From to 1989 to 2009, Generations 1989 speak out
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, European youth is called to commitment.
- Details
- Published on Monday, 22 February 2010 01:37
- Written by Jean-Baptiste Dabezies
The twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is an opportunity to revisit what it represents in our history and what are the lessons for the future. If the fall of Soviet communism took roots in Poland with the Solidarity movement, the fall of the Berlin Wall is of particular importance. November 9th is a symbol in more than one way. A country was divided, families separated and Communism showed its true face. The symbol of confrontation between East and West, between the Communist world and the free world, turned to the advantage of the last one by KO.
The fall of the Berlin Wall is the symbol of events which took place in many eastern countries. This was made possible by the evolution towards liberal democracy which happened in Poland and Hungary. Thanks to the Solidarity movement that did not fear a showdown with the regime in 1980, Poland had a pluralistic government in spring 1989. Hungary has chosen to bring down the Iron Curtain that separated it from Austria, allowing the Pan-European Picnic on the former border in August 1989. The Baltic countries have emerged to face the world with the Baltic way collecting two million people from north to south. Finally, each country had its own outcome. The peoples of the east, even after Berlin (1953), Budapest (1956) and Prague (1968) chose freedom.
This development was accompanied by particular figures of the free world. Solzhenitsyn, free spirit to the east and west, showed the world the hell of the Soviet system for those who refused to believe. He embodies the figure of the intellectual freedom that refuses to retreat into an ideology. John Paul II, Pope from the east, the son of Poland, has entertained the flame of hope. On his first trip to Poland in June 1979, John Paul II spoke clearly: "Open, open the borders of states." Ronald Reagan, U.S. president elected in 1980 to give leadership to the United States, has chosen the economic and military race with the Soviet Union to let it kneel down. He exclaims at the Brandenburg Gate on June 12th, 1987: "Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" The last general secretary of the CPSU is not the today celebrated visionary but a blind man who could see that his system certainly did not drive and who thought he could save it. He only allowed a peaceful transition.
The fall of the wall also reflects the collapse of the communist system. The system presented in the west as peaceful and respectful of the man could no longer hold. Economically, the Communist empire was ruined. Morally, people returned to their values. The sense of history was lost. The scheme based on lies, fear and enslavement was not viable. The wall was to prevent East Germans from leaving their socialist state, his fall became inevitable after the explosion in the number of refugees in 1989 ("the last to hand off the light"). Those who doubt can still visit North Korea, the last vestige of communist history.
Several men and women have pledged to stop communism, to break down the wall. On both sides of the wall, some people have chosen the fight for freedom. If the Communist regime repressed dissent in the east, the politically correct tended to exclude militants in the west. EDS Member organisations reflect these multiple commitments.
This major event in history, November 9th, however, cannot only mean the demise of communism. This ideology, like all totalitarian regimes, remains active in the world of ideas. Today as yesterday, we must fight these false and dangerous ideas. There is no sense of history, nothing is written: the commitment to truth and freedom has a meaning. The great challenge of the information society is the presence of diffuse principles of disinformation. We must respond by developing our critical thinking and fighting for freedom.
As for Europe, we only can lean on our values coming from the Athenian democracy, Roman law, and Christianity. In this field, the lack of memory or the negation of our history are the dangers we have to face. We are not an intellectual construct; states and nations cannot be merely erased: our common future needs strong roots. We have to imagine Europe as a strong independent actor in the world.
Europe is also more than the EU. Several countries are knocking on the door and shall join the EU very soon. Some countries seem to be forgotten in the communist past, but we know that the people are still fighting for freedom. EDS supports members representing countries struggling for democracy. Anyway, the change from communism to democracy takes time and, even in democratic society, we have to defend our values. That is the sense of our commitment today as young Europeans.
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