Esperanto speakers are mounting a campaign for linguistic justice with the slogan “Justa Komunikado”. The World Esperanto Conference will be held in prestigious Harpa Centre, Reykjavík, Iceland with about 1,000 participants. The Conference will also have the slogan.
Following a short period of 125 years Esperanto is now in the top 100 languages, out of 6,800 worldwide. It is the 29th most used language in Wikipedia, ahead of Swedish, Japanese and Latin. It is a language choice of Google, Skype, Firefox, Ubuntu and Facebook. Google translate recently added the language to its prestigious list of 64 languages and in 2013 touchscreen mobile phones can use Esperanto.
Esperanto is officially taught in 150 universities and other institutions of higher learning and in 600 primary and secondary schools in 28 countries. It has a rich body of literature consisting of more than 50,000 titles, with new publications released every week. There is also a 24 hour radio station called “Muzaiko” and Chinese Television use the internet to broadcast in the language.
Esperanto has been held back both by prejudice and a lack of knowledge about the subject. Both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin persecuted Esperanto speakers. It is interesting therefore that although both these two individuals are dead, Esperanto lives on. It has progressed, grown, and evolved into a living language in more than 100 countries worldwide.
The World Esperanto Association enjoys a position of consultative partnership with UNESCO, and also enjoys an official relationship with the United Nations and the Council of Europe. Esperanto enables international communication at an equal level, and thus protects the rights of minority and indigenous languages thereby respecting the cultural and linguistic diversity of those speakers.
John and Lesley Gallagher Cherry Top Accommodation, www.cherrytop.com.au http://www.cherrytopfarmstay.moonfruit.com/ http://www.facebook.com/cherrytopaccommodation
