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Ian Fantom
Editor
Esperanto Britain |
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ESPERANTO BRITAIN NEWSLETTER No 7 (2 Aug 2004)
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*** Keeping you up-to-date about Esperanto, for people in the
UK ***
Brought to you by the Gxangalo team
Newbury - San Paulo - Buenos Aires - Budapest - Lower Hutt
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1. Are
Britons language barbarians?
2. Yes to multilingualism - but pivot language
misunderstood
3. European Parliament opens with first
Esperanto-speaking MEP
4. New President of Austria is Esperanto Supporter
5. Jottings
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1. ARE
BRITONS LANGUAGE BARBARIANS?
BBC News Online is asking the public to join in a discussion
on why Britons are failing to learn the foreign languages.
This follows the publication last week of a language survey by
recruitment agency Office Angels.
The term "barbarians" was a quote from chief inspector of
English schools, Mike Tomlinson, who said that Britons were
"barbarians" when it came to learning foreign languages.
The Office Angels survey reported ... Read more at
http://gxangalo.com/britio/modules/news/article.php?storyid=114
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2. YES TO MULTILINGUALISM - BUT PIVOT LANGUAGE
MISUNDERSTOOD
British candidates for the European election in June
overwhelmingly supported the concept of multilingualism in the
EU, according to a survey by Esperanto Britain. Out of
71 replies received (including one from a party HQ) [24
elected], 54 [19 elected] expressed various views in favour of
multilingualism. 34 [12] candidates were at least
sympathetic to Esperanto in some capacity or other.
However, it appears that many had misunderstood the term
'pivot language'. Only 13 told us about any language
skills, but none of these was elected to the parliament.
It transpired that four of the candidates already had a
knowledge of Esperanto. The replies are published by
Esperanto Britain in the Sections | Documents area: A-Ri and
Ri-Z.
Just one party (Conservative) expressed an official party line
on the language issue in the European Parliament (namely, to
reduce output). The Green Party HQ took a particular
interest, though there was no party line, and the issue seems
to have aroused some discussion.
Here are the findings in more detail, with figures for those
elected to the European Parliament given in square brackets:
54 [19] candidates expressed ... Read more at
http://gxangalo.com/britio/modules/news/article.php?storyid=113
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3. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT OPENS WITH FIRST
ESPERANTO-SPEAKING MEP
When the European Parliament formally reopened on Tuesday
(July 20, 2004) they had amongst their members, probably for
the first time, a fluent speaker of Esperanto. Margareta
Handzlik is a representative of the Silesia Region in Poland,
and was put forward as a candidate by the Citizens Party (Platforma
Obywatelska).
Margareta Handzlik has spoken Esperanto for twenty years,
though she has never attended an Esperanto course; she learned
the language during her travels with her husband, Georgo
Handzlik, who is a popular Esperanto singer, writer, publisher
and teacher. Now Esperanto is a part of her life.
"Some Esperantists have written that I am the first
Esperantist member of the European Parliament. I haven't
checked up on that", she wrote, but speaking later on Polish
Radio overseas service in Esperanto, she acknowledged "I'm
probably the first Esperantist in the European Parliament".
During the recent election campaign in the UK, we found that
at least three candidates had learned Esperanto, so
statistically one could perhaps expect a number of previous
MEPs to have some knowledge of the language. Speaking
the language every day for twenty years, though, is a
different matter.
Margareta Handzlik's election website was in Polish and
Esperanto... Read more at
http://gxangalo.com/britio/modules/news/article.php?storyid=112
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4. NEW PRESIDENT OF AUSTRIA IS ESPERANTO SUPPORTER
Dr Heinz Fischer, who last week took up his position as
President of Austria, has for many years been a strong
supporter of Esperanto.
He first became interested in politics when he would hear his
parents discussing the Second World War, and the Nazi
occupation, talking together in front of himself and his
sister in Esperanto. He was brought up in Vienna during
the Nazi occupation, and shared the anguish of his parents
during that period. Because of this, opposition to
totalitarianism was "imprinted" on him.
"My parents were Esperantists" ... Read more at
http://gxangalo.com/britio/modules/news/article.php?storyid=111
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5. JOTTINGS
Resurrecting the Esperanto lobbying activities, for which
Britain used to be so well known in the international
movement, was quite a big job, mainly because of the List
system of elections, which involves enormous constituencies,
and over a hundred candidates in some instances. There's
also not the same culture in the EU election as there was in
Westminster general elections. The response rate amongst
the candidates was poor, and details of where to get
information on the candidates was difficult to obtain for
someone doing this for the first time. Officials didn't
seem to know what information they were going to publish on
their own websites. I think I did in the end manage to
persuade the authorities to include MEPs' constituency data on
the EP website, instead of only putting the country! That was
eventually achieved by pointing out to an MEP that his
personal data had this omission. No wonder the public is
generally apathetic! The Esperantists, too, had problems.
After a six-year gap in lobbying activities, the culture needs
to be re-explained and kept in people's mind. I was
pleased with the results, but my first option was to try to
trace Brian Barker, so that he could re-instate Esperanto
Lobby. It's a pity that EAB and Esperanto Lobby parted
company at the time, and that the whole lobbying activity was
closed down, and the Esperanto Parliamentary Group allowed to
fade away.
Do you have space in your loft, or perhaps in a back room, to
store books for the London Esperanto Club? Their president,
David Thornell, is trying to find a home for the club library,
for when the club moves premises in November. Ideally
the books would be stored in London, so that selections could
be taken to the club meetings as required, but other archives
could well be stored away from London. If you think you
can help, please contact David direct at david.thornell @
metropolis.co.uk . He'd also be delighted if any further
ideas for club evenings were to come along, of course!
What's holding Esperanto back in the world, and in the UK?
There's a lot going on, with opportunities that we only
dreamed of in the 1970s. The associations themselves are
getting smaller - as you might expect in the Internet era.
I don't think anyone knows how the total number of Esperanto
speakers has been changing over the last decade, but I think
there's little doubt that the intensity of usage has shot up
dramatically, which means that the number of really fluent
speakers must have shot up too. When W T Stead founded
the British Esperanto Association Inc in 1905, his first
question in the subsequent committee meeting was: "Who is
against Esperanto?" As an eminent campaigning journalist (and
probably the first), he knew what to look for when pushing a
cause. The problem was, he said, that no-one's against
Esperanto! I can't help asking myself the same question
now, just a hundred years later. I recently came across
an article by Professor Renato Corsetti, president of the
Universal Esperanto Association, called 'Krizo kaj Malkrizo',
and it would appear to contain some interesting insights
http://www.liberafolio.org/UEA/Demisioj/Document.2004-02-21.9589103005
.
Top
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ESPERANTO BRITAIN NEWSLETTER Editor: Ian Fantom
A digest of news from the Esperanto Britain web portal
Web:
http://gxangalo.com/britio/ Email: editor @ gxangalo.com
Tel: +44 (0)1635 38592 Fax: +44 (0)1635 38592
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