Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Itiyoppiya Federaalak Demokraatik Rippeblikih የኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ Rippabliikii Federaalawaa Dimokraatawaa Itiyoophiyaa Jamhuuriyadda Dimuqraadiga Federaalka Itoobiya ፌዴራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ ኢትዮጵያ
Flag Coat of arms
Capital and largest city	Addis Ababa
Official languages	Afar Amharic Oromo Somali Tigrinya
Area
• Total	1,104,300 km²
Population
• 2022 estimate	123,379,924

Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in East Africa.

History

Overview

The History of Ethiopia can be usefully categorized into four periods:

1. To 1270: Antiquity
2. To 1500: The Ethiopian Middle Ages (which ecompasses the beginning of the Zagwe Dynasty to the beginning of the emergence of Islam and the end of the early Solomoic period)
3. To 1855: The Gondarine Period
4. To present day: The Modern Period (begining with the End of the Zemene Mesafint, "the Era of Princes") under Tewdros II in 1855.

Italy attempted to colonize Ethiopia in the 19th century but was defeated by Emperor Menelik's forces in 1896. Fascist Italy overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie and occupied Ethiopia from 1936 to 1941. Haile Sellasie was reinstated as Emperor and continued to rule the country until 1974. Starting from the 50s, the United States started to exert neocolonial relations in Ethiopia.

In 1974, the Ethiopian Revolution took place, which ultimately brought the Derg to power. The Derg was chaired initially by Mengistu Haile Mariam (he was replaced by Aman Adom in September 1974), who later became head of state in 1977. The monarchy was formally abolished in 1975, and replaced by a socialist government in Ethiopia. In 1987, the Derg was formally dissolved and the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia founded, which was overthrown by the TPLF and other groups in 1991, establishing the Transitional Government of Ethiopia. In 1995, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was founded.

Politics and government

Demographics

There are over 80 ethnic groups in Ethiopia. The largest nations in the country are the Tigray (6.1%) and Amhara (27%), who speak Semitic languages,and the Somalis (6.2%) and the Oromo (34%), who speak a Cushitic language.

According to the most recent census conducted by the Population Census Commision of the FDRE in 2007 (which recorded a population of 74 million), 43,5% of the Ethiopian Population are Orthodox Christian (Tewahedo), 18.6% Protestant (mostly Pent'ay) and 0,7% Catholic, which totals to a christian population of 62,8%. In addition, 33.9% are Muslim, 68% of which identify as Sunni, and 2% as Shia. The census lists 2.6% of the population as being adherents to "traditional religions".

Languages

Since the 29th of February 2020 (as decided by Ethiopia's Council of Ministers), the FDRE has five working languages: Afaan Oromo, Tigrinya, Somali, Afar and Amharic.Prior to this decision, Amharic was the only working language of Ethiopia, and it remains the de facto second language of many Ethiopians because of this status. Amharic and Afaan Oromo are considered to be lingua francae of Ethiopia. Ethiopia has a literacy rate of 52%.

The 2007 census reported 85 Ethiopian ethnic groups vs. 80 of the 1994 census, and the 2007 census reported 87 Ethiopian mother tongues vs. 77 of the 1994 census. However, this same paper also notes:

"the persistent difficulty concerning differences between names of languages and their dialects, and between self-names and names, often thought derogatory, given by others. Of course even the notions 'ethnic group', 'mother tongue' or 'language' are not well defined, but are non-discrete entities, and the facts which, in particular cases, would give them clarity if not satisfactory definition are many and probably impossible to elicit in a census. The Ethiopian census seems not trying to identify and count all Ethiopian ethnic groups and mother tongues, or even a well-defined subgroup of these. The apparent absence of expert advice in these matters (or at least in the census reporting) is understandable, given the certain difficulties of choosing among experts, interpreting the advice (probably often contradictory), and implementing it."

The same author elswhere states about the 1994 Census:

"linguistic findings of the Census seem reasonably consistent with the typically un-quantified and often intuitive knowledge of Ethiopianist linguists" [despite of the] "expected difficulties for the Census arising from the political sensitivities associatied with linguistic and ethnolinguistic questions, an unsystematic and ambiguous linguistic nomenclature, and the practical problem of reaching and sampling in all corners of Ethiopia."

indicating the census reliability. The Ethnologue page for Ethiopia lists 87 living and 2 extinct languages, broadly in the Afro-Asiatic (Semitic, Cushitic and Omotic) and Nilo-Saharan (Surmic, Gumuz, and Koman languages) language families (excluding sign language for Amharic).

Politics of language and nationalities

The politics of language in Ethiopia broadly encompasses two related but distinct topics: a) Whether a policy of linguistic homogenization existed, and if so, to which extent, its role in "nation-building" efforts and the shift in policy in the 1990s as well as the political consequences of both and b) the politics of personal langauge choice and its instrumentalisation for political aims. I.e., the national-polticial and economic problem, and the personal problem. Relatated to this is the problem of nationalities in Ethiopia, the emergence of Ethnonationalism as a political force in Ethiopia etc.

Walleligne Mekonnen, marxist activist in the Ethiopian Student Movement, states in his (in)famous account of the problem of nationalities and languages in Ethiopia in the text "On the question of nationalities in Ethiopia":

To be a "genuine Ethiopian" one has to speak Amharic, to listen to Amharic music, to accept the Amhara-Tigre religion, Orthodox Christianity and to wear the Amhara-Tigre Shamma in international conferences. In some cases to be an "Ethiopian", you will even have to change your name. In short to be an Ethiopian, you will have to wear an Amhara mask (to use Fanon's expression). Start asserting your national identity and you are automatically a tribalist, that is if you are not blessed to be born an Amhara. According to the constitution you will need Amharic to go to school, to get a job, to read books (however few) and even to listen to the news on Radio "Ethiopia" unless you are a Somali or an Eritrean in Asmara for obvious reasons. To anybody who has got a nodding acquaintenance with Marxism, culture is nothing more than the super-structure of an economic basis. So cultural domination always presupposes economic subjugation. A clear example of economic subjugation would be the Amhara and to a certain extent Tigrai Neftegna system in the South and the Amhara-Tigre Coalition in the urban areas."

Walleligne Mekonnen is here referring to the 1955 Constitution, which adopted Amharic as the offical language of the Empire of Ethiopia. In this quote, the political importance of language in Ethiopia is described and its content can be used as a useful starting point.

The History of the politics of languages and nationalities will be examined in more detail in the following sections, as it has undergone dramatic shifts in the modern history of Ethiopia.