We, members of the worldwide movement for the promotion of Esperanto,
address this Manifesto to all governments, international organizations
and people of good will;
declare our unshakeable commitment to the objectives set out here;
and call on all organizations and individuals to join us in working
for these goals.
For more than a century Esperanto, which was launched in 1887 as a project for an auxiliary language for international communication and quickly developed into a rich living language in its own right, has functioned as a means of bringing people together across the barriers of language and culture. The aims that inspire the users of Esperanto are still as important and relevant as ever. Neither the worldwide use of a few national languages, nor advances in communications technology, nor the development of new methods of language teaching is likely to result in a fair and effective language order based on the following principles, which we hold to be essential.
Any system of communication which confers lifelong privileges on some while
requiring others to devote years of effort to achieving a lesser degree
of competence is fundamentally antidemocratic. While Esperanto, like any
language, is not perfect, it far outstrips other languages as a means of
egalitarian communication on a world scale.
We maintain that language inequality gives rise to communicative inequality
at all levels, including the international level. We are a movement for
democratic communication.
All ethnic languages are bound to certain cultures and nations. For example,
the child who learns English learns about the culture, geography and political
systems of the English-speaking world, primarily the United States and the
United Kingdom. The child who learns Esperanto learns about a world without
borders, where every country is home.
We maintain that education in any language is bound to a certain view
of the world. We are a movement for global education.
Only a small percentage of foreign-language students attain fluency in
the target language. In Esperanto, fluency is attainable even through home
study. Various studies have shown that Esperanto is useful as a preparation
for learning other languages. It has also been recommended as a core element
in courses in language awareness.
We maintain that the difficulties in learning ethnic languages will always
be a barrier for many students who would benefit from knowing a second language.
We are a movement for effective language learning.
The Esperanto community is almost unique as a worldwide community whose
members are universally bilingual or multilingual. Every member of the community
has made the effort to learn at least one foreign language to a communicative
level. In many cases this leads to a love and knowledge of several languages
and to broader personal horizons in general.
We maintain that the speakers of all languages, large and small, should
have a real chance of learning a second language to a high communicative
level. We are a movement for providing that opportunity to all.
The unequal distribution of power between languages is a recipe for permanent
language insecurity, or outright language oppression, for a large part of
the worldÕs population. In the Esperanto community the speakers of
languages large and small, official and unofficial meet on equal terms through
a mutual willingness to compromise. This balance of language rights and
responsibilities provides a benchmark for developing and judging other solutions
to language inequality and conflict.
We maintain that the wide variations in power among languages undermine
the guarantees, expressed in many international instruments, of equal treatment
regardless of language. We are a movement for language rights.
National governments tend to treat the great diversity of languages in
the world as a barrier to communication and development. In the Esperanto
community, however, language diversity is experienced as a constant and
indispensable source of enrichment. Consequently every language, like every
biological species, is inherently valuable and worthy of protection and
support.
We maintain that communication and development policies which are not
based on respect and support for all languages amount to a death sentence
for the majority of languages in the world. We are a movement for language
diversity.
Every language both liberates and imprisons its users, giving them the
ability to communicate among themselves but barring them from communication
with others. Designed as a universally accessible means of communication,
Esperanto is one of the great functional projects for the emancipation of
humankind Ñ one which aims to let every individual citizen participate
fully in the human community, securely rooted in his or her local cultural
and language identity yet not limited by it.
We maintain that exclusive reliance on national languages inevitable
puts up barriers to the freedoms of expression, communication and association.
We are a movement for human emancipation.