30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall
Speaker: Ska KELLER (Germany, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Date: 2019-11-13

  Ska Keller,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, thirty years ago, the Wall did not just fall, it was brought down by very courageous people, people who took a very high and very concrete personal risk. They fought for fair and free elections, for the freedom of expression, for an end to being caged-in and under constant observation – all those things that we take for granted right now. But back then, those demands could get you into prison, they could get you tortured, lose your job and lose your social connections. But despite all of those risks, people took to the streets, organised already long before 1989, and never gave up. It is this courage that changed the world and it is this courage that’s still changing the world today.
Also today, we need to be vigilant, not to forget the lessons from 1989. Democracy needs to be gained every day again and again, in every action that we do here in this House but also everywhere in Europe. Unfortunately, there are governments right now who are trying to dismantle democracy, bit by bit. This is a disgrace, especially given the sacrifices that the citizens in countries like Hungary made to free their country. Those who shut down universities, those who arrest civil society and build walls against refugees, they are betraying the demonstrators from 1989.
(Applause)
Freedom is something that needs to be expanded every day as well and too many people are still not free in this world, not free for who they are, whom they love or where they’re from. We are all citizens of this world, born free and born equal. Discrimination and hatred should not prevail.
Freedom of expression is also being curbed when hatred and threats are being issued and used against people active in politics, active in their communities. When people there are faced with threats on an everyday level, then this is a problem for freedom of expression, as well as democracy. Constant observation is also becoming a trend again, but we should never forget what history teaches us – surveillance, a control state, does not lead to freedom or security. It ends both. We don’t know what the future will bring, and any law we do here always needs to work also when governments don’t mean well.
Things have changed a lot over the past years, over the past 30 years especially. If you look at the border zone now that once divided Germany, where hundreds of people lost their lives trying to cross looking for freedom, often also being assisted by other people who helped them, this area is now a major production area, safeguarding climate and biodiversity for the future generations and becoming a symbol of hope. The borders that divided Europe have now become places where people meet, get to know each other. But let’s not forget, there are many walls still up today that need to be torn down. There are many people today, as back then, who are looking for freedom. Let us not turn our back on them. Let us not forget what it means to look for freedom, to not have it and then to gain it.
Without the courageous people thirty years ago, I wouldn’t be here and many colleagues would not be either. Europe as we know it, only exists because the wall that divided us all finally was torn down. But 9 November 1989 is not a date where we should hold commemoratory speeches and just congratulate each other on how well it all worked back then. I believe it is an anniversary to remind us to be courageous, to tear down the walls that divide us and to be the change that we want to see in the world.