Esperanto Revolutionaries and Geeks: Language Politics, Digital Media and the Making of an International Community
- Автор: Fians Guilherme
- Год: 2022
- Язык: русский
- Жанр: Культурология
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4.1 The Materialisation of a Pop-Up Community
After an eleven-hour flight, jet lag and a surprisingly quick and wordless passage through passport control, I was at the doorstep of the congress venue, Seoul's Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. The venue was easily reachable from the subway station nearby, with the pathway clearly marked by Esperanto flags hanging from the light poles on the streets.
On arrival at the Universal Congress, each participant received a congress tote bag, adorned with the congress logo and containing the programme, sample magazines, leaflets and a badge. Hanging from the participants' necks through a lanyard, the badges displayed one's personal information: full name, congress registration number and 'country', as I explain later. The congress' opening ceremony was about to start. In turning their backs on the streets of Seoul, the participants not only left behind the summer heat and joined air-conditioned rooms, but also delved into an entirely Esperanto-speaking environment. On the campus corridors, the metal signs on the walls indicating the location of toilets and lecture rooms in the Korean language and using the Korean alphabet provisionally coexisted with sheets of paper displaying infor- mation and directions in Esperanto, using the Latin alphabet. Just as at every Universal Congress, the lecture rooms were temporarily named after prominent Esperantists, and the largest auditorium at Hankuk University—named Obama Hall since 2012, when Barack Obama gave a speech about nuclear non-proliferation there—had been provisionally re-baptised Salono Zamenhof. Despite not being close to its capacity of 2,000 people, the auditorium seemed to contain most of the 1,173 people enrolled at the congress.
As the congress participants arrived, old friends enthusiastically greeted each other, after, in many cases, having met for the last time a year before, at the previous Universal Congress in Slovakia. People from all over the world filed into the auditorium, looking for places to sit from where they could have a good view of the stage—where members of UEA's executive committee were also taking their seats. At the top of the stage, a large banner displaying the congress logo read 'Welcome to Seoul' in Esperanto and a large Esperanto flag hung behind the stage, with two spotlights directed onto it. Mark Fettes, then presi- dent of UEA, took the microphone, asking people to take their seats and announcing the beginning of the ceremony. The auditorium fell silent and the lights dimmed down, which was followed by occasional camera flashes obfuscating people's vision.
A grey-haired, Canadian-based academic elected for his second three- year mandate as UEA's president, Mark was wearing a formal suit, made less formal by his colourful tie. As the protocol dictates, he stood up and gave a short opening speech, welcoming the congress participants and introducing those who were sitting next to him at the long table placed on the stage. After the introductions, Mark handed the floor to the authorities and government representatives attending the ceremony. Apart from two Korean ambassadors and the mayor of Seoul, the patron of the congress—Park Joo-sun, a member of the South Korean National Assembly—gave a short, but vibrant speech. He talked about how he had learned some words in Esperanto and how happy he was to see this language very much alive, with a spirited community of speakers. As he spoke—in Korean, ending with a few words in Esperanto—a member of the organising committee interpreted his speech into Esperanto.
Despite small groups of attendees showing clear signs of boredom as the formalities unfolded, the overwhelming majority of the audience received the introductions and speeches with effusive applause. Some were focused, whereas others chatted with their seat neighbours, checked the congress programme to decide which activity they would attend next, or took photos. Some were also concerned about live streaming the cere- mony on Facebook or YouTube so that Esperantists who could not travel to Seoul could have a taste of it.
Halfway through the two-hour ceremony, Mark invited the represen- tatives of each national Esperanto association present in the auditorium to salute the congress participants. A chaotic crowd formed in the corner of the stage as people from 61 countries queued up to say a few words. Sienna, a young ginger-haired woman from UEAs committee, took the microphone to introduce them, one by one, by their names and coun- tries. The greetings came in alphabetical order of the countries' name in Esperanto, starting with a short, grey-haired woman saluting the partic- ipants on behalf of the Albanian Esperanto Institute. Right after her five-second address, a tall, young man spoke, also briefly, on behalf of 'Argentina and Argentinian Esperantists', followed by an elderly woman from 'sunny Armenia'. The greetings, which continued for a long time, were supposed to finish with Uzbekistan and Vietnam, the last ones in the alphabetical order. However, after these, Sienna, giggling, said that they were surprised by a special addendum to the ceremony. She pointed at a bearded, elderly man, rather youthful in his manners, who jumped on the stage and jokingly saluted the congress participants on behalf of the almost forgotten 'huge country of Luxembourg'.
As the countries' representatives spoke, the audience paid special atten- tion to their accents when speaking Esperanto, to the way they were dressed—the Indian and Nepalese speakers wore traditional clothes, rein- forcing their connections with their countries—their ethnicities and hairstyles, and to the fact that they were men and women of all ages, though most seemed to be over 45 years old. After thinking the greetings had ended, Sienna giggled again and said: 'The surprises today haven't finished, because we also have the representative of Catalonia'. Her voice faded as this sentence ended, and Ferran, a 40-year-old, bearded man, wearing shorts and a colourful shirt—contrasting with Sienna's and Mark's more formal attire—approached the microphone:
Hi! On behalf of the Catalan Esperanto Association, I salute all the congress participants, and salute particularly warmly the Spanish repre- sentatives. I hope that next year, when you visit the Iberian Peninsula [for the 2018 congress, set to take place in Portugal], you will find a new state there, and I also strongly hope that its creation will become a model of a peaceful and smart solution for conflicts.
As he left the stage, a middle-aged couple behind me spoke to each other, in French: 'I can't believe they let him speak. These Catalans keep trying to use all the opportunities they have to talk about themselves and complain about Spain'. Coincidentally, I would later realise that the couple was Nicole and her husband, whom I had met at the airport in Paris.
After the salutations, Mark spoke again, thanking everyone and remarking with particular enthusiasm on the fact that the Philippines and East Timor were represented at the Universal Congress for the first time. He also announced that the ceremony was coming to an end, and we should all stand to sing along to La Espero, 'the anthem': 'I should remind you that the lyrics can be found, in case you don't know them by heart, on the last page of your congress programme book'. The entire auditorium stood up and sang the anthem, some with excitement, others not so much. Among the eleven committee members standing behind the table on the stage, only one needed to check the congress book for the lyrics, while the others seemed to have it memorised. At the end, Mark declared the congress officially opened, and concluded the cere- mony by saying 'Enjoy the week!' As people left the hall, some searched their friends to socialise, and most looked for the university canteen, where we would have lunch for an affordable price on most days to come.