Snow did not fall on Warsaw this Christmas, but instead a thick, chilling drift of political anxiety settled on the streets of Poland’s capital. In a country where history is a national obsession, the erection of police barricades around the country’s parliament amid allegations of “autocracy” and political coups, almost exactly 35 years after the declaration of martial law by the then communist regime, sent shivers down many spines. 2016年的圣诞节，华沙没有下雪，取而代之笼罩在波兰首都街头的是厚重而令人产生寒意的政治焦虑。在“威权”和政变的指控声中，警方在波兰议会周围拉起了警戒线，而35年前，当时的共产党政权差不多也是在这个时候宣布戒严，在举国抱有历史情结的波兰，这样的历史回声让很多人不寒而栗。
Poland today is an angry and divided country. In October, the rightwing Law and Justice party won an unprecedented parliamentary majority pledging to roll back the liberal order established by its predecessor. 现在的波兰是一个愤怒和分裂的国家。2015年10月，右翼的法律与正义党(PiS)赢得了空前的议会多数席位，其竞选承诺就是逆转上届政府建立的自由派秩序。
It has swiftly achieved that through reforms that give it political control over the media, the justice system and the highest court. Its unanointed but unchallenged leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski says he is leading a “cultural counter-revolution” in the mould of Hungary’s “illiberal democracy”. His nationalist supporters are ecstatic. His detractors are either dumbfounded or belligerent. 该党很快就兑现了这个承诺，推行改革，让该党取得对媒体、司法体系和宪法法院的政治控制。其未受任命但地位无可争议的领袖雅罗斯瓦夫?卡钦斯基(Jaroslaw Kaczynski)表示，他正效仿匈牙利的“非自由主义民主”模式领导一场“文化反革命”。他的民族主义支持者欣喜若狂。而他的批评者或是目瞪口呆，或是摆出好战姿态。
The antagonism reached a tipping point this month, when opposition MPs decided a government move to curb media access to parliament was a step too far and resorted to the nuclear option of besieging the chamber and demanding the government change its course, while threatening to prevent parliament from functioning in the interim. In the tumult, government MPs trooped off to another room and voted through the 2017 budget in controversial circumstances. 2016年12月，这种对立达到了一个临界点，反对党议员认为一项限制媒体进入议会采访的政府举措太过分，他们诉诸围困议会议事厅的极端选项，要求政府改弦易张，并且威胁要让议会在此期间无法运转。在一片混乱中，执政党议员列队进入另外一个房间，在有争议的情况下投票通过了2017年预算案。
Both sides stand accused of breaking the spirit of parliamentary business, if not the law itself. And the upshot is that liberal MPs have taken democracy hostage in the name of protecting democracy, and no one is totally sure if the most important piece of legislation to keep the state functioning next year has actually been passed. 双方都被指责破坏议会的议事精神（如果说尚不构成违反法律的话）。结果，自由派议员以维护民主之名绑架了民主，同时没有人确定，国家在今年赖以运转的最重要的一项立法到底有没有通过。
Outside parliament, anti-government protests formed quickly, and some attempted to stop ruling party MPs from leaving. Outside the president’s office, a mile down the road, government supporters raged at the opposition. 在议会门外，反政府的抗议人群迅速形成，一些人试图阻止执政党议员离开。在距离总统办公室一英里的街头，政府的支持者怒斥反对派。
Andrzej Rzeplinski, the former president of Poland’s highest court, says Mr Kaczynski has put the country “on the road to autocracy”. Andrzej Duda, Poland’s president, has accused the opposition of inciting “social unrest”. 波兰宪法法院前院长安杰伊?热普林斯基(Andrzej Rzeplinski)表示，卡钦斯基让这个国家“走上威权的道路”。波兰总统安杰伊?杜达(Andrzej Duda)指责反对派煽动“社会动荡”。
Opposition politicians insist that they are the only thing standing between Mr Kaczynski and a one-party state, and that holding parliament hostage is justified. The most radical, some of whom occupied parliament by day and dined in the city’s best restaurants at night, assert that a full four-year term for the Law and Justice party would leave the country in ruins. Many either simply cannot comprehend Mr Kaczynski’s popularity and parliamentary majority, or are in denial about it. 反对党政治人士坚称，他们是卡钦斯基和一党制国家之间的唯一拦路石，绑架议会是出于正当理由。其中最激进的分子（他们中的一些人白天占领议会，晚上在华沙市内最好的餐厅用餐）断言，让法律与正义党完成4年任期会毁掉这个国家。很多人或者无法理解卡钦斯基受到欢迎和该党在议会中取得多数的事实，或者拒绝接受这一点。
“We will stay in the chamber until they agree to our demands,” says one of the leaders of the protest, at a restaurant five minutes’ walk from the parliament. “If we give in, we will betray all of our supporters and those protesting.” This is language straight out of Mr Kaczynski’s playbook. “我们会留在议事厅，直到他们同意我们的要求，”抗议领袖之一在从议会步行5分钟可到的一家餐厅中说。“如果我们让步，我们就背叛了我们所有的支持者和那些抗议的人们。”这感觉是卡钦斯基台词的翻版。
In the cafés and bars where Warsaw’s twenty-something liberals drink mulled wine, the opposition’s belligerence is creating rising anxiety. They note the irony that those who purport to be defending democracy are doing so by obstructing the democratic process. 在二十来岁的自由主义者喝热红酒的华沙咖啡厅和酒吧，反对派的好战姿态正日益引起焦虑。他们注意到一件讽刺的事——那些标榜维护民主的人采取的手段是阻碍民主进程。
“The problem is that if we play politics like Kaczynski plays politics, we will lose,” says a liberal friend who harbours vague dreams of a career in politics but has been thoroughly discouraged over the past year. “All politicians look pretty terrible right now.” “问题是，如果我们像卡钦斯基那样操弄政治，我们将会输掉，”一位隐约心怀政治生涯梦想、但在过去一年彻底失望的自由派朋友说：“所有的政治人士现在看起来都很可怕。”
The protesting MPs, who broadcast from inside the parliamentary chamber through Facebook videos and Twitter selfies, say they are prepared to keep up their sit-in until January 11 unless Law and Justice reruns the budget vote. Mr Kaczynski has suggested compromise talks, but many doubt his sincerity. 通过Facebook视频和Twitter自拍从议会议事厅播出现场状况的抗议议员表示，除非法律与正义党重新举行预算案投票，否则他们准备静坐示威至2017年1月11日。卡钦斯基提议举行妥协会谈，但很多人怀疑他是否真诚。
The barricades outside parliament were dismantled a few days before Christmas. At some point the stand-off inside will cease. But the Poles, as ever, will remember both. 在圣诞节前几天，议会外的路障被拆除了。到了某一个时刻，议会内的对峙也会结束。但波兰人会一如既往地铭记这两件事。
译者/徐行
