Siyanda Mohutsiwa: How young Africans found a voice on Twitter
希妍妲·莫瑚茨娃: 非洲青年如何在推特上發聲
When her hashtag #IfAfricaWasABar went viral, Botswana writer Siyanda Mohutsiwa triggered a lighthearted but electrifying discussion of some serious African issues. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
your country be drinking or doing?
你的國家會喝哪種酒、做什麼事?
about South Africa,
according to the rules
continual attempts
不斷在嘗試
for decades by apartheid,
would be drinking all kinds of alcohol
南非大概什麼酒都喝,
to get along in its stomach.
where I wondered if I crossed the line.
懷疑自己是不是有點超過。
about my own country
講我自己的國家,
I'm familiar with.
I had ever tweeted
每一則訊息都讀一遍,
all over the world.
出版品上出現。
to do many different things.
Nigeria would be outside explaining
奈及利亞會站在外面解釋
the bouncer's account details.]
(諷刺詐騙集團)
ordering bottles it can't pronounce
南非會訂購叫不出名字的瓶裝水,
South Sudan would be the new guy
南蘇丹會是那個
we don't know exist:
Lesotho would be that person
賴索托就是那個
but is always in the pictures.]
但老是出現在照片裡的人。」
that don't think that they're in Africa:
自認不在非洲的國家:
Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco
埃及、利比亞及摩洛哥
are we doing here?!!"]
我們在這裡幹嘛?』」
that had made a big turnaround:
Rwanda would be that girl
盧安達會是那個
but leaves drunk, happy and rich]
但離開時開心、有錢、醉茫茫。」
over their Africanness.
that Pan-Africanism could work,
泛非洲主義可以行得通,
between us, at our fingertips
我們的指尖上,
只要星星之火,
from two different African countries.
兩個不同的國家。
called Botswana in southern Africa.
一個叫波札那的國家。
our 50th year of stable democracy.
邁入穩定民主 50 年,
social policies.
is the Kingdom of Swaziland.
also in southern Africa.
也在非洲南部。
and a royal family
seem very different.
似乎非常不一樣。
I could see the difference.
it didn't rain quite as much in the other.
另一個國家沒下那麼多雨。
I didn't really realize
我其實並不了解
were from two different places.
有什麼大不了。
to have a very peculiar effect on me.
它對我產生非常特別的影響。
anything that was being said to me
I was meant to move forward.
是我即將加入的。
by how very non-Swazi I was becoming.
變得有多麼不像史瓦濟蘭人。
into Africa's private school system,
私立學校系統,
is to beat the Africanness out of you,
要把你「去非洲化」,
a very peculiar adolescence.
非常特殊的青春期。
in ideas of identity was born here,
產生興趣就是從這裡開始,
of belonging to two places at once
同時歸屬於兩個地方,
to either one very well
in between and around simultaneously.
交錯環繞空間裡。
of a shared African identity.
to read about politics
我一直在讀有關政治、
and what all those things mean.
及這一切意義的文章。
about African philosophies.
抱持深切的好奇心。
of black intellectuals
及法國的法蘭茲·法農,
and black consciousness.
that I had digested these grand ideas,
已經消化了這些偉大的想法後,
of iconic African statesmen
非洲政治代表人物的演講,
托馬斯·桑卡拉,
that I could get my hands on.
of a teenage girl
一踴躍上這班列車,
of hearing about all this random stuff.
無關緊要的話題搞到無聊到爆。
and the whole continent,
for smartphones and Internet surfing
及網路瀏覽
messages to each other on this platform
我們都用這種平臺彼此送簡訊,
and a little bit of creativity.
should have been paying attention to,
of being young and African.
was not available to everybody.
都享受得到這種奢華。
a teenage girl in Botswana
如果你是波札那的青少女,
to have fun on the Internet,
the three other people you knew online.
你得跟隨更多帳號,
Zimbabweans, Ghanaians, Nigerians.
迦納人、奈及利亞人。
who were travelling around the continent,
他們在整片大陸上旅行,
under the hashtag #myafrica.
標上「#我的非洲」標籤。
on Twitter or on Google
was just pictures of animals
就是動物的照片,
in hotel resorts.
of the tourism sectors.
on the beaches of Nigeria.
in cocktail bars in Nairobi.
酒吧裡喝雞尾酒。
that I began to meet
開始遇到的同一批非洲人,
politics, economic policy.
政治、經濟政策。
這代表什麼意義的時刻。
of something amazing,
the future of our continent in real time,
自己大陸的未來,
finances and watchful governments.
about other African countries
對其它非洲國家所知極少,
might know about Africa as a whole.
對非洲整體的了解還少。
were constantly being bombarded
ruled by black people
under crushing white rule
in a black and free nation.
又自由的國家要好得多。
archaic education system,
古老的教育體制,
carried over from the 1920s --
不假思索地沿用至今——
I could name all the various causes
in Europe in the past 200 years,
歐洲發生過的戰爭的各種起因,
of my neighboring country.
are deeply intertwined.
都深深交織在一起。
largest refugee centers.
沒有蘇丹人的問題,
or Kenyan problems,
of sharing the successes?
increasing inter-African trade,
and putting pressure on leaders
they've already signed.
for Africa to share its successes
要同享成功最大的方法,
I like to call social Pan-Africanism.
already exists,
totally new here.
of the political elite.
of the ordinary African.
and shaky institutions,
與不穩定的機構,
than a handful of leaders
of the populations has been alive,
is social Pan-Africanism.
to suffocate our innovation.
窒礙我們的創新。
comes up with something brilliant,
想出了絕妙的東西,
this wouldn't work in my country,"
「唉,這在我的國家行不通,」
begin to realize
is our canvas, is our home.
是我們的家。
we can begin to think collaboratively,
"If you want to go fast, you go alone,
如果你想走得快,就要一個人走。
you go together."
你就要跟人一起走。
is how we can go far together.
就是我們一起走遠的方式。
has given young Africans
讓非洲青年取得
had to violently take: a voice.
to hear from the youth in Africa,
聽非洲青年的心聲,
minister of youth --
he has for your generation
by your possibly tyrannical government,
是專政的政府聽到你的心聲,
suffer the consequences
承擔後果,
might make someone care.
或許會打動某些人。
to back each other up
ridiculously high tertiary fees.
高等教育學費。
who are marching to parliament.
who are being illegally detained.
with it the most:
a social Pan-Africanist thinking
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Siyanda Mohutsiwa - WriterWhen her hashtag #IfAfricaWasABar went viral, Botswana writer Siyanda Mohutsiwa triggered a lighthearted but electrifying discussion of some serious African issues.
Why you should listen
Blogger, humorist and math student Siyanda Mohutsiwa explores African topics both weighty (reviving PanAfricanism) and witty (“5 things NOT to say when trying to seduce an Afrikaner”). Her columns for African media outlets like the Mail & Guardian, Za News, and her own website Siyanda Writes have gained a loyal following.
But when Mohutsiwa’s hashtag #IfAfricaWasABar exploded on Twitter, the viral thread (which pondered the hypothetical bar mannerisms of various African nations) became a platform for everyday Africans to unite in a playful dialogue on national differences, and helped turn Mohutsiwa into a social media star.
Siyanda Mohutsiwa | Speaker | TED.com