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The obstacles activists have had to overcome in order to protest at this year’s climate change conference in Egypt, COP27, have been immense: interrogations over planned chants, the vetting of handwritten signs, questions over whether one’s traditional attire implied a political message, to name just some.
为了在今年的埃及COP27气候变化大会上抗议，活动人士必须克服巨大的障碍：审问安排好的口号，审查手写的标语，质疑传统着装是否暗含着政治信息等等，这只是略举了几例。
“There is almost no space for protests or activism. We are concerned on how this will affect the outcome at this COP,” says Joseph Sikulu, from Tongatapu, quickly rolling up his sign after a two-minute protest in the conference’s “blue zone.”
“几乎没有抗议或行动的空间。我们担心这将如何影响这次气候大会的结果，”来自汤加塔普的约瑟夫·西库鲁说，他在会议的“蓝区”抗议了两分钟后迅速卷起了他的标语。
“It is the job of civil society to be here to hold these conference negotiators to account,” says Mr. Sikulu, a member of the Pacific Climate Warriors, “and so many voices that should be here are not present.”
太平洋气候勇士组织成员西库鲁说:“公民社会的职责是在这里让这些会议谈判代表承担责任，而许多本应出现在这里的声音却没有出现。”
And yet this tightly controlled climate conference seems a bastion of freedom compared with what Egyptian citizens confront beyond the walls of this Red Sea resort town.
然而，与这座红海度假小镇之外的埃及公民所面临的情况相比，这次受到严格控制的气候会议似乎是一个自由的堡垒。
From Cairo to Alexandria, amid bubbling economic discontent, Egypt’s crackdown on liberties – once mainly targeting journalists, activists, and opposition politicians – is affecting each part of Egyptians’ daily lives at a time they feel financially pushed to the limits.
从开罗到亚历山大港，经济萧条、民怨沸腾，埃及对自由的镇压——主要针对记者、活动人士和反对派政治人士——正在影响埃及人日常生活的方方面面，他们感到经济上的压力已经到了极限。
Apolitical Egyptians are finding that an absence of human rights and freedoms they once viewed as political or abstract is now degrading their dignity, even robbing them of the simplest joys.
不关心政治的埃及人发现，他们曾视为政治或抽象概念的人权和自由的缺失，如今正在贬低他们的尊严，甚至剥夺他们最简单的快乐。
In Cairo, the laughter that once permeated the city’s streets is now rarely heard.
曾经弥漫在开罗这座城市街道上的笑声现在已经很少听到了。
Even asking someone about the weather fills their eyes with fear as they consider whether their response could land them in jail or if they should answer at all.
甚至询问关于天气的问题都会让他们的眼里充满恐惧，因为他们会考虑他们的回答是否会让他们坐牢，或是考虑他们是否应该回答这个问题。
“Will this put me in trouble? Does the government know you are talking to me? Do you have permits?” residents continuously ask a permit-holding reporter.
居民不断地询问持证记者：“这会给我带来麻烦吗? 政府知道你在跟我说话吗?你有许可证吗?”
“As an Egyptian, one doesn’t even need to be an activist to know prison is only one wrong word away,” says Abdelrahman ElGendy, an Egyptian activist and former political prisoner who spent years in prison, via messaging app.
埃及活动人士、前政治犯阿卜杜勒拉赫曼·埃尔根迪通过即时通讯应用说道：“作为一个埃及人，即使不是活动人士也知道，坐牢只需说错一个字。”
While crushing dissent, however, the government and its military-owned companies build and build.
然而，在镇压异见的同时，政府及其军属企业却在不断建设。
They say they are creating a better and more secure Egypt for their people.
他们称，他们正在为他们的人民创造一个更美好、更安全的埃及。
A series of megaprojects that have improved services and daily life include new highways, improved airport terminals, a widened Suez Canal, and a new, glossy, and perfectly manicured capital in the desert.
一系列的大型项目改善了服务系统和日常生活，这些项目包括新建的高速公路、改良的机场航站楼、拓宽的苏伊士运河，以及沙漠中一个崭新的、光鲜的、修剪整齐的首都。
