Wall anniversary inspires call for unity

10 Nov 2009, 6:57 pm   -   Source: AFP
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World leaders including US President Barack Obama have issued rousing calls to pull together to solve global problems as Germany reflected on its historic day marking the fall of the Berlin Wall.

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World leaders including US President Barack Obama have issued rousing calls to pull together to solve global problems as Germany reflected on its historic day marking the fall of the Berlin Wall.
  
"Even the sky was weeping with joy," screamed the headline in mass circulation Bild -- a reference to the driving rain throughout the "Freedom Party" on Monday that failed to dampen the spirits of more than 100,000 revellers.
  
"Festival of freedom and unity. The world watches Berlin," said the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily, saying that November 9 had become the new unofficial national German day.
  
In emotion-charged speeches evoking that heady night 20 years ago when the Wall, a symbol of the Cold War division of Europe, was yanked down without a shot being fired, world leaders said that Berliners' spirit should serve as an inspiration for greater global unity.
  
"The fall of the Berlin Wall is an appeal, an appeal to all to vanquish oppression, to knock down the walls that throughout the world still divide towns, territories, peoples," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
  
In a surprise video address that delighted the cheering crowds, Obama said: "Today, there are still those who live within the walls of tyranny, human beings that are denied the very human rights that we celebrate today."
  
"That is why this day is for them as much as it is for us."
  
For her part, hostess Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, called for a new "world order" to combat global problems such as climate change and crises on the financial markets.
  
"This world will only be a peaceful and good world if we have more of a world order and more multilateral co-operation," she said.
  
Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the world's oppressed should draw inspiration from the East Germans who broke the shackles of their communist regime and forced their way peacefully to freedom.
  
"Let me thank you, the people of Berlin for showing that in a troubled world with an Africa in poverty, a Darfur in agony, a Zimbabwe in tears and a Burma in chains, individuals even when in pain need not suffer forever without hope," said Brown.
  
The overriding feeling in Berlin the day after the party was one of joy and pride as the eyes of the world turned to their city.
  
"It rained buckets ... but nevertheless, it was a lavish party. More than 100,000 Berliners and tourists celebrated at the Brandenburg Gate and made Berlin, yet again, so proud and so happy," said the Berliner Zeitung daily.
  
Photos of the spectacular firework display, concert, and the more than 1,000 giant foam dominos that were toppled along the route where the hated barrier once stood were splashed across front pages -- and not just in Germany.
  
"150,000 brave the rain in Berlin to watch the Wall fall for a second time," ran the headline in Portugal's Jornal de Noticias.
  
But the feelings of joy were tempered by the realisation that despite an estimated 1.3 trillion euros (1.9 trillion dollars) pouring eastwards since unification in 1990, eastern Germany remains poorer than the west.
  
Merkel admitted as much: "German unity is still incomplete. We must tackle this problem if we want to achieve equal quality of life."
  
She was due later Tuesday to present her government's plan for the next four years, including her new coalition's ideas for hauling Germany out of its worst recession in over 60 years.
  
In her first major policy speech since winning power in elections on September 27, she was expected to insist that sweeping tax cuts are the best way to spur growth and battle the recession.
  
The new government plans 24 billion euros (36 billion dollars) in tax cuts from 2011, in addition to cuts worth around 21 billion euros worth agreed in Merkel's first term that are due to take effect from 2010.

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