达尼卡·柯尔卡（DANICA KIRKA）伦敦报道 —— 英国首相安迪·伯纳姆表示，其政府将首次考虑就英国在大西洋跨大西洋奴隶贸易中所扮演的角色进行道歉，此举旨在加强与非洲和加勒比海国家的关系。
DANICA KIRKA LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham says his government will consider apologizing for the first time for its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade as it seeks to strengthen relations with nations in Africa and the Caribbean.
伯纳姆周六在《卫报》撰文称，英国需要承认其“复杂的历史”，以维护英联邦——一个由英国殖民帝国演变而来的由56个独立国家组成的协会。伯纳姆将于下周前往安提瓜和巴布达参加英联邦领导人会议。
Writing in the Guardian on Saturday, Burnham said Britain needed to acknowledge its “complicated history” in order to protect the Commonwealth, an association of 56 independent nations that grew out of the British Empire. Burnham travels to Antigua and Barbuda next week for a meeting of Commonwealth leaders.
伯纳姆说：“多年来，受奴隶贸易影响的英联邦成员国一直要求就奴隶制的遗毒展开坦诚的对话。通过鸵鸟政策，我们损害了英联邦正常运转的能力。”伯纳姆表示，他的政府正提议与受奴隶制影响的国家展开“结构性对话”，并倾听关于英国国家正式道歉的呼吁。但他表示，英国将继续抵制关于为奴隶贸易支付赔偿金的呼吁。
“For years, those members of the Commonwealth affected by the slave trade have asked for an honest conversation about the legacies of slavery,” Burnham said. “By sticking our heads in the sand, we have damaged the ability of the Commonwealth to function.”Burnham said his government is offering to begin a “structured dialogue” with those affected by slavery and will listen to calls for a formal apology by the British state. But he said Britain would continue to resist calls for it to pay reparations for the slave trade.
伯纳姆说：“我认为今天的英国人民不能被追究历史错误的责任，无论这些错误多么令人发指，它们发生在不同的时代、在不同的法律下发生，且他们没有参与其中。”
“I do not think that British people today can be held liable for historical wrongs, however heinous, that happened in a different age under different laws and in which they played no personal part,” Burnham said.
许多发展中国家面临着高额债务，这位首相表示，相反，他希望解决英联邦及其他国家当下面临的问题。
Instead, the prime minister said he wanted to address the issues that face the Commonwealth and other nations today, including high levels of debt faced by many developing countries.
伯纳姆表示，他将与富裕国家和投资者合作，帮助脆弱国家以更长的期限和更低的利率偿还债务。他说，为了推动这一倡议，长期倡导为发展中国家减免债务的前首相戈登·布朗将出席英联邦会议。
Burnham said he would work with other wealthy nations and investors to help vulnerable countries pay off their debts over a longer period and at lower interest rates. To help move this initiative forward, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a champion of debt relief for developing nations, will attend the Commonwealth meeting, he said.
查尔斯国王在加勒比海为期九天行程的第一阶段期间面临着英国道歉并支付赔偿金的呼吁，该行程将于周日至周三在安提瓜和巴布达首都圣约翰举行的英联邦政府首脑会议上结束。
King Charles III faced calls for Britain to apologize and pay reparations during the first phase of a nine-day trip to the Caribbean that will end with the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting Sunday through Wednesday in St. John’s, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda.
周二，查尔斯在巴哈马首都拿骚发表讲话时承认了“过去的巨大苦难和不公”，但没有进行道歉。
Speaking in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, on Tuesday, Charles acknowledged “the great suffering and injustices of the past” but stopped short of an apology.
这位国王迄今为止未能更进一步，是因为政府奉行不就该国在奴隶贸易中的角色道歉的政策，而英国的立宪君主是代表民选政府发言的。
The king until now has been prevented from going further because it was government policy not to apologize for the country’s role in the slave trade and Britain’s constitutional monarch speaks on behalf of the elected government.
在英国面临世界各地经济、环境和军事挑战之际，伯纳姆的言论出台之际，英国正寻求巩固与英联邦传统盟友的关系。
Burnham’s comments come as Britain seeks to shore up relations with its traditional allies in the Commonwealth in the face of economic, environmental and military challenges around the world.
政府立场的转变也可能是在回应国内年轻、更自由派的选民，在英国国内，活动人士一直呼吁英国重新审视其殖民历史的遗产。
A change in the government’s position could also respond to younger, more liberal voters at home, where activists have called for Britain to re-examine the legacy of its colonial history.
2020年，布里斯托的反种族主义抗议者推倒了英国商人兼政治家爱德华·科尔斯特的雕像，称该市不应再美化一个奴隶贩子的生平。科尔斯特曾任皇家非洲公司副总督，该公司曾将数千名被奴役的人运送到英国在美洲的殖民地。
In 2020, anti-racism protesters in Bristol tore down the statue of Edward Colston, an English merchant and politician, saying the city should no longer glorify the life of a slave trader. Colston was a deputy governor of the Royal African Company, which shipped thousands of enslaved people to English colonies in the Americas.
一些从奴隶贸易中获利的英国人的后代已经道歉并提供了赔偿。其中包括《卫报》的所有者，这份自由派报纸是伯纳姆所在的工党领导人经常阐述政策倡议的地方。
The descendants of some British people who profited from the slave trade have already apologized and offered compensation. Those include the owner of the Guardian, a liberal newspaper where leaders of Burnham’s Labour Party often lay out policy initiatives.
英国政治家传统上一直专注于该国在1807年禁止奴隶贸易以及在1833年宣布整个大英帝国奴隶制非法的角色。但伯纳姆表示，现在是该国承认故事另一面的时机了。
U.K. politicians have traditionally focused on the country’s role in banning the slave trade in 1807 and outlawing slavery throughout the British Empire in 1833. But Burnham said it is now time for the country to acknowledge the other side of the story as well.
他说：“我们是一个勇敢的人民率先废除奴隶制的国家，但我们也是一个参与了贩卖人类生命的国家。”
“We are a country where brave people led the way in abolishing slavery, but we are also a country that participated in the trade in human lives,” he said.
“跨大西洋奴隶贸易是对这些人残酷而野蛮的侵犯……我希望对数百万人的痛苦和苦难表达我的悲伤与遗憾，并承认它至今仍在塑造我们的世界。”
“The trans-Atlantic slave trade was a brutal and barbaric violation of those people. … I want to express my sorrow and regret for the pain and suffering of so many millions of people, and to recognize the way it still shapes our world today.”