Temat: 76 dni do MILLENNIUM :)
UNPLUGGED... czyli wszystko i naprawde
* * * * *
'For me the most important and enduring aspect of the country is the people of Ethiopia; I love the Ethiopian people. Everywhere I go in Ethiopia I just find a wonderful quality of humanity that I don't find elsewhere. And that's what appeals to me'.
* * * * *
Greetings,
Ethiopia is in its final stages of turning into the next millennium.
In only 56 days time the New Millennium will dawn. The events of the last several months have undoubtedly cast a shadow over Ethiopians' optimism for the millennium celebrations and the mood is now anything but festive with the sentencing of some the country's intellectuals in the government's political trial.
This should have been a time for reconciliation and a time to show the world a unified, revitalized and optimistic Ethiopia eager to use the millennium opportunity as an incentive to help Ethiopia get back on track again. With only 56 days to go, we are running out of time – but we aren't out of faith. We should believe – for we are believers – that there still is time to undo mistakes and start the New Millennium the way we truly should - by truly celebrating. And the world is watching.
AN ARTICLE BY AN ETHIOPIAN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR ON ETHIOPIANS AS PERSONS OF THE MILLENNIUM
The editorial staff of The Ethiopian American - an online magazine published by The Ethiopian American LLC - a New York based Limited Liability Corporation - made the decision recently that all of the Ethiopian people are persons of the millennium. And Dr. Ayele Bekerie - an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Cornell University in Ithaca - New York – wrote an article on the subject: Ethiopians as persons of the millennium. The article is a wonderful justification as to why the People of Ethiopia deserve to be named Persons of the Millennium. But it also gives a definition of what it means to be Ethiopian. At EthiopianMillennium.com, we believe that we cannot do justice to such a brilliantly written article by taking excerpts from it to include in this newsletter. So we just invite you to read the article in its entirety on the NEWS section of our website.
OUR INTERVIEW THIS MONTH
Professor Donald Levine
Professor Donald Levine is a professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago and is an expert on Ethiopia. His relationship with Ethiopia began in the late 1950s when he embarked on a postdoctoral work of study in the country. One of the few things he did when he first arrived in Ethiopia was study Amharic and live in the countryside for a year to practice the language speaking with the locals. Because there were no English books on Amharic grammar at that time except for one written in Italian, Professor Levine had to teach himself Italian first in order to lean Amharic grammar from the book. And in order for him to be able to practice speaking functional Amharic, he lived in Menz, Gojam and Gondar – in northern Ethiopia - for a year and became proficient. 50 years later today, his Amharic is still intact and speaks it with an incredibly high-level of fluency. He is an American you can talk Amharic with.
In this interview, Professor Levine says:
On Ethiopia in general,
'For me the most important and enduring aspect of the country is the people of Ethiopia; I love the Ethiopian people. Everywhere I go in Ethiopia I just find a wonderful quality of humanity that I don't find elsewhere. And that's what appeals to me'.
On the New Millennium,
[…the millennium] offers an opportunity for Ethiopians of all backgrounds, ethnic, religious, political, generational, and ideological to come together and celebrate what they have in common and to appreciate what they have in difference. I also think it is important to overcome the bitter hatreds and divisions in Ethiopia that have grown up in the last twenty years or more, and I think it is crucial what the government does with respect to the people who are in prison now and whether that can be some kind of movement toward reconciliation and movement toward overcoming the terrible polarization that has taken place in the last year and half.'
On the standoff between the government & the opposition,
'…I think this is overwhelmingly a political matter in which both sides have made mistakes, have made terrible mistakes, and both sides just look at the mistakes that the other one makes instead of at their own. Both sides need to acknowledge their own mistakes and need to forgive the other and until that is done I don't think that Ethiopia can really move forward very effectively as a national community'.
On the Ethiopian Diaspora,
'…the Diaspora really is part of the Ethiopian homeland and wherever they live, they owe it to themselves and to their country to play some kind of leadership role in the present setting'.
He also tells us what he believes to be the best possible way to celebrate the New Millennium in Amharic. The interview is conducted both in English and Amharic and you can listen to it by visiting the NEWS section of our website.
PERSON OF THE MILLENNIUM ANNOUNCEMENT
Ethiopians across the world have been casting their votes since May 2004 on our website on 54 Ethiopian personalities in 10 different categories to decide the Ethiopian to be named Person of the Millennium. By the end of January 2007, there were 52, 910 votes cast. The person voted as Ethiopian of the Millennium will be announced in a ceremony in Melbourne – Australia - on Sunday, August 19, 2007. We will be accepting votes until August 15 and the results will be made available on this website once the announcement ceremony is conducted. Please contact us if you would like to participate in the announcement ceremony.
IN PICTURES
On the evening of Sunday - July 08, 2007 - Mahmoud Ahmed of Ethiopia performed live on stage in Montréal - Canada - with his famous band run by veteran Ethiopian artists as part of the city's International Jazz Festival for 2007. We have pictures sent to us from Montréal. For these pictures and all the other articles, news stories, and our interview with Prof. Donald Levine, please visit our NEWS section.
And that is about all we can say in this newsletter. A lot more will have happened by this time next month with regard to the New Millennium and we will make every effort to make sure that you are aware of it.
Best Wishes,
Befekir Kebede
Editor,
http://www.ethiopianmillennium.com
--
BEFEKIR KEBEDE
MULTIMEDIA DEVELOPER
Tel: +61 431 661 277
contact@ethiopianmillennium.com
http://ethiopianmillennium.com
пропозиції роботи
