Hillary Clinton says, “Our history did not end the night the wall came down.” Her point is that there are many more walls that stand between people and freedom. Many of you are celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall, but which barrier would you like to see come down next?
09
Nov
09
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BBC World Have Your Say 
Two more walls for you:
The invisible–but very real–wall that separates the rich and the poor all over the world. The differences between, say, drought-stricken Africa and glittering urban America are far greater than between East and West Berlin.
And, on the topic of America, another wall that troubles me is the extreme polarisation in US politics which causes the left and right to be so distrustful–even paranoid–of each other.
@ Bob in Queensland,
Don’t forget there is the wall of blindness to climate change in which we have the power to reverse the dangers of. Our escapist natures are nudging us to rush to Mars and Jupiter before we fix our beautiful blue marble.
The other wall is that of post education ignorance; that of the false assumption that nowe we have come to the misinformed conclusion that morality is subservient to us and we can do what we bloodly like. We continue to applaud moral decadence in society as a hallmark of libralism since we think we are the entire future. Funny enough the ruling classes hungry for votes continue to cheer. This is not funny.
These words are so true. They should be written on a wall — like the wall that has the names of the Viet vets.
The long standing wall between the rich and the poor.
The walls among races
The walls among religions
The walls between genders
I am optimistic, there will be a day when we see a world without any such invisible walls.
Im a linguist in training so,i definitely would say…get rid of language barriers(thats a wall), walls of racism, religion,…and i could go on an on…..
Congratulations to thr people of Germany as they continue to unite as one:-)
The walls of international trade that globalization has created between the First and the Third world. The lack of labour mobility where immigration and migration is tightly controlled both internally and externally in the First world.
The most dangerous walls are the ones that are constructed in ourselves to imprison our minds and hearts. Politicians want power and money. They can only achieve this power by playing on our fears, convincing us to hate and reject someone/something different, and walling us in to support their agenda.
Smash down this wall and connect with your fellow man. All other walls will crumble in consequence.
When the wall came down, some proclaimed it the end of the cold war, the end of history as we knew it. Fastforward 20 years and the cold war is getting hotter but not just between the Soviet Empire and the Western Empire, you look up and down the globe and there’s war, and there are physical walls as well as socio-economic ones. Of the physical walls, I want the wall that separates the two Koreas, the wall of the West Bank, the wall on the Mexico-US border, etc
The wall that divides East and West Jerusalem.
I would like to see the fall of the wall that Israel has built around the the Gaza ghetto.
Israel has ghetto-ized the Palestinians just like the Nazis did to the Polish Jews and that is a horrible historical irony.
Shameful.
Walls falling is a grand symbol that feeds the need for a quick fix most industrialized nations feel. I hope many things will fade away. Most have already been named in two posts. Actually rapid change is often harmful. People don’t have a chance to adapt. Gorbachev had a solid plan for change. His intentions should be accepted because he started it all. But Yeltsin came along, whipped up a frenzy, and unintentionally gave massive power to the first group strong enough to take it , organized crime.
And six of the seven wealthiest Russian criminal oligarchs who have looted their country’s resources have Israeli passports or dual citizenship eligibility where they can flee and have fled to evade prosecution, protected by Israel’s refusal to extradite. This is described in some detail by Jeff Gates in his book, Guilt by Association.
The wall between ignorance and enlightenment is almost impenetrable. In many cases ignorance is bliss. Ignorance perpetuates violence and hatred. World understanding and world peace are unattainable as people build walls of superiority according to rank, wealth and age-old religious beliefs.One just has to look at the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The insurmountable wall of prejudice lives on!
Living in Prague for 10 yrs beginning in Sept. 1990 & visiting Berlin, I remember the energy in the air at that time – it’s was euphoria. People were so happy for their freedom, freedom we all thought we would never see in our lifetime. It was electric! I’ve had goosebumps over & over again listening to 20th Anniversary stories and remembering . . .
Equality and comradery of men.
-Anthony, LA, CA
So many stories of the fall of the Wall and after demonstrate the differences between the generational views. But one constant is that there was no comprehensive plan for the transition of these centrally planned socialist systems to democratic, market-based ones. There were many good things about the old system that were thrown out in their zeal to change and the whole process was confusing. Better to consider was done right and how we can improve the process in the future.
the metaphorical walls in these comments are all nice ideas to break down, but there are a number of structures at which citizens are still shot dead for trying to cross.
and i appreciate the lack of Ronald Regan glorification.
The older I get, the more I appreciate him. But while he did speed the end, he did not bring it down. I think most people realistically recognize his role.
The walls of untruths and the walls of silence that grow overnight.
I agree with the woman on the show who lamented the lack of recognition of cultural or other achievements of the people of East Berlin.
My father grew up in West Berlin, he was 16 years old when the wall was built. I was 16 when it fell. I live in Eastern part of Berlin today, there is so little left to remind of the years of the GDR. People who grew up in East Germany were forced not only to take on the political system of the West, the baggage of capitalism but cultural icons, even the West German national anthem. The example of the “Ampel Männchen” is one of very few where the East German “won”, which means at least they werent destroyed and replaced by the Western ones.
And yes a little disappointed, it could have been more equal and accepting of what the Eastern Germans could have brought to a unified Germany.
Sorry, I couldn’t make it to the show today, have enjoyed it from afar.
I”m really curious, unless Berlin has changed a lot, there are still tons of Soviet Monuments in Eastern Berlin (and some in Western, like the Sowjet Ehrenmahl). I recall seeing a huge memorial to the Soviet Union at Treptower Park, I recall seeing “Es lebt die Maechtige Sowjetische Union” signs, and this was back in 1997. There were statues of Marx and Engels by the Berliner Dom… maybe the Government structures are gone, the Palast Der Republik probably got knocked down because it was filled with Asbestos, but there are SO many reminders of communism and the Soviets there, unless the city has changed much since I was last there in 1997. And honestly, I thought the eastern parts of Berlin were cooler anyways.. I’m not into shopping, more into history, so walking on the Ku’damm wasn’t my cup of tea anyways.
The last great wall is between selfishness and selflessness, between personal desire and societal needs, between national sovereignty and global community. Although it is so slight, the smallest child can see over the top, few will ever overcome it. The works of man are easy to alter; but human nature is not.
g
Just about the time of breaking down the berlin wall , China started breaking down the wall of poverty and backwardness and preventing the walls of neo colonialism from imprisoning the minds of the 3rd world countries to believe the west is superior and they are inferior. The great firewall is to keep out barbaric and garbage aim at undermining our self esteem. I don’t get 50cents , neither am I brainwashed. I ‘m not from China.
I found it noteworthy that this broad-based discussion of the Berlin Wall included only one brief mention of its current very conspicuous counterpart, Israel’s separation wall in Palestine, a mention that was quickly brushed over. Does collective guilt make it politically impossible for Germans to teach the terrible lessons about aspiring to racial supremacy and racial purity to Israelis who are replicating these attitudes and many similar practices in their treatment of the Palestinians? Richard Falk, a Jewish-American Princeton Emeritus Professor of International Law and UN Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, stated even before the Gaza massacre that Israel’s blockade of Gaza could be compared with the Warsaw Ghetto. Jewish resistance then was called heroic. Palestinian resistance now is called terrorism.
The walls erected between citizens and goverment by beaurocrats, power brokers (politbeuros) so that they countinue holding our leaders hostages without our knowledge. Tear these down so that our leaders do not one day go to retirement like strangers in their own countries.
The walls that seperates all humanity from a few corrupted and lonely celebrities. Lastly, I hate the walls of terror errected by misguided few. They too think that all of a sudden they have become clever and more often only manage to hurt only those that are inocent. If I were them I would be very much worried of such evil fantasy.
The DMZ in Korea would be a good place to start as it literally is the Asian counterpart of the Berlin Wall and there are 8 million people starving on one side…
There’s also this wall, present in the minds of fanatics and their idiot followers and apologetics worldwide (including spoiled Western teens and students who think they’ve got the world figured out when they protest against everything and everyone, except those things that should really be protested against), a wall that locks up common sense, keeping it from reaching out to ignorance, I’d like to see it fall, but I guess it’s just part of our nature.
Lots of kumbaya moments on this topic. Honestly, though, what I’m really curious about is how the East Germans see the West Germans, and vice versa. I have the same curiosity with respect to North and South Koreans.
Francoise alludes to some friction, but doesn’t spell it out completely. Assuming there are stereotypes that are “common knowledge” in Germany, do they still apply to, say, Generations X and Y? Or are the younger people more on an even keel?
I remember those years well, starting with Romania in 1989. Or perhaps, with Pol;and a couple of years before that? But Romania clinched it for me. It was something unbelievable to watch. It seemed then that the Cold War would never end, since it had been going on my whole life. And FINALLY, at long last, the Eastern Block people began to take charge of their own lives, for a change. Wow. It seemed it would never happen.
The dirty wall of human disrespect and distrust must crumble first before any talk on peaceful co-existence.
A display of triumphanlism. An indulgence in displayed of western superiority. It can work in europe or maybe? Please don’t expect it to work everywhere except to allow the western imperialist to control our mind and expect us to allow perversions that is enshrined in the so call human rights .
The virtual walls of distrust, between various countries of the world, can only be brought down if the peoples within them learn/behave to be fair, tolerant and compassionate towards one another, in the times of their crises or urgent needs; And for that, this maddeningly materialistic world of today ought to do away with the inhuman vices of indifference and injustice towards each other. This is a conscientious issue, which can only be tackled with mutual tolerance and trust between the peoples and through good and ethical governance; Any walls, virtual or real, can only thus be prevented from being raised, and that’s precisely how the existing ones can be brought down.
A million walls of racism, regionalism and tribalism in many parts of the world; my country included: they should be brought down.
I would like to see the fall down of the walls of social values, norms and practices that made the position of women inferior in society, especially in 3rd world country.
Chintan in Houston complains aginst the Israel wall
Question: It is legitimate to build barriers preventing immigrates and not to prevent terrorists?
Example of barriers in Arab countries:
Saudi Arabia wall along Yemen border
Saudi Arabia 900 km barrier along Iraq
The Turkey separating Cyprus
United Arab Emirates barrier along Oman
Kuwait 215 km barrier along Iraq
Morocco 2750 km wall along Algeria
Many additional barriers in Europe, USA , India, Pakistan, Thailand .
Non is compared to the Berlin wall. Only Israel wall:
‘Berlin wall” was build to keep people desiring freedom inside East Germany.
“The Israeli wall ” is build to protect the free Israeli people from Arab terrorist attacks
@M Ariely
It is bad enough when countries build walls to separate themselves, but it is even worse when countries take land belonging to others, claim that land for themselves and build a wall to protect it.
One interpretation of the “Israeli wall” is that is there to take more Arab land (it is built mostly on occupied land) and defend the Israeli occupation from attacks, and of course it is against international law, but who listens to that anymore eh?
In any case, it is a consequence of the Middle East conflict. Resolving the conflict will resolve the issue of the wall.
The more pressing wall is the one that exists in our minds that stops us from resolving conflicts and living in peace.
RE “” I found it noteworthy that this broad-based discussion of the Berlin Wall included only one brief mention of its current very conspicuous counterpart, Israel’s separation wall in Palestine, a mention that was quickly brushed over. “”
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——– More noteworthy is the insistence by some to force the square pegs into the round holes.
There is a vast a gulf between the Israeli fence and the Berlin Wall as there is between the Berlin wall and your backyard fence.
When the world removes all of it’s fencing, the Israeli fence will come down. It was erected only after an internationally signed and sealed Palestinian state was delivered to Arafat in 2000 that he threw into the bin before launching waves of hundreds of suicide bombers into Israel.
My, how quicky Pal supporters brush over their transgressions.
I tend to think that the biggest obstacles and the biggest barriers are within ourselves. They exist in our minds as prejudices, misconceptions, stereotypes and fanaticism long before they actually take any concrete form in walls between nations, or in laws and organizations creating injustices and inequalities between people. When we have dealt with these walls and barriers in our minds, perhaps then there is hope that also those external walls will come down.
Hillary Clinton has spoken! The next wall to fall must be the “tortilla wall”, that ugly barrier between Mexico and USA. It is a slap on the face on humanity.
This wall means that the american dream, is just a new Inquisition backed up by racism, intolerance and the such. USA can not walk without the aid of this
illegal inmigrants. USA has been a pot of nationalities and the one that was sustained by the robbery of half the territory of Mexico in 1845, made that
mexicans became by force part of the USA. California the richest state was part of Mexico. Without California and Texas, USA would be a small country.
This barrier pretends to stop drugs entering to USA. The problem is not the drugs. The problem is that 10 million addicts pay the price. But the commerce of illegal arms is not stopped from USA to Mexico.
The other virtual wall that must fall down is the embargo to Cuba. A catholic president like Kennedy did this just to prove that he was the boss. Almost 40 years have elapsed and all the presidents after him, including Obama, have not complied with the majority of the world. Guantanamo has a barrier that makes cuban territory alien to cubans. When this walls come down then Hillary can talk of freedom. Until now this are only words on the air.
I dont know what Hilary clinton meant but i wrote more than two decades ago in 1986 that the cold was had to end for humanity and earth and the beginning of end cold war i 1989 and the fall of berlin wall was inevitable. Bu the wall of westbank and the barbedware fence in vanni of tamil people of 300000 at the beginning forced to surrender as save heaven by the govt of sl now a reflection of cancer of the society’s rulers and he world did nothing sofar to realsie their freedom and democracy.
The next wall is almost ready. It goes mainly through Palestine, separating many Palestinians from their property, in order to keep Jews and Muslims apart.
claudine comment:”The next wall is almost ready in order to keep Jews and Muslims apart.
Claudine- your comment is pure propaganda.
I am posting few examples of the reality/
However who cares about thought when it comes bashing Israel?
1: During Jordan government of the west bank Israelis where not permitted to visit holly places. Some limitation of Christian’s activities has been imposed.
This is separation
2:During Israel government the holy places are open to everyone.
3: Following the 1967 war for more than 33 years Arabs from the west bank and gaza could move moved freely all over Israel/
250000 of them worked in Israel.
No wall- where is the separation?
However after the mass Arab terror attacks against the Israeli civilians, the Israeli government the duty to protect the citizens.
4: Israel has helped people from Gaza to cultivate vegetables and flowers by modern technology and export the products to Europe.
Following Israel disengagement from Gaza- the Hamas has destroyed the infrastructure because it was learned from Israel
This is separation