Esperanto is an international auxiliary language developed by Ludwik Lazar Zamenhof in 1887 through the Unua Libro. It is the most popular IAL, with the estimated amount of speakers varying between 10,000 and 2,000,000 depending on the criteria of a speaker used. It is maintained by the Academy of Esperanto.
History
Oppression
The Kingdom of Hungary banned Esperanto in 1920 due to it's local association with the Bolsheviks and to uphold bourgeois nationalism.
Esperanto was oppressed by fascists (Nazi Germany in Europe and Imperial Japan in Asia) during the 1930s, due to reactionary nationalism and it's association with communism, anti-imperialism, and national liberation.
Bourgeois media and historians (prominently liberal Ulrich Lins) claim that the USSR oppressed Esperanto.[1] However, there is not much evidence to support this claim, and the minority of Esperantists that were persecuted were often persecuted for being trotskyists, and class enemies of the Soviet Union.
Socialism and Communism
USSR
Soviet Esperantists in the Red Army fought in the anti-fascist war against Nazi Germany.[2]
China
If Esperanto is taken as a form and enshrined in the way of true internationalism and the way of true revolution, then Esperanto can be learned and should be learned.[3]
— Mao Zedong, Letter, Yan'an Esperanto Association, 1939
Esperanto is supported by the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people, with the national liberation movement. El Popola Ĉinio, a state official Esperanto journal, was established in 1951.
China Radio International supported Esperanto starting from 1964.[4]
Verda Majo
During the 1930s, an anti-fascist, feminist Japanese Esperantist originally named Hasegawa Teru, who went by the Esperanto name Verda Majo ("Green May"), left Japan and went to China, and ended up taking part in helping the Chinese resistance against the Japanese Empire.[5][6]
While in Japan, Majo had become acquainted with Esperantist circles. There was a close symbiosis at the time between a part of the Japanese Esperanto-movement and the movement for proletarian literature. In 1932 she was briefly taken into custody, being suspected of having "leftist sympathies", and was thereupon expelled from college. Thus, she returned to Tokyo, where she started to learn typewriting and fully committed herself to propagating proletarian Esperantist literature, especially amongst women.[7]
Via these activities she came into contact with the editor of the Chinese Esperanto magazine La Mondo (The World) in Shanghai at that time, which was looking among the Japanese Esperantists for someone to write an article about the situation of Japanese women. Majo published an article in the March/April issue 1935 focusing on the Japanese Women’s Movement and the question of labour and the suppression of the women's movement by Japanese fascism.
Eventually, Majo went to China after marrying a Chinese Esperantist. While in China she worked with other Chinese Esperantists, and eventually she became a Japanese language broadcaster with the Central Radio Station, broadcasting programs aimed at dividing the Japanese army. In July 1940, the Anti-war Revolution League of Japanese in China was founded and Majo was elected as one of its leaders. Majo died of an illness on January 10, 1947 at the age of 35. Zhou Enlai once said of Majo that she was "a sincere comrade-in-arms of the Chinese people."[8][7]
Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh learned Esperanto in 1915 and supported Esperanto during the Vietnamese Liberation War.[9] He suggested to the director of Voice of Vietnam to utilize esperanto in the Declaration of Independence.
Cuba
Fidel Castro supported Esperantists in the UEA Congress to Havana, Cuba.[10]
The broadcast of Radio Havana Cuba, which is meant to spread information about the Cuban revolution to an international audience, is available in Esperanto, including audio broadcasts as well as written articles on their website. The Esperanto name of it is Radio Havano Kubo.[11] It also has an Esperanto language YouTube channel.[12]
In 2016, a 30-minute documentary called "Across the Florida Straits" (Esperanto: Trans La Florida Markolo) was produced. It follows the first legal visit of U.S. Esperantists to Cuba after 54 years of prohibition, where they meet up at a congress of the Cuban Esperanto Association and share their experiences.[13][14]
Further Reading
Language
- L. L. Zamenhof (1905). Fundamento de Esperanto. Hachette.
See also
References
- ↑ Dangerous Language (2017) (Esperanto: La Danĝera Lingvo). ISBN 978-1-352-00019-1
- ↑ Anatolo Sidorov (2022). Soviet Esperantists, which battled against the Nazis in the second world war (Esperanto: Esperantistoj de Sovetunio, kiuj batalis kontraŭ nazioj en la 2-a mondmilito). Russian Esperantist Union.
- ↑ "Esperanto, China’s Surprisingly Prominent Linguistic Subculture is Slowly Dying Out".
- ↑ "China Radio International".
- ↑ “绿川英子_百度百科.” 百度百科. Archive.
- ↑ “绿川英子 - 快懂百科.” Baike.com.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Gotelind Müller (2013). "Hasegawa Teru Alias Verda Majo (1912-1947): A Japanese woman esperantist in the Chinese anti-Japanese war of resistance" (PDF). University of Heidelberg.
- ↑ “Verda Majo – a Sincere Friend Dedicated to China.” 2023. China.org.cn. Archived 2021-10-07.
- ↑ "Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto" (2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00). China Radio International.
- ↑ "Fidel Castro & Esperanto" (2009-01-18). YouTube.
- ↑ “Frontpaĝo| Radio Havano Kubo|Internacia Radiostacio.” Radiohc.cu. Archived 2023-03-07.
- ↑ @CanalEsperantoCuba. “Canal Esperanto.” YouTube.
- ↑ Viajante Inteligente. 2016. “Esperanto Film: Trans La Florida Markolo.” YouTube. Archived 2023-03-17.
- ↑ "Trans La Florida Markolo (Esperanto) 跨越佛罗里达海峡（世界语.)" Bilibili.com.