BONVENO EN AMIKEJO *
Welcome in the place of friendship
Willkommen am Ort der Freundschaft
Welkom op de plek van de vriendschap
Bienvenue à la place d`amitié
Our 2017 conference theme is inspired by the intriguing story of a little country by the name of Neutral Moresnet, that existed for a bit more then 100 years, in between The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
Apart from some less romantic economical arguments (zinc mining) that led to the creation of the little country of only 344 ha, there are some appealing aspects in its short history that made us dream of a kind of Europe that we would love to live in. Moresnet became a freehaven for different kind of refugees not welcome in their own country or region anymore. It was a tax paradise and it was legal to distil alcohol. There were strong impulses to make it the first country having Esperanto as the official language, and its name would be changed into AMIKEJO, the land of friendship. There was a flag and a national anthem in Esperanto ready to be sung when the first world war made an end to those dreams.
So, using the story of Moresnet as a metaphor for what we are aiming for and inspired by the fact that the convenors come from the three adjacent countries, we thought to fire up that dream again and even better than before.
bonvolu, dividi tiun songon kun ni, idi vin en maio en Amikejo
please share this dream with us, see you in may in Amikejo
* (a.k.a Neutral Moresnet)