November 9 - 1989

international | miscellaneous | opinion/analysis

Sunday November 09, 2003 13:58

by ipsiphi - (though I didn't actually do anything really useful)

When the Wall came down.

Many cherished readers of indymedia globally were not born. And many cherished writers of indymedia globally were still in a box which has never ended.

But the Wall is gone.

irgendwann fällt jeder mauer - some day every wall shall fall

I (for one) never met my friend's father, a man who finally took his own life before the wall came down. He had spent a life being intermittently tortured by the Stasi for being what he thought to term a "democrat".

other memories of how the wall went up:
"We walked through the border. On both sides the guard towers were empty & the barbed wire was shoved aside in great piles. Large signs told us that we needed sets of car documents. The East German guard asked if we had documents. I handed him my Danish cat's vaccination documents, in Danish. He waved us through."
In West Berlin, rent prices skyrocket as more people become homeless, while in East Berlin thousands of living spaces are empty, with no clear idea of who owns them.

Over the next year & into the 1990s huge battles took place as the German government attempted to dislodge homeless squatters.
http://www.infoshop.org/news/berlin_squats.html
http://www.notbored.org/squatworld.html
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/periodika/jungle_world/32/12c.htm
http://www.andreas.com/berlin.html

The Wall.
Official name: Stützwandelement UL 12.11
Height: (without tube) 360cm, 11.81 ft.
Width:120 cm, 3.937 ft.
Weight: (without tube)2750 kg, 433.07 st.
Length: 45 km, 30 miles
Selling price: 359 Mark each segment (East German Mark)
Numbers:about 45 000 pieces were used in Berlin
Total purchase price: 16 Million Mark (16 155 000 Mark)
Price of one bread: 1.04 Mark

Someday all walls come day,
that is inevietable,
but boxes remain.

save preference

Comments (3 of 3)

Oi!! Bulldozer

by Fergal

Tue Nov 11, 2003 02:58

Less of the "banana" talk, mate. If you don't like it go to Cuba, your system is fully functioning there.

The walls

by Bulldozer

Mon Nov 10, 2003 17:15

when are we going to remove the walls in Belfast? I refer to the so called peace lines that divide the people into separate camps. We should also look at the walls built around traveller accomodation in the banana 'Republic'and the Roma in Eastern Europe

what will we do?

by asking?

Sun Nov 09, 2003 14:18

Palestinians lead global anti-wall protest
Natasha Tynes , Al Jazeera.Net
November 8th, 2003 -- On the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, Palestinian campaigners will be joined by peace activists across the world to denounce the construction of Israel's so-called apartheid wall. Organised by the one-year-old Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, the Palestinian events are scheduled to take place primarily in the West Bank and Gaza from 9 November. That day of protest will herald a week of events that include demonstrations near the barrier construction site, a nationwide strike and informative exhibitions.

8 november 3.

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November 9 - 1989

Comments (3 of 3)