83. Tear down this wall!

Reagan puhui tällä tavoin vuonna 1987:



http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/item_hUBoTAOCQVAGDXVUiqWk2L/0



Jos Reagan eläisi ja olisi vasemmistolainen, olisiko puhe tämäntapainen:

President Obama, leaders of g8 countries (still a g8 thang!), ladies and gentlemen: almost twenty-five years ago, President Ronald Reagan visited Berlin, speaking to the people of that city and the world near the Berlin Wall. Well, since then the world has changed and the leaders of g8 countries, each in his and her turn, have been spreading the gospel of capitalism from Bogotá to Berlin and from Berlin to Canberra. Today I, myself, make my virtual visit to your cities.

I come to your cities as a critic of capitalism, because it’s my duty to speak, in this place, of freedom (before internet censorship takes place). But I must confess, I'm drawn here by other things as well: by the feeling of real globalization, realer than the globalization that is guided by g8 countries. Also I'm drawn here by the fact that in this capitalized world still exist free and uncorrupted media. How amazed I am to see that there still exists free and uncorrupted media such as Global Voices for example. I'm amazed of the courage and determination of the critics of capitalism who won't give the way for right-wing propaganda.


The gathering of bloggers today is a global phenomenon and blog texts are available online around the world 24/7. This uncorrupted online media won't buy the stories of mainstream propaganda. I understand that it is being seen and heard as well outside the social media. To those listening throughout the world, a special word: Although I cannot be with you, I address my remarks to you just as surely as to those standing here before me. For I join you, as I join your fellow countrymen all around the world, in this firm, this unalterable belief: Es gibt nur die eine Welt!


Wherever I go, I can see the Wall. That Wall encircles the free sectors of the cities, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire world. From Helsinki to Canberra and from Canberra to Bogota, those barriers cut across the planet in a gash of barbed wire, concrete, dog runs, and guard towers. There may be no visible, no obvious wall. But there remain armed guards and checkpoints all the same — still a restriction on the right to travel, still an instrument to impose upon ordinary men and women the will of totalitarian money men. Yet it is in neo-colonial countries where the wall emerges most clearly; there, cutting across cities, where the news photos and the television screen have imprinted this brutal division of continents upon the mind of the world. Every man and woman walking in this planet is a human, separated from his and her fellow people. Every man is forced to look upon a wound that is cut open by such devil's advocates as Wall Street bankers, IMF, EU and many international companies.

President von Weizsacker used to say, “The German question is open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed.” Today I say: As long as the gate of the 21st century is closed, as long as this wound of a Wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German nor the East or West question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind. Yet I do not come here to lament. For I find in social media a message of hope, even in the shadow of this wall, a message of triumph.

In the 19th century the ordinary people in Germany (as well as other people all around the world) had to face the Anti-Socialist Laws. Later, thousands of miles away, the United States reached out to help all anti-democratic regimes to fight against the socialists and "socialists" all around the world and overthrew democratically elected governments just because those governments were on the wrong side. In the 1880's Chancellor Otto von Bismarck announced the creation of what would become known as the welfare state that originally was planned to stop socialists. This policy was not directed against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and (mostly) chaos. And as we have learnt from history, this welfare state policy has nothing to do with socialism. Ask from Otto von Bismarck.


To my surprise and sorrow I haven't seen any monuments with praise texts when talking about war against poverty. There are no such commemorative days in calendars as "the struggle against the poverty", "the day of giving" or "the day when Nordic welfare state system was born". An equal and fair, free world in the North (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark), that dream has become realer than anywhere else. Finland rose from ruin to become giant in equality. Sweden, Norway — virtually every nation in Northern Europe saw the birth of equality; the Northern European welfare system (better than Bismarck's one) was founded.

In Northern Europe and here in Helsinki, there took place such a miracle that gave a little hope for the underdogs, the hyvinvointivaltio! The leaders of the Northern Europe understood the practical importance of rudimentary equality — that just as justice can flourish only when the ordinary people are given the right to livelihoods, so real prosperity can come about only when the farmer and businessman are on the same level with ordinary people without classes. Ever since our governments raised taxes equally in the 60's and 70's, the standard of living and the peace in the streets in Finland and in Northern Europe increased.

Where more than four decades ago there was only inequality, hardship and poverty, today in Helsinki and in whole Northern Europe there are the most equal, the most practical and the most working welfare systems of any countries in the world — equal education (that gives the opportunity even for the poorest ones to study), fine homes and apartments, safe streets, and down- to-earth attitude. Where the culture of the cities seemed to have been for the ellite only, today there are many great universities all around in Finland, Sosiaalikeskus satama (where you don't have to pretend to be something you aren't), and underground clubs, campus kinos, and beautiful nature with local civilized people who tell you the history that you don't hear in museums. Where there was want, today there’s abundance — food, clothing, — style without exaggerated fanciness. From class society, from utter poverty, we Northerners (especially Finns) have, in freedom and in equality, rebuilt the nations that once again rank as one of the greatest on earth. Capitalists may have had other plans. But my friends, there were a few things the capitalists didn’t count on — Finnish down-to-earth attitude and jokamiehenoikeudet.

Ever since "the invisible hand" was launched the capitalists have repeated the same mantra to the world: “Capitalism, privatization and uncontrolled markets rulez!” But when taking a look at the world of inhabitants (especially those whose lands are not yet privatized) for example, we see a free world that has achieved a level of mental prosperity (by respecting nature and the environment) and mental well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the capitalist world, we see failure, greed, backwardness of moral and humanity, declining standards of health because of industry food. The basic needs (such as water, food, living etc) are capitalized and vulnerable to endless inflation. Even today, the United States still cannot take care of their people. After these decades and centuries, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Equality leads to prosperity and peace. Equality replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Equality is the victor.

Hopefully one day the capitalists themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to understand the importance of equality. We hear much from Washington about a new policy of reform and flashes of open mindedness for the poor people ("maybe the poverty is not only the fault of the poor people"). The communism-phobia doesn't limitate the human rights in the USA as it did some decades ago. Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with relaxiation methods. Some companies offer their employees benefits including in yoga and laughter therapy for example. Some companies have understood the fact that it's important to take care of their staff. Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the capitalist world? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the world, or to strengthen the capitalist system without changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we believe that equality and peace go together, that the advance of humanity can only strengthen the cause of world peace.

There is one sign the capitalists can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of equality, freedom and peace. President Barack Obama, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the United States and g8 countries, if you seek equality: Come here to this gate! Mr. Obama, open this gate! Mr. Obama, tear down this wall!

PS: Poliittiset päättäjämme ovat antautuneet EU:n ja talousmaailman sätkynukeiksi. EU:n ja talousmaailman sätkynuket edustavat vain EU:ta, talousmaailmaa ja itseään, eivät tavallista kansaa. Alas EU:n ja talousmaailman sätkynuket!