Although Some Claim That the Collapse of the Berlin Wall Changed Little, It Was an Event of Colossal Significance
The recent anniversary, 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, spurred a welter of negative emotions. Some people claim that the years following the collapse have been a major disappointment, that many other barriers have sprung up in its place, that the world still stands divided and that Russia did not get what it bargained for. But there is something infinitely more important about the events of 20 years ago – they proved that a totalitarian regime is doomed to fail. Whether or not we managed to take advantage of the opportunity that arose is a different matter.
If we try to schematize the existing variety of opinions, here is what we’ll end up with.
The choir on the right:
It was certainly an important deed, a memorable event, we greeted it enthusiastically. But the following years betrayed out expectations. The day when the Germanys were united, Friedrich Schiller’s Ode to Joy was playing all around: embrace each other, the millions! And the millions embraced. Then they pulled away, cringed and wiped their lips squeamishly. And went on living as before. One wall disappeared, and another one sprung up in its place. And so on down the list. The enlargement of NATO. The bombing of Yugoslavia. Racial prejudice toward Russia on behalf of some new Europeans. A double standard – one for Kosovo and another for Ossetia and Abkhazia. The Big Europe’s disdainful indifference toward the fate of Russians in the Baltic States. The willingness to forget about all of the people, politicians and journalists who went missing under Alexander Lukashenko’s watch, as long as Alexander Grigoryevich continues bargaining with Europe by playing the Russian card…So maybe the Berlin Wall was merely a concrete manifestation of a different barrier that has separated the East and West for centuries? And unlike now, 20 years ago we didn’t realize what’s going on, and threw our bonnets up in the air when we should have been smirking.
The choir on the left:
What a sad celebration this actually is. Twenty years ago we all hoped that full-scale freedom had arrived, that Russia has chosen a wonderful, European way, and that democratic institutions, multiplied by economic competition, will recreate the Russian mentality. And nowadays, what do we see, oh brothers? What are we witnessing? First there was emaciating corruption, albeit with freedom of speech. Then there was the same corruption, but with censorship. The self-destruction of elections. Statism in anything and everything. The tandemocracy. Quarrels with the contiguous world, both on serious grounds and over nothing at all. The empire has turned into an ordinary bulkhead for Gazprom, foreign policy is meant to protect the corporation’s interests by acting both as a security service and a PR shield. If something doesn’t go Gazprom’s way, there is immediate conflict. And again, the double standards: we criticized the West that recognized Kosovo, while together with Hugo Chavez we recognized our separatist neighbors…
What’s there to say? That the former are right about some things, and the latter—about others? That in the second half of the 1990s, our Western partners started behaving arrogantly, broke all of their oral agreements with Mikhail Gorbachev and started treating Russia as a third world country, except with a nuclear bombs? That today, a common German citizen, without any kind of direct censorship, will not see the Nazi marches in Estonia and Latvia, because they just don’t make in on the air? That Lukashenko has milked Russia to the fullest without giving anything in return, carefully wiped his hands, and turned around to milk Europe, after which it turned out that he is not a dictator but simply an intractable politician? Or should we mention the fact that having gotten mad at the West, our wise politicians began acting according to the “cut off your nose to spite your face” principle? If the Baltic States are caressing the Fascists and putting pressure on the Russians, that means Joseph Stalin did not commit any crimes against the Baltic countries. If in London they are haughtily saying that they know better whom to grant asylum, then we will smother all human rights organizations at home. If NATO is expanding, we have the right to destroy the electoral right. And so on.
But let’s talk about something else instead, like what the former and the latter are wrong about. Twenty years ago, justice prevailed. The fateful mistake of the 20th century that so easily divided people and butchered cultures was corrected. The Berlin Wall, which served as a visual symbol of this divided world, crumbled. Not because Mikhail Gorbachev and Helmut Kohl came to an agreement. But because the people who had put up with communist power for so long and who had made a deal with it, unanimously becoming members of the ruling party, admonishing traitors and ratting each other out, all of the sudden said “no” both to the authorities and to themselves. We don’t want to live this way anymore, no matter what awaits us ahead. The past is gone, forget it. All of the obstacles that stood in the way were instantly swept away. How we all took advantage of this chance is another thing. But that which inspired us 20 years ago was grandiose. A dead system was pulverized, a weight was lifted off the shoulders—this cannot be forgotten. Just like it is impossible to forget Victory Day: ask your parents, those who are still alive will remember. Later, this victory was taken away from the people, but still, it has meaning and power in and of itself.
It is necessary and even essential to criticize the following years, your leaders, yourself and your neighbors. But this is not about the day of unification, not about the fall of the wall. But about something else. Twenty years ago, a great event took place: the might of an outside force gave way to human dispensation. And that means that totalitarian systems can endlessly strengthen themselves, divide the planet up in segments and decide the fates of peoples, and it doesn’t matter: they are doomed from the beginning. The walls will collapse and freedom, as Alexander Pushkin taught us, will joyfully greet us at the entrance, and our brothers will put down their swords. And if they pick them up again, if we give up freedom one more time, then we’re worthless. While a celebration costs a lot. In the end, all of us are going to die, which doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t enjoy life. Celebrate the birth of a child. Set birds free at the first sight of springtime. And hope for eternity and love, which is more powerful than death.
