people made history twenty years ago. in the truest sense of the word: they created historic facts.

because that night was not special. nothing like any of the mass demonstrations days beforehand or the desperate mass exodus of thousands to west germany. nothing special was said by günter schabowski, official of the socialist unity party of (eastern) germany. he merely announced the lifting of all travelling rules for citizens of east germany.

which motivated tens of thousands of people to immediately go to the berlin wall and demand their right to cross the border. the vastly outnumbered border guards simply opened the access points and allowed them through - leading to a revolution without a single shot being fired and the biggest spontaneous party berlin had ever seen.

people on the streets created the historical facts that lead to the end of the cold war and the reunification of germany.
that evening was made possible by reforms in eastern europe - namely hungary and poland, especially by people like polish trade union activist lech wałęsa and his solidarność.

lesson from those events?
1. peaceful change is possible.
2. your voice counts. grassroots campaigns can move the world.
3. some warm, rainless autumn nights are always helpful when trying to get people on the streets to demand political participation.



---------- contemporary artworks dealing with the subject ----------


---------- historical images ----------

regarding the last image: also from 1989. to remember those whose freedom of thought is still oppressed.

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update january 24th, 2009: against elitism
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