Esperanto Consolidation and CatastropheAuthor: David Poulson While some of the older supporters of Esperanto wrangled and engaged in petty power struggles, two young men from Switzerland...schoolboys, really, demonstrated some of the practical common sense and realism which seemed to be lacking in their elders. Their names were Hector Hodler and Edmond Privat and together, they founded, on April 28th 1908, an international organisation which is still going strong today. It is La Universala Esperanto Asocio, - The Universal Esperanto Association , based since 1955 in Rotterdam, and quite a lot of information about it can be found at: UEA Hector had a very short life, Edmond had a long and quite exciting life, and information on the Web about both of them is very sparse. In fact, in the case of Edmond Privat, I can find practically nothing and I will obviously have to put things right myself. In the case of Hector, there is a little more. At this link: Hodler, you will find a sketch of the young Swiss and his stated reason for founding UEA. The text is in Esperanto and my free translation goes like this. "Before we present to the rest of the world an idea, no matter how beautiful it may be, let's see whether it is possible to put that idea into practice in the context of a defined number of people. La Universala Esperanto Asocio will, to a very modest degree, allow us to carry out such an experiment." In other words, will Esperanto really function as the working language of an international organization? Well, in order to form any opinion about that, the organization must have stated aims. In the case of UEA it's not hard to define them. They most important are: 1. To facilitate all relationships between people whose native languages are different. 2. To create a strong bond of solidarity between its members. UEA does a lot of interesting things and one of the most successful ideas was to create and publicise a system of "delegitoj", or what we might call "Honorary Consuls of the International Language." It's a simple idea. An Esperanto "delegito" is a person who allows their name and address to be published in the UEA yearbook. They also indicate any useful talent or speciality. Looking at a copy of this year book, I find that in Perth, Western Australia, where I live, we first find the address of Mrs X, who offers to help Esperanto speakers who need information about WA's tourist attractions. Next comes Mrs Y, who is a teacher and especially interested to meet and help other teachers. After that, there's Miss Z, who is a student. Then comes Dr E. who is a General Practioner and can provide advice and assistance to any overseas visitor in need of medical attention. Provided they speak Esperanto. |