Finvenkismo and raŭmismo

Finvenkismo hopes Esperanto will become everyone's second language. Raŭmismo, from a 1980 manifesto, says that is neither likely nor essential, and that the speakers should get on with living in the language. UEA answered in Prague in 1996. Both sides can quote the Declaration of Boulogne.

fin-venk-ism-o: reading the words

Every word in this argument is built from pieces. Fina venko is the final victory; add -ism- for the outlook and -ist- for its follower:

• Li estas finvenkisto. - He is a finvenkisto.
• La raŭmismo naskiĝis en 1980. - Raŭmismo was born in 1980.

Raŭmo is the Esperanto name of Rauma, the Finnish town, so the outlook is named after a place, like a treaty. Desubismo works from below, through clubs and ordinary people; desuprismo from above, through governments and schools. Each turns a direction into a doctrine.

Raŭmo, 1980

The Manifesto was written at the 36th International Youth Congress, in Rauma, Finland, on the theme "Esperanto in the 80s". Three facts are usually left out:

About a hundred people had signed by the end of 1980. Its headline claims:

• officialisation is nek verŝajna nek esenca, neither likely nor essential, in the 1980s;
• bringing down English is nek tasko nek zorgo, neither the task nor the worry, of Esperantists;
• being an Esperantist is kvazaŭ la aparteno al mem elektita diaspora lingva minoritato, as it were belonging to a self-chosen diaspora language minority.

Its closing challenge: Esperantists have shown they can talk about anything in the language; now they must say ion kulture originalan kaj internacie valoran, something culturally original and of international value.

Prago, 1996: the reply

UEA's answer is the Manifesto de Prago, mainly written by Mark Fettes. It is often said to have been adopted by the congress. It was not: UEA's Committee adopted it on 20 July 1996, and congress members were asked to sign it one by one.

That is 550 of 2,972. UEA kept collecting: the 11,111th signature came in May 1998, and the total passed 13,000 in 2005. Each of its seven principles ends with a sentence beginning Ni estas movado, we are a movement (por lingvaj rajtoj, for language rights):

It says the speakers' aims ne perdis gravecon kaj aktualecon, have lost none of their weight or relevance: a direct answer to Rauma. But it argues as language policy, not as a coming victory.