The Berlin Wall: Repression and poverty on one side, moral equivalence on the other.
I was just browsing the Tate website (I’m a frequent visitor to the London galleries) when I came across this (highlighting mine):
Generation Berlin WallEscape from the Real
Iron Curtains and Dark FantasiesSaturday 7 November 2009, 19.00In Escape from the Real, the tense condition of a capitalised and militarised world on one side and the repressive atmosphere of a dying state on the other side of the Wall are met with eeriness, ecstasy and the grotesque. In East and West, experimental filmmakers were strongly inspired by punk aesthetics and music. The programme creates a sensual journey into anarchic moods and resistance against the deadlocked reality of the Cold War. This programme presents films by Yana Yo, Claus Löser, Lysanne Thibodeau, Cornelia Klauß, Thomas Frydetzki, Christoph Doering, Ramona Köppel-Welsh and Die Tödliche Doris.
I’m not sure the contrast of “a capitalised and militarised world” with “a dying state” (why no mention of militarisation?) quite does justice to the difference between a police state and a free country, the police state in question also happening to have reduced their population to a state of considerable poverty relative to the free country. What exactly is a “capitalised” world anyway – a WORLD? (ha!)
Also, what a phrase we have in “resistance against the deadlocked reality of the Cold War”, as if the principle target of resistance was reality and deadlock. I thought deadlock was the defining feature of the Cold War, but surely people weren’t clamouring for a hot war instead. East Germans were resisting the apparatus of the oppressive state in which they lived, but in the West it is true that some were resisting reality as they tried to find moral equivalence between the free and communist worlds. Their resistance continues even today.
Many years ago we had a (West) German exchange student live with us for a summer. It was a great experience, especially for my kids. This last September, he came back for a visit. Again, it was a great experience to see him again, now all grown up with children of his own.
His views on the reunification of Germany were interesting. One thing he mentioned was the financial drain on the west side, trying to pull the former east up to speed and out of the depths of communist poverty.
I admit that I know nothing about this aside from pictures and soundbites.
Did you have a nice weekend? How’s your weather? It’s been beautiful here these last few days.
Roxy
It has indeed cost the West a considerable amount to improve the East, with varying results (there is still a lot of inequality between the East and West). People tell me that Berlin is a really fun city now, although I can’t comment personally as I’ve never been there.
Weather in Cambridge is currently tolerable with patches of cloud. I’ll accept anything as long as I don’t get rained on too often.
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