By Nick Rankin
BBC, Spain
When a Spanish fishing boat, with its cargo and crew, was seized off the Horn of Africa recently, it prompted Madrid to call for the extradition of the hijackers and for international action against piracy.
最近，一艘西班牙籍的漁船，連同貨物與船員，在離非洲之角不遠處的海上遭到挾持，立刻引起馬德里當局要求引渡這些強盜並請求國際對海盜行為採取行動。
For centuries, bold Basque sailors have ventured out on the seas that crash on their homeland in the Bay of Biscay.
幾個世紀以來，勇敢的巴斯克水手就已經航行到比斯開灣的外海去冒險，比斯開灣洶湧的海浪不斷地拍擊他們家鄉的土地。
Basques, chasing whale and cod, were probably the first Europeans to reach North America.
追捕鯨魚與鱈魚的巴斯克人很有可能是最早抵達北美的歐洲人。
The Portuguese, Ferdinand Magellan, is credited with being the first man to sail around the world, but actually he died in the Philippines and it was a Basque, Juan Elkano from Getaria, who brought his ship home.
葡萄牙人，費迪南德麥哲倫被譽為首位環球航行的航海家，但事實上他在菲律賓時身亡，把他的船開回家的則是一位來自Getaria的巴斯克人Juan Elkano。
So when a Basque-owned tuna fishing boat called Playa de Bakio was seized off Somalia, with five Basque among its crew, the story was a big one in the Basque country. The press were keen to find out all about the kidnapped fishermen and their anxious relatives. Pictures were vital.
因此，當這艘名為Playa de Bakio的巴斯克捕鮪魚船以及船員中有五名巴斯克人，在離索馬利亞不遠的海上遭到挾持時，隨即成為巴斯克地區的頭條大新聞。記者們莫不努力的想找出任何與被綁架的漁夫以及他們焦急的親屬有關的大小事物。照片更是不可少。
"This is gold dust," said my friend Vincent, the Reuters photographer, tapping a good image of the fishing boat in the newspapers, next to personal ones of the crew.
"這實在是太難了，" 我的朋友Vincent，同時也是路透社的攝影師，輕輕敲著報紙上一張漁船清晰的影像，對著身旁的一位組員這樣說。
"I wonder where they got those."
"我懷疑他們是從哪兒弄來的。"
Ransom
In the bad old days, foot-in-the-door journalists used to steal framed family photographs off the mantel, but nowadays a second with a digital camera is all a good snapper needs.
過往艱困的歲月裡，得寸進尺的記者常竊取擺在壁爐架上鑲了框的家庭照，而如今一個好的攝影師只需用數位相機拍下那一瞬間。
The day before Vincent had been photographing the daughter of one of the kidnapped sailors and he still had her phone number. I called her mobile to offer a crumb of reassurance.
在Vincent為到其中一位被綁架船員的女兒拍照的前一天，他還留有她的電話號碼。我打行動電話給她，希望能使她稍為安心。
I told her I had made a BBC radio programme about Somali pirates and had learned they did not usually harm foreign captives. All they wanted was the ransom money.
我告訴她我曾製做過一個關於索馬利海盜的廣播節目，而且從中得知他們不常傷害外國俘虜。他們要的只是贖金。
She told me the company was prepared to pay and I said that in that case her dad would soon be back safe. And indeed, after a million or so euros changed hands, the crew were freed.
她告訴我船公司已經準備付贖金，於是我說如果是那樣，那麼她的父親很快就會平安歸來。果不其然，在大約一百萬歐元到手後，船員就被釋放了。
A Basque newspaper interviewed Andrew Mwangura, the sensitive man who runs a charity that helps distressed African seafarers.
一間巴斯克的報社採訪了Andrew Mwangura，這個感情細膩的男人辦了一個慈善的團體，專門幫助那些痛苦的非洲船員。
"Hello, Andrew!" I said out loud reading the paper because I had spent time with him in Mombasa.
"嗨! Andrew! "正在看報紙的我大聲的喊了出來，因為我跟他在Mombasa(孟巴薩，肯亞第一大港)一起待了一段時間。
Andrew Mwangura explained that Somali piracy was a rational economic activity in a lawless country. There was no government to regulate the fishing grounds in the Indian ocean off Somalia.
Andrew Mwangura解釋說，索馬利人的海盜行為在這個無法可管的國度裡是種合理的經濟行為。而且沒有一個政府在離索馬利亞不遠的印度洋明定漁場。
The hijacked Playa de Bakio may have been licensed to fish for tuna, but scores of other European and Asian fishing boats trawl illicitly in Somali waters, running big risks for high returns.
被挾持的Playa de Bakio或許有補鮪魚的執照，但是大多數歐洲及亞洲的漁船，為了高報酬而甘冒極大的風險，在索馬利人的海域進行非法的拖網捕漁。
Mwangura estimated that this pirate fishing off Somalia is worth over £50 million a year. And so the Somali pirates in their turn levy a kind of privatised tax or toll on any foreign vessels they can seize, claiming territorial rights.
Mwangura估計在索馬利亞近海這種掠奪式的捕漁，一年價值超過五千萬以上。因此現在索馬利海盜向任何一艘他們有能力挾持的外國船支強行徵稅或通行費，以示他們的領海權。
Civil War horror
A few days later, in the cemetery at Gernika, I ran into my own personal pirate.
幾天後在Gernika的一座墓園裡，我也遇到了一個海盜。
Gernika is a place whose history has been fought over. In 1937, during the Spanish civil war, the town of Gernika was burned down. There were two different stories about what happened.
Gernika這地方的歷史向來是爭論不休的。1973年，西班牙的內戰時期，Gernika城鎮是一片焦土。而對於事情的發生則存在兩個不同的版本。
The Spanish victors of the civil war claimed that the communist citizens of Gernika blew up and burned their own town. The Basques said their town was fire-bombed by foreign aeroplanes as was indeed the case.
西班牙的內戰勝利者宣稱支持共產主義的Gernika居民炸毀並焚燒自己的城市。巴斯克人則說他們自己的城市被外國飛機轟炸才是實情。
I wrote a book about George Steer, the Times journalist, whose truthful report of the Nazi bombing inspired Pablo Picasso to paint his famous, black and white picture, Guernica.
我為時代雜誌的記者George Steer寫過一本書，他誠實的報導了納粹的轟炸驅使畢卡索繪製了他著名的黑白作畫，Guernica。
The Basques have now put up a bust of this reporter, George Steer, in the town - and every year on the anniversary I accompany his son, who lays flowers at the tomb of the dead.
巴斯克人於是為這位記者George Steer在城裡立了一尊半身像 - 每個週年紀念日，我都會陪著他的兒子到死者的墓前獻花。
After this year's ceremony, I was told that someone who had written in Basque about George Steer wanted to meet me.
今年的典禮結束後，有個以巴斯克文為George Steer寫書的人說要來見我。
Intellectual pirates
He was my age, with the rough scruffy look that is the badge of authenticity among left-wing, Basque nationalists.
他跟我一樣年紀，看起來粗獷、不修邊幅，這在左派巴斯克民族主義者中是貨真價實的標誌。
"Your book made me cry," he said, "so I copied it."
"你的書讓我感動得哭了，" 他說，"所以我就拿來抄襲了。"
He handed me a slim volume for young people. The cover was instantly familiar, because it was the same as my own.
他遞給我一本薄薄的少年讀物。封面一看就眼熟，因為跟我的書一模一樣。
I still did not quite grasp that someone had picked my pocket and was now presenting me with my own wallet as a gift.
我仍舊不清楚是誰先搜括了我的口袋，現在才將我的皮夾當成禮物送給我。
Only later did I find all the pictures were lifted, without credit or permission, and realise that the publishers were the same intellectual pirates from Navarra who had also ripped off G L Steer's original Spanish civil war book and copyrighted it themselves.
一直到我發現所有的照片未經許可的被剽竊之後，才知道Navarra這些出版商全都是些盜版商，他們同時也剽竊了G L Steer的原著西班牙內戰這本書並逕自將版權歸於他們。
It is territoriality again, anything about Basques they feel belongs to them.
又是所謂的領土權，他們認為任何與巴斯克人有關的東西都是屬於他們的。
Although they flout international laws of ownership, the Somali pirate and the Basque publisher both claim their action is somehow in the national interest. As Dr Johnson said: "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."
儘管他藐視所有權之類的國際法規，索馬利海盜與巴斯克的出版商都宣稱自己的行為是關乎國家利益。這就如同Johnson博士所說:"愛國主義是惡棍的最後避難所"。
Madrid called for the hijackers of their trawler to be extradited to Spain and for international action against piracy.
馬德里當局要求引渡這些挾持他們拖網漁船的強盜，而且請求國際對海盜行為採取行動。
I won't hold my breath waiting for law and order to reach Somalia. But the Basque country is in Europe where intellectual property rights are more protected.
我不敢期待等到法律與秩序降臨索馬利亞。但巴斯克地區所在的歐洲可是有更多對智慧財產權的保障。
I am minded to go fishing for trouble, with a heavyweight copyright lawyer.
我倒是有意帶個著作權法權威的律師，悠悠哉哉的去找麻煩。
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7392623.stm
Published: 2008/05/10 13:11:40 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
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