乔治·弗洛伊德之死：为什么抗议会演变成暴力？（PART-2）

George Floyd death: Why do some protests turn violent?

By Helier Cheung

BBC News, Washington DC

（接part-1）Prof Stott argues that police forces that have invested in de-escalation training are more likely to avoid violence at protests. He points to protests that were able to stay peaceful in the US over the weekend - such as in Camden, New Jersey, where officers joined the residents in a march against racism.

Chief Wysocki on the march today, standing together with the residents we serve to remember and honor George Floyd. #StrongerTogether #CamdenStrong

 de-escalation training   Escalation:/ˌeskəˈleɪʃn/  增加；扩大；逐步上升 de-escalation 降级

It also depends on what's at stake

Moral psychology can help explain why some protests turn violent, says Marloon Moojiman, an assistant professor in organisational behaviour at Rice University.

what's at stake：问题的症结是····；成败的关键是···；岌岌可危的是··· Moral psychology 道德心理

 organisational behaviour：组织行为

A person's sense of morality is central to how they see themselves, so "when we see something as immoral, it creates strong feelings, because we feel our understanding of morality has to be protected".

"This can override other concerns people have about keeping peace", because "if you think the system is broken, you're going to want to really do something drastic to show that that's not acceptable."

Override：to be more important than sth 比…更重要；凌驾 override other concerns凌驾其他关注点

Drastic /ˈdræstɪk; ˈdrɑːstɪk/  extreme in a way that has a sudden, serious or violent effect on sth 极端的；急剧的；严厉的；猛烈的   drastic measures/changes 严厉的措施；剧烈的变化

This can apply to a wide range of beliefs - for example, in an extreme case, someone who thinks abortion is a moral outrage may be more likely to say it's OK to bomb an abortion clinic, he says.

Abortion：堕胎   Outrage：a strong feeling of shock and anger 愤怒；义愤；愤慨

The judge's remarks caused public outrage. 裁判的话引起了公愤。

[ C ] an act or event that is violent, cruel or very wrong and that shocks people or makes them very angry 暴行；骇人听闻的事   No one has yet claimed responsibility for this latest bomb outrage. 迄今还没有人宣称对最近的爆炸丑行负责。

Research suggests that social media echo chambers could also make people more susceptible to endorsing violence, if they believe that their peers have the same moral views as them, he adds.

Echo chamber：回音室效应 指在一个相对封闭的环境里，一些意见相近的声音不断重复，甚至夸张扭曲，令身处其中的多数人认为这些声音就是事实的全部。

Susceptible： /səˈseptəbl/  ~ (to sb/sth) very likely to be influenced, harmed or affected by sb/sth 易受影响（或伤害等）；敏感；过敏

Endorse：V-T If you endorse someone or something, you say publicly that you support or approve of them. 公开支持; 赞同  Endorse violence 为暴力/武力背书，

Looting and vandalism can be more targeted than you think

In the US, hundreds of businesses have been damaged, and there has been widespread looting in LA and Minneapolis over the weekend.

Minneapolis /,mini'æpəlis/ 美国城市

However, Prof Stott warns that while it's easy to assume that riots and crowds are "irrational and chaotic, none of that is true - it's highly structured and meaningful for the people taking part".

irrational /ɪˈræʃənl/  and chaotic /keɪˈɒtɪk/ ：irrational是不合逻辑，非理性

an irrational fear 无端恐惧 chaotic：混沌无序的，混乱的 两者一块儿形容暴乱是混乱无序

"To some extent, looting is an expression of power - black citizens may have felt disempowered in relation to the police - but in the context of a riot, the rioters momentarily become more powerful than the police."

Empower：赋权，disempower：未被授权

Studies of previous riots show that places that get looted are often related to big businesses, and that looting "often relates to the sense of inequality related to living in capitalistic economies", he says.

the sense of inequality：不平等的感觉   capitalistic economies：资本主义经济 

Prof Hunt has studied the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which were sparked after four white police officers were acquitted over the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King.

acquit/əˈkwɪt/ ~ sb (of sth) to decide and state officially in court that sb is not guilty of a crime 宣判…无罪

The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成

He says there is "a long history of targeting, or selectivity", in vandalism and looting. "In the LA uprisings, you'd often see 'minority owned' spray painted on minority businesses, so that people would bypass those."

Uprising：up-rise 上升，起来 合在一起有起义，暴动的意思。目前为止这篇文章出现了 riot、vandalism、loot、outrage、confrontation、protest与社会运动相关的词

minority owned：少数族裔所有，文中指一些商店喷绘这些，以避免被打砸抢。

Bypass ： 忽略，绕过by-pass  a road that passes around a town or city rather than through the centre （绕过城市的）旁路，旁道

However, both Prof Stott and Prof Hunt caution that looting is complicated - especially as lots of people with different motivations take part, including people in poverty, or organised criminals.

The idea that violent protests are targeted and meaningful events to those taking part can also explain why looting occurs in some protests, but not others.

How can violence be prevented?

Public order experts say that for the police, being seen as legitimate and able to engage protesters in dialogue is key.

"Good policing tries to avoid an 'us' and 'them' mentality, and also tries to avoid the sense that police can act in ways that people see as illegitimate," says Prof Stott.

Dr Ho also believes that negotiation is the best way - but points out that "one of the hardest things today is that a lot of protests are leaderless. If you can't find the leader, you can't negotiate with them." 

More generally, he adds, politicians can make matters better - or worse - based on their approach to dialogue, and whether they use emergency legislation.

Ultimately, however, riots can be a symptom of deep-seated tensions and complicated issues that don't have an easy solution.

Prof Hunt says this week's US riots are the most serious ones since 1968 - after Martin Luther King was assassinated.

Martin Luther King ：马丁·路德·金 美国黑人平权运动领袖 1968年被暗杀

 Assassinate /əˈsæsɪneɪt/ 暗杀，行刺

"You can't think about police brutality, and the profiling of certain communities, without thinking about the inequalities that exist in society and fuel those concerns," he says.

 Brutality /bruːˈtæləti/ 暴行

 fuel those concerns：fuel是燃料的意思，给这些关注点加燃料，就是刺激问题的意思

"The George Floyd case was not the cause - it's more like the straw that broke the camel's back. You could argue even the police killings are symptoms - the underlying cause is white supremacy, racism, and things the US has not fundamentally dealt with."

the straw that broke the camel's back 压死骆驼的稻草

Symptom /ˈsɪmptəm/：症状 /ˈsɪmptəm/

a change in your body or mind that shows that you are not healthy 症状   flu symptoms 流感症状

a sign that sth exists, especially sth bad 征候；征兆  The rise in inflation was just one symptom of the poor state of the economy. 通胀上升不过是经济不景气的一个征候。

underlying cause：根本原因     white supremacy /suːˈpreməsi; sjuːˈpreməsi/ 白人至上