Speech by Marco Pannella

Marco Pannella at the Italian Esperantist Federation Congress

Speech held by Marco Pannella at the F.E.I. (Italian Esperantist Federation) on 24.08.90 in Padua.

Members of the Presidency, dear friends,

first of all allow me to express the greetings and the wishes for your congress on behalf of the Federal Council of the Radical Party, transnational and transpartisan as many of you doubtless know, which I have the honour of being the President of. A few moments ago, a courteous lady journalist came to me and managed, without disturbing anyone, to ask me a few questions, and urging an answer, told me: "But why an invented language?". All I could do was mumble to the direction of the colleague journalist that as far as I know the history of humanity, in the positive sense and the direction of life, is a history of inventions. On the other hand, the historical life and the moral life are a "choice" and an "invention".

An urgent necessity

And, after one hundred years, I believe that Esperanto, the international language and its general reasons, its principles and its goals, assert themselves today as an urgent and evident necessity to all. I do not believe that this authorizes anyone of us to be excessively optimistic, on the contrary, I think that history is a vast cemetery of ideal hopes and reasons, defeated by the brute force of things, and by the opposite choices of men. In a few decades, instead of witnessing a positive evaluation and diffusion of international languages and therefore also of the force of national languages and cultures, we might witness a terrible homologation, because the force and the capacity of homologation in the violence of our society today is, as we all know, extremely great.

To aim at the possible

The most probable thing is that the logic of things will prevail, that English, for example, will become "THE" language, but also "THE" culture, with an objective and not subjective violence, imposed as an international language and, I repeat, this is extremely probable for objective reasons and not for perverse subjective reasons. We must aim at the possible, you are aiming at the possible versus the probable, and this a feature common to all great revolutions, also moral revolutions.

A political battle

The question, therefore, is that of "arming" ourselves with the weapons of non-violence, with the weapons of the law, to attempt to channel this urgent necessity of the history of humanity toward the solution of the international language.I think Chiti Batelli and many of you are right, when you say you are either forced to beg, to obtain better capacities of survival as a small group than as a large one, a small or large church, or else to obtain for humanity the possibility of making the choice of an international language. And this is a choice that involves a tragical, difficult, political battle.

It is because of this battle, that we have made the choice, for example, of broadcasting all the interventions of the congress through Radio Radicale. I think that this is a historical fact. I do not think that it had ever occurred before, hundreds of thousands of people listening to and experimenting Esperanto. I think it is the first time in the world. It is a humble and simple thing, but it is occurring.

To debate creatively

On the basis of this, it will be easier to debate creatively and to express the concreteness, the dramatic concreteness, I repeat, of the choice that we want our states and our society to make.

I would like to make some suggestions or examples, before concluding. We could decide to bring the presidency of the U.E. (Esperantist Union) to the Parliament in Strasburg for a public conference in November or December, to prepare ir properly, or even as soon as October, to present our plea and concrete goals both to the parliamentarians and to the press, so that the European Parliament, the European Community and the national parliaments can decide to fulfil them or not to fulfil them. Through the Radical Party I am sure that we will at least find the consent of several European parliamentarians, who are well into the transnational and transpartisan characteristics of the Radical Party, in order to obtain the concrete availability of the European Parliament.

A specific "Charter"

On the basis of this public expression of the Esperantist Union, and therefore of all of you and, if you allow me, partly also of us, we could adopt a sort of specific "Charter", I'm not talking about great declarations of principles. And on the basis of this, immediately start the battle in order for the European Commission to prepare as from now an EEC directive in favour of the things we will ask as esperantists.

Together, with the Radical Party, we could work with the purpose of depositing these legislative text or texts, partial in detail and systematic as a whole, in seven, eight, ten, twelve parliaments, starting perhaps from the Soviet Soviet, to the parliaments of the Twelve, and some parliaments of the Third World. And see that they do not simply rest there.

(...) But at the same time, in the same terms, in the same day, an external non-violent action of support will be necessary.

And to finish with another example of a possible action, I think that already at Easter '91 if not at Easter '92, we could obtain that the message "Urbi et orbi" of the Pope at Easter be recited also in Esperanto, as well as in the other 52 languages...but we have to work on it!

The remark of an esperantist: "It's high time...!"

Marco Pannella's answer: Yes, but it's also time to allow the Pope to do so...In the sense that the Pope will probably need something to happen in order to do so. Back in 1983, I think, at a time in which we were still demonized (after the battles for divorce and abortion in Italy, editor's note) we received an expression of greeting precisely at Easter (...) (A greeting) to the radicals and non-violents who, fighting against starvation in the world, had gone to St.Peters. And the Pope did so in spite of many contrary opinions...So imagine if we were to organize an esperantist mass presence of greeting and wishes together, and he were to know it, I said SLIGHTLY mass. It is not difficult: through the radio, with other companions and friends of the party.

(...)

I have finished, I would like to thank you very much; of course, these are examples, proposals which I am addressing to you, and addressing to my party, which, being a profoundly libertarian and federalist party, must think well at what it decides, because it is a party of people who make the decisions they take literally come true as non-violents...Today the esperantist members of the Radical Transnational Party amount to a tenth of all members.

This is not enough of course. But I think it will become clear and increasingly so to all esperantists, how much this party is growing and the great possibility this transnational, international transpartisan party has, with the history and the culture it has, with even less heroes or activists the esperantist cause can count on. I think the problem is that of the safeguard and the growth of the force of this party. A party which has succeeded with those 2 or 3 thousand persons, with non-violence, perhaps, to save a few million people from starvation. I think that this problem related to a common growth is an objective problem. The question will be is we, if each one of us will succeed in turning this evident necessity also into a point of reference, a reason for hope, joy, dialogue for each of us and each of you.

I thank you and wish you the best.

(Recording by Guido Gentile, not revised by the author)