as the thugs and neo-nazis behind the demonstrations spreading out from the German city of Dresden to light fires of hostility between Islam and the west. Nothing better suits the followers of al-Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State than talk of a clash of civilisations. What they pray for as they go about their murder is that they will provoke a backlash against all Muslims.

当然，巴黎惨案行凶者的目的是要制造一种不同的冲突。他们与煽动德国游行示威（从德累斯顿蔓延到德国其他城市）的那些恶棍和新纳粹分子一样，急切地想要在伊斯兰世界与西方之间点燃敌对之火。没有什么比谈论文明冲突更让基地组织(al-Qaeda)和所谓伊斯兰国(IS)的追随者称心如意的了。他们在实施屠杀时满心希望的就是，自己的行为能够引发针对所有穆斯林的对立情绪。

On the other side, the populist right casts Islam as a threat to what they say is Europe’s uniquely Christian heritage. This is a battle between fundamentalists jointly wedded to pre-Enlightenment intolerance and united in their social conservatism. The jihadis want sharia; the xenophobes ethnic and cultural homogeneity. In the clash of identity politics, neither side has time for ideas, for debate or diversity.

另一方面，右翼民粹主义将穆斯林描绘成对他们所谓欧洲独特基督教传统的威胁。这是一场不同原教旨主义者之间的斗争，他们都吸收了启蒙运动前的那种不宽容，又团结于他们的社会保守主义思想。伊斯兰圣战分子(Jihadis)想要伊斯兰教法(sharia law)；而排外主义者要的是民族和文化的纯粹性。在身份政治(identity politics)的冲突中，双方都没有时间思考或辩论，也无暇顾及多元化。

The task for mainstream political leaders is to ensure that the outpouring of solidarity with the murdered journalists and police officers, and an implacable defence of freedom of expression do not tip over into ugly nationalism. Most obviously, the danger in France is that this week’s outrage will confer respectability on the Islamophobia of Marine Le Pen’s National Front. The polls already suggest she could win the first round of a presidential contest.

主流政治领导人的任务是要保证，记者和警察被杀后社会展现出的团结一致以及对言论自由毫不妥协的捍卫，不会异化成丑陋的民族主义。最明显的是，法国面临这样一种危险，即近期的愤怒情绪可能为马琳•勒庞(Marine Le Pen)领导的国民阵线(National Front)的反穆斯林宣传博得好感。民意调查已经显示，勒庞有可能在第一轮总统选举中获胜。

Europe’s populist right comes in all shapes and sizes. The National Front in France was rooted in anti-semitism before Ms Le Pen judged Islam a better target. In countries such as Hungary, where an authoritarian prime minister publicly disdains the liberal democratic tradition, old anti-Jewish hatreds are allowed to flourish. In Britain, the chosen scapegoats of the UK Independence party are imm-igrants from the post-communist east.

欧洲有形形色色的右翼民粹主义。在勒庞发现穆斯林是一个更好的“靶子”之前，法国国民阵线曾坚定地宣扬反犹太主义。在匈牙利，威权主义的总理公开鄙视自由民主传统，古老的反犹仇恨则获准肆虐泛滥。在英国，英国独立党(UKIP)选择的替罪羊则是来自后共产主义东欧的移民。

The protests in Germany, amplified by the darker chapters in the nation’s history, notionally have been directed against Berlin’s generosity in welcoming refugees from the wars in the Middle East. Yet they risk throwing struggling members of a fearful working class into the arms of racists and neo-Nazis.

德国的抗议活动（被该国历史中的黑暗时期所放大）名义上是反对德国政府慷慨接纳中东战事带来的难民。然而，这些抗议有将胆怯的工薪阶层中的贫困成员推入种族主义者和新纳粹分子的怀抱的风险。

Another important connection well drawn by Ms Merkel in her recent warnings about the myriad threats to European democracy has been the way these groups draw succour from Moscow.

在其近期针对危及欧洲民主的种种危机发出的警告中，默克尔强调的另一个重要联系是，这些极端群体从莫斯科方面汲取帮助。

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, condemns alleged “fascists” in Kiev but bankrolls the far right elsewhere. Mr Putin’s ambitions, as Ms Merkel has observed, reach beyond Ukraine into the weak states of the Balkans. Shared xenophobia, reverence for a strong state, and cultural conservatism are indifferent to left-right divides.

俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)谴责基辅的所谓“法西斯主义者”，但却资助其他地方的极右势力。正如默克尔曾说过的，普京的野心超越了乌克兰，直指巴尔干半岛的弱小国家。共同的仇外心理、对强大国家的敬畏以及文化保守主义是不分左右的。

Europe does not have “a Muslim problem”. It has failed to integrate properly many of its immigrants, and a big proportion of those left on the margins are Muslims. The march of Islamophobia into the social democratic bastions of the Nordic states sounds a serious alarm. The thousands of young Europeans fighting in Syria point up an undeniable threat from the radicalisation of the dispossessed. Islamist fundamentalism offers them an identity absent in their own communities.

欧洲不存在“穆斯林问题”。欧洲有很多移民没有充分地融入社会，社会边缘群体中很大部分是穆斯林。社会民主党影响力强大的北欧国家也患上了伊斯兰恐惧症，这拉响了高级别警报。成千上万的欧洲年轻人到叙利亚参战，清楚地表明了一无所有者走向极端带来的威胁。伊斯兰原教旨主义为他们提供了他们在本国社会无法获得的身份认同。

On the other side of the fence, economic stagnation and austerity serve as a powerful recruiting sergeant for the extremist right. European history is littered with the corpses of scapegoats.

另一方面，经济停滞和紧缩政策有力地推动了极右势力的发展壮大。欧洲的历史到处是替罪羊的尸首。

There is no quick fix, even if I wish Ms Merkel’s insights extended to a more urgent appreciation of the need to restore economic growth. The most important thing, though, is to hold on to those values. Ideas are what count.

现在没有什么速效对策，即使我希望默克尔能够同样明智地意识到，欧洲更迫切需要的是重启经济增长。不过最重要的是，我们要坚持自己的价值观。观念才是最重要的。

When Charlie Hebdo was firebombed some years ago Stephane Charbonnier, its leading journalist, reflected that it was not the work of French Muslims but of “idiot extremists”. Charbonnier perished in the latest attack. The rest of us should hold on to his reflection.

当《查理周刊》几年前被投掷燃烧弹时，该刊主编斯特凡纳•沙博尼耶(Stephane Charbonnier)反思说，这不是法国穆斯林干的，而是“愚蠢的极端分子”所为。沙博尼耶在最近这次袭击中遇害。我们生者应该铭记他说过的话。