Changes in the 20th century

The 20th century has been an eventful one for world history. We witnessed an array of events that are landmarks for the generations to come, ranging from the man landing on the moon to the first commercial flight and the introduction of the internet as a worldwide commodity. Unfortunately, there are other events and personalities that will not be easily forgotten, events such as the holocaust, which have marred the very existence of man, and dictators like Josef Stalin and Pol Pot, who had absolutely no respect for mankind.

After the scourge of World War II, Europeans started to build a new Europe but in the rush to do so they neglected the enemy within and let it grow stronger and stronger until it took over a good part of eastern Europe to form the eastern bloc. Based on the false theory of equality for all under the flag of communism, it was nothing more than a mass prison where any kind of liberty was denied and those who tried to air their voices were suppressed in the most inhumane manners. So instead of building a new Europe we were left with nothing more than two divided Europes: a free Europe in the west and communist Europe in the east.

It was a tense time in the old world but perhaps none more than the Germans suffered from this outcome. After having suffered under the dictatorship of Hitler, East Germans found themselves being ruled by another dictatorship, which, in a way, left them even worse off than they were before.

While West Germans began to prosper as Western Europe started its rehabilitation process, the fellow Germans on the eastern side were left reeling and wanting for the liberty they deserved but which was denied by a hasty ink mark on the European map. While West Germans could travel freely all around the world, East Germans had the Stasi following them everywhere. This all for the sake of a dream called communism.

When Mikhail Gorbachov was elected Secretary General of the Politburo in Moscow, few believed he would bring on the changes he did in such a short time. Very few believed that his policies of perestroika and glasnost would lead to anything concrete and the perception was that these were nothing more than fancy names for usual Soviet gimmicks. But now we all know how invaluable his contribution to European and, indeed, world history was.

In the West, he was hailed for his fresh ways of thinking as he implemented a number of controversial reforms in his homeland. One of my personal all-time favourites, Margaret Thatcher, famously said: "I like Mr Gorbachov. We can do business together". It was not something she used to say with much ease at the time.

His ultimate aim was to improve relations with the West, which he did with success. He had also realised, along with many others, that the Soviet people had, at a certain point, developed a taste for democracy and would be reluctant to lose it. He was one of the few persons that had a direct and vital role in the movement that started ripping apart what we called the Cold War and, ultimately, changed history.

The border between East Berlin and West Berlin was 166 kilometres long but the changes it shaped were drastic to history as we know it. This week, exactly 20 years ago in 1989, on November 9, the leader of East Berlin's communist party said the border would be opened for private trips abroad, after weeks of talks. In 1990, an economic, monetary and social union between East and West Germany was founded, doing away with all restrictions concerning travel and by 1991 the Wall had vanished almost completely. Today, we are left with a Wall memorial at the Bernauer Strasse and, hopefully, a stark reminder of a bitter experience, a dark dream that turned into reality.

As a short side note, it is not too hard to take the metaphor of the Berlin Wall and apply it to our everyday lives. There may be instances where we may be building a little Berlin Wall of our own. Divisions that are spurred within our own village communities during the village feasts come to mind immediately.

However, something much less trivial is the division that has its roots in political issues. Even more so issues that should not be made political.

This has, even recently, caused division and I do believe it is time for the opposition to start working in cohesion with the government when dealing with particular issues instead of trying to exploit them as political tools.

Mr Casa is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.

david.casa@europarl.europa.eu, www.davidcasa.eu