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Esperanto, Human Rights and Civil LibertiesBy the Hon Kep Enderby QC President of EUA May 2001 Because of the fact that many people today know little about Esperanto, let me begin with a short description of what is Esperanto. It really is a very well kept secret. Esperanto is a language, an international language, created and presented to the world by a Dr Zamenhof in 1887. It is the work of a genius. Zamenhof believed that by giving the world a neutral, relatively easy to learn, non- national, international language, he would help advance the cause of peace and friendship amongst peoples of the world who were all too often separated from each another by the difficulty understanding each other. Despite national prejudices that exist about it, it has been called "the dangerous language", users of the language can now be found in many countries of the world. The Universal Esperanto Association, [UEA- Universala Esperanto Asocio] of which I am President, has its headquarters in Rotterdam and has members in more than 70 countries. UEA has a subsidiary association for young users of the language [Young person's World Esperanto Asociation -"Tutmonda Junulara Esperanta Asocio"- TEJO]. A second world association, Non-national World Association- "Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda"- SAT-] has its headquarters in Paris. UEA is strictly neutral from a political point of view whereas SAT is very politically left wing. In the sense of trying to propagate Esperanto, SAT is not an Esperanto association at all. Using Esperanto, its purposes are educational and aimed at liberating what it sees as the world wide international working class. Many countries of the world have their own Esperanto associations or clubs. UEA and SAT have annual congresses which are always held in different countries. As a generalisation, users of Esperanto, we call them "Esperantists", are still found mostly in Europe, particularly central and eastern Europe. There are fewer Esperantists in English speaking countries. There are also strong, although small, Esperantist communities in Japan, China and Vietnam and the countries of South America, particularly Brazil, where the 2001 UEA world congress will be held. From what I have said it will be seen that the word "Esperanto" denotes not only a language and an accompanying movement that tries to popularise its use, but also an international diaspora type of international community. Esperanto has a flourishing original literature in both prose and poetry and a translated literature taken from many of the national languages of the world. Many Esperanto journals are published dealing with events occurring in the "world" of Esperanto, but others dealing with current events, political and otherwise, wherever they might be occurring, and also in the general world of culture. In recent years popular songs have been written in Esperanto, and the words of popular music in what ever language they might have been written have been translated into Esperanto. What I have written will suffice to give some information to readers who first require to have some basic information about it. Let me now try and explain why I am an "Esperantist"; why I enjoy the language, and why the need for it and its use is so closely related to the enlargement of human rights and civil liberties. I am basically an internationalist. I like the idea of being able to break free of restrictions that would otherwise be imposed on me if I could only speak and write in English and could not communicate in Esperanto. My French is virtually non -existant and my three attempts to learn German as an adult have failed miserably. I clearly have no talent for languages yet, starting out to learn Esperanto when I had already had my 62nd birthday, more often than not without the help of professional teachers, I have become reasonably fluent. Being able to use Esperanto has opened doors for me that would never have opened without it and I have had, and am having, a much richer life because of it. When I travel overseas I communicate with others on a "linguistic level playing field" instead of, if English has to be used, one in which I always have the advantage. As a consequence, the quality of the many international relationships that I have formed is much closer, intimate and stimulating than what they would have been using English. Without Esperanto they probably would not have existed. As President of UEA, I receive an average of about 25 E-Mail messages a day, all in Esperanto and nearly all from overseas. My most frequent correspondants are my immediate colleages in UEA: a Finn, 3 Croations, a Frenchman, a Serb, 3 Italians, a Hungarian, a Japanese, a Korean, and an African from Togoland. Messages can come daily from almost any country in the world. Probably my closest friend and colleague is Bheglo Koffi, an African from Togoland, an exploited and extremely impoverished part of Africa. Koffi is a school teacher. He is also a poet. Togoland is an ex- French colony and apart from Esperanto, as I understand it, Koffi can speak only two or three of his local African languages and French. As such he is more literate than I am. Koffi and I have met and become friends because of Esperanto. We are able to communicate only because of Esperanto. Both of our lives have been enriched by being released from what would otherwise be the chains of language that we inherited by the accident of our birth. I could multiply the experience of Koffi and myself many times. Because time and space are restrictive, I give only two other illustrations of why I believe Esperanto is important. Another of my close colleagues and friends is an Esperantist, a French political and human rights activist, named Vincent Charlot. I have never tried to use English with Vincent, although I believe he has tried to learn it and has found it difficult. We always communicate in Esperanto. Vincent is very active in Amnesty International and translates a lot of the publications of Amnesty into Esperanto which he sends by E-Mail round the world. A final example relates to the constantly growing international role of non -government international organisations, NGO's. UEA is an active NGO and has special consultative rights with UNESCO. In 2000 I attended a meeting of NGO's in Seoul, Korea, at which there were lectures and talks given by persons of different nationalities. With one exception all lectures were given in English which, as we all know, has become the world's most widely used lingua franca, taking the role that Zamenhof hoped would one day be taken by Esperanto. Listening to those lectures it was obvious to me how unfair it was that many lecturers so often had to use a language, English, that was foreign to them and which put them at a disadvantage as far as other lecturers were concerned. The use of Esperanto would have put them all on a fairer, more just level playing field. One example occurred when a Japanese professor, bravely and very uncomfortably, read his lecture aloud in English. He stumbled from time to time but eventually and courageously finished reading it. He then had to take questions which came in English. It was distressing to see his discomfort and embarrassment. He was completely at a loss to understand what was being asked, let alone to answer them in English. Surely there is a human rights and civil liberties issue involved in what I am trying to say. We are taught and accept that discrimination based on sex, race, religion, disability, national or ethnic origins etc. is bad. Why should the question of discrimination not apply also to language disability? When I speak or write in English I am not disabled when I am speaking to listeners or readers who have English. I am disabled as far as any desire that I might have to communicate with persons who do not have English. Persons who wish to communicate with me and who do not have English are even more disabled. It is a form of discrimination that can be overcome by the use of Esperanto. My friends Koffi and Vincent are disabled because, without Esperanto they would not be able to communicate with me. The same can be said of the Japanese professor. Without Esperanto I would be disabled trying to communicate with them. Such disabilities and discrimination are basically accidents of birth. A fairer world would try to overcome them. Unfortunately, language and the ability to use language is a source of power; any barrister or politician will confirm that. It is one of the reasons Esperanto has never been encouraged by governments. It is a reason why the learning of English, in recent years the language of international power, is being encouraged everywhere. So long as that remains true Esperanto will probably remain what it is now: a means of enriching the lives of the people lucky enough to discover it. For those attracted by what I have said, a few interesting and useful international E-Mail contacts and ideas can be found at :
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