35 years ago this week (this past Saturday) the Berlin Wall came down. Over the months and years that followed, tens of millions of people in Eastern Europe gained or regained freedoms. Today we're seeing a march of authoritarianism around the world. I, for one, do not think it will last. (1/2) - ThreadSky

ramez.bsky.social • 105 days ago

35 years ago this week (this past Saturday) the Berlin Wall came down. Over the months and years that followed, tens of millions of people in Eastern Europe gained or regained freedoms.

Today we're seeing a march of authoritarianism around the world. I, for one, do not think it will last. (1/2)

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ramez.bsky.social•105 days ago

People want freedom and will fight to get it. Free societies will outperform unfree societies - economically, culturally, industrially. As dark as the current tide is, I believe we'll turn it back, and that the future will be better than the past. We'll make it so. (2/2)

andre-sobolewski.bsky.social•105 days ago

My business partner and co-founder grew up in East Germany. His ambitions were atrophied because many rules limited his life. He had no desire, other than getting by until tomorrow.

He developed a new lust when the wall came down: he craved to achieve something meaningful with his life.

laney502.bsky.social•19 days ago

👊💥👊

nathanmesser.bsky.social•14 days ago

When you say you don't think it will last, are you thinking like the 12 years of Hitler or the 30+ years of Franco? Because both of those seem pretty long and led to a lot of death and destruction!

e2dot7182818284.bsky.social•105 days ago

Absolutely, that's why I think that the distinction that Professor Snyder highlights between positive & negative freedom, between "freedom from" & "freedom to"
is so important . Recommend his new book, discussed eg here ⬇️ https://youtu.be/Cv4dbR7xRfk?si=PGOCZ9YyzQky2QSP

ericallyn.bsky.social•105 days ago

I still remember watching this on CNN(?) and there's one particular scene that has stuck with me.

The camera is taking in the wall and the people swarming around it, and there's a border guard in frame who's just watching.
1/x

ericallyn.bsky.social•105 days ago

The camera catches him as he turns around, and he notices that he's being filmed.

And he just ... smiles a little, and gives a small shrug.

His life has just gotten much more unpredictable, but he looked *relieved*.

e2dot7182818284.bsky.social•91 days ago

I was in Prag on Jan 1st 1990 & breathed the spirit of hope … it was gone a few years later, replaced by a sense busy buck making A sense of disappointment clouded the city, fast food stalls everywhere…it smelled of disappointment.

e2dot7182818284.bsky.social•91 days ago

My last visit is now a couple years ago, but then feeling had changed again, it conveyed a sense of having found a way to flourish.

Still… as Tim Snyder highlights, the in many ways the iron curtain cut "the west" off & that still lingers in many misconceptions
https://youtu.be/G99hLYPhysY?si=FgLsAVAcuAcBtFGF

e2dot7182818284.bsky.social•91 days ago

about the german colonial war w/ USSR for the control of the bread basket Ukraine, about the holocaust, or about what Stalinism & the Holodomor https://youtu.be/wVkM44gym1c?si=vIqOHvKtENqzRKcm

ewinternm.bsky.social•73 days ago

I don't take huge comfort in your prediction because I won't live long enough to see it. Also, climate collapse makes recovery from bad things all the more difficult. (More of a Cassandra here.)

marcellovitale.bsky.social•105 days ago

from your fingers to God's feed! May authoritarians have soon their comeuppance

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