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Cruising my favorite places on the net, I took notice the other day that a group of Germans were planning to counter protest and anti-American protest in Mainz when President Bush came to town.
Via Little Green Footballs and IMAO comes the link to No Pasaran and MedienKritik who staged the counter protest and have pictures.
Even better, because it was such a novelty, a German satellite news organization interviewed the counter protesters and video taped them pre-protest, during and post.
It's in German, but I think you can get the gist of the conversation. One of the counter-protesters invokes JFK and Ronald Reagan, reminding the viewers who it was that stood with Germany and protected them during the cold war.
All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!"
The freedom of the city is not negotiable. We cannot negotiate with those who say, "What's mine is mine and what's yours is negotiable."
There are many people in the world who really don't understand-or say they don't-what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin!
I hear it said that West Berlin is militarily untenable - and so was Bastogne, and so, in fact, was Stalingrad. Any danger spot is tenable if men - brave men - will make it so.
John F. Kennedy
"Mr. Gorbechav, tear down this wall!"
Ronald Reagan at the Wall, Berlin
2 comments:
I saw this too. Pretty interesting and encouraging. Of course it's just one demonstration, but still.
However, it does point to a larger trend; Condi and Bush's recent trips to Europe had quite different outcomes than the one he took in 2003. Less acrimony this time. I saw some quotes from Der Spiegel in which the editorialist was asking that perhaps Europeans had it wrong. The quote was to the effect that "We made fun of Reagan after his 'tear down that wall' speech and were proven wrong, maybe we're wrong about Bush, too."
To be sure, many or most Europeans still hate him and mock what's happening in Iraq, but many seem to have come to an acceptance, too. And, since the elections there, some have realized that Iraq might just work.
Here's hoping, anyway.
I saw the quotes from der spiegel as well. These folks should remember that old and experienced often equates to moribound and stagnate.
They don't have any new ideas, don't want to have to come up with new ideas, they just want the world to go on as before.
It can't. If they had 9/11, they'd think differently. That little train bomb in Madrid was nothing comparatively speaking.
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