The Religious Dimensions of the Esperanto Collective Identity

The Religious Dimensions of the Esperanto Collective
Identity
Federico Gobbo, F.Gobbo@uva.nl
Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice
21-22-23 October 2021
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#begin: Esperanto in a Nutshell

Esperanto is a planned language
The main difference between natural and planned languages:
[although] no human society [has been] known to exist or to have existed
at any time in the past without capacity of speech […] the vast majority
of societies have, until recently, been either totally or very largely
illiterate. (Lyons 1981:12-13 in Gobbo 2017)
Exceptions;
1. sign languages → Sign Language Linguistics
2. Interlinguistics → planned / invented / constructed / “artificial” languages
2

Priority of Writing + Community of Practice
F Gobbo, Are planned languages less complex than natural languages? Language science, 2017
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A Community of Practice Forms a Collective Identity
The value of the notion ‘communities of practice’ to Sociolinguistics and
Linguistic Anthropology lies in the fact that it identifies a social
grouping not in virtue of shared abstract characteristics (e.g.
class, gender) or simple co-presence (e.g. neighborhood,
workplace), but in virtue of shared practice. In the course of
regular joint activity, a community of practice develops ways of doing
things, views, values, power relations, ways of talking. And the
participants engage with these practices in virtue of their place in the
community of practice, and of the place of the community of practice in
the larger social order.
Penelope Eckert 2006 (bold is mine)
4

Alessandro Bausani 1970/1974 and Interlinguistics
A Bausani, Lingue inventate, 1974, p. 9
5

The Typology by Bausani 1970/1974
A Bausani, Lingue inventate, 1974, p. 15
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The Typology by Gobbo 1998/2017
communication
expression
exoteric
esoteric
<vuoto>
Esperanto
Latino sine Flexione
Ido
Basic English
Novial
Volapük (19th c.)
Interlingua
Interslavic
Lojban
Lincos
“Logic” languages
International Auxiliary Languages
Dothraki
Klingon
Neo-Tolkienian (21st c.)
Volapük (20th c.)
Na’vi
Hollywood Languages
Tolkien’s (20th c.)
Bâl-A I-Balan Toki Pona
Europanto
Gatlòik
Araìk
Montessori Secret Languages

#1: The Religious Dimension in
Zamenhof and the Question of
(Jewish) Nationalism

Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof (1859–1917)
From the comics by Bonvenon! by Gobbo & Gamberoni (2018)

La Unua Libro (The First Book, 1887)
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Sammlung für Plansprachen

The Two First Exemplary Texts are: Our Father and Genesis, 1

Zamenhof, a Revisionist of Covenantal Judaism
We are simply chained to a cadaver. The regional-racial form of the
Jewish religion now is not only a philosophical-religious absurdity, but
also the fullest possible anachronism; and until such time as this form
will exist, the suffering of the Jews will never, never cease, neither because
of [ethnic] liberalism, nor because of Zionism, and after one hundred and
after one thousand years, will Heine’s prophetic words still pertain with
the same strength: Das Judentum ist keine Religion, es ist ein Unglück.
[Judaism is not a religion, it is a misfortune.]
Originally in Russian, with the quote in German; translated by Esther Schor
(forthcoming); see also A Holzhaus critical Esperanto edition of the Russian original
pamphlet Gomo Sum, Gillelizm”: proekt” riesheniia evreiskago voprosa, 1901.
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The Neutral Language and the Jewish Question, 1901

From the Neutral Language to the Neutral People, 1901

The Foundational Myth of Esperanto Collective Identity
First World Esperanto Congress, Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1905

Zamenhof’s Ambiguity: Esperanto Speakers framed as a Nation
En la malgrandan urbon de la franca marbordo kunvenis homoj el la plej
diversaj landoj kaj nacioj, kaj ili renkontas sin reciproke ne mute kaj
surde, sed ili komprenas unu la alian, ili parolas unu kun la alia kiel
fratoj, kiel membroj de unu nacio.
Rough translation in English from the opening of the solemn speech:
In the small town of the French seaside it came together persons from the
most different countries and nations, and they meet one the other
reciprocally not mute and deaf, but they understand one the other, they
speak one with the other as brothers, as members of just one
nation.
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Zamenhof Ends his Speech in Boulogne with a Prayer
Sed tiel same kiel mi en la nuna momento ne estas ia naciano, sed simpla
homo, tiel same mi ankaŭ sentas, ke en tiu ĉi momento mi ne
apartenas al ia nacia aŭŭ partia religio, sed mi estas nur homo.
Kaj en la nuna momento staras inter miaj animaj okuloj nur tiu alta
morala Forto, kiun sentas en sia koro ĉiu homo, kaj al tiu ĉi nekonata
Forto mi turnas min kun mia preĝo:
Rough translation in English:
But so as I am, in this moment, not a member of a nation, but a simple
human being, likewise I feel that in this moment I do not belong to a
national or party religion of any sort, but I am only a human
being [Terence’s homo sum]. And in the present moment before my
soul’s eyes appears only that high moral Force, that lives in the heart of
any human being, and to this unknown Force I turn myself with my
prayer:
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The Censored Last Stanza of the Prayer under the Green Flag
From: Zamenhof’s original poems, in Originala Verkaro

Neutral Human Temples, Ordained Feast Days, Customs, etc
From: Hilelismo 1906, in Originala Verkaro

The Debate with Aleksandro Dombrovski, 1906
Other names: Adomas Jakštas, Aleksandras Dambrauskas, Aleksandr Dombrowski, born 1860

The Review Esperanto Catholic Hope, 1903
From: esperokatolika.org/numerounu/p000a.htm

The End of Hillelism: 1907
From the interview in The Jewish Chronicle, Sep 6, 1907, p. 17

Enter Homaranism: 1907–1913
Cover of Deklaracio de Homaranismo, Madrid 1913

Homaranism resembling the Seven Noachian Precepts?

A Proposal of Inter-Cultural and Inter-Religious Approach
Davide Astori, The Seven Noachian Precepts Between Monotheistic Religions and
Human Liberties, Dionysiana, IV (2010), No. 1, p. 374, Fig. 2

Homaranism as a Philosophical Religion
Carlos Fraenkel, Philosophical Religions from Plato to Spinoza. CUP, 2012, p. 5
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#2: Esperanto Pioneers and their
Religious Dimension

The Importance of the Verda Flago

The Esperanto Anthem La Espero (compare with Hatikvah)

Personification of Hope
Postcard Amikajn salutojn, 1910

The Value of World Peace After the Great War

The Sociological Study by Tanquist (1927, in Garvía 2015)

A Cultural Saint: Lidia Zamenhof (1904–1942)
Source: Wikimedia

Lidia Zamenhof, from Homaranism to Bahaism
Source: beyondforeignness.org/3929

Against Ultranationalism: What Do You Do To Avoid This? 1930?

#3: Pseudo-National(istic) Traits in
the Modern Esperanto Movement

Declaration of Tyresö, 1969: A Common Enemy
If we apply with consistence the concept of conserving the integrity of
individuals, you will condemn linguistic and cultural discriminations in
any form, and also the so-called solution of the language problem, which
is based on discrimination, and we find that until now we have not
paid enough attention to the destruction of the cultural and
linguistic background of many peoples. This destruction is
nothing less than a tool of linguistic imperialism.
(translated and quoted in Gobbo 2017, bold is mine)
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Rauma Manifesto, 1980: Esperantists as a Diaspora?
We believe that (…) the downfall of English is neither a task nor a
concern of Esperantists: in the end English merely plays the role of an
auxiliary language, like French in its time (…): Zamenhof never proposed
that the Movement fight against French, because he had in mind another,
more valuable, alternative role for Esperanto (…) Esperantisticity [sic]
is almost the same as belonging to a self-elected, diasporic,
linguistic minority.
(translated and quoted in Gobbo 2017, bold is mine)
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Manifesto of Prague, 1996: Bridge and Wall
Every language liberates and imprisons its speakers, giving to them the
power to communicate among themselves while barring them from
communication with others. Planned as a universal communications tool,
Esperanto is one of the largest functioning projects of human
emancipation or projects to enable every human to participate as an
individual in the human community, with secure roots in their local
culture and linguistic identity, while not being limited by it. We assert
that the exclusive use of national languages inevitably raises barriers
to the freedoms of expression, communication, and association. We
are a movement for human emancipation.
(multilingual, quoted in Gobbo 2017, typography is original)
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#4: Contemporary Esperanto
Movement: Banal Nationalism and
Postmodernism

TEFA: a “stateless people” in the Non-FIFA
TEFA official web site: localgymsandfitness.com/XX/Unknown/395863567241307/Tutmonda-Esperanto-Futbala-Asocio—TEFA

Postmodernist Esperanto Culture: An Example
From: pinterest.it/pin/33143747248758431/

The Gamification of Esperanto: Any Long-Term Consequence?
From: pixelartmaker.com/art/d46c53ba9926a0c
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Four Pseudo-National(istic)-Religious Dimensions
1. 1887-1917 Zamenhof’s legacy and the “Jewish ghost inside” (E Schor)
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2. 1900-1927 French Esperanto Pioneers: The Westphalian Model
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3. 1969-1996 From Tyresö to Prague through Rauma: Self-Awareness
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3. 1969-1996 From Tyresö to Prague through Rauma: Self-Awareness
4. 1997-now Contemporary Esperanto Culture: Where To?
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Thank You for Your Kind Attention!
From: tuckdbpostcards.org/items/79195
c b 4.0 Federico Gobbo K F.Gobbo@uva.nl federicogobbo.name
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The Religious Dimensions of the Esperanto Collective Identity

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