The Fall of The Wall

Woman's March on Versaille

Note the wall behind the woman

The Berlin Wall





 

After watching the video in the previous post about the Woman who stormed Versailles; I am amazed about the threshold of tolerance people have before they finally rise up. If rising up, like in the French Revolution, is possible, it could have happened earlier than it did.

I was thinking about the difference in violent change (France, 1789 ) versus, relatively peaceful change (Berlin, 1989)

Womans march on Versaille, October,05,1789
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_March_on_Versailles

Peaceful Revolution in East Germany
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaceful_revolution_(German)

I remember my friend, Chris Gunn at SFU, Burnaby, telling me that the Berlin Wall had fallen. I did not have TV (four years without) so I did not see any images.

My thought was, "perhaps this is good for world peace",  but I felt sad that Capitalism did not have a opponent.

Little did I know that six years later I would be living in the former East Berlin, a short distance from where history happened on  Bornholmer Strasse.

I feel sad not having been part of such a momentuous event, however, this historical event is a part of my son's history.

The first images I saw were in 1995 and they still make me cry.




Film by Carsten
2008

November, 09, 1989

The Fall of The Berlin Wall

 

It's always the small people who change things.

It's never the politicians or the big guys. I mean, who pulled down the Berlin wall? It was all the people in the streets. The specialists didn't have a clue the day before.

Luc Besson