President of the World Esperanto Association
Encyclopedia
The President of the World Esperanto Association (Universala Esperanto-Asocio or UEA) is the elected leader of the World Esperanto Association
World Esperanto Association
The World Esperanto Association is the largest international organization of Esperanto speakers, with members in 121 countries and in official relations with the United Nations and UNESCO. In addition to individual members, 70 national Esperanto organizations are affiliated to UEA...

 and is chief executive of the UEA steering committee (Estraro).

History

Prior to 1920 the President of the UEA governed the UEA Central Committee (Komitato), because no separation yet existed between the Estraro and the Komitato. Over the decades the functioning of the presidency remained unchanged, and the president's relationship with the other Estraro members and the UEA general secretary depended on the times and on his or her nature, with correspondence between the president and the general secretary providing practical guidance for the UEA. According to the plan of Ivo Lapenna
Ivo Lapenna
Ivo Lapenna was a Jugoslav Professor of Law, Esperanto speaker, and President of the World Esperanto Association...

 (1955), the president was to have mostly an executive role, whereas the general secretary would perform everyday duties, but this system was followed only during the time when Lapenna himself was general secretary (1955–1964).

From 1936 to 1947 the majority of the organized Esperanto movement left the UEA, headquartered in Switzerland, to establish the rival International Esperanto League
Internacia Esperanto-Ligo
The Internacia Esperanto-Ligo was for 11 years the largest and most important neutral Esperanto federation, reuniting in 1947 with the World Esperanto Association, from which it had broken away in 1936.-Helsinki system:At the UEA's founding in 1908, the question arose of how the UEA would work...

 with offices in Britain. In 1947 the two groups reunited. Because Louis Bastien
Louis Bastien (Esperantist)
Louis Marie Jules Charles Bastien was a French Esperantist and a quartermaster in the French army. In 1899 he married Marguerite Pfulb ; the couple had three daughters and two sons. In school he learned mathematics, classical French literature, Latin and Greek and learned to compose Latin verse...

, the sole IEL president, had previously been UEA president, his name appears here integrated into the main list.

Swiss period

  • 1908-1916: Harold Bolingbroke Mudie
    Harold Bolingbroke Mudie
    Harold Bolingbroke Mudie was a British esperantist. He served as the first President of the World Esperanto Association.He learnt Esperanto in 1902, having read about it on the Review of Reviews...

     (Great Britain
    Great Britain
    Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

    )
  • 1916-1919: (vacant)
  • 1919-1920: Hector Hodler
    Hector Hodler
    Hector Hodler was a Swiss Esperantist who had a strong influence on the early Esperanto movement....

     (Switzerland
    Switzerland
    Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

    )
  • 1920-1924: Eduard Stettler (Switzerland
    Switzerland
    Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

    )
  • 1924-1928: Edmond Privat
    Edmond Privat
    Edmond Privat was a Francophone Swiss Esperantist. A historian, university professor, author, journalist and peace activist, he was a graduate of the University of Geneva and a lecturer for the World Peace Foundation...

     (Switzerland
    Switzerland
    Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

    )
  • 1928-1934: Eduard Stettler (Switzerland
    Switzerland
    Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

    )
  • 1934-1936: Louis Bastien
    Louis Bastien (Esperantist)
    Louis Marie Jules Charles Bastien was a French Esperantist and a quartermaster in the French army. In 1899 he married Marguerite Pfulb ; the couple had three daughters and two sons. In school he learned mathematics, classical French literature, Latin and Greek and learned to compose Latin verse...

     (France
    France
    The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

    )
  • 1936-1941: Karl Max Liniger (Switzerland
    Switzerland
    Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

    )
  • 1941-1947: Hans Hermann Kürsteiner (Switzerland
    Switzerland
    Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

    )

British period

  • 1936-1947: (Internacia Esperanto-Ligo
    Internacia Esperanto-Ligo
    The Internacia Esperanto-Ligo was for 11 years the largest and most important neutral Esperanto federation, reuniting in 1947 with the World Esperanto Association, from which it had broken away in 1936.-Helsinki system:At the UEA's founding in 1908, the question arose of how the UEA would work...

    )
    Louis Bastien
    Louis Bastien (Esperantist)
    Louis Marie Jules Charles Bastien was a French Esperantist and a quartermaster in the French army. In 1899 he married Marguerite Pfulb ; the couple had three daughters and two sons. In school he learned mathematics, classical French literature, Latin and Greek and learned to compose Latin verse...

     (France
    France
    The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

    )
  • 1947-1956: Ernfrid Malmgren (Sweden
    Sweden
    Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

    )>

  • Dutch period

    • 1956-1960: Giorgio Canuto (Italy
      Italy
      Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

      )
    • 1960-1962: Harry W. Holmes
      Harry W. Holmes
      Harry William Holmes OBE, was a board member and honorary president of the World Esperanto Association...

      , acting president (Great Britain
      Great Britain
      Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

      )
    • 1962-1964: Hideo Yagi (Japan
      Japan
      Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

      )
    • 1964-1964: Harry W. Holmes
      Harry W. Holmes
      Harry William Holmes OBE, was a board member and honorary president of the World Esperanto Association...

      , acting president (Great Britain
      Great Britain
      Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

      )
    • 1964-1974: Ivo Lapenna
      Ivo Lapenna
      Ivo Lapenna was a Jugoslav Professor of Law, Esperanto speaker, and President of the World Esperanto Association...

       (Great Britain
      Great Britain
      Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

      )
    • 1974-1980: Humphrey R. Tonkin (U.S.A.)
    • 1980-1986: Grégoire Maertens (Belgium
      Belgium
      Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

      )
  • 1986-1989: Humphrey R. Tonkin (U.S.A.)
  • 1989-1995: John C. Wells
    John C. Wells
    John Christopher Wells is a British phonetician and Esperanto teacher. Wells is a professor emeritus at University College London, where until his retirement in 2006 he held the departmental chair in phonetics....

     (Great Britain
    Great Britain
    Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

    )
  • 1995-1998: Lee Chong-Yeong (Korea
    Korea
    Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

    )
  • 1998-2001: Keppel Enderby
    Kep Enderby
    Keppel Earl "Kep" Enderby QC is a former Australian politician and retired judge. Enderby was a member of the House of Representatives, representing the Australian Labor Party between 1970 and 1975, and became a senior cabinet minister in the Gough Whitlam government...

     (Australia
    Australia
    Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

    )
  • 2001-2007: Renato Corsetti
    Renato Corsetti
    Renato Corsetti is an Italian esperantist who served as president of the World Esperanto Association between 2001 and 2007. He was born in Rome, Italy and is a staunch defender of the idea that the people of the world should be able to communicate in a neutral and easy international language...

     (Italy
    Italy
    Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

    )
  • 2007-present: Probal Dasgupta
    Probal Dasgupta
    Probal Dasgupta is the current president of the Universala Esperanto-Asocio ....

     (India
    India
    India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

    )

  • See also

    • History of the World Esperanto Association
    • World Esperanto Association Steering Committee (Estraro)
    • General Secretary of the World Esperanto Association
    • World Esperanto Association Central Office
    • President of TEJO (Tutmonda Esperantista Junulara Organizo or World Esperanto Youth Organization)

    External links

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