Esperanto Revolutionaries and Geeks: Language Politics, Digital Media and the Making of an International Community
- Автор: Fians Guilherme
- Год: 2022
- Язык: русский
- Жанр: Культурология
Электронная книга - «Esperanto Revolutionaries and Geeks: Language Politics, Digital Media and the Making of an International Community». Краткое содержание книги:
UEA works not only to promote Esperanto, but to stimulate discussion of the world language problem and to call attention to the necessity of equality among languages. Its statute lists the following four goals: to promote the use of the international language Esperanto; to act for the solution of the language problem in international relations and to facilitate international communication; to encourage all types of spir- itual and material relations among people, irrespective of differences of nationality, race, sex, religion, politics, or language; and to nurture among its members a strong sense of solidarity, and to develop in them understanding and respect for other peoples.
Hence, the crucial shift at play is that national differences, which were underplayed by the humanist outlook and suppressed by the non-nationalist one, became paramount for the constitution of an inter- national—therefore, multilingual and multicultural—Esperantujo, as we saw in the salutations during the Universal Congress' opening ceremony. The focus on the commonalities we share as human beings—which characterised the humanist cosmopolitanism—is transformed into an emphasis on the features we do not share as bearers of different nation- alities, with these being presented as essential features to be made salient and celebrated when Esperantists meet. This approach—which is, in a way, Zamenhof's turned upside down—allowed the interna- tionalist cosmopolitanism to prevail. Thus, here, it is the willingness to have meaningful exchanges with national Others on a more egalitarian communication footing that drives people to use Esperanto.
Additionally, if, in the past, many Esperantists connected Esperanto with other global political causes such as socialism, anarchism, pacifism and communism, nowadays this language often speaks to new social movements. Currently, there is a growing dialogue between the inter- nationalist cosmopolitanism linked to Esperanto and causes related to global justice, support for minorities and minority languages, language rights, free and open-source software, feminism and environmentalism. Through continuous updates and reinterpretations, Esperanto engages with new sets of contemporary issues, attracting to Esperanto people interested, for instance, in open-source software and feminism, encour- aging a pragmatic use of the language on social and political grounds and raising awareness of these issues among Esperantists.
Another feature demands further elaboration: the changing percep- tions of nationality. In Zamenhof's time, the differences that Esperantos set of cosmopolitan principles aimed to underplay were expressed mainly in terms of nationality, ethnicity and mother tongue. At the time of the First World War, under Esperanto's non-nationalist approach, social class and political convictions gained ground over nationality. Currently, as an outcome of the UN-like internationalist outlook, the differences to be addressed relate to nationality, mother tongue and culture. Most impor- tantly, whether being underplayed, denied or celebrated (frequently with some degree of xenophilia), nationality consistently figures as the token of Esperantists' efforts towards mutual understanding. Presenting itself as a cluster of cosmopolitans in a world perceived as increasingly characterised by nationalist and xenophobic worldviews, the Esperanto community seeks to consolidate a drive to address certain differences and relate to them in more inclusive and productive ways.
Reaching back to the opening ceremony, these sets of cosmopolitan principles intersect in the sociabilities that Esperanto engenders when people attempt to communicate across differences.
4.5 Disentangling Nationality Through Sociability
This historical overview showed how the sets of cosmopolitan principles that have supported Esperanto over time exist as programmes formulated by leading figures such as Zamenhof, Lanti and Lapenna. However, as a day at the 102nd Universal Congress of Esperanto reveals, the distinc- tion between the normative-philosophical and the empirical-analytical (Beck and Sznaider 2010: 386—389) manifestations of cosmopolitanism becomes salient as we unpack how these sets of cosmopolitan principles are manifested through sociabilities.[16]
After the congress' opening ceremony, I had lunch with Alberto and Marie-Christine at Hankuk University's canteen. Alberto, the bald, beaming middle-aged man wearing cylindrical glasses who greeted the congress on behalf of the United States, is a Chemistry instructor at a college in California. He has attended Universal Congresses for years, both because he enjoyed them and because his many decades as an active Esperantist led him to occupy some prominent positions in Esperan- tujo. His roles as president of the association Esperanto USA, committee member of UEA and member of the Akademio de Esperanto required him to participate in many administrative meetings during the Universal Congress. Since Alberto was a long-standing congress participant, Esper- antujo's internationality no longer amazed him: aside from regularly meeting Esperantists from all over the world, he also lived in an inter- national environment, teaching students and working with staff from various nationalities in California.
By contrast, Marie-Christine was attending the Universal Congress for the second time. Around 60 years old, she was a non-college-educated French pensioner who spent most of her life in the same small town in Bretagne. As the widow of an Englishman, Marie-Christine could speak French and English, but she was not fluent in Esperanto. Surpris- ingly, her accent in Esperanto made her sound more British than French: she and her husband learned Esperanto together at home, and the only accent in Esperanto she had regular access to was her husband's, which influenced her speaking. Due to her financial situation, she had to save money for a year to fund her first trip outside the European continent.
As usually happens at Universal Congresses, our conversation started around an ice breaker, with Alberto asking her 'El kiu lando vi venas?' (Which country do you come from?). Marie-Christine replied cEl
Francio' (From France), looking at my congress badge and exclaiming, also in Esperanto: 'Wait, your badge says "France" too! Are you French? You don't sound French'. Alberto, who already knew me, chuckled: 'Oh, these Brazilians... They are everywhere. And this one, specifically, happens to live in France'. Although Alberto spoke on behalf of the United States in the opening ceremony, his name, his Spanish accent in Esperanto and what Marie-Christine described as 'his look' hinted at his foreignness, which he explained: he was from Cuba, but had emigrated decades ago to the United States, where he found an academic job and raised his bilingual Spanish/English-speaking family.
Amazed by the national diversity constituting Esperantujo, Marie- Christine expressed her excitement:
After some time studying Esperanto, I decided to meet other people who could speak it, to try it in practice. Then, in 2015, I went to the Universal Congress in Lille. Wow! What an experience! It was a shock to me. There were people from all over the world. I felt myself to be a real citizen of the world there. I could talk to all these people; we could understand each other... It was amazing! That experience encouraged me to keep improving my skills in the language, and since then I've been attending congresses. [...] I really like the idea of Esperanto; the friendship, the peace, the possibility of mutual understanding.
Despite not sharing her point of view, having joined Esperantujo many decades before, Alberto understood her thrill, saying:
Yes, Esperantujo is very diverse, and we can see this diversity here, at the Universal Congress, maybe better than anywhere else. At first, we can think that we are all completely different, that we have nothing to do with each other, apart from speaking Esperanto. During a day at the congress, we may attend different meetings and events. But at some point, we also have to get together. At some point we all have to sit on the same