Russia: Bloggers Discuss 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

: Berlin Wall in front of Brandenburg Gate – 1989, by

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall not so numerous Russian bloggers remember, celebrate and discuss the historical event that some call “the most important event in the history of the 20th century.” For most of the Russian bloggers ‘The Fall’ is a memory from childhood/adolescence, an act rather mythical than real.

Some bloggers use the date to remind their readers about the current political situation, some practice their cynicism, but most of the bloggers ask themselves: “Why no one talks about this date? Why it is not publicly celebrated?”

Former Advisor of the President Andrei Illarionov (aka LJ-user aillarionov [RUS]) writes [RUS] on his blog:

Today, 20 years after, the world celebrates “the most important geopolitical event” of the end of the 20th century – crash of the totalitarian communist dictatorships in Europe. It is celebrated in many countries.

But not in Russia. And not in the dozen of other post-Soviet states that are not only stuck but also got deep into new authoritarianism.

Russia's demonstrative neglect of this very important event of the whole epoch emphasizes the scale of the new wall that took a place of the destroyed one.

This wall is invisible but nonetheless effective in trying to isolate citizens of our country and our brothers in grief from the rest of the world.

Ilya Faibisovich (aka LJ-user faibisovich [RUS]) is also surprised [RUS] by the lack of publicity:

It's really incredible […] that “Echo of Moscow” [a liberal radio station], “Lenta.ru”, “Gazeta.ru”, or any decent Russian “news portal” (even “RIA Novosti” or “Interfax”) did not have “something” that is present on the Web sites in the rest of the world. And this mysterious “something” has a lot to do with Russia. And now it seems that it doesn't have anything to do with it. But there is lots of news (depending on your taste) like “dead Soviet actors”, “how much trains does Kim Chen Ir have,” some cop who learned how to use a videoblog [link to GV material [ENG]], and Ginsburg's [Nobel Prize winner] obituary.

Another blogger, SynthThesis, considers the event as a loss rather than a win:

As someone “born in the USSR,” I have a pretty specific attitude toward this topic. I think there are lots of people to “spit around” about it even without me.

[…]

Now the illusion that everyone can really decide for herself is put into [our] brains by the actions of all those paid truth-lovers better than in any computer game.

Some bloggers used pictures to commemorate the event. LJ-user Amelito posted a collection of photos [RUS] of the dismantlement of the Wall. LI-user Sotvoryaushij Miry [RUS] shared 17 photos [RUS]. Privet-user Gernov51 [RUS] posted the chronology of the events of 1989 that led to the end of the Cold War [RUS].

Additional Info
According to the survey taken by Levada Center on October 2009 [RUS], 63% of respondents consider the Fall of the Wall as a positive/rather positive event while 11 percent see it as a negative one. The Fall of The Wall is the second popular answer (24 percent) to the question “Which events of 1989 you find the most important”; 50 percent of the respondents name the withdrawal of the Soviet troops from Afghanistan as “the most important” event of that year.