Aspects of the Ethiopian Nations, Nationalities and Peoples in the new Millennium

It is a great honour that you invited me to address this gathering with a few words.

If I understood it correctly the subject of your conference is all about practicing federalism and the question how can the different groups of the peoples and nations of the Ethiopian Federal State express themselves and their special identities on a nationwide scale and how can e.g. artists, media and linguistic experts facilitate this?

Well, it is perhaps worthwhile to look across Ethiopia’s borders in order to get some food for thought from the experiences other multicultural societies have made in this regard.

Let us take the European Union e.g. The EU consists of 27 member countries. The people living in these countries are speaking at least 24 different languages, not counting virtually hundreds of different dialects. These languages and dialects constitute a rich cultural heritage which in my view needs to be preserved. At the same time language is always one of the strongest expressions of the identity of a people or a nation. To prevent people from practicing their mother tongue therefore means nothing but destroying an essential element of their identity and removing their roots. This is why in the European Union all languages spoken in member countries are legally equal. In practice of course an organization like the European Union cannot function and operate if everybody would insist to speak only in his own language. In practice, therefore, English and French are the most used languages in the day-to-day work of the people who work in the institutions of the European Union in Brussels.

In a multicultural and multilingual environment such as in the European Union the promotion of learning languages is essential. This can be done in many ways: the earlier you start to learn other languages, the better. Therefore, in my opinion, language classes should start right from the first school day of children.

Another important tool is the modern electronic media: France and Germany, e.g. are running a joint TV-Channel (ARTE). These are but two small examples how the importance learning different languages in a multicultural and multilingual society may be promoted.

The media should certainly also plays an important role in transporting ideas and in supporting and promoting dialogue between different groups of a multilingual and multicultural society. Of course this has to be done in a responsible and impartial manner.

Also, artists of all kinds are ideally placed to bridge gaps in widely diverse societies, such as musicians – because music knows no borders!

Before coming to the conclusion of my remarks, I would like to mention another example from my own country for a dynamic interpretation of federalism: when we celebrate our National Day on the 3^rd October (which marks the day of reunification of the two Germanys), each year a different member of our federation is in the lead to organise the celebrations and by doing so has the opportunity to present its own distinctive identity to the other members of the federal family. Media, artists from all walks of life contribute each year to these colourful celebrations. I have the impression that Ethiopia has taken up this idea by celebrating the Nationalities Day for the first time not long ago.

I can only encourage you to continue with these kinds of presentations because they symbolize the richness of cultures and traditions of the Ethiopian peoples and nationalities.

I wish this gathering all the best and thank you for your attention.