<£*££& INFORMATION CENTER ESPERANTO LEAGUE for NORTH AMERICA voi ■■■■»< NEWSLETTER a ¥ .„. Vol.VI No.4 August 1970 PRESIDENT OF AUSTRIA ADDRESSES U.E.A. CONGRESS IN VIENNA Two thousand Esperantists from 44 countries met in Vienna for the 55th Congress of the Universala Esperanto-Asocio (U.E.A.) the first week in August. The President of Austria, Franz Jonas, addressed the opening session. (See P, 4) From the United States, 58 were registered. For some it was their first world Congress with all the thrill of hearing the language they had self-con- sciously practised in classes being used as a common tongue not only on the dais but in the corridors by people who could not talk to one another except in Esperanto; the thrill of meeting in halls bearing the great names of Esperanto pioneers and leaders - Zamenhof, Privat, Baghy, Hodler. For others, there was the opportunity to renew friendships made at earlier conferences, and both types got a special pleasure from visiting the international Espe- ranto Museum in the Hofburg. The variety of interests that can be pursued on an international basis when language is no barrier was indicated by the section meetings which filled the interstices of the main program: Automobilists, bibliophiles, the blind. Catholics, ecumenicalists, journalists, lawyers, motion picture amateurs, musicians, ornithologists,, pacifists, philatelists, philologists, physicians, Protestants, radio amateurs, railwaymen, scientists, spiritualists, scouts, students, tape recorders, teachers and war resisters. Greetings from the United States Embassy in Austria were delivered by Rollie H. White, Embassy Counselor, who spoke to the Congress in Esperanto. (Candor compels the admission that he had a little coaching beforehand.) Later Mr. White gave a cocktail party at his home for a multi-national group of Esperantists. Land association greetings for the U.S. were given by James Deer, Local Congress Committee chairman for the Portland meeting. -o- ESPERANTO DICTIONARY MAKES ITS DEBUT Plena Ilustrita Vortaro, the Webster's Unabridged of Esperanto, was on display at the S.A.T. Congress in Augsburg, Germany, and the U.E.A. Congress in Vienna this summer. This 1344-page illustrated dictionary is published by S.A.T. (Sennaciaca Asocio Tutmonda) with G. Waringhien as editor-in-chief. Copies of the P.I.V. are now being sent out from Ilford, England, to subscribers all over the world who paid a pre-publication price of $19. Sur- face mail is very slow, however, and U.S. subscribers will probably have to wait four to six weeks or even longer. Inquiries or address changes should be sent to S.A.T., 67 Ave. Gambetta, Paris 20, France. NL 8/70 E.L.N.A. CONGRESS WELL ATTENDED The 1970 Congress of the Esperanto League for North America (E.L.N.A.) attracted 105 delegates from 14 states to the campus of San Francisco State College July 22-26. With meeting places and living quarters concentrated in Verducci Hall, with the college cafeteria available for meals, the Congress was able to get through a long agenda and still enjoy excursions in near perfect weather. Elected to the E.L.N.A. Board of Directors are Dorothy Holland of Santa Barbara, secretary of the American Association of Esperanto Teachers: James Deer of Portland, chairman of the Local Congress Committee for the 1972 U.E.A. Congress; and William Schulze, director of the West Coast Esperanto Informa- tion Center at Hillsborough, Cal. Peggy Linker of Walla Walla, Wash, was reelected treasurer. A detailed report of Congress proceedings and resolutions adopted will be found in the August issue of the ELNA-Bulteno. -o- National Newspaper Notes California Experiment The Christian science Monitor of June 13 carried a feature article en- titled "Young Pen pals Leap National Barriers with Esperanto - universal Lan- guage Taught at Elementary School Level," which described the program at three schools in San Mateo, Cal., and quoted extensively from Dr. Edwin Feld- man and Philip Vandor, principals at the Lawrence and Highland Schools and from Doris Vallon who teaches the language. Congressman James J. Delaney (N.Y.) inserted the article in the Congress- ional Record of July 29 (Page E-7141). He was also responsible for the appear- ance in the Record of an editorial from Columbia, the Knights of Columbus magazine, entitled "The Job for the UN: The Language of Peace." -o- First prize in the youth oratorical contest at the U.E.A. Congress in Vienna went to Duncan Charters of the Indiana University language staff who spoke on "What My Generation Wants." -o- Congressional Committee Hears Esperanto At a Washington hearing of the House Sub-Committee on International Organ- ization on the status of the United Nations after 25 years, Mark Starr pre- sented a statement at the invitation of the committee chairman. Congressman Cornelius u. Gallagher. He pointed out the barrier to international co- operation raised by lingual diversity, the immense cost to the U.N. of multi- lingual translation, and the desirability of Esperanto as a neutral universal language, and closed with a statement in Esperanto - the first time, no doubt, that Esperanto had been heard in the colossal Rayburn office building. Copies of the proceedings of the Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee hearing on June 24 may be obtained by writing the Congressman from your district. NL 8/70 AULD COURSES IMPRESSIVE SUCCESS The upshot of a 3-week Esperanto workshop at San Francisco State College this summer is that the college has invited William Auld to come over from Scotland again next summer to teach. The college is also considering a unit for further credit which would take the students to the International Esper- anto Summer university lectures in London during the World Esperanto Con- gress there. Fifty-two students, including some from Japan, Alaska and Canada,worked hard for their three semester credits in introductory or advanced Esperanto. Mr. Auld, who is a member of the Academy of Esperanto and an outstanding author and teacher, has developed a course for concentrated study which covers the basics of the language in 10 hours, followed by intensive practice to develop the ability to think and to communicate in Esperanto. In view of the large enrollment the college provided funds for an assist- antship and Duncan Charters of the Spanish faculty of Indiana University set aside his summer plans to become Auld's second-in-command. Charters taught the Esperanto summer courses which preceeded the E.L.N.A. Congress at North Adams (Mass.) State College in 1969. Mr. Auld also visited Southern California where he was guest at a Sun- day morning brunch at Esperanto House in Covina. En route home, he spoke at the university of Chicago's Center of Continuing Education. -o- ELNA-BULTENO EDITOR DIES Donald Munro, 61, co-editor of the ELNA-Bulteno, died suddenly at his home in Bethlehem, Pa., June 20. He is survived by his wife and a son. With Dr. Rodney Ring of Muehlenberg College at Allentown, Mr. Munro volunteered to produce an all-Esperanto publication for E.L.N.A., and the first issue of ELNA-Bulteno appeared last February. Dr. Ring will assume responsibility for the Bulletin with Dr. Alexis Ostapenko of Lehigh University as consultant. An electrical engineer for Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Mr. Munro this year had a group of fellow-engineers meeting weekly at his home to study Esper- anto. He was head of the Lehigh Valley Esperanto Society for many years. The E.L.N.A. Congress at its San Francisco meeting adopted a resolution praising Mr. Munro*s devoted and effective service as teacher and editor and deploring his untimely death. -o- NEW REPRINTS: Available from the Esperanto Information Center, 156 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10010. single copies, 10C each; 12 for $1.00, postpaid. Christian Science Monitor - Young Pen Pals Leap National Barriers with Esperanto. Kenneth H. Gehrett. Illus. Free Labor World (organ of the International Confederation of Labor) - Labor and the Curse of Babel. Mark Starr. -o- A display of Esperanto material at the Stockton, Cal., public library and two 30-minute radio interviews as advance publicity for a 20-week elemen- tary Esperanto course beginning in September at San Joaquin Delta College are reported by Bob Williams, who also expects to teach an intermediate course in the fall. NL 8/70 EXCERPTS FROM PRESIDENT JONAS' ADDRESS Austria is one country in which the Head of State is an accomplished Esperanto speaker. The President of Austria, Franz Jonas, addressed the World Esperanto Congress in Vienna on August 2. Brief excerpts from his speech follow: Esperanto up until now has successfully undergone every possible test and examination to which it has been submitted by science, technical usage, politics, commerce, education and literature. What more proof about its fitness do the doubters require? Only their own experience instead of foolish prejudices. The problem of an international auxiliary language is no longer a theoretical one. Esperanto has solved this problem. It has applied its theory to practice. During the decades in many countries not only have Esperanto translations been made of books precious to the nation's literature, but many works written originally in Esperanto have appeared as well. In many countries there are Esperanto journals which not only help to create adepts and experts in the mysteries of the language but also spread abroad valuable knowledge across ethnic lines from continent to continent across the whole world. -o- International Language at international University Ft. Lauderdale University has added the word "international" to its title and the international language to its curriculum. Letters - in Esper- anto - announcing the policy went out to Esperantists all over the world this summer. The president of this Florida institution, Dr. Stanley J. Drake, said, "Now that we'll be getting more students from around the world, we will offer courses in international relations, international trade and finance, economics and marketing." President Drake boned up on his own Esperanto in preparation for a foreign tour of 110 educators from the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico early this year. The E.L.N.A. and U.E.A. Congresses offered cooperation to Ft. Lauderdale in its promotion of Esperanto as a world language. [jM'fjL ESPERANTO LEAGUE km NORTH AMERICA "^tfjF 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. NY. 10010 Return Requested i___.._ - » _ j NON-PROFIT ORG. U. 8. POSTAGE Paid New York. N.Y. Permit No. 657