Beyond the Iron Curtain

This article will always be a source of pride for me. Yes. I do write for AugustMan now.

Twenty years have passed since the Berlin wall came down. And while the world gathers to commemorate the end of the cold war and the reunification of the once divided nation, one wonders how much has changed, if at all.

Economically, Berlin had been designated a test bed of free-market "western" capitalism and centrally-managed planned communist economy. East and West Berlin, both culturally and economically alike at the end of World War II were split between Russia and the remaining Allied Powers.

For all intents and purposes, human flight from East to West has stood testament to the strength of free-market ideologies. West Germany, propelled by capitalist ideals, progressed into an industrial and economic powerhouse while East Germany, continued to stagnate essentially becoming a time capsule of 1950s products and architecture.

Indeed, little has changed. We are still in an absurd arms race, conflicts are still fought on ideology albeit of a different nature and most importantly, the recent global financial meltdown is proof enough that the free-market isn't exactly the stellar example of economic theory.

The world hasn't become a fairer place. Disparities in wealth continue to exist globally and even within national boundaries. The physical demolition of a schism hasn't proven that centrally managed economies are doomed to fail. It has only shown that given enough time, the selfish actions within a free market can doom the rest of us to economic failure.

Yet for all the gloom, we can still take comfort in the fact that the wall's fall was the result of the human will for change and reform. That ideologies of any kind divide and separate. That in order for us to progress, we must question once-indisputable "truths” and cast light on blind faith. That ultimately, the utopian future, lies in our hands and not in the hands of our leaders. We must want heaven for ourselves.