The idea of a quest for a universal language crossed the path of the Jewish question in the late nineteenth century. Russian-speaking Jew Lejzer Zamenhof, who had spent most of his life in Warsaw, proposed an alternative halfway between assimilation and Zionism. In 1901 he wrote, “The International Language will grow a backbone for life only if there are to be a group of people that accept it as their hereditary, family language. A hundred people sharing this viewpoint speak a lot louder for the concept of a neutral language than a million passers-by ever would. The hereditary language of the tiniest, most insignificant group is a lot more guaranteed to live on as time goes by than a language which no one would claim as their own, even with millions speaking it every day. I am deeply convinced that neither a solution to the Hebrew question nor the entrenchment of a neutral language will ever be possible without Hilelism, that is, without the creation of a neutral people.”
Zamenhof simultaneously pointed out that, “Out of a fictional people that provides its members with nothing to rely on, it would become a real people, within a real-life brotherly family whose members are tied by genuine links; at the same time, though, out of a people that is genealogical and local, it would evolve into an ideal, neutrally human people. A people like this will have no territorial bounds, for its members, disseminated throughout the world, will find in it their natural motherland.”
In 1905, after the first ever World Congress of the Esperanto-speaking community, Zamenhof wrote, “This tiny people which would have a permanent cultural center in one of the cities of neutral Switzerland would constitute a fundamental group, which would absorb more and more people from all nations and would open the drive for the linguistically and religiously unified mankind of the future. But in order for the overall ideal (which many Esperanto speakers certainly will be reluctant to endorse) not to get in the way of the very concept of “Esperanto”, I shall not link it to Esperantism, but I shall propose instead during the (Geneva) congress that we create within our own ranks a “chapter” of Esperanto-speaking Homaranoj, ‘Those who belong primarily to mankind’”.
Just like Zamenhof had foreseen, his “general idea” was rejected by most speakers of Esperanto, who viewed language as a mere tool for communication. In the meantime, as time went by, his ideal became secular. Over a century, Esperanto developed, created a culture of its own and became a literary language, as well as the language used by many children for basic socialization. In a word, it has become a means of expression for art and identity.
Only in the late twentieth century, after the Cold War ended and as new technologies appeared, was it possible for the conditions required for the appearance of the “small people” Zamenhof had called for to be met at last. On June 2, 2001, the Constitutional Charter of the Esperanto Citizens Community was proclaimed, and on December 15, 2001, the first Parliament was elected. At its helm was the Community’s first ever Consul (or President), Walter Zelazny.
Since then, the Community’s structures have been considerably strengthened and the Esperanto Citizen people are ready to cooperate with all peoples, in particular those living as diasporas and wishing to become non-state subjects of international law.
The Esperanto Citizens Community aspires to become a non-state, non-territorial subject of international law. Its structure is that of a democratic, presidential confederation. The legislative power is exerted by the Parliament, which comprises the Senate (elected through proportional representation) and the Forum (elected under parity requirements).
The Senate is elected through universal suffrage by Community citizenship holders, based on lists of candidates proposing various political and economic agendas. The Forum is elected by the federated establishments whose members are eligible for Community citizenship. The executive power is exerted by the Consul (or President), who has to be the leader of the ticket that has received the greatest number of votes in the elections that take place every five years. The Consul forms his Chapter (the Government) whose composition must then be approved by the Senate. The judicial power is exerted by the Court (the Kortumo) under the principle of arbitration. There are two levels of judgment.
The Esperanto Citizens Community is the one and only representative subject recognized by Esperanto speakers who believe language should not be merely a tool for communication but also a tool of identity. As far as Esperanto is concerned, the Follow-Up Committee of the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights interacts solely with the Esperanto Citizens Community. The world organization for writers, PEN Club, which functions unofficially as the UNESCO agency for literature, recognized Esperanto as a literary language in 1993 and the PEN Club Esperanto chapter officially belongs to the Esperanto Citizens Community (but not to other institutions using Esperanto). The Esperanto Feminist Movement also belongs to the Esperanto Citizens Community, while staying out of other Esperanto-speaking bodies. The Esperanto Citizens Community works closely with some twenty international NGOs.
In practice, the Esperanto Citizens Community views itself as a consortium committed to the social, cultural and economic development of the Esperanto-speaking diaspora, with a special focus on Africa. As a diaspora without a territory and a linguistic group, it is in many respects similar, on a juridical plan, to Gypsia (born in Bratislava, Slovakia in 2000). It is not, however, based on the right of blood; its foundation is jus sermonis, the “right of language”. Moreover, it is very active on the Internet, which is why it is also viewed as a kind of “filé” based on its “demos”.*
* http://lasindias.net/indianopedia/