[大濟]

Supertopo 對這件事的討論非常熱烈，到今天為止， 600 多個留言！

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/2126584/FISTICUFFS-ON-EVEREST-The-Daily-Fail-at-it-again

其中一位筆名 Jan 的留言者，原名應為 Janice Sacherer，是一位人類學家也是登山者，對尼泊爾的種族、政經情形非常了解，她的專業知識、客觀溫和筆觸、以及大膽直接看法，等於主導 Supertopo 整個的討論，她寫的東西對我而言是個教育，大且廣的視野用來分析細微的事件前後始末讓人驚艷，也讓人深思！

以下摘錄她30幾個留言中一些片段：

"I am defending the Sherpas because I know their culture and because there's no one else to defend them. I am not justifying violence. The Sherpa culture and religion is very pacifist so what I'm telling you is that if they resorted to violence there's a lot else going on that we don't know about, maybe involving the three climbers who set it off, maybe not. Since the three western climbers involved are all experienced in the Himalayas, and Moro in particular has a good reputation for rescues, it is especially puzzling that the three of them would breach climbing protocol like they did. For 60 years, the rule on the mountain has been that no one interferes with the Sherpa teams who have the job of fixing the ropes, quite a few of whom have died doing that in the Khumbu icefall. Normal civilization involves following the rules and customs of the local people. If climbers don't want to play by those rules, they should go to a mountain without crowds of tourists and Sherpas. They have options and the Sherpas don't . . ."

"Every Sherpa has stories of extra money and gear they were promised to help a client down after that client refused their advice, went for the top and got in trouble. Every Sherpa has stories of the client disappearing or forgetting the conversation when they were back in base camp. Not all Sherpas are good or western clients foolish and bad. If you study the history of Himalayan moutaineering starting back in the 1920's however, it is the Sherpas who have suffered the overwhelming amount of exploitation, not the westerners."

"As for money motivations, western people have many means of making money. The Sherpas live in a country where the per capita income is $300 a year and unemployment is above 50%. Their options are to climb or go to work in construction in the Gulf States, hardly a climate they are used to. Can you really blame them for earning a living at what they do best?"

" . . . If we can step back and look at this more from a social science point of view instead of a personal morality play, then as Jim Brennan pointed out, mob action is the hallmark of poor and disenfranchised people. Compared to the westerners with their hot showers and internet connections and high tech music and nightly videos in base camp, do you really think the Sherpas have an equal say in things? Can they really compete by western rules? Do they have the same access to the internet, book and movie contracts, good English language skills for explaining their position, money to hire lawyers etc? Clearly the answer is no. The fact that we have a dozen western accounts of the episode and only one Sherpa with the resources to reply, is a good indication of the imbalance. What the Sherpas have is what they used - numbers and dominance on the mountain. They certainly could have killed the climbers if they had wanted, but they didn't. They wanted to make a point and they did. Most people are backing the Sherpas. From a purely political point of view (which is usually quite separate from an idealistic moral point of view) they succeeded . . ."

“. . . What the Sherpa response to the elite three did, was ensure that nobody is going to climb next to, or over Sherpa rope fixing any time soon. I believe that making an example of the three elites and stopping this practice in its tracks was their original intention which unfortunately was marred by violence. It has subsequently been stated that everyone climbing the mountain will have to sign a contract in the future promising not to climb where the Sherpas are fixing rope. If they do, they can be pulled off the mountain and might even find themselves in a Nepalese jail for a night or two . . . I believe the Sherpas accomplished what they set out to do which was re-establish themselves as the masters of the mountain . . ."

" . . . I don't believe they intended to kill Moro, Steck, and Griffith on their sacred mountain. I do believe they intended to let them know that all of the Sherpa climbers, not just a few, found their disrespect intolerable. They wanted Moro on his knees to apologize for insulting them and their mothers as such curses are taken much more seriously in their culture than ours. I am sure they also intended to scare the wits out of the three and chase them off the mountain which they did . . . In the end, the way I see it, the three alpinists involved have brought yet more regulation to the mountain and only strengthened the Sherpa's position . . ."

"Whatever system is worked out for the future, it will depend on the Sherpas and we assume the western guide companies, coming up with the solutions since the Nepalese government has been non functional for many years now with the promise of more of the same (four years for a Constituent Assembly to draft a new non monarchial constitution at which they totally failed, new elections to be held for another such assembly and no guarantee of better results). The judicial system seems to have the most integrity of Nepalese national institutions, so perhaps changing the law or at least the regulations is the route to go . . ."