The Wall
What could be more symbolic than thousands of people using their bare hands, chisels and sledgehammers to pull down a wall? Not just any old wall. Not a partition some renovating yuppie decided simply had to go in order to justify the mortgage. This wall was the Wall — the cement and barbed wire that was a structural representation of Communism/Joe Stalin/the Iron Curtain/the Cold War/the Evil Empire/the Red Menace/why you'd rather be dead than red etc.
With Hadrian's Wall, the Great Wall of China and our own version, the Dingo Fence, the Berlin Wall was a significant historical boundary keeping A apart from B. As any black stump grazier will tell you, it's all about keeping the blighters out.
As walls go, the Berlin Wall was more a political caricature than a defence perimeter. It functioned to keep the blighters in and ideas out. It was a line drawn in the sand by a bully. No wonder the grass always seemed greener on the other side of the fence.
So it comes as no surprise that the task of its dismantling fell to those who were enclosed by it. Freedom was supposedly a world without walls. More fool them, eh? In hindsight, after 10 years, the grass after all wasn't so verdant as it seemed.
So what's one to do? Put back the Wall? Pretend that the communism it symbolised did not deserve to die? Become nostalgic about the good old days when East was east and West was west and never the twain shall meet? Hardly. History takes no prisoners. It simply moves on: clunkety clunk. The Wall falls, communism "dies"— and soon it will be Christmas. Despite such turning points in the affairs of humankind, ordinary Herr Joe or Frau Mary Blow got on with their lives.
If you think that the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the chain of events that followed closed a chapter on the life and times of the 20th century, you should think again. Ten years is a very long time in politics. Millions of us don't much care for the New World Order. It's a fact: Moses doesn't dwell in the White House. This age we live in sucks!
Ten years on, and I don't see much in the way of gloating. What's there to be excited about? In way of lifestyle support, since the Wall came tumbling down, it has got worse for most of us. Trust me. I know. The last 10 years have been a real bummer. But you won't catch me throwing up my arms and crying out in pain. Nosireee Bob. I've had it with lamentations and walls of all sorts.
When that wall came tumbling down it was like — as my dear old grey-haired mother used to say — having a good shit. (Pardon her French.) It was in the way of a good time being had by all. Gave us radicals a bad name. Skewed the political options. Stuffed up the agenda. Muddied the waters.
Next time — and there will be a next time — we will be doing it without walls.
Dave Riley
<dhell@ozemail.com.au>