Well some evidently don’t. A group of MEPs has had to write to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe regarding the continued ban on public events organised by gays in Russia.
The 22 euro-politicians emphasised that ‘since May 2006, the Russian Federation officials have banned 167 public events planned by the local LGBT community in Moscow and other cities across the country.’ This is the 21st century and all that. More shocking still is that marches that have gone ahead have often resulted in beatings. Again, this is the 21st century. Extraordinary, really, as Russia is just sooooo gay:
The Gay Russians – A History Of
Moscow’s mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, and police chief, Vladimir Pronin have both said that they will for the fourth consecutive year not allow pride events. The latter individual, who, dare I suggest, is perhaps “latent,” has said that gay marches in Russia’s capital are ‘unacceptable’. And went on, ‘I positively agree with the Church, with the Patriarch, politicians. . . . man and woman should love each other. It is established by God and nature.’
On May 16th, Moscow will be hosting the Eurovision song contest. Coincidentally, the date has also been chosen for the next Moscow Pride. Did I say ‘coincidentally’? Hmmm. No doubt the “priders” will make the most of the televisual opportunities open to them, and who can blame them? I suggest T-shirts depicting photoshopped images of the mayor and police chief “enjoying” one another’s company. . . .
The only thing I am unhappy about the Eurovision Song Contest is that the use of English, in the Contest increases year by year.
As a native English speaker I think this is unfair!
It’s certainly time to break the habit of “language imperialism”, in the Eurovision Song Contest, and use a song, sung in Esperanto instead!
This is a serious suggestion, as you can see from the Esperanto music which is already available at http://www.vinilkosmo.com/?prs=listen or at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670
There’s even cheesy Esperanto music available! See http://www.ipernity.com/home/56084
Eurovision in Esperanto – great idea. Failing that, Latin . . .
The Esperanto suggestion is a good one. It’s a language I have used for many years.
There are over 500 million people in the European Union. 38% claim to speak English well enough to hold a conversation – that’s roughly 190million people. Esperanto is only spoken by a few hundred thousand people across the entire planet. I know some say it’s one, maybe two million, but that’s generally disputed.
Saying that, the linguaphile in me does agree that it’s a shame so many countries sing in English, but then again it’s a shame people sing in the contest at all.
If the European Song Contest were to include a song in Esperanto it would draw the attention of millions of people to the language, and help teachers of modern languages to achieve better results, for information about a project called Springboard to Languages (available on Google) shows that Esperanto is being taught in four British primary schools, as a means of increasing language awareness. English has become an international language through the dominance of the British Commonwealth and the United States of America, not because it is logical, phonetically spelt, with a predictable system of word-building: all features of Esperanto. Children who learn Esperanto gain confidence in learning a foreign language, and this helps them to learn national languages in the secondary school. The Springboard to Languages project is being imitated all over Europe through Esperanto-en-lernejojn, which is also on the web. Best wishes from Weston-super-Mare.