网帖翻译

Moses Machua
, works at Castleton Commodities International
I was born in Kenya and spent the first 19 years of my life there. While many have raised legitimate issues such as exploitation by former colonial masters, the problem remains us. Kenya for example gained independence from Britain in 1963. So we’ve been at the wheel for the last 55 years and we cannot continue to blame the West for all our problems. Most of our wounds are self-inflicted. Of course we’ve been taken advantage of by others, but that’s because we’ve allowed ourselves to be. I don’t blame the West or the East(China) - everyone wants to get the upper hand if you allow them to. I’d highly recommend people to listen to Kenyan professor and lawyer Patrick Lumumba’s highly regarded presentation in Accra Ghana on issues affecting Africa. His presentation sheds some light on Africa’s historical issues and the path forward. Here are my top four issues;
Leadership with no vision. They only care about enriching themselves with little regard for the country. This is why Africa despite being very rich in natural resources benefits very little from its resources. Why does Nigeria, a major oil producing country, import refined petroleum products from other countries? Why does Kenya the #1 producer of tea in the world export it’s tea unprocessed? Why am I buying Kenyan tea in a US supermarket labeled as Tetley British tea? Out of the $4.95 I pay for the box of 50 tea bags, I’m pretty sure the Kenyan farmer makes 5 cents if that, while Tetley corp and other middlemen pocket the rest. Meanwhile, our leadership is happy as they are rich from the multi-million dollar bribes from the multinational corps to continue stealing from us.

我出生在肯尼亚，在那里度过了我生命中的前19年。虽然许多人提出了合理的因素，如前殖民主的剥削，但问题的主因仍然是我们自己。比如说，肯尼亚在1963年从英国获得独立。因此，在过去的55年里，我们自己一直在掌舵，我们不能继续将我们所有的问题归咎于西方。我们的大部分伤口都是自己造成的。当然，我们之前确实被别人利用，但那是因为我们允许自己被利用。我不责怪西方或东方（中国）--如果你允许他们这样做，那每个人都会想来占便宜。我强烈建议人们聆听肯尼亚教授和律师帕特里克-卢蒙巴在加纳阿克拉就影响非洲的问题所做的备受瞩目的演讲。他的演讲对非洲的历史问题和未来的道路提出了一些看法。以下是我认为最重要的四个问题。
1.没有远见的领导。他们只关心自己的财富，很少考虑到国家。这就是为什么非洲尽管拥有非常丰富的自然资源，但从其资源中得到的好处却很少。为什么尼日利亚这个主要产油国要从其他国家进口精炼石油产品？为什么肯尼亚明明是世界第一大茶叶生产国，它的茶叶却不经加工就出口？为什么我在美国超市购买的肯尼亚茶叶被标为英国泰特利茶？在我为一盒50个茶包支付的4.95美元中，我敢肯定肯尼亚农民只赚了5美分，而泰特利公司和其他中间商则将其余部分收入囊中。与此同时，我们的领导层却很高兴，因为他们从跨国企业那里获得了数百万美元的贿赂，继续从我们这里偷窃。

Culture of Impunity. It’s well known that the politicians, the wealthy, the well-connected play by different rules. Evidence can be made to disappear, judges can be bought. For example, in 1990, a very educated and popular politician named Dr. John Robert Ouko fell out of favor with the president. He was brutally tortured and murdered. His eyes were gouged out, arms and legs broken, shot in the head, and set on fire. After a long investigation, the cause of death was ruled to be suicide!!! Tell me how that is possible. Sad thing is that the case was closed, and all witnesses died mysteriously within a short time. No one was ever charged. How Moi Killed Kenya's Finest Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Ouko In 1990.
Rampant corruption. This is tied to no. 1 and 2 above. You can’t get anything done in Kenya and Africa in general without bribing someone. As a matter of fact, it’s not uncommon to see low level clerks with a salary of US$500/month driving brand new US$100,000 Range Rovers and living in multi-million dollar homes. Police are the most corrupt. During a recent police vetting process, a police constable by the name Boniface Kyalo Muthini was discovered to have received millions of dollars through his MPesa(mobile money) account. When asked to explain the source of his great wealth considering his meager salary of $400/month, he said it was God’s miracles!
Tribalism. This is like racism in the West except hate is not based on skin color but tribal affiliation. Some African peoples’ hate for fellow countrymen of other tribes is not unlike the KKK hate for Blacks and Jews in the US. It can also be violent as evidenced in Rwanda in 1994 when members of the Hutu tribe massacred people from the Tutsi tribe. This tribalism is heavily exploited by politicians to stay in power. Politicians will go about blaming members of one community for all sorts of problems (did DJT write ‘The Art of Tribalism’?). If you have a visionary leader who comes from a tiny tribe, he basically has no chance because members of the bigger tribes will not vote for him as they have been conditioned to fear other tribes. In the end politicians from bigger tribes always win and the cycle continues. There’s a Swahili saying that goes “Ndovu wawili wakipigana, nyasi ndio huumia”. Translated, “When two elephants fight, the grass is the one that suffers”

2.有罪不罚的文化。众所周知，政客、富人、有关系的人按不同的规则行事。证据可以被制造出来，法官可以被收买。例如，1990年，一位受过良好教育、很受欢迎的政治家约翰-罗伯特-奥科博士与总统失之交臂。他被残忍地折磨和谋杀了。他的眼睛被挖出，胳膊和腿被打断，头部中弹，并被放火焚烧。经过长时间的调查，死因被判定为自杀！！告诉我这怎么可能。可悲的是，该案已经结案，所有证人在短时间内神秘死亡。没有人被起诉。 莫伊是如何在1990年杀死了肯尼亚最优秀的外交部长罗伯特-奥科。（链接）
3.猖獗的腐败。这与上面的第1和第2条是相联系的。在肯尼亚和整个非洲，如果不贿赂某人，你就无法完成任何事情。事实上，经常可以看到月薪500美元的低级文员开着全新的10万美元的路虎揽胜，住在数百万美元的房子里。警察是最腐败的。在最近的一次警察审查过程中，一位名叫Boniface Kyalo Muthini的警员被发现通过他的MPesa（移动货币）账户收到了数百万美元。考虑到他每月400美元的微薄工资，当被要求解释他的巨额财富的来源时，他说这是上帝的神迹！
4.部落主义。这就像西方的种族主义，只不过仇恨不是基于肤色，而是基于部落的关系。一些非洲人对其他部落同胞的仇恨与美国三K党对黑人和犹太人的仇恨并无二致。它也可以是暴力的，1994年在卢旺达，胡图族人屠杀图西族人就是证明。这种部落主义被政客们大量利用来保持权力。政客们会把各种问题都归咎于一个社区的成员（特朗普写过《部落主义的艺术》吗）。如果你有一个来自小部落的有远见的领导人，他基本上没有上位的机会，因为大部落的成员不会投票给他，因为他们已经被调教得害怕其他部落。最后，来自大部落的政治家总是获胜，循环往复。有一句斯瓦希里语说："Ndovu wawili wakipigana, nyasi ndio huumia"。翻译过来就是："两头大象打架，受苦的是小草"。

Didier Champion
This is an excellent answer brother. I am from Rwanda and 25 years ago, we saw and experienced the danger of tribalism first hand. Please tell your fellow men to not go there. Invite them to come visit the memorials we have and see the fire they are playing with first hand. It's no bueno.

这是个很好的答案，兄弟。我来自卢旺达，25年前，我们亲眼看到并经历了部落主义的危险。请告诉你的同胞，不要走这条老路。请他们来参观我们的纪念馆，亲眼看看他们正在玩的火。这不是什么好事。

Moses Machua
It was a sad time and my hope is we can all learn from what happened in your beloved country. Never forget.

那是一段悲伤的时刻，我希望我们都能从你心爱的国家发生的事情中吸取教训。永远不要忘记。

Brent Monday
Excellent answer.
I sent a good bit of time in Kenya and actually know a great many of the political figures there. I was so smart that I took my whole family to Kenya on safari during the Presidential election of in December of 2007. As I am sure you recall, both Kibaki and Odinga claimed the victory and rioting ensued with many deaths. This demonstrated to all the world the delicate democracy that has been heralded to much of the world.
I believe that the tribal issue is still major concern, as yo point out. As I recall there are 42 tribes in Kenya and the Kikuyu tribe is the largest. So large, in fact, that the other 41 tribes do not equal the numbers in the Kikuyu tribe. So, when a member of the Kikuyu tribe wins the election, that President only appoints members to his government from his own tribe. Until this changes where ALL Kenyans are considered capable and duly appointed, the potential for Kenya as a stable government will continue to be questionable.
It is time for Kenya to put tribalism behind and join the 21st Century.

很好的回答。
我在肯尼亚待了很长时间，实际上认识那里的许多政治人物。我“聪明”过头了，以至于在2007年12月总统选举期间，我带着全家人去肯尼亚游玩。我相信你还记得，齐贝吉和奥廷加都声称获胜，随后发生了骚乱，有许多人死亡。这向全世界展示了被世界大部分地区实现的所谓民主的微妙。
我相信，正如你所指出的，部落问题仍然是主要关切。我记得肯尼亚有42个部落，基库尤部落是最大的部落。事实上，如此之大，以至于其他41个部落的人数加起来都没办法和基库尤部落的人数相比。因此，当基库尤部落的成员赢得选举时，该总统只任命自己部落的成员进入政府。在这种情况改变，并且让所有那些肯尼亚人都认为是有能力的人得到适当的任命之前，肯尼亚作为一个稳定政府的潜力将继续受到质疑。
现在是肯尼亚抛开部落主义，加入21世纪的时候了。

Brian Smith
This exactly what is happening in South Africa since 1994. The leaders are all fighting each other to try and steal the resources for themselves. Every day SA gets deeper into debt with China. Already there billions owed to France for weapons and trains that SA could have produced itself.
We need to look at Botswana. There is no corruption or poverty in Botswana. The leaders are in touch with the people and understand how to manage the country.

这正是1994年以来在南非发生的事情。领导人都在相互斗争，试图为自己窃取资源。南非对中国的债务一天比一天深。南非已经欠了法国几十亿的武器和火车债务，而这些武器和火车本来可以自己生产。
我们需要看看博茨瓦纳。在博茨瓦纳，没有腐败和贫困。领导人与人民保持联系，知道如何管理国家。

Saifullahi Aminu Gaya
This summarizes African continent, or to be more specific black nations. I am from Nigeria, our situation is exactly the same. We dont look at ourselves as a nation, but as a collection of tribes. if we look at the west before now they were Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians, but today you only read about these tribes after extensive research, they outgrow it. Now they are Nations, and Identified themselves only as English, German, French etc. But for us, instead of out-growing this tribalism we are breeding it and its becoming more and more stronger with no end in sight.

这概括了非洲大陆，或者更具体地说，黑人国家的问题。我来自尼日利亚，我们的情况也是如此。我们不把自己看成是一个国家，而是一个部落的集合体。如果我们看一下西方，以前他们是盎格鲁人、撒克逊人、朱特人和弗里斯兰人，但今天你只有在广泛的研究后才能看到这些部落，他们已经超越了这个概念。现在他们是民族，并且只把自己认定为英国人、德国人、法国人等。但对我们来说，我们并没有淘汰这种部落主义，而是在滋生它，它变得越来越强大，没有尽头。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Jama Nuh
As an African, I believe Tribalism should be #1.

作为一个非洲人，我认为部落主义应该是排第一位的问题。

Epie Leslie
very true brother. We are the cause of our own malice . we need to wake up from slumber and do something really fast . Also we need to stop waving the colonial flag or complain all the time because that was the past and now is the present. Alot of societal ills killing us in Africa such as tribalism ,nepotism , bribery and corruption just like like you mentioned above. Beautifully written .

非常真实，兄弟。我们是我们自己堕落的原因。我们需要从沉睡中醒来，并真正快速地做一些事情。此外，我们需要停止挥舞殖民主义旗帜或一直在抱怨，因为那是过去，现在是现在。很多社会弊病正在扼杀我们非洲人，如部落主义、裙带关系、贿赂和腐败，就像你上面提到的那样。写得很好。

Muhammad Zaman
, Interested in Science and Economics, Loves Cars
All people did originate in Africa, but civilization, if defined in terms of post-agricultural societies, first started in the Fertile Crescent, in which parts of modern Iraq, Israel, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan reside today, as well as in the Indus Valley.
But it shouldn’t matter where civilization started anyway - you don’t have to start it to lead it, because many many places outside the Fertile Crescent have led civilization at some point in their history - including Africans in the form of the ancient Egyptians, the Nubians and later the Malians.
Africa remains poor and held back because of exploitation in the past and corruption in the present. There are more than enough resources and resourceful, intelligent Africans to make Africa the success it deserves to be, if corruption was tackled effectively.
When I visited Ethiopia in 2012, I was stunned how far it had advanced in less than thirty years from the famine and war torn country exemplified by Feed the World and Band Aid of 1984. What an amazing and lovely success story! If Ethiopians could do so much, then the rest of Africa can too.

所有的人确实起源于非洲，但文明，如果从后农业社会的角度来定义的话，首先开始于新月沃土，现代伊拉克、以色列、叙利亚、黎巴嫩和约旦的部分地区都在其中，还有印度河谷也在其中。
但无论如何，文明在哪里开始并不重要--你不一定要在这里开始才能引领世界，因为新月沃土以外的许多许多地方在其历史上的某个阶段都作为领导型文明--包括以古埃及人、努比亚人和后来的马里人的形式出现的非洲人。
由于过去的剥削和现在的腐败，非洲仍然贫穷和落后。如果有效解决腐败问题，有足够多的资源和足智多谋的非洲人可以使非洲取得应有的成功。
当我在2012年访问埃塞俄比亚时，我惊呆了，在不到30年的时间里，埃塞俄比亚已经从1984年"吃世界粮食"和"慈善援助"所代表的饥荒和战争蹂躏的国家进步了很多。这是一个多么令人惊讶和可爱的成功故事啊。如果埃塞俄比亚人能够做这么多，那么非洲其他国家也可以。

Russ Adams
, Chef/Restaurant Consultant/Food Blogger/Novelist
Civilization didn't start in Africa. In fact, nothing of the sort happened.
Early modern humans originated in Africa, and formed clans for hunting, gathering, mutual defense, etc. But it was just that - a clan. It wasn't even a tribe. African tribes didn't start happening for thousands of years still.
Civilization started in Mesopotamia. In tthe Tigris/Euphraties River Valley. The earliest known civilization were the Sumerians, but all we really know is that they were the first to have writing and language, as we know it today. Most likely, there were several attempts at civilization (large numbers of people living together under a leader) before ancient Sumeria that eventually became ancient Sumeria.
Sometime later, but not too much later, the Ancient Egyptian Civilization began in the Nile River Valley, when settlers arrived from Ethiopa.
But Mesopotamia and Egypt weren't the only “cradles of civilization".
There were:
Mesopotamia - the Tigris/Euphraties River Valley - now Iraq and Iran
The Nile River Valley - now Egypt and Nubia
The Indus River Valley - now Pakistan and Afghanistan
The Yangtze/Yellow River Valley - now China
The Andes Mountains - now Peru
The Tropical Lowlands of south-central Mexico - now the Mexican provinces of Veracruz and Tabasco.
All of these locations are places where clans and tribes came together to share resources, defend each other, establish farming, widen the gene-pool, establish government and laws, to establish religious belief systems and to establish common languages and trade (usually by barter and then, later, with other items of value, such as gems, coins, precious metals, shells, spices, etc.
These don't count the “cradles of civilization" for Neanderthals, Denisovans and other earlier hominids which early modern humans supplanted when they arrived, either by killing them off or inter-breeding with them, or both in most cases.

文明并不是从非洲开始的。事实上，这类事情没有发生。
早期现代人类起源于非洲，并形成了用于狩猎、采集、相互防御等的氏族。但那只是--一个部族。它甚至不算是一个部落。非洲的部落在几千年后才开始出现。
文明开始于美索不达米亚。在底格里斯/幼发拉底河流域。最早的已知文明是苏美尔人，我们真正知道的是，他们是第一个拥有文字和语言的人，就像我们今天所知的那样。最有可能的是，在古苏美尔之前，曾有过几次文明的尝试（大量的人在一个领袖的带领下生活在一起），最终成为古苏美尔文明。
在后来的某个时候，但也不会太晚，古埃及文明开始于尼罗河流域，当时定居者从埃塞俄比亚来到这里。
但美索不达米亚和埃及并不是唯一的"文明的摇篮"。
还有：
1.美索不达米亚--底格里斯/幼发拉底河谷--现在的伊拉克和伊朗
2.尼罗河流域--现在的埃及和努比亚
3.印度河流域--现在的巴基斯坦和阿富汗
4.长江/黄河谷地--现在的中国
5.安第斯山脉--现在的秘鲁
6.墨西哥中南部的热带低地--现在的墨西哥韦拉克鲁斯和塔巴斯科省。
所有这些地方都是部族和部落聚集在一起的地方，他们分享资源，互相保卫，建立农业，扩大基因库，建立政府和法律，建立宗教信仰体系，建立共同的语言和贸易（通常以物易物，后来又以其他有价值的物品，如宝石、硬币、贵金属、贝壳、香料等）。
这些还没有算上尼安德特人、丹尼索瓦人和其他早期人种的"文明摇篮"，早期现代人在到达时取代了这些人，要么把他们杀了，要么与他们杂交，或者在大多数情况下两者都有。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Claire Jordan
, worked at National Health Service
Actually many African countries are modern and prosperous, but they tend not to be the ones that make it into the news.
Sub-Saharan Africa did lag behind a bit because once the Sahara spread and cut off a lot of trade from Europe, it no longer had free access to the sharing of ideas Europe and Asia was able to engage in. People forget that what we think of as European culture depended on a large injection of ideas from North Africa, the Middle East, India and China, as well as exporting ideas of its own devising to these places.
Also, because Africa is where we evolved it’s where there’s the greatest number of horrible diseases which have evolved to prey on us. It’s difficult for a society to have much get-up-and-go if half its adult members have sleeping sickness or suppurating ulcers or malaria. And much of it is difficult country and not suitable for horses, on which so much of western civilisation depended.

其实很多非洲国家都很现代、很繁荣，但它们往往不是那些能上新闻的国家。
撒哈拉以南非洲确实有点落后，因为一旦撒哈拉沙漠蔓延，切断了与欧洲的大量贸易，它就不再能自由地获得欧洲和亚洲都能够参与的思想交流。人们忘记了，我们所认为的欧洲文化依赖于来自北非、中东、印度和中国的大量思想的注入，以及向这些地方输出自己设计的思想。
另外，因为非洲是我们进化的地方，所以那里有最多的可怕的疾病，这些疾病已经进化为对我们的掠夺。如果一个社会有一半的成年成员患有昏睡病、化脓性溃疡或疟疾，那么这个社会就很难有什么起色。而且大部分地区是地形困难的国家，不适合骑马，而西方文明的大部分都依赖于此。

Ron Horton
, former Chairman of an Animal Veterinary Charity at Balls An' All Pet Sterilization Charity
Did civilization first start in Africa? I don’t think so,the first civilization actually started in Mesopotamia (Now Iraq) and later spread to Egypt but I get what you are saying. Why Africa is so far behind the rest of the world is more complex. You will hear a lot about colonialism and economic exploitation but the fact is if someone else has the keys to your pantry it still requires the homeowner to have given it to them.
.No one just comes to Africa and says, “I am taking all your wealth and walks off with it, those days are gone, someone has to actually give it to them, and therein lies a big (although not the only) part of the problem. African culture incorporates a system whereby if you wish to negotiate something with a chief or leader you are obliged to offer a gift before you can even get in the door. That custom has now evolved where the size of the gift is all that matters and if the gift is big enough the deal is sealed despite whatever negative impact it may have on a country. Africa is rich in natural resources but would rather sell them to Europe and China who then turn it into sellable goods thereby increasing it’s value 100 fold. Building our own means of production slices up the cake into too many parts and makes it more difficult to scoop the cream off the top. You can blame colonianism if you like, but Germany rose from the ashes just a few years after it was totally desroyed and so did Japan, they even survived two nuclear strikes. Africa needs to clean up it’s act, root out corruption and maintain stable political and social environments and the world will come running to invest here.

文明最早开始于非洲吗？我不这么认为，第一个文明实际上开始于美索不达米亚（现在的伊拉克），后来传播到埃及，但我明白你的意思。为什么非洲会远远落后于世界其他地区，这是很复杂的。你会听到很多关于殖民主义和经济剥削的说法，但事实是，即使别人有你储藏室的钥匙，仍然需要房主把大门钥匙给他们。
没有人来到非洲，说：“我要拿走你所有的财富”，然后带着它离开，那些日子已经过去了，必须有人真正把它交还给他们，这是一个重要的因素（虽然不是唯一的）。非洲文化有一个系统，如果你想与酋长或领导人谈判，你必须在进门之前提供一份礼物。这种习俗现在已经演变为礼物的大小才是最重要的，如果礼物足够大，那么交易就完成了，尽管这个交易可能对一个国家产生负面影响。非洲拥有丰富的自然资源，但宁愿把它们卖给欧洲和中国，然后由它们把资源变成可销售的商品，从而使其价值增加100倍。请建立我们自己的生产方式，否则将蛋糕切成太多部分，使我们更难从上面挖出奶油。如果你愿意，你可以指责殖民主义，但德国在被彻底摧毁后仅仅几年就从废墟中站了起来，日本也是如此，他们甚至在两次核打击中幸存下来。非洲需要整顿它的行为，根除腐败，保持稳定的政治和社会环境，世界会跑来这里投资的。

Mohammed Muchai
, studied at Makerere University
The world is thousand of years old. Africa wasn't always poor. The west wasn't always rich. There was a time East was the most civilized place in the world. And the west most backward and barbaric. The fact that Africa is the cradle of mankind. And cradle of civilization has no relation to its status now. At one time China was so advanced in all spheres of human endeavour. The it became so archaic at another point. Now China is rising again. Africa will come around. It's not a question of if, but when. All it will take are the people. There are changes happening in Africa right now. And Africa is a continent. Some countries are doing great. Some are doing not so good. Generalization cant answer this question. you need to be specific.

世界有几千年的历史。非洲并不总是贫穷。西方也并不总是富裕的。曾几何时，东方是世界上最文明的地方。而西方是最落后和野蛮的。事实上，非洲是人类的摇篮。而文明的摇篮与它现在的地位没有关系。中国曾一度在人类的各个领域都很先进。而在另一个时期，它又变得如此古板。现在，中国正在重新崛起。非洲将回过头来。这不是一个如果的问题，而是一个时间问题。它所需要的只是人民。现在非洲正在发生变化。而非洲是一个大陆。一些国家正在做得很好。有些国家则做得不那么好。笼统地回答这个问题是不行的，你需要具体说明。

Jack Ye
, studied Mathematics & Economics
Civilization didnt start in Africa. Homo Sapiens were in Africa. There was a huge time gap between the first human appearance and the first civilization.
The oldest civilization known was somewhere in the Middle East.
When you say ‘Africa is poor’, I assume you are talking about sub-sahara Africa because north africa is not as bad in terms of development. Sub-sahara Africa did not have as much communication with the outside world until the Europeans started trading with them due to some geography factors. When a civilization is isolated, its development is going to be slow.
Slave trade disrupted the development of Africa.

1.文明并不是从非洲开始的。智人是在非洲出现。在第一个人类出现和第一个文明之间有一个巨大的时间差。
2.已知最古老的文明是在中东的某个地方。
3.当你说'非洲很穷'的时候，我想你说的是撒哈拉以南的非洲，因为北非在发展方面没有那么糟糕。撒哈拉以南非洲在欧洲人开始与他们进行贸易之前，由于一些地理因素，与外界的交流没有那么多。当一个文明被孤立的时候，它的发展就会很缓慢。
4.奴隶贸易破坏了非洲的发展。