Now the West is Building the Walls

Europe celebrates these days, 20 years to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the event that signified the final victory of the West in the Cold War, the democracy over the dictatorship, the free market over communism, and freedom over bondage. The wall represents at best the differences between the approaches. 

Twenty years have passed since the world has changed beyond recognition. From a world that on the brink of nuclear war between two super powers that do not intend to compromise on their way. To a world where globalization is the key word. A world in which distances shorten and disappear, trade between countries is increasing, capital flows from one end to the other in seconds, and huge migration between continents. If we were telling to John F. Kennedy after his "I am a Berliner" address" or to Ronald Reagan during his speech in Berlin, where he urged Mikhail Gorbachev "tear down this wall", what we have achieved in so little time, and where the world came to, they probably were thrilled. 

However, now twenty years after, the tables turned. History playing its beloved game, and the players changed sides on the field. This time the West is the one building the walls. Sounds odd? It is not. This is the reality in which we are living. 

The same stone wall and fences that divided Berlin, are replaced today by giant steel walls, equipped with the best cameras and technology, all in the courtesy of the United States and the European Union.  Nowadays, instead of East Europeans seeking to escape to the West and stop at the Soviet iron curtain, there are South American immigrants that want to reach the United States, the land of dreams, in searching for a better life, just like the parents of those who live there today. But have to face a huge wall located between the Mexican-American border. A wall that was not shameful to any Soviet state.

Today only twenty years after the East European from former Soviet Union seeking to reach the EU countries meet the New Berlin Wall, who copied itself just a few thousand miles to the east. And now stands between Poland and Ukraine, between those who In the Union and those who not, separate between those equal more in Europeans' eyes and less equal. And of course the giant walls in Melilla and Ceuta the two Spanish cities of in northern Africa, that have only one purpose stop the flow of African immigrants seeking refuge and work in rich Europe.

It seems that just one generation after the war ended, only one generation of wealth and a satiation, we forget about fighting the principles fought before us. Freedoms, democracy, free movement, equality all have been forgotten. And from a world where the West only will and hoped to link with the citizens of the East, We became a world in which democracies that actually won the war have adopted the same methods they were fighting, and chose to shut and build their own walls.

Unfortunately, I guess that if Ronald Reagan were alive today, instead of flying to Berlin, he was flown to El Paso or San Diego, get up on the stage, stood behind the podium, and in charismatic way turns to President Barack Obama screaming at him. "Mr. Obama, Open this Gate. Mr. Obama, Tear Down This wall".