《经济学人》：非洲摩托车大军有多大影响力？
原文标题：
Kenya
Brotherhood of bikers
A motorbike taxi driver’s funeral shows how society and politics are changing
Kenya’s boda-boda taxis are unruly in life—and death
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DEATH
MAYmean eternal silence, but you can hear the funeral of a Kenyan
boda-boda driver (a motorbike taxi man) from miles away. Music blasts
from loudspeakers that have been mounted on the hearse (a flower-laden
minibus), as the shouts of mourners compete with the honks of passing
lorries and the toots of dozens of boda-bodas that make up the raucous
procession.
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Such
send-offs are common. Last year 1,634 boda-boda drivers and their
passengers died in accidents on Kenya’s roads, according to official
figures. Yet their rowdy funerals are not just a sign of the dangers
they face (and cause). They also mark changes in Kenyan society that,
among other things, are rejigging the conventional calculus.
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Many
older Kenyans, especially those in the countryside, keep to the old
tribal ways of honouring their dead, often with the aim of pleasing
ancestral spirits. Ethnic loyalty has long influenced how Kenyans have
tended to vote. Governments were often in essence tribal coalitions,
with leaders promising to funnel state resources into their own ethnic
heartlands. Now, however, many young Kenyans are casting off old
traditions and ethnic identities and are adopting new political
allegiances as they move in ever larger numbers into the cities.
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Boda-boda
drivers exemplify the trend. Cut loose from ties of village and kin,
and often considered an unruly menace by the Kenyan middle class, they
have formed a new brotherhood of their own. ‘‘We have no other
community,” explains one taking part in the funeral procession of
another driver he did not even know. “This is our community.”
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The
brotherhood is growing fast. There may be between 900,000 and 2.4m
motorcycle taxis serving Kenya’s populationof around 55m, according to
estimates by the government and industry. Car & General, a Kenyan
insurer, reckons they pull in fares worth 365bn shillings ($3bn) a year,
equivalent to a shade more than 3% of GDP. So they are an economic
force to be reckoned with.
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And they are gaining
political heft, too. William Ruto, elected president this year,
campaigned hard to win their votes. He lionised them as epitomising the
“hustler nation” he claims to represent. This may explain why boda-boda
drivers were more inclined to vote for him than his opponents, who
promised lower fuel prices and more welfare.
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Yet
boda-boda drivers bring problems, too. They are often embroiled in turf
wars and organised crime. Their fierce loyalty to one another can lead
to violence. Last year hundreds of drivers stormed a hospital and killed
two suspected motorbike thieves. Moreover, many are unlicensed and
gleefully disregard road signs, according to a study by Kenya’s National
Crime Research Centre. Many ride while they are drunk or high on drugs,
contributing to the awful annual death toll on the roads—as well as to
ever noisier funerals.
（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量461左右）
原文出自：2022年12月3日《The Economist》Middle East&Africa版块。
精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路
本文翻译整理: Maree本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。
【补充资料】（来自于网络）
Boda-boda 出租车是非洲自行车文化的一部分，它开始于1960和1970年代，并从肯尼亚到乌干达的边境传播到其它地区。这个名称起源于一个需要跨越边境哨所间的“无人区”而没有使用机动车辆跨越国际边界的文书的运输。这开始于肯尼亚与乌干达边境南端两国国门间相距半英里的Busia镇，并迅速蔓延到了北边的Malaba镇。自行车主喊着boda-boda（音近英语：border-to-border，边境-边境)
以招揽客户。不要把Boda-Boda与塞拉利昂的合乘出租车poda-poda混淆。在Boda-boda自行车蔓延到其它地区的时侯，在其原产地，特别是肯尼亚和乌干达的城市中，自行车越来越多的被摩托车取代，摩托车出租车也以Boda-boda为名。其它一些地方则给摩托车出租车另起了一些名字，如在肯尼亚尼扬扎省被叫作“peng'”。据估计，2004年乌达干有20万以上自行车Boda-boda从业者，并有近9万辆机动摩托车Boda-boda。
【重点句子】（3 个）
Ethnic loyalty has long influenced how Kenyans have tended to vote.
长期以来，种族忠诚一直影响着肯尼亚人的投票倾向。
So they are an economic force to be reckoned with.
所以他们是一股不可忽视的经济力量。
They are often embroiled in turf wars and organised crime. Their fierce loyalty to one another can lead to violence.
他们经常卷入地盘之争和组织犯罪。他们彼此间的强烈忠诚度可能导致暴力。
