When the wind of history blows/ The people, like lovely birds/ Grow wings: Eastern Europe in 1989 - and 20 Years Later >The Observer »
Posted By gamahuche 3 months, 3 weeks ago in Political OpinionAt the start of 1989 communist regimes ruled eastern Europe. By the end of the year they had all been routed by public uprisings.
Fast forward 20 years:
This is not the world they hoped for, back then when they stood exhausted among vast crowds who kissed them and cheered them and waved national flags. Adam Szostkiewicz, who had been jailed in 1982 as a Solidarity organiser, remembers how his hopeful fellow prisoners were disillusioned by the new Poland. "They expected a revised version of an open, free people's democracy, which was not to be. The new Polish democracy was too liberal and not 'social' enough ... for me, with my middle-class background, it was all right, livable, promising. It may sound rather minimalistic. But in the light of the historical experience of our parents' generation and our own, we may be forgiven, I suppose."
A Czech friend, who didn't want to be quoted by name, was much harsher. "Nothing remains of our old spirit. The Czechs have become a nation of little white mice, jostling for money and biting each other. Nobody sane could want to go back to the communist days. Yet what freedom have we really gained? Back then, the Russians made our foreign policy; now the Americans do. Back then, we lived in a culture of communist lies and false promises. But isn't the capitalist media and entertainment culture just as false and manipulative?"
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gamahuche
"I would rather be a square peg than fit in a pigeon hole" -
an essay which won me the "Lamb Essay Prize" at the Religious ...
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gamahuche3 months, 3 weeks ago
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In that annus mirabilis of 1989 when the Central and Eastern Communist Regimes fell like dominos few people who were azt the forefront of that "Velvet Revolution" imagined that 20 years later the inspiration would have faded and that democracy would prove so disappointing. High hopes/failed expectations. These countries expected to experience independence, not to simply become ancillaries of another "system". This article is a VERY thorough and realistic assessment..
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berkeley3 months, 3 weeks ago
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the american empire has over 800 military bases around the world and spends more than the rest of the world combined every year to maintain its military might.
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it has the world bank, IMF, and economic hit-men on constant call to do its bidding.
in the film, the american ruling class, george shultz is asked about the empire. his indignant answer is that we don't have one. in the official world of media-speak, he's right, but the rest of the world knows differently.
one antidote we can employ is attention. the more attention the empire receives, the more difficult it is for it to stay in the shadows.
chalmers johnson describes our likely future in this article:
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/07/31/three-go...
better that we find a less disruptive option than bankruptcy... -
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Spadecaller3 months, 3 weeks ago
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I suspect that the truth lies somewhere between the two regimes and that the hopes of that "Velvet Revolution" and its expectations fell short but still pushed the ball up the hill.
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Yet what freedom have we really gained? Perhaps to express that question is proof enough, though it be a far cry from the lofty aspirations that we all have for our nations. Within ourselves the freedom perceived will always exceed the world, which surrounds us. But we muddle through, like we are supposed to do. What better course can we take than to protest a reality that falls so short of the virtues that we would like to share among our people. Ignorance is bliss... but that is to bad for you, g.-
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gamahuche3 months, 3 weeks ago
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There are no real surprises in this.
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What is frustrating is to see the same old cycles recurring - I don't quite remember "Peace in our time" but I got to experience it close-up and in my face at a very early age!
One of my more commendable - and commended - childhood actions was peeing on a German soldiers lap when he insisted on putting me on his knee on a train..
I guess if he'd bashed my young skull against the compartment wall I'd have much less to say here..
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albionperfides3 months, 3 weeks ago
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gama
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I remember "peace in our time" which was lost on 1 September 1939 and it took how many years to achieve with UK on its own for 15 months while the US sat on its hands. Why now does the US need 800 [?] military bases around the world? I suppose it is to support capitalism.-
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rimbaud3 months, 3 weeks ago
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Maybe it was just that experience, in Europe, that left us with the need to have our troops at the ready, all over the world. Maybe in takes a couple of generations to get over that kind of war and its after-shocks. Maybe the economies of the world are ready now to compete on purely economic and cultural levels, without the need to prop up their positions with hot wars.
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Radiofreeeuropa3 months, 3 weeks ago
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I think it needs to be remembered that these are the extreme worst incarnations of these economic systems. Problem is that when a "power" of any kind is created the extremely greedy or psychopathic narcissists will be there like flies on sh** to consume it. I mean in the US for instance, the founders knew this and tried to separate and divide political powers, but it didn't take all that long for the worst among us to get around this. Ultimately people need to understand that they do have the ability to insist that any government be responsive, after all 95% of the wealth in this world rests in the hands of only 5% of the people. (Wealth-Power, same sh**) Because of sheer numbers there are too many of us and too few of them to actually win if the "us" actually puts up a fight. We don't.
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Ratskii3 months, 3 weeks ago
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Great article Gamahuche. Hey lisbett, DaneL, Wolfie, et al. Tell me once again that it was Reagen who was responsible for the changes in the Soviet Eastern bloc countries:
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The revolutions of 1989 were authentic, some more than others. But they would not have happened if Gorbachev's message to the "captive nations" had not finally got through. This message read: You are on your own. We would like you to choose the socialist path. But whatever course your nation decides to follow, the Soviet Union will not invade with tank armies to stop you, as it did in 1956 and 1968. Even if your communists are swept from power, we will not use force to save them. -
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