ESPERANTO
AND WORLD CITIZENSHIP People in the United States sometimes ask me, "Why are you an Esperantist? You already know English, the true international language. You can travel almost anywhere in the whole world and not need another language." Even people from other countries say the same thing to me. "Why would a native speaker of English want to learn Esperanto?" Actually, there are two answers. The first is the moral reason. Yes, undoubtedly I am very lucky that my native language is a language which I am able to use in many various countries and in many parts of the world. But that is only a chance event. I didn't choose that situation, and others didn't choose to be in a different situation. I do not have a right to require that others have to use my national language while I do not have to use their national languages. That is not fair. At the same time I can't learn even a few other languages of the large quantity of national and ethnic languages which are used in the world. The rational solution to such a language problem is that everyone in the world should learn the same nationally-neutral second language. When I first thought about that possibilty, I was a U.S. citizen who never heard of the language Esperanto. But fortunately in 1978 a man named John Sabin informed me that there exists in the world a logical, planned language which many people already use and which one can learn much more rapidly than other languages. Besides, a very important thing was the spirit and aims of those who use that language. Its users want to abolish war, eliminate injustice, protect human rights, and reduce the amount of misery in the world. Therefore Esperanto provided a good solution to my moral problem in relation to the use of languages in a world where not everyone uses my national language. I only needed to learn Esperanto and use it when I want to communicate with others who use different national languages. So I became an Esperantist. The second reason that I am an Esperantist, and the main theme of this talk, is that I want to be a true world citizen. I now think that a true world citizen must be an Esperantist. But I have to clarify that statement. It is not a simple matter. Can't each person who wants to be a world citizen do that through the use of English? I have to confess that for the 94 percent of people in the world whose native language isn't English, learning English is undoubtedly a good way to become connected with the large part of the world that uses the English language. But note I did not say that the learning of English provides a step to world citizenship. Those who learn English are able to participate in the large part of the world which uses English, but that situation is not the same as being a citizen in a community. Sometimes one carelessly speaks of "the English-speaking community," but that expression does not refer to a true community. In that case the feeling of community doesn't exist; there is no common aim or feeling of solidarity. There exists people who use the same language, but that is only a practical matter. Such a group of people does not form a world community. There also is another reason that the users of English are not able to develop a world community. The fact is that the English language is a national language, which nevertheless one now can use in many countries of the world. Because of that it has become an inter-national or inter-country language. For me that is a different matter than being a whole-world or global language. When I use the English language, I am using my national language and am not able to feel that by means of it I am participating in a wider real whole-world community. Let me explain that in more detail, because this is an important but complex point. One has to realize that the situation in our contemporary world no longer is the same as the inter-national world which existed in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Now in the 21st century we have a global world. In that previous inter-national world there existed many countries each of which had their own national government, flag, army, police, language, money, anthem, and so forth. If you were to look at a map or globe which represents that kind of world, the various countries would be in various colors with black lines along their borders. In such a world, any cooperation in the world always occurred among representatives of the national governments in inter-national organizations such as the League of Nations or the United Nations. Those who use different national languages had to hire interpreters and translators in order to communicate with one another in inter-national organizations. The world was seen as a collection of relatively independent lands, and each individual had to be a citizen of some country. In inter-national matters the representatives of national governments spoke for all citizens of that country. The individuals themselves as individuals did not have a right to participate in such inter-national affairs. When our dear Dr. Zamenhof developed a new language for that kind of world, he rightly called it "the International Language." At that time the world was an inter-national world, so one of course spoke about an inter-national language. But in reality, that new language others called by the name "Esperanto," and everyone, including Zamenhof himself in his speeches, realized that it was a language by means of which ordinary individuals would be able to communicate directly with other individuals in the rest of the world. The black national borders and the separate national government were no longer so important. For Esperantists, because of their common language, the national borders fell away. They no longer are citizens mainly of only one country but they become citizens of the planet. A new feeling of solidarity with all humans developed. Humanity no longer had only an "inter-national language" or "inter-country language" but a totally new kind of language, a "whole-world language" with a totally inclusive spirit. Consequently, that language and that spirit became a foundation for a totally new kind of community, a whole-world communty. Those who belong to that community and feel a loyalty to it can be world citizens even though until now a whole-world government doesn't exist. Furthermore, in the 1960s we began to see photos of the Earth from space. Everyone can see that the national borders are artificial and that we all are Earthlings, not merely residents of various separate countries. We are able to know and to feel that we truly are world citizens. I wanted to become part of the new whole-Earth community, and I saw that Esperanto is the best instrument for accomplishing that. I truly realized that "Esperanto is not only a language." To become an Esperantist is the way to become part of a totally new kind of world community. At the beginning I didn't realize that. I realized it only after I participated in the Esperanto movement and began to get acquainted with individual Esperantists from many other countries. I feel that I am part of a true whole-Earth community based not only a a common language but also on common aims and a feeling of solidarity. One can say that I began to learn Esperanto because I wanted to communicate in a just way with others who didn't use the same national language, but afterward I remained an Esperantist because I want to continue to reside in the global Esperanto community. Because of Esperanto and by means of Esperanto I am able to be and remain a real world citizen.
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