Survey showing UK’s loss of pride in its past is encouraging, says historian
-Public choosing ‘Shakespeare over invasion’ and becoming more discerning about Britain’s history, says Alan Lester

歷史學家表示，一項調查顯示，英國對其過去的自豪感正在喪失，這令人鼓舞
——艾倫·萊斯特說，公眾選擇“莎士比亞而非入侵”，對英國歷史的認識也越來越敏銳


(A production of Shakespeare’s Henry V at the Globe theatre.)

（在環(huán)球劇院上演的莎士比亞的《亨利五世》。）
新聞：

A striking fall in pride in Britain’s history, but widespread support for the arts, shows the public are choosing “Shakespeare over invasion, exploitation and occupation”, a leading historian has said.

一位著名的歷史學家說，英國人對歷史的自豪感急劇下降，但對藝術的廣泛支持表明，公眾正在選擇“莎士比亞而不是侵略、剝削和占領”。

The findings from the British Social Attitudes survey, published this week, show that while levels of pride in Britain’s achievements in sport and the arts remained high over the past decade, there was a 22-point fall in the proportion of people saying they were proud of Britain’s history.

本周公布的英國社會態(tài)度調查結果顯示，盡管過去10年英國人對體育和藝術成就的自豪感仍然很高，但表示對英國歷史感到自豪的人的比例下降了22個百分點。

Prof Alan Lester, the editor of a new book on empire featuring guest essays from the eminent historian Liam J Liburd and the journalist Sathnam Sanghera, described the results as an “encouraging sign” that the public were becoming more discerning about Britain’s past.

艾倫·萊斯特教授是一本關于帝國的新書的編輯，該書收錄了著名歷史學家利亞姆·J·利伯德和記者薩特南·桑赫拉的客座文章。萊斯特將調查結果描述為一個“令人鼓舞的跡象”，表明公眾對英國的過去越來越有洞察力。

“It shows an awareness that history is complicated, that Britons have done both admirable things and deplorable things in the past, and we need to break down history into the kinds of things that we see as sources of pride and those which we need to move beyond.”

“這表明人們意識到歷史是復雜的，英國人在過去做過令人欽佩的事情，也做過令人遺憾的事情，我們需要把歷史分解成我們認為值得驕傲的事情和我們需要超越的事情。”

He credits this shift in public consciousness to the Black Lives Matter movement and Britain’s changing demographics.

他將公眾意識的轉變歸功于“黑命貴”運動和英國人口結構的變化。

The demonstrations that erupted in the US in 2020 after a white police officer killed George Floyd were a catalyst for the largest wave of anti-racism protests in British history, taking place in more than 260 towns and cities that summer.

2020年，一名白人警察殺害喬治·弗洛伊德后，美國爆發(fā)了示威活動，引發(fā)了英國歷史上最大規(guī)模的反種族主義抗議浪潮，那年夏天在260多個城鎮(zhèn)發(fā)生。

Statues of slave traders, such as Edward Colston’s in Bristol, were toppled, streets renamed, and venerable British institutions such as the Bank of England were forced to reckon with their ties to the slave trade.

像布里斯托爾的愛德華·科爾斯頓這樣的奴隸販子的雕像被推倒，街道被重新命名，英格蘭銀行等可敬的英國機構被迫考慮與奴隸貿易的關系。

“Black Lives Matter helped to crystallise the issue of slavery, antislavery, and ongoing racism in British society,” said Lester.

萊斯特說：“‘黑命貴’有助于將奴隸制、反奴隸制和英國社會中持續(xù)存在的種族主義問題具體化?！?/b>

“There is still pride, virtually unchanged since the last survey, in artistic and cultural achievement, and in sporting achievements. And what that suggests to me is discernment about how we look back on our past; that we’re choosing Shakespeare over invasion, exploitation and occupation.”

“自上次調查以來，在藝術和文化成就以及體育成就方面，人們仍然感到自豪。這對我來說是一種洞察力——關于我們如何回顧我們的過去；我們選擇莎士比亞而不是侵略、剝削和占領。”

Lester, the editor of the new book The Truth About Empire: Real Histories of British Colonialism, believes some of this trend is also down to the UK becoming more ethnically diverse since the last survey. Those who are descendants of people who were enslaved or colonised by Britain may have a different relationship to its past than many other British people.

萊斯特是新書《帝國的真相：英國殖民主義的真實歷史》的編輯，他認為，這種趨勢的部分原因還在于，自上次調查以來，英國變得更加種族多樣化。那些被英國奴役或殖民的人的后代可能與許多其他英國人有著不同的過去關系。

Others have suggested that the decline in the number of people alive today who lived through or fought in the second world war may have also contributed to the drop in pride in Britain’s past.

還有人認為，經歷過二戰(zhàn)或參加過二戰(zhàn)的人越來越少，這可能也是英國人對過去的自豪感下降的原因之一。

But Lester believes this would have had a minimal impact, as the survey show a decline across age demographics and a broader shift in public consciousness, “thanks, in no small part, to the activism of Black Lives Matter and others who keep drawing our attention to the complexities of the past”.

但萊斯特認為，這只會產生很小的影響，因為調查顯示，各個年齡段的人口統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)都在下降，公眾意識也在發(fā)生更廣泛的轉變，“這在很大程度上要歸功于‘黑命貴’運動的積極行動，以及其他一直讓我們關注過去的復雜性的人”。

The Black Lives Matter movement was met by a ferocious response from the right, who attacked protesters and historians alike for interrogating Britain’s imperial past. Lester said: “Sathnam Sanghera wrote the foreword for The Truth About Empire, in which he talks about how unacceptable it is that we’ve reached this stage of fervent denialism about the past, and such a fervour about Britishness and patriotism, that historians just doing their job are being called woke and attacked.”

“黑命貴”運動遭到了右翼的激烈回應，他們攻擊抗議者和歷史學家質疑英國帝國的過去。萊斯特說：“薩特南·桑赫拉為《帝國的真相》寫了前言，他在前言中談到，我們已經到了狂熱否認過去的階段，對英國人和愛國主義如此狂熱，以至于歷史學家只是在做他們的工作，卻被稱為覺醒和攻擊，這是多么不可接受?！?/b>

The historian David Olusoga had to employ a bodyguard at some speaking events; Prof Corinne Fowler, who co-authored a report for the National Trust in 2019, was often forced to call police for protection, and Sanghera stopped doing public events with adults due to the severity of the abuse he received on a regular basis.

歷史學家大衛(wèi)·奧盧索加不得不在一些演講活動中雇傭保鏢；科琳·福勒教授是2019年國民信托基金會的一份報告的合著者，他經常被迫打電話給警察尋求保護，桑赫拉也因為經常受到嚴重的辱罵而不再和成年人一起參加公共活動。

The survey also showed a decline in the proportion of people who believed that Britain was better than most other countries, or that people should support their country even if it was in the wrong.

調查還顯示，認為英國比大多數(shù)其他國家好，或者認為即使自己的國家做錯了，人們也應該支持它的人的比例有所下降。

People were also less likely to express pride in Britain’s democracy, its economic achievements and its political influence in the world.

人們也不太可能對英國的民主、經濟成就和在世界上的政治影響力表示自豪。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.top-shui.cn 轉載請注明出處


While the report authors note these survey results have happened despite Brexit and the toxic debates around immigration, Lester suggested they might be a reaction to it.

盡管報告作者指出，盡管英國脫歐和圍繞移民的激烈辯論仍出現(xiàn)了這些調查結果，但萊斯特認為，這可能是對脫歐的一種反應。

“Pride in the British political system and pride in the British economy have both taken a big hit. I suspect that’s because of disillusionment directly as a result of Brexit,” he said.

“對英國政治體系的自豪感和對英國經濟的自豪感都受到了重創(chuàng)。我懷疑這是因為英國脫歐直接導致的幻滅感，”他說。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.top-shui.cn 轉載請注明出處


“People have simply had enough of what Brexit has done to Britishness, to the identity of Britishness and to the reputation of Britain overseas, and they’ve had enough of the hatred and the bile being directed towards people seeking asylum.”

“人們已經受夠了脫歐對英國特性、英國身份的認同和英國在海外的聲譽所造成的影響，他們已經受夠了針對尋求庇護者的仇恨和憤怒?！?br />