作者：刘畅
一，巴黎人的无奈
记得刚到巴黎时，我坐着移民局警车，我望着窗外，一个醉酒老头，右手一个酒瓶，左手一本书，在闹市区路中央声嘶力竭控诉着什么，警车赶紧绕开。停在红绿灯时，一个流浪汉又来挑衅，脚踢副驾驶大门。坐我旁边的女警官很淡定，打开最新版的苹果手机玩着游戏，把我也吸引过去，看得正着迷，女警官还脸红了，赶快翻出他儿子的照片……我不禁感慨，在普通法国人眼里，这个世界一面是革命，一面是“罗曼蒂克”。
在巴黎生活呢，恰逢大罢工，街道上垃圾堆积如山，坐着地铁，突然广播通知：地铁罢工。你稀里糊涂被丢在一个不知道什么地方的地铁站，只好绕了半天，终于找到一个公交站台。刚开始，站台上聚着一群人，大家怨声载道，抱怨公交怎么还不来。等了半天，公交还是没有。人一个个散去了。最后只剩下我一个人。我心想，算了，走吧，看来公交也罢工。我只好悻悻然穿过马路，准备徒步远走。就在这个时候，一辆公交车突然来了。我赶紧转身往回跑。结果还没等我跑到站台，公交车已经开走了。那一刻，我站在巴黎街头，突然不知道该气还是该笑。
几个月后，全城又骚乱，到处都是烟雾缭绕，一会这座仓库被烧，一会那座公寓被烧。一次马路边抽烟，看到一个蒙面人在用打火机试图点市场里的垃圾堆，一个大妈突然问：Que faits vous？那个人跑了。大妈赶快通知市场管理员……
法国人的运动，有时候就是这么一种东西：你明明知道它会发生，却永远不知道它究竟会以什么方式影响你的生活。
社会进步靠运动推动，运动则由人民掌控，这才是人民的意志和自由，倘若你的人民嘴不能说、言不能传，只有被动接受，那不是人民，而是奴隶或者牲口！当然，法国人民是“真人民”，他们敢怒敢言、敢爱敢做，为什么“敢”，因为法律允许，人民拥护。
二，华人的沉默与黑人的抗争
法国是世界民主的灯塔，也是民主运动的祖师爷，从法国大革命到巴黎公社，从共产国际到十月革命，再到中共“解放”战争。但百年来，民主运动早就被他的学生们当成了“夜壶”，用完了就塞床底下，还不准别人用，而他们的革命导师法国呢？却依然“革命”不断，动不动罢工，动不动示威游行。这就苦了法国人民，一会地铁罢工，一会公交罢工，一会清洁工罢工，今天又是学生运动，严重影响了市民生活，垃圾堆成山，但有什么办法？“革命”是共和国的立国之基，是国家赋予人民的权利，世代相传已成习俗。法国人民要革命，法国的黑人同胞也要革命，还是积极推动和参与，一会是暴动，一会是商店被砸、被抢，公交站被砸，车被烧。几年前一个警察在黑人驾驶逃逸时碰着胳膊误走火，黑人尚且如此激动。然而很多朋友说，巴黎也曾有警察打死华人，中国人却闷着不出声，小打小闹后也不了了之，说中国人太不团结，但笔者认为，难道仅仅是中国人不团结造成的？原因很多，分析如下：
1，中国人的特点是“忍得”，这是几千年皇权宗法塑造下中国人性格，一点鸡毛蒜皮的事不计较，事不关己也不管闲事，久而久之就各自为政。中国人有没有团结的时候呢？有，革命时代疯狂灌输了民族主义、阶级主义、爱国主义，就产生不少凝聚力，红卫兵、知青把“革命”输出到香港、日本、加拿大，搞得国外一片狼藉，随着八九六四的破产，老一辈早变成被阉割的老牛，没了脾气，年轻一辈又一代代被强化政治洗脑，成为了红旗下的顺民。到了国外，也确实把“温顺”“皮实”“吃苦耐劳”的优良传统带出来了。
而法国人，不论肤色，可以因为一个插队、一个烟头给别人叽叽呱呱半天，把“君子动口不动手”发挥到了极致，鼻子对鼻子对骂，恰如中国农村妇女骂街，偶尔胀红着脸、扯着脖子面对面咆哮，很好地诠释了“高卢雄鸡”，这是他们的权利，他们也就不用忍！
2，华人在欧洲尤其是法国算小众群体，种族力量弱小，觉得数量还比不上黑人弟兄，明显底气不足；加上，在老共的“革命”传统熏陶下，中国人窝里斗的传统得到极大发扬，出了国也彼此不那么信任，甚至于彼此提防，这就导致人数有限还不那么团结。
3，黑人弟兄在欧美几百年移民史也不夸张，时长和绝对数量都是华人移民比不了的，在这漫长时期，与白人的磨合的斗争已经形成风俗、传统和本能，经验丰富且获得了不少成功，尤其是美国，经过百年抗争，获得了极高的社会地位和法律保障，只要一出问题，一旦上升为种族主义，让白人弟兄都防不胜防！华人祖祖辈辈没有这段海外“革命”历史，所以革命意识淡漠、经验缺乏。
4，法国黑人老移民有不少从事教育、法律、科研等正当职业，但也有不少新移民，从事正当职业的不多，除了干点底层工作，占福利、钻空子大有人在，类似于国内定义的流氓无产阶级，一有事，这个群体自然成为被煽动、利用的对象！这跟默默无闻、苦心经营的大多数华人差别很大，无论有身份没身份，他们“有产”就意味着“资产阶级局限性”，也就没有“革命”的勇气。
5，民主国家的特点，公说公有理，婆说婆有理，这是他们的权利，动不动游行示威，这本身就是工作的一部分。但习惯逆来顺受的华人看来，这样的抵抗浪费时间精力，也改变不了大趋势，这也是八九六四之后的社会风气：服从大局、顺从大局才是中庸，没有大局（国）哪来的个体（家）呢？于是不抵抗和接受命运。
因此，华人与黑人在法国面对公共事件时表现出的不同社会表达，并不能简单归结为“谁更团结、谁更勇敢”。它既受到历史传统、政治文化、移民时间、人口规模、社会组织程度、经济地位以及法律环境等多重因素的共同影响，也与不同群体长期形成的价值观和行动方式密切相关。沉默未必意味着懦弱，抗争也未必意味着正确；真正值得思考的是，革命也好，不革命的罢，合法合规的基础上，表达合理的主张没什么不对，争取恰当的权利也没什么过错，是值得鼓励和推崇的，任何一个民主国家都不能限制人民的表达。但是如果这样的表达方式上升到煽风点火、威胁人身安全等，那也是需要杜绝的。无论是哪个种族，既然生活在法国的领土，就应该热爱这个国家，切不要动不动拿种族主义作为借口，制造矛盾和动乱，而让民主运动变了味。中共口口声声宣传的“爱国主义”，民主国家也可以借鉴嘛，大家移民到这个国家，讲着同一个语言，呼吸同一空气，吃着同样的法棍，无论肤色都是兄弟，国家对我们不公，我们就一起来反对和表达，国家对你们好，就一起来拥护。但千万不要学共产党，没阶级要强分阶级，没有隔阂偏偏要修一堵墙，同一个民族尚且不团结，怎么来团结世界人民呢？
编辑：李晶 校对：程筱筱 翻译：戈冰
Silence and Resistance: A Documentary of “Revolution” in France’s New Era
By Liu Chang
I. The Helplessness of Parisians
I remember when I first arrived in Paris, sitting inside an immigration bureau police car. Looking out the window, I saw an intoxicated old man holding a liquor bottle in his right hand and a book in his left, loudly and frantically denouncing something in the middle of a busy downtown street. The police car quickly veered around him. While stopped at a traffic light, a homeless man came over to provoke us, kicking the front passenger door. The female police officer sitting next to me remained completely unfazed, pulling out the latest iPhone to play a game. Interested, I leaned in to watch; catching me staring, she blushed and quickly pulled up photos of her son… I could not help but sigh with emotion: in the eyes of ordinary French people, this world is revolution on one side and “romance” on the other.
Living in Paris, I happened to encounter a massive general strike. Mountains of garbage piled up on the streets. Riding the metro, an announcement suddenly broadcasted: metro strike. You were dumped bewildered at some unknown station, leaving you no choice but to wander around for quite a while before finally finding a bus stop. At first, a crowd gathered at the platform, everyone voicing their grievances and complaining about why the bus was taking so long. After a long wait, there was still no bus in sight. People dispersed one by one until only I was left. I thought to myself, forget it, let us walk—looks like the buses are on strike, too. Feeling dejected, I crossed the road, prepared to walk the long distance. Just at that moment, a bus suddenly arrived. I turned and sprinted back. Yet before I could even reach the platform, the bus drove away. At that moment, standing on the streets of Paris, I suddenly did not know whether to be angry or to laugh.
A few months later, citywide riots broke out again, with smoke lingering everywhere; one moment this warehouse was burned, and the next moment that apartment building was set ablaze. Once while smoking on the sidewalk, I saw a masked person trying to light a pile of garbage inside a market with a lighter. An older woman suddenly asked, “Que faites-vous?” The person ran away. The woman quickly notified the market manager…
The movement of the French is sometimes precisely this kind of thing: you clearly know it will happen, yet you never know in what manner it will ultimately affect your life.
Social progress is driven by movements, while movements are controlled by the people—this alone is the will and freedom of the people. If your people cannot speak with their mouths, cannot communicate with their words, and can only passively accept, then they are not people, but slaves or livestock! Of course, the French people are “true people”—they dare to be angry and dare to speak, dare to love and dare to act. Why do they “dare”? Because the law permits it, and the people support it.
II. The Silence of the Chinese and the Resistance of the Black People
France is the beacon of world democracy and the originator of democratic movements, spanning from the French Revolution to the Paris Commune, from the Communist International to the October Revolution, and all the way to the CCP’s “Liberation” War. Yet over the past century, democratic movements have long been treated by its students like a “chamber pot”—stuffed under the bed as soon as they finish using it, while forbidding anyone else from using it. And what about their revolutionary mentor, France? It remains fraught with non-stop “revolutions,” staging strikes and demonstrations at the drop of a hat. This brings hardship to the French people: one moment a metro strike, the next moment a bus strike, then a sanitation workers’ strike, and today a student movement again, severely disrupting citizens’ daily lives with garbage piling up like mountains. But what choice is there? “Revolution” is the founding bedrock of the Republic and a right bestowed upon the people by the state, passed down through generations to become a custom. The French people want revolution, and France’s Black compatriots want revolution too, actively driving and participating in it—one moment an insurrection, the next moment stores smashed and looted, bus stops smashed, and cars burned. A few years ago, when a police officer touched a Black driver’s arm during a fleeing attempt and his gun accidentally misfired, the Black community was already this agitated. However, many friends say that police in Paris have also beaten Chinese people to death, yet Chinese people kept quiet and stayed silent; after minor fussing, it all ended up swept under the rug, leading people to say Chinese people are far too disunited. But this author believes: was this caused merely by Chinese people lacking unity? The reasons are manifold, analyzed as follows:
1， A characteristic of Chinese people is “endurance.” This is the Chinese character shaped under thousands of years of imperial power and patriarchal clan system—not dwelling on trivial matters, not meddling in business that does not concern oneself, and over time, each going their own way. Are there times when Chinese people unite? Yes. During the revolutionary era, the frantic indoctrination of nationalism, classism, and patriotism generated a great deal of cohesion; the Red Guards and Educated Youth exported “revolution” to Hong Kong, Japan, and Canada, leaving mess and chaos abroad. With the collapse of June Fourth in 1989, the older generation long ago turned into castrated oxen, losing their spirit, while the younger generations have been subjected to reinforced political brainwashing generation after generation, becoming docile subjects under the Red Flag. Arriving abroad, they have indeed brought out the fine traditions of being “meek,” “tough,” and “hardworking and enduring hardships.”
The French, regardless of skin color, can jabber on endlessly at someone over line-cutting or a cigarette butt, taking “a gentleman uses his mouth, not his hands” to the absolute extreme, swearing at each other nose-to-nose—just like Chinese rural women scolding in the street—occasionally turning red-faced and craning their necks to roar face-to-face, vividly interpreting the “Gallic Rooster.” This is their right, so they do not have to endure!
2， Chinese people are considered a minority group in Europe, especially in France, with weak racial clout and feeling their numbers fall short compared to their Black brothers, resulting in a clear lack of confidence. Moreover, nurtured under the “revolutionary” tradition of the CCP, the Chinese tradition of internal infighting has been greatly carried forward; even after going abroad, they do not trust one another that much, and even guard against each other, which leads to limited numbers coupled with a lack of unity.
3， Black brothers have a history of immigration in Europe and America spanning several centuries, which is no exaggeration; both the duration and absolute numbers are incomparable for Chinese immigrants. Throughout this long period, their struggles and friction with white people have already formed customs, traditions, and instincts; they are rich in experience and have achieved considerable success—especially in the United States, where through a century of resistance, they have obtained exceptionally high social status and legal protections. As soon as an issue arises, once it escalates to racism, it catches white brothers completely off guard! Generation after generation of Chinese people lack this history of overseas “revolution,” leading to a weak revolutionary consciousness and a lack of experience.
4， Many old Black immigrants in France engage in legitimate professions such as education, law, and scientific research. However, there are also many new immigrants among whom few hold legitimate jobs; besides doing some bottom-tier work, many freeload on benefits and exploit loopholes, similar to what is defined domestically as the lumpenproletariat. Whenever something happens, this group naturally becomes the object of incitement and exploitation! This differs greatly from the majority of Chinese people who quietly and painstakingly manage their businesses. Whether they have legal status or not, being “propertied” means having “bourgeois limitations,” and thus lacking the courage for “revolution.”
5， A feature of democratic countries is that “the husband has his reason, and the wife has hers”—each side claims to be in the right. This is their right, and staging demonstrations at every turn is itself part of the work. But in the eyes of Chinese people accustomed to submissiveness and resignation, such resistance is a waste of time and energy and cannot change the overarching trend. This has also been the social climate since June Fourth in 1989: obeying the bigger picture and conforming to the grand scheme is the Doctrine of the Mean—without the grand scheme (the state), where would the individual (the family) come from? Hence, non-resistance and accepting one’s fate.
Therefore, the different forms of social expression exhibited by Chinese and Black communities when facing public events in France cannot be simply attributed to “who is more united or who is more brave.” It is jointly influenced by multiple factors, including historical traditions, political culture, length of immigration, population scale, degree of social organization, economic status, and the legal environment, while also being closely related to the long-formed values and modes of action of different groups. Silence does not necessarily mean cowardice, nor does resistance necessarily mean correctness. What is truly worth pondering is that—whether through revolution or non-revolution—expressing reasonable demands and striving for appropriate rights on a legal and compliant basis contains nothing wrong and harbors no fault; rather, it is worthy of encouragement and praise, as no democratic country should restrict its people’s expression. However, if such modes of expression escalate to fanning the flames or threatening personal safety, that must be put to an end. Regardless of race, as long as one lives on French territory, one should love this country and refrain from constantly using racism as an excuse to manufacture conflicts and turmoil, which spoils the true essence of democratic movements. The “patriotism” endlessly preached by the CCP can also be learned from by democratic countries: when people immigrate to this country, speak the same language, breathe the same air, and eat the same baguettes, they are brothers regardless of skin color. If the state treats us unfairly, we unite to oppose and express it; if the state treats us well, we unite to support it. But one must never follow the Communist Party—forcing class divisions where there are no classes, or building a wall where there are no estrangements. If people of the same ethnicity cannot even unite among themselves, how can they unite the people of the world?
Editor: Li Jing Proofreader: Cheng Xiaoxiao Translator: Ge Bing
