Berlin Wall and Company

by JAMP | November 12, 2009 at 12:11 pm

256 views | 53 Recommendations | 27 comments

Night Captain, a friend from the South, posted about Walls. He was inspired by the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of Berlin Wall, a past symbol of socialism.

According to corporate media coverage, it seems that Berlin's is the only wall that matters, even when it's absent at present.

Nigth Captain reminded that the wall lifted by the United States in the Mexican frontier causes 150 deaths every year, while the wall of Berlin, from 1961 to1989 according to data provided by anticommunist sources, took 125 lives in that time.

The Wall lifted by the State of Israel to isolate and to suffocate Palestine, measures about 721 kilometers and the international community called dramatic humanitarian consequences for the daily life of the Palestinian. A total of 187 countries condemn it as act of violation genocidist.

Soon, Europe will treat immigration issues as a bigger crime. Spain also keep walls, but nobody speaks about them.

But Berlin's is the only that matters, despite many Russian, Czech, Hungarian, Poles and German people have realized that they were deceived by capitalist machinery. Many of them were seduced and psychically pressed to yearn, making western paradise an object of desire.

The Night Captain talks about some exchange when the Wall felt down : freedom of eating Mac Donalds and zapping 181 TV channels for people that granted their brain.

The walls of the shame by Mister Sarkozy, Mrs. Merkel, Mister Brown, are the invisible walls of hunger, unemployment, illiteracy and divided societies are here, in this World. There is no anniversary celebration for them.

Thanks, Captain, and please keep reporting.

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Amy Judd

at 14:10 on November 12th, 2009

Thanks for bringing this issue to our attention.

Mikethompson

at 15:09 on November 12th, 2009

http://www.flickr.com/photos/freestylee/

Mikethompson has contributed a photo to this story.

Roy C

at 15:49 on November 12th, 2009

Thanks for the nice piece of propaganda, JMP.

Cuba is an island wall that keeps Cubans in. They want to leave, but you don't let them Cubans are treated as serfs by Cuban government, just like the serfs who couldn't leave their masters estates in Russia or the slaves in the US before 1865.

So, tear down your Cuban wall, there, JMP.

Amy, you missed the point. Mexico's wall doesn't keep Mexicans in. We want legal immigration and border control. The lack of it has produced human trafficking, drug smuggling, gang wars.

There is no "right" to enter the US. There is however a right to leave Cuba which Cuba does not recognize.

So, how about letting Cubans leave and knocking down your wall, there, JAMP.

Amy Judd

at 16:13 on November 12th, 2009

Wow, please don't tell me what I did and didn't miss - that's really presumptuous of you. I didn't say I was for or against anything, just thanks to bringing it to our attention. You're reading your own thoughts in to my comment, please don't.

Karen Hatter

at 21:19 on November 12th, 2009

Well said, Amy.

There is extensive projection in those presumptions, given your comment merely thanks JAMP for bringing awareness to the NP community.

Roy C

at 18:43 on November 12th, 2009

Well, excuse me, Amy. You weren't saying that the US border wall is like the Berlin Wall? Sorry, if I got that wrong.Did I get it wrong?

Karen Hatter

at 16:36 on November 12th, 2009

Great piece, JAMP.

caj1

at 19:00 on November 12th, 2009

I agree Karen. It's a brief and lyrical piece about walls that divide worldwide. However, I would just like to point out that between U.S. and Mexico, there is only a wall along certain miles of the Rio Grande river. A lot of it is just desert and river, with no wall. Many of the deaths that occur, happen because of the heat, and the danger in trekking miles from Mexico to the U.S. Border Patrol police have a dangerous job, as it is, because of the drug traffikers also crossing the border. Just wanted to point this out, as background to this piece.

Hugh Askew

at 04:24 on November 13th, 2009

Strange article coming from Cuba.

Strange that all those folks tired of eating McDonald's aren't hightailing it to the Cuban paradise.

rng

at 17:38 on November 12th, 2009

This article was written by someone who lives in Cuba, it isn't about Cuba. You are making points that have nothing to do with the post - that is a very odd response to make.

Hugh Askew

at 19:40 on November 12th, 2009

The writer said: "........many Russian, Czech, Hungarian, Poles and German people have realized that they were deceived by capitalist machinery......freedom of eating Mac Donalds..."

I responded with: "Strange that all those folks tired of eating McDonald's aren't hightailing it to the Cuban paradise."

I would think that those folks that feel they were deceived by capitalism, or seduced by it, are tired of eating at Micky D's, and hunger for the communist paradise, would be on a plane for the Cuba.

Seems a logical conclusion, if the premise that they were seduced by capitalism is correct.

Although we don't hear of a whole lot of people getting into rickety old boats to sail to a new life in Cuba, do we?

Paschen

at 19:53 on November 12th, 2009

HA, Cuba would not be big enough for all those you mentioned and they like it a little cooler, climate wise to. Further, there is no place like home or is there?

It is true though that the left has been gaining again in Europe and especially in the former East block, and yes most of the former east block nations perceive Capitalism as just another evil, however none wants to go back to what they had under Stalin either.

Most want a true Social Democracy with strong Marxist ideas that are well defined.

Paschen

at 18:24 on November 12th, 2009

The Berlin wall was to stop people from leaving their country were as those walls are to stop people from entering.

East Germany was only a Socialist regime in NAME, its whole structure and functioning was a continuation of the previous fascist regime though.

West Germany by its constitution and laws was on the other hand a Social Democracy based on Karl Marx his philosophy.

Sadly though the walls we put up, no matter the reason always have a negative impact and prove that way to much injustice is around us still today.

The greater the walls and the greater the injustice it tries to hide or dismiss.

Many more walls will have to fall before our world will be a just one and equal one as well.

Good posting. Thank you.

J2B (not verified)

at 22:49 on November 12th, 2009

this week, I watched a CNN program about the Berlin Wall. There are people living in what was East Berlin who wish the wall was still in place and wish for the "good old days!"

Roy C

at 18:51 on November 12th, 2009

How about a post, there, from Havana, Cuba about the blogger you all beat up the other day?

Thousands have ended up in jail and some great number dead under the Marxist-Leninist regime in Germany.

Thousands have attempted to flee the Cuban Wall and hundreds have perished or ended up in prison for the crime of wanting to leave Cuba.

It is a moral failing of great magnitude to so confuse an issue as to compare the Mexican border fence and the Berlin Wall.

How did you feel, JAMP, when the BerlinWall fell?

J2B (not verified)

at 22:46 on November 12th, 2009

how do we actually know the poster is living in Cuba, I don't actually believe most of the profiles on NP?

Paschen

at 01:13 on November 13th, 2009

You could ask NP STAFF they know.

J2B (not verified)

at 02:16 on November 13th, 2009

Paschen they only know what they are told? Many on NP cloak their true identities, even their sex sometimes. We can only take it at face value!

Paschen

at 06:42 on November 13th, 2009

You can not hide your IP address, it does give away the Country, not the gender though nor the personal ID. But the country of origin is known. Even the City can be know in many cases.

J2B (not verified)

at 09:23 on November 13th, 2009

Paschen, you are so wrong about that. You can use a proxy, it's very easy, which cloaks your IP address and even changes it every time you log on. More than 50% of my web serving is via proxy, and my country moves every time I open a new tab. These things are free and available to anyone who cares to seek them out. The only way I can get into some news sites, like Burma, is with a proxy. I've been blocked from entering Burma for many months. This also applies to China at times. I have a proxy built into all my browsers, I just click on it and it takes care of everything. This along with AdBlock I use daily, although I did turn off AdBlock just to see what the new ads looked like on NP, what can I say, I immediately the AdBlock again!

Paschen

at 14:30 on November 13th, 2009

Is that why every one knows who you are J2B, regardless of all the new ID's you keep giving your self?

I think one has to be some what paranoid or ill intended to go through all this trouble that you state here.

Most people are more honest and well intended then you may want to believe.

The_Cynic

at 20:25 on November 12th, 2009

The Great Wall of America - you can see it from space!

What does that tall woman in New York have to say about bringing your huddled masses ... or do I have that wrong? It could, of course, mean that the US doesn't mean what it says unless it means that bringing cheap labour is no longer an option and US corporations rely on slave, child and imprisoned labour to produce the cheap goods that are imported - by those same companies - into the US so they cannot employ Americans at a fair days wage and make billions in profit.

Americans employ illegal immigrants! If they didn't then those illegal immigrants would go back home - or starve!

10 illegals for the price of two Americans - ahhh, the smell of the 'free market'!

When are they starting to build the wall along the Canadian border? I have spoken to many Canadians who want it built. No, seriously!

caj1

at 20:37 on November 12th, 2009

Yes, the quotation from Emma Lazarus's poem is correct, the poem that is celebrated both at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. She was an immigrant, but she was celebrating the "opportunity" of America, not the opportunity of being victimized by the capitalist system. This is exactly why we must now be hard on Wall Street excesses, and big bank bonuses being given while the little people suffer. Emma Lazarus was ahead of her time. She wasn't writing about Wall Street...she was writing about the opportunity of arriving as an immigrant to the U.S.A.

QueensHart

at 20:33 on November 12th, 2009

LOL. He's Back!! Wonder what really lurks underneath the surface of those who love to talk big tough words against America!

If You build it promise you won't come?

The_Cynic

at 20:42 on November 12th, 2009

Are you replying to me, QH?

If so, as I asked with Roy, it is polite to hit the "reply" button - then people can see what and to whom you are replying.

If you mean the wall across the Canadian border - that was proposed by G W and his government, as far as I know there isn't that many Canadians who are wanting to cross the border into the US other than people who can save a fortune on buying cat food, and then returning to Canada with a great deal.

I have been to the US a few times, great country, great people - though some are a wee bit misguided as to what it is to be a member of an international community.

Thanks for the welcome back, BTW, I really should be less busy and concentrate on NP - please forgive me?