The following item is taken from the Universala Esperanto-Asocio (Universal
Esperanto Association) internal press release 181 (June 6, 2004).
Translation from the original Esperanto by Donald J. Harlow.

GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE

Between May 20 and 23, the 10th Conference of Linguapax was held in
Barcelona with "A Dialogue on Linguistic Diversity, Sustainable Development
and Peace" as its main subject. It was organized by the Linguapax Institute
with the cooperation of the Global Forum of Cultures Barcelona 2004. The
Linguapax Institute, with its headquarters in Barcelona, is the heir of
UNESCO's activity of the same name.

The conference had a number of world renowned linguists as participants,
among them David Crystal, Bernard Comrie, Suzanne Romaine, Fernand de
Varennes, Miguel Siguan and Joshua Fishman.

In addition to the presentations in the plenary session, work went on in
five parallel tracks covering: Positive models of language policy and
language planning; Study cases of language revival and normalization;
Estimating current sociolinguistic research; Language law and language
rights; Players favoring linguistic diversity.

The Universal Esperanto Association (UEA) was represented by Abel Montagut,
and the International League of Esperanto Teachers (ILEI) by Radojica
Petrovich. Abel Montagut's presentation in one seminar was very positive,
in the judgement of the presenter himself and of the chairman of the semanr
in question, Lachman Khubchandani. Almost the only objection from the
participants was that Esperanto has no support from any nation(s), and so
it cannot spread.

Radojica Petrovich presented three Esperanto projects of E@I (Esperanto on
the Internet), ILEI and Hesselbom Berlin GMBH, projects that support
linguistic diversity through practical resources and realistic action:
Lingva Prismo (Language Prism), lernu! (Learn!) and Interkulturo
(Interculture), with financial aid from the Esperantic Studies Foundation
(ESF) in the United States and from some non-Esperanto foundations.
Noteworthy attention on the part of the public has been attracted by the
principles of interlingualism, which Lingva Prismo interprets and favors
and which the other two projects apply in practice. Several listeners
demonstrated interest in the usability of the techniques and experiences of
lernu! for the learning of other languages existing in diaspora, or asked
for cooperation in applying the methods of Interkulturo.

Texts of Montagut's and Petrovich's lecture, originally presented in
Catalan and English respectively, will soon be available in Esperanto and
other languages as well.

Francois Grin, Professor of Economics in the University of Geneva, spoke
from an economic viewpoint on multilingualism and against the hegemony of a
single ethnic language. He asserted that, among other things, the general
public will understand the importance of multilingualism and the role of a
neutral interlanguage only if many specialists on various levels inform
them of these things.

Overall, more than 50 specialists, students and interested parties received
information on Esperanto's role in support of linguistic diversity.
Francois Grin, too, mentioned the positive role of the international
language several times. On Sunday evening, May 23, two Catalonian
sociolinguists, Miquel Siguan and Jesus Tuson, were interviewed in a Forum
arrangement titled "141 Questions". As part of the topic "If everybody
spoke English, would people understand each other?" both mentioned Esperanto.


-- Don HARLOW
http://www.webcom.com/~donh/don/don.html
Opinions (in English): http://www.harlows.org/don/opinions/
Esperanto (in English): http://www.harlows.org/don/esperanto/
Literaturo (Esperante): http://donh.best.vwh.net/Esperanto/Literaturo